A Little bit of India...in Dar

Written on April 19, 2008 from Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania
By Max Anders

Sixteen hours in Dar es Salaam…

Julia and I had one question: Where’s the good Indian food? The seven hour smooth and pleasant bus ride from Dodoma allowed us ample time to discuss in depth our ideal meal, occasionally being distracted by the gorgeous scenery out the window. The green, now noticeably more tropical, rural landscape suddenly turned urban and like a slap to the face, we had arrived in Dar.

Through the churning city, packed with people waiting in crowds at crosswalks and markets, we remained resolute in our culinary mission. Traffic slowed things down but allowed us a more thorough scan of the sidewalks. “What about that one? That looks like it could be a good restaurant.” Trying without much success to mentally map the route from the prospective restaurant to the bus station, we grabbed our luggage from the belly of the bus and went to meet our driver, Steven.

The Tanzania country director, Richard Mazengo, had arranged our transportation around Dar with his friend Steven. We were instructed to exit the bus terminal upon arrival and wait for Steven to find us so he could help us run some errands and find a hotel. Without a picture to identify Steven, we were to confirm his name before getting into his car. Richard had warned us of opportunistic taxi drivers who might assume the identity of whomever we wanted in order to jack the price up on two clueless foreigners. Outside the station, amidst simultaneous offers of “taxi sir?” we play the “are you my driver” game. It goes a little something like this:

“Friend. Taxi?”
“No thanks, we are waiting for some one to pick us up.” (Could this be Steven?)
“Who are you waiting for?
“Ahh…I forget. What’s your name?”
“Peter.”
“No, you’re not him. Thanks.”

I think the group of helpful taxi drivers, not devious in the least, thought we were insane. But not long after we made it through interrogating all of the available taxi drivers like spies, a white taxi rolled up with a giant, smiling man inside. Exploding out the door saying, “Steven. I am Steven,” he apologized for being late and ushered us into his car.

Having completed all our necessary tasks, Steven asked us where we wanted to stay. As our flight left early the next morning, the obvious answer was close to the airport. But resolute to our objective, we replied “wherever the best restaurants are.”

And so we found ourselves waving bye to Steven and watching his taxi sputter down the bumpy alley outside our hotel in central Dar es Salaam. It had gotten dark so we rushed to check in and put our things down. Up and down four flights of creaky stairs with lumpy luggage on our backs, panting, we were ready to eat.

We stepped outside into the warm, humid night and were greeted by a lively street scene set in dim light. Realizing we had absolutely no idea where we were and not a clue where the closest Indian restaurant was, we did the most sensible thing we could think of: find a group of Indians and ask them. In broken Hindi, rusty from almost five years of disuse, I managed to learn the approximate location of a highly recommended, “first class” restaurant, Maratha.

As advised, we took a taxi to avoid dangerous neighborhoods and were dropped off in the general vicinity of Maratha. It seemed a good sign that the vast majority of businesses and people on the street were Indian. We wandered back and forth, asking people every five minutes and couldn’t help but feel like we were playing a game of “hot and cold.” Finely, after particularly detailed instructions, we found ourselves standing outside a large blue building with a sign that read: Community Badminton Center – Members only.

Hungry, confused, and totally lost, we almost gave up. In a last attempt, we peeked our heads in through the door and asked the security guard who was lounging in a white plastic chair if he knew where Maratha Restaurant was. “You are here, please come in.” His smile was welcoming, especially after we paid the $1 non member entry fee.

Not entirely sure of what was happening, we entered the small gate and walked into the large outdoor courtyard. Indian families sat around plastic tables in front of a large screen TV that played cricket and ate from silver dishes full of delicious looking food. On one side of the courtyard was a bar where older Indian men drank beer from tall skinny glasses and smoked cigarettes. On the opposite side of the courtyard a full sized indoor badminton court hosted four lunging and swatting players. The hard plastic window that separated the badminton court from the outside area allowed people to watch the surprisingly competitive action in between overs of cricket or bites of dal.

A Chuck E. Cheese style jungle gym and playground was tucked to the side of the badminton court and completed the family atmosphere. Julia and I sat in awe of our shahi paneer, our taste buds celebrating like the middle aged badminton players who just had won a point, and watched adorable Indian kids squiggle down the purple plastic slide. Later we chatted with two men from Mumbai about life in Tanzania. They told us of the vibrant Indian immigrant community in Dar as well as the friendly relations between Indians and Africans.

