Tanzania 2010

Tuesday

We said our farewells to Julie and David and headed to TAFCOM. We went to the tailoring center today to give the women instructions on how to make the bean bags. They will be ready tomorrow. We also took pics of some of the items they have made as I am trying to work out some kind of plan to sell their things in the US. It was fun because the women were our models and they got a kick out of posing.

On the way back to Moshi our Dala Dala broke down. Fortunately we were on the edge of town and not far from our destination. It is not uncommon for the vehicles to break down. We saw one whose sliding door had fallen off and they were in the road trying to get it back on with people inside waiting. It is not uncommon that the sliding door doesn't always close, but it's usually left open anyway for the driver's assistant to hang out of and shout where the bus is going to people walking the street. Sometimes you can even see through the floors.

I had asked at the reception desk if there was anywhere to work out and was told there actually was a gym a few streets behind the hostel called Casanova where muzungu went. The name made me a bit hesitant but it was worth checking out. Her directions made no sense so I decided to just walk up and down the roads in a 3 block area. Lo and behold I came upon the Never Give Up gym. It looked a bit sketchy but then many places here do. The door was a curtain and I walked into a room with very dusty old equipment and a few weight benches. I was told that the treadmill worked and I could work out for about 1$ per day. This was definitely a place for locals but I decided to give it a try tomorrow.

Ibra had invited us to dinner so he picked us up around 5. He took us around Soweto Ward where he lives. He showed us their soccer field which is basically a large area of dirt. There is also a resale market there twice a week where they sell second hand clothes from the US or other western countries. He also took us to the gym in his area which he claims is the best. I was really surprised because it was very nice with new equipment and they even offer aerobic classes. Of course the price was comparable to a US gym making it very expensive for the area.

We had a great dinner with Ibra – lots of good local food. We both especially liked the banana soup which tasted somewhat like potato soup. Drew and Alex are currently staying with Ibra. Drew is 25 and was able to obtain venture capital to start Anza, a Wash DC based company that is researching and designing ways to improve the push carts used in 3rd world countries to make them stronger and more durable. He is in the testing stages and hopes to go to production soon. He has local partners in several countries and he and Alex will be in Africa for about a month testing.