Culture Shock

Before the lecture at the local university, we had a hour long debate about whether to divide the audience into groups to allow for a more intimate question and answer portion.It was an interesting exercise in cross cultural collaboration as the debate went on longer than it should have because people began debating against points that were never raised but were expressed in English that was misunderstood. One exasperated participant simply called for a vote to divide the house to get it over and done with, in itself an act that would be seen as impatient by cultures that would have preferred a consensus based decision. In the end, it was much ado about nothing as the questions came pouring in despite the huge lecture hall setting.

Prior to my assignment, I talked to several Filipino IBM colleagues who had been deployed before and they all warned me about the inevitable clash that occurs between cultures. I was warned about West and East usually grouping themselves together and against each other. Yet at the end of our assignment, we were all giving ourselves a pat on the back for being such a harmonious team. It was not that none of us ever felt tension, but it was because we all had the maturity to step outside our comfort zones. I saw the willingness of everyone, despite the obvious discomfort painted on their faces, to stretch themselves just a little more in order to understand more. Also, we all held deep respect for each other. There was no cultural superiority on the part of those who spoke English as a first language; if it all, they actually acknowledged that most of the team actually spoke not just two, but even more languages. In all, there were 28 languages spoken in the team of 14.

Cool Mahesh, dancing

Time

One key cultural difference was the attitude to time. Tanzania was notorious for its relaxed attitude towards time and the Tanzanians themselves jokingly refer to it as "Tanzanian time." My Mexican colleague and I promptly announced we had our own versions of Mexican and Filipino time! It was amusing, and somewhat painful, to observe some of my colleagues fidgeting when we were made to wait a few minutes for an appointment. When our bus took a supposedly shorter road to Tanga but encountered a roadblock because a bridge was washed over, some started asking the driver what the matter was and began standing and walking around to see what was going on. But there were also some who just remained in their seats reading or sleeping. In this situation, I felt there was not much I could do to change things, not knowing what was going on and not knowing how to speak Swahili anyway, so I remained calm and kept on reading.

Those who know me think I am a patient person, but even my Filipino patience was tested when it came to ordering food. We began joking about ordering for dinner right after lunch because it normally took about two hours for our food to arrive!

Yet gradually, what irritated us at the beginnng became a running joke and eventually a part of how we did things. If we wanted things done at a certain time, we just did it much earlier. If we did not get things at the time we wanted, we shrugged it off and learned to say Hakuna Matata! We also learned to admonish each other pole, pole - slowly, slowly. One Tanga businessman who emigrated from Ireland 28 years ago, summed it up nicely for us when we quoted the following proverbs. According to him, in Swahili, they believe everything resolves itself according to its own time.

"Haraka, haraka, haina baraka." Hurry, hurry has no blessings.

To run is not necessarily to arrive.

Telenovelas

One of the most amazing things for me was to find Filipino telenovelas being broadcasted on Tanzanian TV. I kept being asked about the characters on TV. One tout who was selling me bracelets started asking whether Rachel was alive when I told him I was Filipino. I felt embarrassed not knowing who Rachel was and on which telenovela she was starring in. The general manager at the hotel in Arusha told me about how crazy everyone was about Mara Clara. He said I would have made a killing if I had brought DVDs of all the episodes because they all have to follow the series every day to find out what was going on. He said they were so popular because the themes they showed were all the same issues they faced in their own families: sons being ungrateful to fathers, sibling rivalry, struggling to make ends meet, and so on. I told him a cliche but that was so appropriate given the moment: "We all look different, but we really are all the same."

Native Tongue

We had a wonderful dinner one evening at the Raskazone Swimming Club.

Phil asked us to express our thoughts about Tanzania in our own mother tongues. As we spoke one by one, it was amazing how everyone listened in rapt attention even though we did not understand the languages. It was beautiful to hear each language. It was clear that everyone spoke from the heart when speaking in his native tongue. We spoke about how beautiful the land was and how warm the people were. We spoke about our personal hopes and dreams and how the program can help us achieve our goals. I suddenly realized how all these emotions and meanings were normally lost in translation as we struggled to articulate in another language what was first spoken by the heart in our mother tongues.

Expressing our souls in our mother tongues

Birthday

On Christian's birthday, we surprised him with a birthday cake and the entire hotel staff came out to sing happy birthday. We then had another beautiful cultural moment when we each sang Happy Birthday in our native languages. Some were amazed it was all based on the same tune.

A few days later, Christian kept the theme running by asking each of us to greet his wife back home in Germany in our own languages.

Maligayang bati, Christian!

Language Barrier

Some of my colleagues had real difficulty with English because they did not use it as often in their home countries. One confided to me how she felt she was not able to show her true abilities because English acted as a barrier. But we all conspired to push her and make her learn more so that by the end of the assignment, she had to deliver the final report to a packed conference room in English and she did it very well.

