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

Bagamoyo

13th Century Kaole Ruins at Bagamoyo

Last Sunday, the team went for an excursion to Bagamoyo, an old, quiet town that was once a center for slave trading. We first explored the Kaole Ruins, where still stands a mosque built in the 13th century when the Shirazi from Persia dominated the area. Among the ruins were 22 tombs. Just a few meters from the ruins was the area where Dr. Livingstone landed as he began his mission to heal the "open sore of the world," - slavery. Before we left the area, we posed for pictures under a giant baobab tree. It was said to be 500 years old so it was there way before many of the Europeans arrived in East Africa.

Driving a few kilometers north,we finally entered the center of Bagamoyo. We were welcomed by an imposing boma, a fortified structure build during the German period. The guide showed us a tiny room where 25 slaves at a time were kept with little light and ventilation. He also pointed to the long chains that were used to pull the slaves who all had a big metal chain around the neck fastened to the longer chain. We walked towards the sea and we saw a monument where once stood the gallows used by the Germans to hang dissidents. A few meters away, I saw the Indian Ocean for the first time. In the distance, we could see the dhows, fishing boats with triangular sails that have been plying this route for centuries.

A few kilometers away, we saw more pictures and artifacts about slavery at the Catholic mission in Bagamoyo. The mission acted as a refuge for rescued slaves. A plaque marks the spot where Dr Livingstone's remains where kept for one night before they were sent home to Scotland. We ended the day at the slave port. Right before the port was a fish market where we saw the vendors deep frying fish in large pans filled with boiling oil. Some of them were exasperated at tourists taking photos so we kept our cameras away. At the port itself, we saw nothing more than an enclosure and a small stone jetty.

I imagined the plight of the slaves. I saw a man thinking of his beautiful wife and two small children while busily tending his livestock when the slaver suddenly arrives with a gun. He and his friends are tied to a long chain and they march from the interior of Africa for nine months with just enough food and water to survive. At certain towns they are made to carry heavy elephant tusks to be sold as ivory. After marching for nearly a year, they are herded to the tiny room in the boma where they stay for two days. Several of them die from the ordeal. Hungry, tired, and weak, they are chained once more and dragged to the slave port where they catch a glimpse of the sea for the first time in their lives. As they stagger at the vastness of the ocean and as they see the dhows waiting to carry them to the slave market at Zanzibar, they realize this is the end of life as they know it - all hope escapes them. Many of them exclaim, "I lay down my heart," - Bwaga-Moyo. Such is the painful story of hundreds of thousands behind the name Bagamoyo.

#IBMCSC Tanzania 10

Dhows at the former slave port

Corporate Service Corps in Tanzania

Schoolboys on a field trip resting under a giant baobab tree at the National Museum

 

I joined the CSC program because, like many IBMers, I wanted to make a difference to the company and to the world. I continue to be amazed at how IBM chose to create a Corporate Social Responsibility program around helping communities in emerging economies by sending teams of IBMers from all over the world to bring their experience and expertise to bear on a social problem. It seems easier to donate cash or servers, but a program that develops global leaders, opens up new markets for IBM, and benefits NGOs, educational institutions and governments in rural areas is a truly more imaginative way of approaching CSR, one in keeping with the IBM value of "Innovation that matters."

Colonial era hospital building at Ocean Road

Tanzania is a sprawling country in East Africa with more than forty million people. It is fortunate to have enjoyed peace for most of its modern history unlike many other African countries mired in civil war. Yet the country remains poor, with a GDP per capita of 1700 USD. It is the ultimate destination for safaris as it is the home of the Serengeti National Park where one of nature's greatest spectacles, the Great Migration of wildebeests, takes place every year. Yet the sad reality is most of the population do not earn enough to pay the steep fees required to join a safari.

Two dalla-dallas waiting for passengers under the pouring masika rains

As I walked the streets of Dar es Salaam, I felt the energy of a fast growing city in an economy growing 6.5% annually. With 5 million people, Dar is becoming like other mega cities of the world - a magnet for opportunity but a also a recipe for traffic congestion and urban sprawl. I could not help but compare with my own city of Manila. I saw images of poverty with some beggars and street children on the streets, but I noticed the streets were clean and the number of people was not nearly as much as in Manila. Yet there were also enclaves of privilege and power like Makati where one sometimes feels he is no longer in a Third World country. I could not walk and take pictures with as much leisure in some areas as I kept being approached by touts calling out "Hey, friend" as they would say "Hey Joe" in Manila. I politely said no and simply walked on. At the end of my first day, I entered the St Joseph Cathedral where I attended mass in Swahili. I prayed for strength and compassion so I might be able to complete my mission well and keep the people of Tanzania front and center in my thoughts. We are, after all, on a shared journey towards a better life for our people and I hope the CSC program, in its own small way, takes us a few steps further on that journey.

