Changes are part of life-Moving

Changes are part of life.  Things are changing fast here in Tanzania since the roads have been completed linking major  cities and regions of the country.  The number of buildings  being built here in Singida reminds me of the Fairview Road area of Simpsonville.  I remember when we got the Hardee's at the intersection with HWY 276 (now I385).  Now there is not any road front space left until you get past Harrison Bridge Road.  I used to ride that road on a bicycle.

Just like so many who resist change in the states it is evident many resist the changes here. Several of the peace corp volunteers have described it as the fatalistic attitude.  The chickens as they lie tied in groups of 20 on the back of a motorcycle or bicycle and just lay there accepting their fate.  To the people who accept things are wrong but that is the way they are.   From a toilet seat being broken in a hotel and no one is expected to fix it to travel in buses where you are overpacked and ordered to move for more people to get in.  It is also a matter of power sometimes.  Most people feel powerless about their lives, they rarely try to affect change other than going to school and hoping for better jobs.  But real change to the day to day living, not saving money to get ahead and not trying to make it better they still seem to have a fatalistic attitude.  Don't get me wrong, they talk about it non-stop about making better lives, wanting better lives but they seem to be waiting on the government to provide said better life or a Mzungu to do it for them.

broken toilet seat in my hotel room-no plans to fix it unless I would like to go buy one and put it on.

This is the drain pipe also.  Yep that is a clothes dryer exhaust pipe.  

So how do you really help them to change their lives positively?  The only thing I can think of is through example.  The doctor lived in our smallest building for over a year and never once thought of making any improvements to the structure.  

Now that building has become vacant, I have decided to move out of hotels in Singida and move into the structure he vacated.  Hopefully I can make meaningful improvements to the structure using the money I would have used to pay for hotel rooms.  Things like a bath house and bathroom, solar power, lighting and AC power, Kicking the bats out of the structure, repairing the floor, installing a last step out of the structure, repairing the door frame so it does not have a 2 foot hole for critters to get in, adding a gas cooking top, and the list goes on and on.  I have a list about two pages long including deciding what to buy and what to make myself.  One issue is that this will mean less communication through the computer and phone as I can't get a signal at the site.

An example of accepting things in a fatalistic manner was the trip to carry my items out.  I used the local taxi, Ramadhan, that we used to carry board members out for their tours.  The cost is 100,000 TSH, of which he spent 46,000 on gas and probably another 6,000 on water as we stopped every 15 to 20 minutes to refill the radiator because in that time it would have leaked everything we had put in last time out.  Ramadhan a good driver just accepts this and will probably continue like this until it damages the engine.  

This will give me some more time for my experiments like the idea about self watering gardens using underground storage tanks and lamp wicks.  Good thing I spent all those years learning about moisture migration through various materials and how to change the migration by changing the environmental conditions.

I am not sure it will ever catch on that you can fix your the house you are using or own, but we will see.  This will be a challenge for me to live in such a small structure (smaller than most of those little homes they keep talking about in the states).  There are two rooms around 8'x8' each. (128 square feet)  Their is not a ceiling so the bats are in your living space not the attic.

Interesting problem proposed for solution from a peace corp volunteer that some of my beekeeping friends may know how to handle (someone pass this along to Mr. Terry).  They harvest all the honey here and not just capped (honey that is ready is normally capped with wax by the bees in the honeycomb cell)  So they often get honey that has too much moisture in it which can lead to fermentation.  So how to measure the moisture content without buying refractometers which are too expensive for the farmers here (the $50 device would equal several years gross).  I am looking at ways to present a material that is more hygroscopic than the honey in a small measurable container and dry the honey without damaging the structure like quick heating would.  Then it would be like measuring moisture content in soil just a simple calculation  based off pre and post weights of the honey.

Speaking of change here is me supporting my Barclay's Premiere team, Everton.  A change for me to support a soccer team.