Globalization is a reality. We speak of cross-cultural collaboration all the time. In IBM, I feel it and experience it everyday as I routinely go on conference calls with colleagues from the US, Costa Rica, Hungary, India and so on. Yet it was still an absolutely different experience to be immersed in another country for five weeks and to work with 14 colleagues from 12 different countries speaking 28 languages. I had my share of discomfort, especially in the first few days. Being an introvert, I sometimes felt a need to retreat to my room and be away from the international chatter for a while. I sometimes had a hard time squeezing my questions in during our interviews because some of my colleagues were simply naturally assertive and gregarious. Yet I, too, learned to settle in because I always felt the respect from my colleagues. In the end, I felt we came out with a superior output precisely because of the differences in our backgrounds and approaches.

Isma, singing La Bamba

House of Joy

With Josefina, the little princess

When we came back from the orphanage. I was overwhelmed with emotions. The kids were so adorable. A girl named Josefina became really close to me. That morning, when I first saw her while being carried by Saro, I noticed how painfully sad she was. While the rest of the children were smiling at us, she just had a forlorn expression, oblivious of the all the attention.

Later on, as I was playing with other kids, I saw her fighting with another girl. She was about to throw slippers at her when I took away them away and told her to stop. She then grabbed me, asked me to carry her and just hugged me very tightly. We were inseparable since then. Soon another boy named Beka asked me to carry him so I then had to carry two kids.

I began swaying the two like I would my own kids when they were that small. I hummed a classic Filipino lullaby Sa Ugoy ng Duyan. In a matter of minutes, they were sound asleep. They were hugging each other and hugging me tightly. I whispered to them to take care of each other for they were brothers and sisters. I prayed that they be free from suffering and that they may find joy in this life.

 

 

My back soon began to ache so I had to give Beka to Radka while Josefina continued to sleep on my chest while I was sitting down. She woke up when we were about to have lunch and one of the nuns took her so I could eat. Right after I ate, she again approached me and she sat on my lap. The children prepared a program for us and Josefina remained on my lap watching, clapping, and drinking from the bottle of water she asked me to get in Swahili.

We went to the orphanage as part of the CSC program so we could spend one day as a team working for the community. We spent most of the day doing what the orphans and the nuns would normally do - cleaning the toilets, polishing shoes, washing the laundry, cooking lunch, and so on. In the afternoon, the kids treated us to a presentation of songs and dances.

Mama Marta, being the loving mother that she is

Before we left in the afternoon, the kids introduced themselves. Someone introduced Josefina as she was too small to speak. She mentioned that she was found on the road as a baby and that they called her "Princess." That just broke my heart.

It was very hard to say goodbye to her and to all the beautiful children we met. Peter cried as he was taken away from me. Somehow, I felt a bit cruel to show up and give love only for one day. Yet the way the kids clung to me told me they all would like to be hugged and touched even for just one day. I thought I could not go home and go back to my work and not do something about orphans. They are the forgotten, and the dispossessed and it is for them, the least of his brethren, that we are called to be Christians.

I was so moved, I wanted to bring those kids home and take care of them. How can anyone leave such a tiny and helpless girl on the street? I am so lucky indeed to have been raised by my parents.

Those children will sleep at night without a mother and a father. If they wake up at night because of a nightmare, there is nobody to comfort them except their fellow orphans. For them to eat and to go to school, the nuns have to beg for money.

I know she would rather keep it to herself, but my friend Pat did something beautiful and that is worthy of emulation, and that was to give hope. She pledged to sponsor the education of one of the girls and she has just started in her new school, the best private school in Tanga. Pat is also about to come back to the orphanage in two weeks to fix the playground and to help with its processes so that it is able to find a more sound and sustainable financial footing. We, her worldwide family and friends, are sending contributions in our own small way.

My friend Pat, a shining example

In the bleakest of circumstances, in a remote town in a poor sub Saharan country, the nuns of the Casa della Gioia are doing God's work and we were privileged to see how they have truly built a house of joy.

Safari

We had tears of joy in our eyes. We were just so overwhelmed. Beauty of this magnitude was just not possible. To see so much majesty one after the other was just too much. It was an experience of faith. It was hard not to see the wonders of nature as God's creation. As the last rays of sunlight were hiding behind the edge of the Ngorongoro Crater, I had to sit down and just stare at the pink orange sky. I admired the whorls of clouds turning gray, and was oblivious to the shouts of Masai warriors who came to the lodge to show their famous jumping dance to the guests. I simply had to pause. I stopped to thank God for bringing me to Africa. It all seemed a dream while I was experiencing it. It is even more unbelievable now that I am trying to recall what I saw one month ago. 

Ngorongoro Crater

  

Climbing Kilimanjaro

I had a tough day before the safari. We arrived at the Kilimanjaro Airport after a night without sleep because we simply could not say goodbye after one month of being together. So after our farewell dinner, we had drinks at the bar until it finally closed, then went back to our hotel's restaurant where we just spent the night talking before rushing to the airport. As soon as we landed, we were off to Moshi and then to the Machame Gate at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro. 