St. Joseph's Cathedral in Dar es Salaam

Tanzanian riding a bike on Coco Beach

#IBMCSC Tanzania 10

Pico de Loro

Pico de Loro was beautiful. It was so far and so isolated. The sunset that capped Elle and Mico's wedding was gorgeous. The cove itself was a nice slice of beach paradise as land surrounds almost completely a small inlet of water perfect for swimming. The isolation was emphasized by the cacophony of birdsong one could hear almost everywhere. We were there to attend the wedding of Mico and Elle both of whom were direct reports when I still a team leader in the Learning domain of IBM. They first met at IBM and it was with great joy that I came to celebrate the union of two people I used to manage and mentor.

I prayed hard during the Mass. I thanked the Lord for the sacrament of marriage. A wedding ceremony never fails to make me cry. The ceremony was beautiful in its own way. It was held in a chapel overlooking the cove and with a direct view of the setting sun. Mico and Elle were visibly happy. I pray for their happiness. I pray that they may have courage and strength as they go through their journey as a married couple.

The only thing that marred the weekend was the expenses. I could not help but feel that I was being fleeced as I was asked to pay for so many things while we were there, from guest fees, to cash cards to even the use of towels. We shrugged it off as typical SM way of doing things, simply lacking the class and generosity one experiences from other hospitality providers.

Yesterday, before we went back to Manila, I floated on the water and listened. I thanked the Lord for bringing Elle and Mico together and bringing my family to such a beautiful place. I listened to the waves and the birds. I thanked the local spirits for their hospitality. I never fail to be amazed at how beautiful my country is. Only three hours away from home was another slice of paradise. I hope to climb Pico de Loro - the parrot's peak as Martin de Goiti called it five centuries ago - some time soon and admire Hamilo Coast once more but from the perspective of a bird.

Bataan

We had a great weekend in Bataan. First, we climbed Mt Samat and paid tribute to the fallen heroes at the Shrine of Valor. We rode the elevator to the top of the 360 foot cross on the peak of the 500 meter tall mountain. The view of Manila Bay and Mount Mariveles was astounding. It was not easy to imagine this as a battleground. The land was so green and beautiful one can hardly hear the echoes of artillery shells and bombs landing. Yet it was there seventy years ago that Filipinos and Americans fought side by side against superior Japanese forces and resisted for nearly four months before finally surrendering on April 9, a day we commemorate every year as the Day of Valor.

We then drove to the Pawikan Sanctuary in Morong. I did not expect the room to be as nice or the beach as beautiful. The sand was not white but it was fine and the sunset was majestic, probably the most beautiful I have seen in my life. You have to respect the wisdom of the turtles in choosing a beach where they have laid eggs for tens of millions of years. We walked three kilometers on the beach at around 9pm in search of a turtle laying her eggs but we did not find any so we just turned back. I did have a good time talking to my brother Richard while admiring the brilliant night sky.

Early the next morning, we took the turtles that hatched the previous night to the beach. We released them a few meters from the shore and they soon flapped their flippers toward the horizon. The moment when they finally reached the water and started swimming in the vast ocean was so special my eyes welled with tears. For are we not, like them, little beings thrust into the mighty ocean of life with all its lurking dangers? They will struggle and only one out of a hundred will live. But that survivor will come back to those very shores in twenty years to breed and spawn the next generation of life. Nature is magnificent and a true wonder to behold.

We left the sanctuary before lunch and headed to the nearby town of Bagac where we checked in at Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar, a resort where the owner, an architect and construction magnate, has recreated a Philippine colonial town by assembling his collection of old houses from all over the country. Colonial houses are called bahay na bato as the first storey is made of adobe walls. The second floor is made of wood and is characterized by large windows with capiz panes, ventanillas below the windows that let in air, and high ceilings that allow the air to circulate. When I build my own house, it will be inspired by these houses. We had a fine promenade in the afternoon as we took a tour of the houses and learned of their history. We capped the day by walking to the nearby beach to admire the sunset once more.

Yesterday, a Monday, we had a leisurely Filipino breakfast at Cafe Marivent. The kids then spent the last couple of hours of our vacation playing in the pool. At 11am, we drove off to go back to the city after a relaxing and renewing weekend of history, nature and culture in surprisingly beautiful Bataan.

Boracay New Year 2011

We remember this trip for how difficult Titus was during his terrible twos. Here is a wonderful corrective to that memory:

Boracay was breathtakingly beautiful. It was the most beautiful place we have ever been to. It exceeded our expectations. The sand was really white and powdery. The water was crystal clear, but seen from the beach, it was a magical display of different hues of blue from light blue to turquoise to the dark blue of the deep sea. There were many establishments and tourists, but it did not feel crowded at all. We did not engage in water activities because sitting by the beach and enjoying a beer while reading a book was enough to fill the day. We enjoyed the food at Don Vito's where we had the best Osso Buco and a glass of Sidecar. We also had a great dinner at Lemon Cafe where the tiger prawns with coconut risotto was exploding with flavor. We spent a lot of time walking around the shops at D'Mall and taking lots of photos - almost every angle was picture perfect. On our last day, we built a sandcastle and we really started to feel relaxed. Magnus walked around carrying a bag while butt naked. I swam for a while and prayed, thanking the Lord for the sheer majesty of the place and the fact that we were there as a family celebrating the new year.