TAN: Some Form of Communication

Our morning activities around Hanif’s house were disturbed by the arrival of Joclin from the DTP office. She had come looking for the lighting kit. Maina had sent a message, but Chantal had left the phone on silent mode in her bag, so we were caught unaware. We quickly gathered everything together and were ready to head out the door when the Foxes magic yellow mini-bus arrived. It was an unexpected surprise to see Vlad and Miriam. Plans were made to visit Lazy Lagoon in two weeks time for Maina’s birthday. Miriam was convinced that the keys to Peter Fox’s truck were somewhere in the house. We spent the next 15 minutes or so looking in every conceivable spot they might be, but to no avail. Eventually everyone was shooed out of the house and we were on our way. A short detour over to the Valhalla Complex to visit the Nordic Clinic got both Chantal and I enough anti-malaria medication to last the rest of the trip. Both of our insurance providers only allow month long prescriptions to be filled. Not entirely useful for long trips. My Dioxycycline was $12 for a two month supply and Chantal’s Larium was $40.
Mwanga came by the office just after we arrived. Chantal somehow convinced him to come to lunch with us even though he was fasting. We talked about the state of the film and video industry in Tanzania over plates of Matoke (savory banana mash) and mixed vegetables. Back at the office, I continued to do battle with the Internet. Everything times out due to the slow connection. Every picture I post for the blog takes five or more tries before is finally gets uploaded. I have begun to consider the necessity of looking for a different connection option. A good chunk of the afternoon was spent rebuilding Mwanga’s computer. He has been having trouble launching several applications and his external drive is formatted incorrectly.
Chantal ran the Pixel Corps group through a presentation exercise. The members were paired up and interviewed each other. Each of the members then gave a short report of the other persons background, goals, hobbies, and favorite design or video. The group interest was primarily in video with two folks interested in graphic design. They all did a decent job with their presentations.
After the evening Pixel Corps session had finished we headed over to the Retreat restaurant. Had another delicious all veg Indian meal. Got some space snacks for a starter.

Snacks for your Outer Space journeys.

All of the taxi drivers in the downtown area wanted too much money for the trip back to Micocheni so we hiked back over to the office and got one for the right price.
On the way, we talked about how much the Pixel Corps members were getting out of the classes being taught in English. Although all secondary education is taught in English, most of the students do not feel comfortable with their English skills. Maina told us that one of his students had asked him if he could recap the lessons in Swahili. Mwanga had also told me earlier that one of the gentlemen who had heard my lecture had failed to understand a great deal of it because he had trouble grasping my American accent and pronunciation. Unfortunately, most of the people here are also deathly afraid of looking stupid in front of their peers. Even though they do not understand, they will not raise questions or ask for clarification. Instead, they will sit quietly not understanding a word and discreetly ask one of their friend’s questions later. Basic communication and confidence building exercises desperately need to be added to the curriculum.