Pole pole - slowly, slowly - our guide wisely advised us as we climbed from about 1600 MASL (meters above sea level) to 2700 MASL. He warned us several climbers have experienced altitude sickness even at that relatively low level because they were not used to the altitude or climbed too fast to acclimatize. As we walked up the trail and I saw the ancient trees covered by moss and fern forming an arch over our path, and as we heard the sound of waterfalls cascading cold water melting from the snows on the peak, I kept silent and meditated on the beauty of nature. When we paused beside a stream, Mahesh splashed water over his face and I followed suit, feeling the coolness of the mountain refresh my face after a tiring climb. Soon we saw the scenery change as tropical rainforest gave way to evergreen trees. Six hours of climbing later, we finally reached base camp - the Mandara Hut. We were a bit disappointed because there was nothing to see but lodges. We could have climbed 45 minutes more to reach a point with a nice vista but we had to turn back as it was getting late. It was then that my calvary began. Wearing shoes too small for my feet, each step was torture as my toenails were squeezed between my toes and shoes, especially when I had to step on big rocks. I grimaced in pain almost every step. My toenails turned black and one was even torn away when my son stepped on it, but I can only remember how my teammates helped me every step of the way. Christian kept bugging the guide if there was an easier trail I could use; Yingying asked the guide to hold my arm while I was descending. I refused the guide's help so she went ahead and walked beside me and held my arm as I stepped down. Mahesh went back and forth handing me peanuts to eat. When we were only about a kilometer away from the gate, the guides decided to carry me. As they ran downhill and skipped over rocks while I was held aloft, I was scared to death of toppling over and breaking my neck. It was already dark and raining when we finally reached the bus and then drove to our hotel in Arusha.

Straining to smile after climbing to Mandara Hut Base Camp

Ngorongoro Crater

I was able to shrug off the pain from the previous day as excitement took over when we set out for Ngorongoro Crater. We were introduced to our guides and then rode our specially built safari jeeps, which had roofs that could be opened for better wildlife viewing. We drove past Mount Meru, towering 4000 meters above Arusha, heading for the Lake Manyara area. We saw Maasai clad in red shukra (blankets) herding cattle and our guide began telling us stories about the Maasai. I learned that, traditionally, they ate only raw cow's meat, milk and blood and nothing else. They did not eat plants because only animals ate plants and were they not beings higher than animals? When we saw two boys in uncharacteristic black robes and with their faces painted white, we were told they had just been initiated - circumcised - and will soon enter manhood. Later on, my friend Jackson who was a Maasai but was now working in the city as a guide, told me they needed to look ugly while newly circumcised to avoid attracting women while they were still "injured." He also told me how those boys would soon go on a hunt, usually for a lion, to prove their manly prowess and so become full fledged Maasai warriors.

As we turned right from the junction, we saw our first giraffe eating acacia leaves around fifty meters from the road. We all shouted with glee as we saw an animal in the wild for the first time. Little did we suspect how much more we were going to see in the next three days. We took a lot of time taking photos and just observing with wonder. We were not even in a National Park. We were on the main road and we were seeing giraffes!

We kept driving west and soon I noticed we were going downhill and in the distance rose a massive green wall covering the entire horizon. It was the escarpment of the Great Rift Valley and we were going down into the valley and then climbing on the other side to get Ngorongoro. On the left side, we saw Lake Manyara, which Hemingway called "the most beautiful lake in Africa." Climbing the escarpment, we saw breathtaking views of the lake and the mountains in the distance. We stopped by a town called Mto Wa Mbu - River of Mosquitoes - to have a toilet break and I was once more assailed by touts selling bracelets. I was annoyed at first when they started talking to me in Japanese, but when I told them I was Filipino, they started asking questions about Mara Clara and other Filipino telenovelas. "Was Rachel alive?" one asked. I was ashamed to admit I did not even watch the show, but pleased to realize we were exporting our culture to, of all places, Africa. 

After about four hours drive from Arusha, I finally caught my first glimpse of Ngorongoro crater. So many superlatives have been used before and I am sure they were all warranted for it was a truly jaw dropping, astounding view. It is the largest unbroken caldera in the world at about nineteen kilometers in radius. At the bottom was a green plain with a small lake off to one side. At the rim, we were 600 meters above the floor so it was difficult to see any animals yet we knew a veritable Garden of Eden was awaiting down below.

