Steve and Barnabas in Tanzania

Welcome to Conversations with Barnabas Bear which I hope to make a regular feature in the blog rotation.  A couple of items up front, the conversation is fictional (hopefully that was obvious) but are pulled from some of my (Steve) conversations and observations during my time here in Tanzania.  The main purpose of these is to help everyone get to know the people in Tanzania a little bit better while having a little bit of fun.  I would love some feedback on these so I know if I should continue and if so what types of conversations Barnabas needs to be having.  The stories are told from Barnaba’s point of view and because of that they are in English though I try to reflect some of the problems with the English translation. It is Saturday about midafternoon and Dad has decided it is time to go do some shopping in town.  Normally I love going into town for any reason and especially to eat.  Only it is very sunny and hot right now and I am sweating away...

Last week I taught Barnabas and a Peace Corp Volunteer friend how to set up an extra electric (umeme) outlet in their new residence.  Yes that is my friend Kyle who came to visit at the site.  Fortunately his organization he extended with has provided him with a residence in town near their site and he is starting to get to work on some projects with them.  This unfortunately means he will not be joining the FDM site but it is good for him. So his new residence has one electrical outlet on wall opposite of his bed so he wanted an outlet near his bed.  Most (all affordable) extension cords in town have a short cord typically one meter in length.  We planned to do this work on Sunday because for some Tanzania reason they are shutting off the power in several regions (like shutting off electricity in South Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia) every Sunday for the next three months.  They are doing this to install or switch over some electrical equipment ...

Well after writing about habits last time and working to get myself back into certain habits like my blog, Barnabas stories and walking, I have to say the beginning of 2016 has turned into a failure so far.  Not because I have not tried.  I am currently looking at my internet speed of a "lightening" 57 KB/s  (3G is required to provide peak data rates of 200 KB/s and 3.5G is supposed to be in the MB/s).  What has happened to blazing speeds last year of 100 KB/s where I could actually access Google mail without it constantly warning me to switch to the old version for slower speeds (the version that prevents me from doing much of anything).  Well since returning the Vodacom internet I normally use and have paid for is not connecting at all and that has forced me to seek out other carriers who have slower speeds. As for fixing the Vodacom, I have done everything I can do to search out solutions and going to the store in town is a waste of time as they have around...

As it has been over a month since my last blog posting, I have been thinking a lot about habits.  There are good habits such as regular prayer as I have been reading about in the book "Confessions of a Prayer Slacker" by Diane Moody. There are bad habits such as smoking.  Trying to write this blog has been a study of habits for me.  When I am doing the blog weekly it is an easy habit to keep up, but when I am home and there is little to talk about since I am actually talking to most of you I don't do it and when I try to start back up it is a struggle to find my blog voice again.  Also many of you have pointed out that I have not been in the habit of doing the Barnabas Bear newsletters or stories after the first year. So I pledge to do a better job of keeping in the habit of my blogs and including Barnabas this year. The trip home this year was again a great joy and chance to recharge my batteries as I commit to another two years (the max allowed through the ...

One of my favorite YouTube videos other than Jeff Dunham and Achmed the Dead Terrorist is a water charity having Africans read people's problems from what is normally referred to the First World but I typically refer to as the Minority world since those that live in those conditions are in the minority. So I have talked about my trouble sleeping during this time of the year (not a minority world problem a veteran problem) but how I cope with it in town sometimes leads to minority world problems.  For example I have been in town most of this week getting things done before I come home for the holidays.  Only my Virtual Private Network has not been working all week and Netflix knows I am in Africa so they will not let me access their site to watch programs at 2 AM when I finally give up trying to sleep and look for something to do to occupy my time.   On the other hand I have always been pretty good at working through the nights at least until I can't focus my ey...

This week we are back working on the house or more accurately sharing some items from previous weeks because rain and the need to get end of year information together before I travel home has taken over my schedule. That is right it is that time of year again-both end of year reports and traveling home for Christmas/renewing paperwork.  While I don't have to renew my visa this time I do have to renew my International driver's license which is only good for a year.  This time around I also have to make sure I am set for a new two year commitment (the limit through United Methodist IVM program).  I will be stateside December 16th until January 19th not including flight days.  I hope to see everyone then and if you would like for me to speak to your group please contact via my email to the right. Back to this weeks episode-decorating the house or at leas the kitchen area.  While on vacation with the family we went to Zanzibar where I picked up ...

This blog is actually about a work project on the site to repair the main entrance gates but I don't feel I can adequately cover the topic without discussing the concept of security here in Tanzania to a Tanzanian.  The concept of keeping what is mine is strongly ingrained into most of Africa.  Yes in most of the world people take common sense measures to protect things they own like lock their doors when they leave or lock up their cars. So what I have been struggling with as I worked on rebuilding the gate is the misconception of security here by creating items of show instead of items of real physical security.   The rebuilt gate after being primed and 1st coat of paint Let me start by telling you what was asked for in our gate and then describing to you the reality of the situation.  While determining the project and how to best utilize our resources those from the Tanzanian side of the discussion talked about a strong, secure gate that would prevent bullet...