Category: Latest blog posts

Wow, this week has been full on!

I have spent around 60 hours on training etc. at the Iringa Sunset Hotel. And although it has been a lot of hard work (for free!), I have enjoyed it immensely! The willingness and enthusiasm of (almost) all the staff there has been so rewarding. First half of the week I did shadowing and observation of each department. I had, in particular, looked forward to the day in the kitchen as I was desperate to show them how to make a ‘proper’ pizza… and they really liked the pizza I made, but then just continued to make it their own way – haha – therefore the ‘almost’ above… But I got a huge amount of data from all the sessions which resulted in a Wednesday action planning meeting with the management team to discuss my recommendations.

Wednesday was actually a really great day in general… rest in the morning, action planning in the afternoon – we decided on 15 actions which were prioritised and allocated to each person, it felt to good to get things down on paper (flipchart) for them to get started on. Then I walked and walked for about an hour and a half… up and down the hill, watched a bit of a football ‘match’ and just enjoyed getting out and being alone with my thoughts until Carelynn joined me for the second half of the walk and we had a lovely catch-up. The evening finished with dinner at the hotel, a bottle of wine and random music sent to me by my friend, Jerry… and when he sent me Nina Simone’s Feeling Good, the day was complete…

“It’s a new dawn, it’s a new day, it’s a new life… and I’m feeling good.” 

Yes, that summed it up perfectly for me!

The rest of the week I did learning needs analysis and personal development plans with the supervisors and managers at the hotel, which showed a huge gap in their skills and even in their understanding of what they need to learn… And last but not least we prepared a Cocktail evening for Saturday night. The staff really enjoyed being part of that and learning something new – was a lot of fun! Oh and Mojito was by far the most popular cocktail.

My friend Timo and his wonderful son, Jason!

Final de-brief with the hotel director, Baptista, will happen tomorrow… and then my stay in Iringa is almost over. I will be very sad to leave all my friends here, but need to get back to the business of setting up my business… Lawyer meeting etc. in Zanzibar next week and then back to Arusha on the 1st December. Can’t believe it Christmas soon… here there’s no decorations or xmas hype, so it’s easy to forget the time of year, and because of the weather as well, of course.

Right! Time to close the laptop and take the wine out of the freezer (the fridge is not working here at the hostel – have been looking after the place as Carelynn was away celebrating Thanksgiving out of town) and then I will have my first cinema experience in Africa a little later!

After arriving in Iringa, everything has gotten quite busy all of a sudden! Well, not really super busy – this is Africa after all, but have stuff to do all the time, it seems.

Back in January, I did some training at a hotel here in Iringa and I have agreed with the Manager to continue the team’s training… this time with focus on line manager level and leadership. Preparing for that is what takes up most of my time… and am very excited about starting on Sunday.

Other things that keep me busy:

Kilifair arrangements
This is a big tourism exhibition which takes place in June next year. I am hoping to be able to do a seminar (45 minute talk) about the importance of training and developing to their business – and think I will also invest in having a stand. Should be worth it as a sales & marketing activity.

Youth Development proposal writing
Some friends of mine want to request funding from a USAID project to support youth development within their community. Their plan is to take business degree graduates and provide them with some of the learning and support which they do not get at university to make them business ready – either to get employment or to start their own business! I am helping them put together the approach to their programme and write the proposal and maybe I will also get some consultancy work through this, so it is worth my time from a selfish point of view as well as just feeling good about helping friends!

My website
Sure, I could probably do it myself, but I know what I’m like! I wouldn’t be able to decide on the colours, the font, the layout, the photos etc, so it would take me forever! And, I would like to support someone here if they are able to do it… so am talking to a few people to find the best option. Would really like the website to be up before the end of the year.

Seeing friends
One of the main reasons I travelled to the south of Tanzania was to be around friends, and I am really enjoying the fact that every day I either bump into someone I know or I can arrange lunch or a drink over which to have a good chat!

Zanzibar trip
After Iringa I have decided to head to Zanzibar again. I am seeing a lawyer there who can advise me on how I can do business there as well… there are different tax rules etc, so probably need to have a totally separate set-up there – will need to see if it is worth it. Will also try to have some follow-up meetings with the people I met last month, who seemed interested in training.

And then there is all the usual stuff of course – shopping, cooking, washing (yuk), cleaning… When in Iringa, I normally stay with my friend Carelynn at her hostel but she a) has a lot of guests coming later this week and b) had a recently stitched cat (after a fight) and three flee-infested kittens at the hostel. As most of you will know, I am not a cat lover (understatement!) and although kittens are cuter than the adult version, we agreed that it was better that I stay at our friend’s house (Jerry) just 2 minutes down the road. He is not there much as he travels between here and Dar es Salaam a lot, so it was a good solution until I ‘move’ to stay at the hotel on the weekend.

I did have to do some ‘kitten sitting’ the other day, though. Carelynn had washed the flees away and found new homes for the three little ones. Two of them were handed of sooner than the last one, so she was a little sad and needed a little TLC… not sure I did a great job, but now she is in a very loving home for sure!

