In other news, I am writing this post from the Kenyan coast. In Mombasa now, heading to Malindi and Lamu next week, then back to Nairobi and on to Ethiopia for two weeks. Probably not much internets inbetween, which is a good thing, for a change…Writing a journal is much more vintage!

Why Africa? I’ve been answering this question since May, and the answer keeps changing – with general themes of adventure, pro bono work, and travel.

The short version of the answer is,

Why not?

The more comprehensive version is,

I thought it would be cool to go and do some volunteer work in a developing country, just check it out and see if that’s what I want to do in the long term. This is not something I thought long and hard about, it kind of happened by itself. We were moving states anyway and were going to travel anyway. I wanted to go beyond travelling for the sake of travelling, and work on a project of some kind.

Why volunteering? It seemed like the most natural way to get involved with some kind of a project, and the right thing to do – take a break from the private sector and see what it’s like working for a non-profit. Also, motivational factors included “saving the world” and bragging rights when coming back to “civilization”.  Seems to be working so far

What’s the company? The company is KickStart Tanzania. The mission is to lift millions out of poverty. The method is enabling the poor and creating economic opportunities for them – sustainable solutions to poverty, rather than handouts. In practice, it means selling manual irrigation pumps to farmers. The founders tell the story and explain the method here, you can read more here and support the organization if you feel like it.

What’s the work like? I’ve been helping out with marketing – a daunting task considering the target customers live in remote areas, go to a big town maybe once or twice a month, don’t get newspapers and often don’t own radios. My mandate was to look at ways to reach more farmers more effectively, from the perspective of scale (key accounts strategy) and location (geographical targeting). In day-to-day terms, it meant learning a lot about Tanzania’s agriculture, calling on NGOs, government officials, and companies, and staring out of the window at the ocean while writing up my findings. There’s a new product release coming up in November that I’m also helping with (my favorite part was coordinating a photo session for the pumps and spare parts).

The money question. Arrangements for volunteers vary greatly, and in the best case scenario the hosting organization would cover all of the costs: the return ticket, visa fees, vaccinations, accommodation and a fixed per diem to cover basic living needs. I have a subset of these costs covered, which works for me since it’s for the experience, not for the money.

That’s it for today, although of course there is more going on. Would love to hear your thoughts – what would you want to know about going to Africa and living here?

A short-sighted man was standing in the balcony on the second floor of a storey house, when he noticed a short lady standing on the ground floor. He tried to seduce her to come upstairs to no avail. So he decided to follow her where she was standing, but when he came closer to her. The lady was in fact an empty drum.

During a school examination here in Zanzibar a student was questioned in the test paper, what is your mother tongue?. The student thought deeply how to answer the question, then he tried to imagine his mother’s tongue, his answer was “pink”.

In 1994, one prominent CCM political leader came to address a CCM political rally here in Zanzibar, In his speech, he became so emotional and went too far to claim openly that if any CCM leader leaves his party (CCM), he must be tally crazy, but after just one year he himself left his party (CCM).

In order to keep himself busy and pre occupied, a man in Pemba Island was constantly mailing letters to his own address and he goes to the Post Office to collect them himself. What an idea to fight boredom.

A young man once met a pretty lady in a shop. He was soon attracted by the charm and beauty of that lady. The lady was wearing a gold necklace on her neck which was carved like a small aeroplane. The young man expressed his love to her by saying. “I love your aeroplane and your air port also”.

I’m planning to show the book around the office and see if people laugh. I still suspect that something is missing from the jokes because of translation. What do you think? Do you know of other cultures with similar humor?