What a great seat mate she was. Raised in Rhode Island, meeting a serviceman
form Wisconsin who returned with him for a few years so he could finish his collegiate career has made her home there ever since. We shared many great stories and the trip
over to Amsterdam went very quickly.
The last leg of the flight seemed much longer although it was
only an hour or so longer. My seatmates
were not as engaging and I was not so much either as I was pretty worn out
already. The flight was uneventful and
we landed about 8:30 local time in the dark.
Immigration was an interesting experience as well. I had to purchase a business visa as well as
a tourist visa to volunteer that totaled $250 US.
After Immigration, I had to clear customs. I had brought 3 suitcases and a backpack with
me to carry my gear. One suitcase for my
clothes, one for the training documents and the last for items carried over for
a previous CRS volunteer. There were two signs for customs; one for
items to be declared and the other no declaration. I searched about for a sign that would tell
me what the value of goods being brought into Tanzania required declaration,
but could not find any. Erroring on the
side of caution I went to declare the goods I was bringing in which ended up
consisting of running the luggage through an x-ray machine, the same type of
machine as when you go through security in an airport. I walked to the other side and picked up the
luggage and carted it off; that was it.
A driver picked me up from the airport and the ride from the
airport to the hotel was in the dark so I could not see much of the surrounding
area. From what I could see I could tell
the infrastructure here is much more advanced than where I had been before in
Uganda. The buildings looked modern and well-constructed
and the road was in good condition.
We arrived at the Lutheran Guest House hotel, Uhuru in
Moshi, TZ around 10:30 pm local time.
True to African custom I was warmly greeted by an English-speaking
receptionist and was quickly shown to my room.
The room is spacious with hot and cold running water and air conditioning;
amenities that can be hit and miss in this part of the world. I was ready to sleep, however, the immediate problem
is my body thought it was noon so it was not quite ready to sleep while my
brain was exhausted. I dozed on and off
a few times while reading “The Whistler” and eventually fell off after
completing it around 3 am. I rose about
9:30 am just in time to catch some breakfast.
My contact, Mekee, a Hawaiian Peace Corp volunteer, came by
the room after breakfast to pick up the supplies I brought over for the CRS
volunteer. Mekee is an interesting young
man who has been here about ten months working in a mountain town area about
four hours from the hotel. I sent him
off with the suitcase which he would carry back as a passenger on a small
motorcycle.
The mountain peak is a little over 19,000 feet above sea
level and the tallest mountain in Africa.
It is an extinct volcano that still lets out some steam and is the
reason most people come to Tanzania.
There are several routes to trek to its peaks that are non-technical;
however, they all take minimally four days to reach so I will not be making
that accent.
I am wrapping up my first full day in Tanzania just loitering
about the hotel and its beautiful grounds.
On Monday, the 21st I will be met and taken to
the Kilacha Training Center where I will spend the remainder of my time working
with the Accounting Department. An earlier
volunteer was here a year ago and set the Training Center up on
QuickBooks. My assignment is to teach
the managers, accountants and bookkeepers how to use the program. Additionally, I need to write a procedures
manual and help integrate the Excel spreadsheet accounting they presently use
into the new system.
My expectation is to have a reasonable internet connection
at the Training Center so I hope to be able to make daily posts with my
comments, insights and pictures.
Mike
20 November 2016
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