Africa's Garden of Eden

We drove around the crater rim and finally started descending. As we went deeper and deeper, the immensity of the crater became more evident as we felt ourselves surrounded by a great blue-green wall. Certain areas of the floor were yellow and purple as they were carpeted by flowers in full bloom since we went there in the middle of the rainy season. I saw birds perched atop candelabra cacti and trees full of hanging, round, birds' nests. When we finally reached the floor, it was an unbelievable menagerie. Because the crater was relatively small compared to the vast plains of the Serengeti, the concentration of animals in the crater was much greater so almost everywhere we looked, we saw wildlife. We saw zebras grazing and their foals suckling; we saw a warthog - pumba - chasing off another warthog; we saw buffalos sleeping and chewing cud; we saw pink flamingos on Lake Magadi looking for snails; we saw gray herons and secretary birds and all sorts of birds soaring. As we drove further on, we saw a herd of elephants in the distance, about seven of them. They were like tanks sitting on the plain with the crater wall behind them. Then our guide told us it was a lucky day for two of the tanks were not elephants but black rhinos. Black rhinoceros were extremely hard to find because there were now only about twenty of them in the entire crater and they have almost been hunted to extinction because of their prized horns. We could not get any closer, but I saw them with my two eyes - a couple of black rhinos with large black horns, one lying down in the grass resting, the other grazing. Not one hour into our game drive, I had already seen buffaloes, elephants and rhinos and only needed to see a lion and a leopard to complete my Big Five.

Foal suckling from its mother zebra

 

We then drove to the Ngoitokitok Springs to visit the a bloat of hippopotami cooling off in the pool. We took group photos with them in the background and we were all afraid one of them might just get out of the water and bite us in the butt. It was late afternoon by that time and we had to be on our way. Simba iko wapi? I kept bugging the guide as he searched desperately for a lion but it was not our day. We ascended the crater walls once more and I wondered whether I could ever return to this amazing work of God. I put away my camera and I just stared and stared at the green plain speckled with yellow and purple, at the tall blue green walls surrounding us on all sides, at the clouds sliding across the crater rim. I wanted the images seared in my memory for I knew there were but a few places on earth as beautiful as this.

Elephant with the blue green crater wall in the background

After a day long drive, we finally got to rest at the Ngorongoro Sopa Lodge situated right on the edge of the crater and from where I was treated to another display of the sun setting behind the crater walls. As the sky turned from orange to gray to black, I saw a million stars shining so bright: it was the Milky Way blazing a trail in the night sky in a way it could not in cities blighted with light. We had an outstanding dinner and impeccable service at the lodge. As we made a toast for our other colleagues who were not with us on safari, I really felt lucky. This was the life I thought.

I was up early the next morning hoping to catch the sunrise but the view was obscured by fog. I just took a walk around the lodge when I found Birgitte and Saro looking at something. When Saro saw me, she told me to approach quietly and pointed to the bush. And there I saw a large elephant not more than thirty feet away from the nearest hotel room! I was thrilled to be so close to the beast, but so terrified too about being trampled to death. It was just another unbelievable moment in a truly unbelievable week.

Serengeti National Park

We were off to Serengeti National Park - the mother of all national parks - after breakfast. Not more than an hour into the drive, the safari jeep broke down. By that time though, we were so used to Tanzanian time and were so happy with each other's company, not one of us expressed anger at the delay. We went out of the jeep, played music and then ate our packed lunch in the bush. We saw several Maasai herding goats up the mountain. They were such a beautiful sight - tall, dark figures wearing shining red cloth against a backdrop of green hills and endless plains. One felt this was truly their land.

After a three hour delay, we saw the landscape change from green mountains to dry, brown plains with tall grass and hardly any trees - the savannah. The road was dusty. We passed by the Oldupai Gorge on the way to the Serengeti. Oldupai is one of the cradles of humanity and is where many important hominid fossils were discovered. Then I saw nothing but emptiness. As far as the I could see, to the left and to the right, there was nothing but flat land. I had never seen so much space in my life! Serengeti was aptly named by the Maasai for serengit means "endless plains." We opened the roof and we stood on our seats and we raised our hands as we drove 80 kilometers per hour on a rough road. I felt the warm wind blowing strongly on my face and the searing heat of the sun and the swirling dust trying to squeeze into my eye and I tried to just soak it all in and feel everything all at once and thank God I was here in Africa, in the Serengeti, where time stood still and where the wildebeest migrated and the lions hunted as they have for millions of years and where the cares of the city seemed all so small and meaningless.

Endless Serengeti Plain

We stopped by the Naabi Hill gate to register. We climbed the hill, which was really a giant granite rock called a kopje that survived the erosion of the surrounding plain, and saw just how vast and how flat the Serengeti was. I asked my colleagues from Mexico and Argentina how they liked mi rancho and we laughed like old friends.

As went deeper into the Serengeti, we saw more and more wildebeest, first in the dozens, then in the hundreds, then in thousands. Our guide dismissed our excitement and told us not to ask to stop the jeep anymore for there was something better over the hill. Indeed, the vista that opened before us was another unforgettable sight. It was another endless plain but it was not green grass I saw but a black mass that stretched to cover the entire horizon from left to right. As we came closer, dust swirled in the air, and the sound of a million grunts and the smell of a million tons of dung pervaded the air. We were now in the middle of one of the miracles of nature - the Great Migration. More than a million wildebeest and thousands of zebras surrounded us as they grazed and moved steadily westwards before heading to the north to cross the Grumeti River and then the Kenyan border only to head back the following year as they have done for eons.

