Break Time

Arusha, 15-Sep-2011

My co-worker and Community Coordinators: Wilson, Evarest and Jordan

Damn time flies fast! A month and a half went by while I am working on my Ilboru Livelihood program and grant round. For someone who’s used to living it up, visiting new places every week and taking the long road, it is quite a shock. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love the work I am doing and I am happily burning the midnight candle to get things done faster but I needed a bigger brake then the regular dinners and night out in town.

Our gang

I was in luck too: my host family, the Kimambo, was the best one out of all the other volunteers’ families including the ones from other organizations. I build up a fun and great relationship with my brothers and made sure we’re always together whenever I was out in town with my volunteer friends. All in all the group was composed of: Ishan, a teenage Californian working with me, Matthias, Andrea and Tobias, 3 fun Danish volunteers working in an orphanage and my 2 brothers Wilibrod and Gady. I even sometimes managed to get permission from Mama to have my younger brothers, Dominic and Gody, join us on an outing. Soon enough we all gelled together and we started planning bigger excursions.

Homes

That bodes well since I took it on myself to set-up a Safari company for Gady and Wilibrod to allow them to reap the benefits of the tourist industry vs. being at the mercy of the big Safari companies.  Imagine that as professional registered guide, Wilibrod makes $10/day while a 1 day camping Safari starts @ U$D150/day (at least double the price for lodge stay). The difference in income between the majority of Tanzanian and the top percentile of rich entrepreneurs is staggering (96.6% of Tanzanian live at less than U$D2 per day >> see WIKI – click on the sort arrow in table and Tanzania is worst between the 125 polled countries). You should just walk Arusha’s rich neighborhoods where villas rival anything you see in Westmount (Montreal) or the Bridal Path (Toronto).   And while I am working on the logistics, costs and marketing of our new company, Wilibrod and Gady were preparing trips for their first “clients”: us :). We wanted to climb Kilimanjaro and go on Safari. But as a start we set our aims on a more modest targets: before Kili, let’s start by training our sore legs with hikes in & around Arusha’s beautiful surroundings and before we drive into the Serengeti’s endless plains, how about visiting a couple of nearby National Parks?

Join me on these trips by checking the pictures

Photo album

Badai

Sami