Our bellies full of spices - chili and cinnamon, coriander and cardamom - we sat contently and enjoyed our surroundings. Our mission had been accomplished and we were ready to return to the world of ugali with new vigor.

VEF's response to internal conflict in Kenya

Written from Kakamega, Kenya on March 22, 2008

By Julia Hack-Davie

Current Situation
The current situation in Kenya is surprisingly calm. People move about freely and on the surface it appears as though life has gone back to normal. Public transport has resumed and there is no fear involved in traveling (aside to currently unstable destinations such as Mt. Elgon and Laikipia) even far distances. The general attitude is still undecided as to what the peace agreement will bring but most of our beneficiaries maintain a hopeful outlook. Basic foodstuffs and other items such as phone credits are again available although prices have increased significantly. Gas prices have doubled and thus many of our businesses are suffering with increased cost of virtually all of their goods and consequently very low sales.

During the Conflict
From speaking with various businesses and VBMs, I have gathered that the violence essentially put a stop to all movement even within the more remote villages. Although none of these remote villages were directly affected, those along the main Kakamega-Kisumu highway and those in Kakamega town were affected. I visited businesses that had all of their stock stolen during rioting and a few who were physically beaten down by GSU police and suffered serious injuries (one of which was a 69 year old member of Awa Stores, a VEF poultry business). Many of these groups exhausted their savings accounts to replenish the stock and start from square one again in early-mid February. Others that were not directly affected were either unable to do business because of unavailability of transport and danger involved with travel or were forced to consume their goods because holed up in their homes, they had run out of food. During this time, VBMs were unable to visit businesses and only in the last 6 weeks were able to begin to reconnect with beneficiaries and evaluate the impact of the instability on VEF businesses. No VBMs or staff have been directly affected.

VBM Gathering Results
The VBMs were very happy that the US office was supporting them during the crisis. The VBMs objectively analyzed 5 of their best businesses and found that all of them had been at least indirectly affected by the violence. Some in Siaya, Kakamega, Nairobi, Namanga and Busia were affected directly by the violence. These that were affected directly were on main roads or in central areas. The VBMs overwhelmingly felt that small businesses could be funded based on a general feeling of consistently improving security and availability of transport. Since the VBM gathering, transport costs have continued to decrease and today are approximately 5-10% higher than pre-election costs. For long distance travel, fares have remained high as many bus companies were adversely affected by the violence (buses burned, etc) and are attempting to recoup those costs. In terms of next steps, the VBMs proposed various options to assist businesses affected. VBMs request training to equip them with the skills to counsel the businesses that have been psychologically affected by the violence and additional transport funding to cover this mentoring. They also wanted to express that they felt very supported by the Kenya staff in disbursing the PRs.

Next Steps
The consensus recommendation is that we must move forward with SB funding in Kenya. People now more than ever need the support and encouragement of Village Enterprise Fund. With increased security and transport readily available, the environment is one in which the staff believes start-up businesses can continue to thrive. A resurgence of violence in light of the current progress of the Peace Agreement seems very unlikely in the eyes of both VBMs and staff. The VBMs also would find it very helpful to be able to participate in a training specifically targeting the psychological counseling involved in mentoring businesses adversely affected.

Safe Arrival in Kenya

Written on March 21st from Kakamega, Kenya

By Julia Hack-Davie

Hello Everyone!I am having an amazing time here in Kenya although at times I feel like a chicken running around with its head cut off (I felt this was a somewhat culturally appropriate simile to use here). From the first day, Wilson and I sat down and created a hectic schedule of me visiting about 10 different VBMs to become acquainted with the areas that we work in and also to do a random survey of businesses that have been funded in the last year or those that are awaiting funding. This is actually one of the first full days I have had the opportunity to sit down with a stable supply of electricity and give some feedback on what I have seen here so far. At first glance you could arrive in Kenya and never guess that only a few months ago, cars were burning, and people were mourning over lives lost and the uncertain future of their country. Today people line the streets going to and from markets, schools and jobs, laughing and smiling as they encounter one another. There is no cloud of tension and uneasiness that I tried to so thoroughly prepare myself for. In fact, this Kenya seems oddly similar on the surface to the one that I visited nearly a year ago. People are optimistic about the future and truly hope that they can piece back together their country. As the peace process is not yet finalized, EVERYONE I encounter has the most recent news of the day as to what Parliament has passed, what the latest is on who has been appointed to what post, etc. People are closely following the progress as they are determined to see significant change out of what they have endured. It is truly a unique and fascinating time to see Kenyans attempting to redefine their country through government.