The Great Migration

Dusk was approaching and we still had not seen a simba. In the distance, I saw more and more kopjes, the iconic rock outcrops where Simba, the Disney version, was raised as a cub for all the animals to pay homage to. We all fell silent as made a turn for the kopjes. There was an air of solemnity and anticipation for we all knew we were there to stalk lions. We reached the first kopje and we strained our eyes looking. We drove around it and found nothing. We made for the next outcrop, and the next, and onto the next, and still found nothing. We did this several times more with no success. It was getting dark and the rangers would soon arrive to enforce the curfew so we started heading for the lodge. We were looking forward to some rest and resigned ourselves to the thought that perhaps a lion would be found the next day when, all of a sudden, the guide stopped the jeep, and started driving in reverse. And then we saw why. In the tall grass right beside the road lolling around and swatting flies like a cat was a magnificent lioness. Many have seen lions in zoos or on National Geographic, but there is really nothing like seeing this majestic creature just a few feet away in the wild. Sheer admiration for its beauty combined with a palpable fear of its ferocity. We looked and stared and observed and admired. We could have stayed there for hours but it was time to go.

Simba

We knew we were supposed to be at the lodge by that time but then we saw a herd of elephants right beside the road so we stopped right in front of a baby elephant. We realized that was a big mistake because in the middle of snapping photos, we heard a huge mother elephant trumpet its trunk and we saw its enormous ears flapping. Then it began to charge towards us. Before we realized what was happening, our guide was alert enough to drive off and had enough good sense to know that even a large jeep made of steel was no match for an angry mother elephant.

Tembo

The sun finally sank below the horizon, capping our day with the sight of tall, black acacia trees against a dark orange backdrop.

We were up early the next day and it was still cold when we started the game drive. And then we saw more animals one after the other: bachelor male impalas without a harem waiting for their turn to challenge a dominant male otherwise know as losers; a herd of giraffes picking the choicest leaves from tall acacia trees; a lone bull elephant crossing the road; a huge hippopotamus out of the water and running so fast to get to the next watering hole; rock hyrax, rodent like creatures clustered together on huge rocks; a troop of baboons following its leader perched on a mound looking around for predators. We also saw a male lion with its magnificent mane, but it moved away when we approached and then lay down in the grass to sleep like they do for most of the day.

It was our fourth day on the road, and our butts were tired from sitting and the dust was clinging to our hair and clothes, but we never got tired of looking. We could have stayed on for another week and we would have loved it. But I had been away from home for five weeks so it was time to head back to Arusha, and go back home.

I have taken hundreds of pictures and written so many words but I know I do not even closely approximate how truly astounding and amazing this experience was. It was one peak moment after another and just when I thought I was done and was ready for home, there I was crying in amazement at the wonder of it all. Africa is a magical place. I did not want to wake up from this dream of an experience. I still wonder sometimes whether I really was in Africa.

#IBMCSC Tanzania 10 

Sunset in the Serengeti

Exotic Zanzibar

Stone Town seen from Tower Top Restaurant

I almost never made it. A few days before, I felt weak and suspected I had malaria. Many of my colleagues who had earlier planned to go backed out as it turned out they had to work during the coming weekend. In the end, almost at the last minute, only three of us went ahead with the plan to visit exotic Zanzibar.

We flew out of Tanga in a tiny, ten passenger plane. It was the smallest plane I had ever ridden and the views were absolutely amazing. I saw Tanga Bay as a bird would see; I saw the clear blue waters of the Indian Ocean; I saw the green island of Pemba surrounded by mangrove forests broken here and there by white beaches. We landed on Pemba for ten minutes then we were up in the air again for the journey to Zanzibar.

View from Hotel Rooftop

My first glimpse of Zanzibar was that of beautiful white beaches on its east coast. Too bad I did not have the time to visit any of them. As we rode a taxi to Stone Town, it immediately became clear to me this was a place like no other. The white buildings closely packed  together were indeed made of stone. The intricately carved wooden doors with brass studs were their most distinguishing feature. The stone buildings and the fort evoked Europe yet the designs unmistakably bore Arab and Indian influences. After all, Zanzibar was once ruled by the Sultan of Oman and has been conducting trade with India and the Arab world for centuries through the dhows, sailboats that are themselves the very image of timelessness.

Iconic carved Zanzibar door

As I clambered four feet above the floor on my Zanzibari bed, also a carved, four-poster work of art that was draped with a mosquito net, I began to notice a sweet scent pervading the air. I smelled the same aroma everywhere we went around town. It turned out to be the smell of cloves, a spice which continues to be one of the top exports of the island. Indeed, Zanzibar was once known as the Spice Island.

