Amidst all my belly-aching about the cost of living here in East Africa, the cost of regional travel, worries about career progression, and other personal sacrifices, this was a good reality check on the things that brought me to Africa in the first place.
Here are 6 10-minute videos
Clear off your calendars everyone! I'm visiting the bay area between June 4 - June 11, and Houston June 12 - June 19. Would love to see as many people as possible! =)
I just booked my tickets today, and boy were they expensive. =P
I also need to sort out my car situation in the bay area -- I think my car may need a new fuel injector, but there's a chance that it's a lot worse than that and that I may need a new car. I guess after 12.5 years.... Let me know if you have a spare car laying around.
Let me start this post by assuring you that I'm perfectly safe and that nothing bad happened. However, this past weekend was the first time that I've ever felt unsafe while in Tanzania.
This past weekend, I had to fly to Mwanza to meet with my clients whose only available meeting time in the next two weeks was this past Saturday morning. Since it was short notice, and because the meeting was just a kick off meeting to help them understand their role over the next six months, I went alone. I've been to Mwanza before, so no big deal. I was hoped to fly out and back on Saturday, but for some reason, flights back on Saturday were all booked up, so I had to stay until Sunday evening.
On Saturday, after my meeting, I returned to the hotel around 1pm. I logged on from the hotel and tried to do some work and watched a bit of TV. Around 5, the rain had stopped, and I was getting a bit restless, so I figured I would take advantage of the remaining daylight to walk around the market a bit. The market was right by the hotel, but I'd never had the chance to check it out on previous visits. The market was extremely busy, but I walked around mostly unbothered. I did notice that I was the only non-Tanzanian in sight though. After 20-25 minutes, I was getting a bit hungry on accounts of having mostly skipped breakfast and lunch, so I returned to the hotel and ordered a snack. Around 6, I returned to my room, intending to catch up a bit more on work, and to later head to dinner.
After about 30-45 minutes, my room phone rang. I found this quite odd. At first I wasn't even sure it was my phone as the ringing was faint, but once I ascertained that it was indeed my phone, I answered. The receptionist told me that I had a visitor downstairs in the lobby. I asked them if they were sure, and they said they were, so I went down to the lobby. I thought that perhaps it was a client since this is the hotel that I normally stay at when I visit Mwanza - actually, it's the hotel that everyone from TCB usually stays at when they visit Mwanza.
When I got to the lobby, I didn't see anyone I recognized, but the receptionist pointed me towards a guy sitting on the couch reading a newspaper. I approached him and asked him if it was me he was looking for, and he said yes. I repeatedly asked if he was sure, and whether he even knew me. He asked me to have a seat. Not having yet figured out what was going on and not wanting to make a scene, I sat down and again asked him if he perhaps had the wrong person.
He started to explain to me that he worked for a media company, and asked me if I was familiar with the company. I said no. He said that the media company was in charge of running several radio stations, and asked whether I was familiar with the radio stations. Again I said I was not. I explained that I was from Dar, and therefore not familiar with radio stations in Mwanza. At this point, my mind is racing a mile a minute, trying to put two and two together, waiting for the aha moment. Earlier in the day, my clients had played some radio ads that they had put together to advertise about contract farming and the effort to organize farmers into farmer business groups. I was trying to work out if this guy could be related to that work some how.
The guy yammers on about other stuff, then he says that he needs my company. What could he need Accenture for? He repeats, he needs my company, and then he says something which sounds an awful like "I need your body." EXCUSE ME??? "I need your company; I need your body." No, I'm sorry, you must be mistaking me for someone. This has to be a mistake. Then he starts to say that he needs a girlfriend. That was my aha moment. This guy is saying what I think he's saying, and it's terribly inappropriate. I immediately get up and walk over to the receptionist desk and demanded to know why they called me. I explained emphatically that I did not know this man, and they look a bit embarrassed. They said that he came in saying that he knew me, but had forgotten my name. Based on that, they rang me! I tell them that this man is being very inappropriate and also assure them that everyone in Mwanza who would need to talk to me knows my name. And unless anyone asks for me by name, please do not call my room.
I storm up to my room and find that I'm a bit shaken by the whole exchange. By my calculations, this guy must have seen me walking about at some point, and, I dunno, followed me back to the hotel. He must have gone to the receptionist saying that he was looking for a Chinese girl by my description staying at the hotel. What kind of nut job thinks he can proposition someone like that?? I felt genuinely uncomfortable with the situation, and also unsure about what to do next. The guy knew what hotel I was staying at for pete's sake! Unsure about how far this guy would go, I felt that my only option was to stay at the hotel. The hotel had a restaurant and also lots of people, so I felt that it was best to stay put. I didn't want to be put in a situation where I might have to encounter the guy while having dinner on my own or while traveling between the hotel and the restaurant, particularly at night. But I was angry for being trapped, and I was a bit angry for being so easily singled out, and I was angry for having to spend a weekend alone trapped in a hotel.
But, safety first and all's well that ends well, right? I'm considering wearing my fake engagement ring but that introduces another issue - I'd be wearing jewelry that someone might think is valuable. Sigh.