Dhow sailing as they have for centuries

We set out for Forodhani Gardens, the center of activity on the island, to find a place to eat. It is a park situated on the waterfront and right in front of the 16th Century fort built by the Portuguese. It was bustling with activity as we saw children running around, families out for a stroll, and ubiquitous touts looking to make a sale. "Jambo, my friend!," all of them said as they approached us offering guided tours, trips to Prison Island, and various carved knickknacks. They were persistent. There were more of them than tourists as it was off peak season and they were eager to make a shilling. We politely but firmly said no; most of them were gracious enough to say thank you and to sigh hopefully, "Perhaps next time when you return." I sure hope there would be a next time.

Street food at Forodhani was an amazing sight. Vendors laid out on tables all sorts of seafood with all sorts of spices ready for grilling - octopus, calamari, king fish, lobster, prawns. They also sold chapati, bread and chips. We ended up at Archipelago Restaurant and I ordered pweza - octopus - with coconut and curry sauce. As I chewed on the soft and scrumptious octopus and sipped on tea spiced with cinnamon and cardamom, I had to remind myself I was not dreaming and I truly was in Zanzibar!

Sunset at Zanzibar

The following day was spent exploring Stone Town. We explored the Old Fort, now an atmospheric ruin used for performances and film festivals, but previously the stronghold of the islands' rulers from the Portuguese, to the Arabs, then the British. Beside was the House of Wonders, the tallest building on the island and once the residence of Sultan, but now the Zanzibar National Museum. Just a few meters further was another older palace, the Beit al-Sahel or Palace Museum. I was amazed to see portraits of Sissy, the Empress of Austria-Hungarian Empire, and with whom I was quite fascinated when I visited Vienna. The portraits and the copies of various treaties with world powers in the 19th century was a testament to the important role Zanzibar played in world trade. I saw rooms with ornately carved furniture where the sultan received heads of state. I finally sat to rest on the balcony like the sultans of old, watching the ships approaching port. They no longer unloaded a grim cargo of slaves, but hordes of tourists like me seeking to travel back in time or simply to shop for silver trinkets, exotic spices, and tanzanite jewelry.

After walking mostly along the waterfront, we finally entered the maze that is the winding and narrow streets of Stone Town. They were so narrow in some places only two pedestrians could pass. They scarcely resembled what was drawn on the map and there were hardly any straight lines! I did my best to appear I was not lost for the sake of my two companions. We finally arrived at the building we were looking for almost by accident. That building is the hotel at 236 Hurumzi Street, formerly Emerson and Green, and which is an institution in Zanzibar. As we climbed the steep stairs, we were transported back in time as we saw peacocks painted on walls, beautiful carved decor, plants hanging from balconies, and several towers surrounding the building. As we reached the very top, we arrived at a restaurant with views all around Zanzibar. We stayed for several minutes as we took in images of dhows sailing in the sea, the spires of St Joseph Cathedral, the clock tower of the House of Wonder, and the Anglican Cathedral off to one side, site of the Old Slave Market. It was there that I agreed Zanzibar was truly magical.

The following day, we went to the countryside on a spice tour. While I know I have been eating them all my life, it was a real treat to see the trees and plants where spices such as nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, vanilla, lemongrass and other spices were taken from. I also had a sneaking suspicion most of these plants could be seen back home if I only knew what they looked like once they started handing out kamias, balimbing and guyabano for us to taste. We ended the tour with a fine lunch of rice with what else but spices.

In the afternoon, we rushed to the port to ride the ferry back to Dar. As I caught a glimpse of Stone Town for the last time, I said goodbye to the tiny island that once ruled most of the coast of East Africa. It was a trip back in time, a time of immense riches accumulated from the sweet smell of spices and the bitter sighs of slaves.

#IBMCSC Tanzania 10 

Driving Prosperity through Public-Private Dialogues

Delivering Final Report to the Tanga Regional Government

Tanzania is ranked 134th in the World Bank Doing Business Report. It has been sliding down the rankings in the past few years. While its economy has been growing over six percent the past ten years, its GDP per capita remains very low at 1700 USD. There is more, much more, that needs to be done for it to achieve its vision of becoming a middle income economy by 2025. Its legacy of socialism under Julius Nyerere remains a drag on its aspirations as there is a pervasive mistrust of free enterprise while bureaucracy remains entrenched and continues to stifle the growth of businesses through miles of red tape and endemic corruption.

It was precisely to address these challenges that the Tanzania Private Sector Foundation (TPSF) was established in 1998 with the mission to act as the apex organization for the private sector and advocate policy reforms that will lead to a better business climate. One of its key mechanisms for influencing policy is the conduct of public-private dialogues (PPDs). These dialogues are meant to ensure the private sector is closely engaged with the government whenever key issues affecting business are discussed and before policy changes are implemented. While TPSF can point to some successes such as the reduction of the skills development levy rates and the adoption of the Kilimo-Kwanza Initiative, there are a lot more areas where genuine reform is needed in order to unleash the energy of the private sector.

My sub-team is in Tanzania to review PPDs and help TPSF improve the process with the ultimate aim of improving the business climate as measured in the WB Doing Business Report rankings. After conducting 69  hours of  interviews with about sixty people over 28 days, and reading TPSF documents and journal articles on PPD, we gave specific recommendations in five key areas:

• One Team - improving unity and representation of interests in order to maximize influence when advocating with government
• Effectiveness of PPDs - understanding what makes a PPD engagement effective through benchmarking and then replicating best practices
• Consistency of Action - viewing PPD as a repeatable process and defining standard procedures
• Communication - informing stakeholders and member associations in a timely basis and using the most appropriate channels of communication
• Capacity Building - developing the ability for better advocacy among members and improving understanding of PPD among government officials

Mid Term Report at the TPSF Office

We have completed our final report and we will present it at the TPSF office this afternoon. TPSF has assured us they are looking forward to our recommendations and will share them to the highest levels of government, including the President. I do not expect wholesale reform to take place overnight and on the basis of a single report done in one month. But if we point out things they would not have thought about otherwise, and helped them take a few steps further on their journey to prosperity, then we will have fulfilled our mission. In the end, we are not after improving rankings on a World Bank report. We are all after encouraging entrepreneurs to take bigger risks so that more jobs are created and more Tanzanians escape the shackles of poverty.

#IBMCSC Tanzania 10 

Tanga

 

Tanga Bay

Tanga is the third largest city of Tanzania but it has the quiet and charming feel of Dumaguete or Bacolod. The streets are clean; there is hardly any traffic; and many people are riding bicycles. The city center is surrounded by buildings from the German and British colonial eras and several green parks where locals sit and hang out.

Tanga is situated in Tanga Bay and is also the location of the second largest port in Tanzania. When we visited the port, it was nowhere as busy as Dar or Manila. While Tanga is beginning to grow again, it has obviously seen better days. In its heyday, Tanga and its surrounding districts were the largest producer of sisal in the world. Sisal is a plant whose fiber is used for making ropes and handicrafts. Then prices plummeted in the 1970s and the industry collapsed.

On our first day in Tanga, we met our hosts from the TCCIA. One TCCIA member, a spice trader and teak farmer called Amrish took us out for lunch at the Raskazone Swimming Club. There were outstanding views of the bay with Toten Island in the distance. He told us that every morning the old men who were members of the club would swim three kilometers across the bay and back. They would then have a nice breakfast at the club while reading the papers. That is the life, I thought.

He regaled us with more interesting stories. He said his grandfather was a stowaway from India at the age of 7 on a ship that traveled to Mombasa, Kenya back in the 19th century. He then journeyed on foot until he reached Tanga where he worked and founded the first post office. Indeed, the post office we saw in the city center still is still in an old house because it remains the residence of his family.

We felt this small town vibe everywhere we went. We felt a warm welcome from everyone. Everyone seemed to know each other and we kept running into people like Amrish while doing errands like buying groceries. I have been in Tanzania for three weeks and I do miss my family badly, but I am already feeling sad about leaving my second home in Africa.

On our first weekend in Tanga, we explored the surrounding attractions. We traveled to the Amboni Caves. We went deep inside the caves and we saw thousands of bats and spiders. There were passages that were so tight I had to duck or crawl to get through. It must have been tough for my tall colleagues from America. We saw a site where locals continue to leave offerings for the spirits. The caves were also used as a hideout by the Mau Mau rebels of Kenya. We, of course, had the requisite tour of rock formations that looked like fruits, animals and certain delicate body parts. When we emerged from the darkness, we heard beautiful singing. It was a Sunday and a Christian congregation happened to have a service right outside the caves.

We then went to the Galanos Sulfur Springs a few kilometers away. We had to walk several kilometers through plantations of coconut and other fruit trees. When we finally arrived, it was really nothing more than a small pond that looked bluish white because of the sulfur. We did see a crocodile and birds' nests.

Finally, in the afternoon, we journeyed north for an hour to the town of Pangani. It was a rough road as many of the roads in Tanzania remain unpaved. The countryside remained wild and beautiful. We saw villages from time to time but most of it was bush. When we arrived at the beach resort, we had a nice lunch of grilled fish and a cold Kilimanjaro.

I took a dip in the Indian Ocean. The water was brown and warm, warmer than I ever felt in the Philippines. The beach was wide and the sand was reddish. It was almost deserted; there were hardly any resorts. A few hundred meters away was a river. I always bragged to my colleagues about how nice the beaches were back home, implying I did not care much for them, but they had a hard time getting me out of the water as I had too much fun swimming. I appreciated the solitude. I still could not believe I was in Africa and I was swimming in the Indian Ocean! I thanked God for my good fortune.

Pangani Beach

In the evening, as we were exploring the nearby sandbars and admiring the majestic dhows sailing home, we had a beautiful, unexpected moment of silence. Mahesh and Isma were walking in the distance when Mahesh started sitting in an Indian lotus sitting position. I sat down too and faced the horizon. I began breathing deeply and rhythmically. I listened to the sound of the waves while I admired the clouds. Marta then sat beside me and started holding her Buddha beads. Birgitte followed suit and sat beside her in silence. Off to the distance, Isma also sat and stared in empty space. We were IBMers from all over the world with different religions. I did not even know if they knew about meditation, but, all of a sudden, there we were communing with nature, admiring the sunset, and being in the moment. What an astounding spiritual experience!

It was quite dark when we decided to head back to the bus. We marveled at the bright stars, which were so much brighter in a place so remote from the blinding lights of the city. Many stars I saw for the first time for I had never been to the Southern Hemisphere before. I thanked the stars for such a wonderful day.

#IBMCSC Tanzania 10 

The Lecture and Debate at Eckernforde University

24 April

The CSC team went to Eckernforde University Tanga on 24 April to deliver a lecture. Eckernforde is a private university with students mostly taking courses in education, business and technology. A university lecture is normally part of the CSC experience so participants have a chance to share their work and their experiences with students while also helping promote their CSC projects. The team delivered a lecture on the following topics: IBM and its expansion in Africa, the future of technology and how IBM is making the planet smarter, lessons learned from the career experiences of IBMers from growth markets, and communication skills for the first interview. In my speech, I emphasized how privileged they were to be in college as less than 1% of students in Tanzania ever reach tertiary education and that they should take this as a responsibility to lead and be successful so that they might create the same opportunities for their countrymen.

The day before the lecture, the team had a big debate in the conference room about the simple question of whether to keep the students in the lecture hall once we open the floor for questions or to divide the students into groups so they could interact more closely with the team. In the end, it was much ado about nothing. The premise for the proposal to divide the group was a false assumption that the students would be too timid to ask questions. As it turned out, that assumption could hardly be further from the truth. Shy they were not, the students of Tanga!

As soon as we opened the discussion, questions began pouring in. It was a large lecture hall with over five hundred students, but those who wanted to ask questions were undeterred. In addition, they were also sending scores of written questions. We were unprepared for the kind of questions they asked. We were expecting questions about jobs in IBM or career advice in general. Instead, they began peppering us with questions about the dangers of globalization, the role of multinational corporations in emerging markets, and IBM's position on key issues of international relations.

There was one student whose line of questioning made us squirm. Instead of welcoming us as guests and thanking us for our effort, he questioned the motives of IBM in visiting the university for a second time without bringing any material things. He suggested we were there to take pictures and nothing more.

I knew the mindset that led them to ask the questions they asked. It was a mindset that continues to blame the white man for all their troubles and remains distrustful of free enterprise and globalization. I knew exactly how to rebut them with the facts and the experience of other emerging economies who face exactly the same problems. So instead of being angry at the cheeky questions, I decided to rebut them point by point. They were, after all, college students still steeped in ideology and eager for an intellectual exchange.

They asked questions about what material things we were bringing to Africa. I told them it was not helpful to keep thinking the white man will bring gifts to them and that the white man will bring them out of poverty. I told them that China and India are growing the way they are because young men like them started taking responsibility and began building businesses and creating jobs. They asked questions about the dangers of globalization including brain drain. I told them that while globalization has its dangers, it was important to take advantage of its benefits. Globalization actually enables countries to reduce brain drain because technology now enables engineers in India and accountants in the Philippines to provide the same service without moving to the United States. They asked about how corporations like IBM are training Africans to make machines instead of selling machines to them. This was the old underdevelopment thesis about developing countries being exploited for raw material and becoming the market for finished goods. They said it was only the white man who makes machines. I told them that if he insisted on talking about skin color, then it is not the white man, but the yellow man from China who is making all the machines now! Furthermore, manufacturing is no longer the only path to growth. India grew so fast in the last few decades because of services. They became the back office and IT helpdesk of the world. I then reinforced the point that in today's knowledge economy, it is not material things that matter but their ability to educate their workforce and build human capital.

It was easy for some to think of IBM as another American company that has come to exploit the resources of a Third World country. I believe we helped dispel that notion by answering their questions with candor and competence, but also simply because most of us actually come from emerging economies like Tanzania. It was hard to argue IBM was a mzungu company when most of its employees are not even white anymore. Most of us, especially my colleagues from Argentina, Brazil, China, India and Mexico were actually like them and we were on a shared journey to take our economies out of poverty and improve the lot of our countrymen.

We were expecting to give basic career advice; we forgot that Africans are still grappling with older and deep seated, even outdated, questions of history. I can only we made a little difference in their thinking. I hope they have begun thinking of themselves not as victims of history but as agents of change. As Marta so beautifully put it, if we continue to blame others for our problems, then we believe the solutions are outside us and not within us. But if we believe the solutions are within, then we have the power to act.

#IBMCSC Tanzania 10