So the house where I am staying is in the compound of a larger family (not Jerry’s) and there is just no escaping lots of animals in this town it seems! Here is the greeting I normally get when walking out the door in the morning… makes me laugh every day!

Over the past couple of weeks, I have been stuck… hmmm, that’s probably not quite the right word but nothing else comes to mind right now… so yeah, I have been stuck with some big decisions to make – well one big decision, I guess.

But making decisions for my own life is another of my weaknesses, so I have been uhm’ing and ah’ing, which is stupid really, as I had a clear plan coming here! A lot of well-meaning people here have been offering advice, which hasn’t helped – it has just confused the matters more somehow and there has been some heart & brain conflicts! Do you guys know those comics? They always make me laugh & think…

Anyway, I digress! The decision should really have been easy. The purpose for me to come here is to work, to make a difference and to be happy, so what if the set-up cost is almost $10,000? It is just the investment I have to make, right? (the heart speaking). But then the brain somehow kicked in and needed to make lists, budget plans and speak to lawyers for hours on end!

Then I remembered something I read a while ago – probably something my life coach gave me.

Life will only change when you become more committed to your dreams
than you are to your comfort zone.

That, together with the last lawyer meeting, seemed to align my brain and my heart somehow, so decision made! It’s full steam ahead, but it’ll be quite the process:

1. Set up company in Tanzania – with help from a lawyer, who have recommended to set up as a non-profit organisation. A lot to be done here, a few of the important activities:
   • Who should the other directors be? I cannot be the sole director like in the UK
   • Decide upon and find an office location
   • Find employees
   • Find accountant
2. Get work permit
3. Get residency permit

The lawyers felt that the company set-up should take a month’s time from I give them the go ahead and all the info they need. My guess is that it will probably take longer, knowing Africa like I do. The permits they suggested would be sorted within three months.

So the only way I will be able to do any work here before mid next year (because I will be in Europe April & May) will be if I get a contract with a hotel or lodge to do their training and then enter Tanzania on a business visa after the New Year (my tourist visa expires on 3rd Jan)… They would then have to pay be as a consultant to my UK bank account…

Sorry that is a lot of dull explanations of the complexity and bureaucracy here, but that’s the way it is… and that also explains better my last post about patience, I guess!

Aaaanyway, I have now arrived in Iringa. The bus ride was shorter than expected – around 12 1/2 hours, but it was horrid nonetheless. Mediocre bus conditions (no toilet or aircon onboard of course), hardly any breaks for stretching or peeing, and I wasn’t able to sleep too much so it was quite the drag. At time the 3G connection was good enough for me to listen to the cricket commentary from Sri Lanka, though, so that helped!

I had a good sleep although could have been longer… Today is all about food shopping – they don’t have the fancy western supermarkets here, but the central market is very good – and then I am meeting up with friends during the day and evening… (oh and possibly also need a nap at some point!). Have a great Thursday!

I am not blessed with much patience, I’d even go as far as saying that lack of patience is one of my biggest weaknesses – am sure you all agree! 😉

It will, therefore, also not come as a surprise to you that a) I’m getting pretty bored of not doing anything and b) that I am quite frustrated by the seemingly complex and costly process of being allowed to work here in Tanzania.

But then, when scrolling through social media yesterday, I saw this quote:

And that’s when I realised that I have had totally the wrong attitude! Instead of enjoying a life of no deadlines, no demanding schedules and no stress, I have been missing exactly that… not to London levels but still… The structure, working towards something, seeing a tangible output – I have had none of that for the past four weeks and that has left me feeling rather useless and a little lost!

Even though I make my daily to do lists still, the tasks seem unimportant and often like a waste of time.

But I need to embrace that this is my life for a little while… it will be a few months, I fear, before I will be able to work here legally (more on that later), so I have to find a way to enjoy waiting!!

And that starts with leaving Arusha, at least for a while. I don’t feel great in this city – it feels too busy,  too dirty and not very safe. I keep being ‘harrassed’ when walking down the street – which annoys the hell out of me – but most importantly my friends are not here!

So have started the plans and arrangements for a trip down south – back to Iringa to enjoy a more positive attitude surrounded by old friends in a safer and quieter environment for a few weeks. 😊

After a rather depressing week with rain, rain and more rain and a disheartening trip to the immigration and labour offices, I was glad to see Friday come around and therefore also fireworks night in Arusha.

It was hosted by one of the international schools here and was sort of a Guy Fawkes night thing, although a little early. There were lots of activities for children, a bar, lots of food stalls and a stage for some live music and dancing plus a DJ for some good tunes throughout the evening.

Kala had invited me along and I was most grateful to get out of the house and have a few laughs! She had warned me that the fireworks of course would not be as impressive as in London, but I was actually surprised by it. It was on for 20 minutes and had a great finale! And luckily the rain stayed away for a few hours!

The place closed at 10pm, so we got back in the car with the three girls in the back (Kala’s two daughters and their nanny). As we were working out the ultimate playlist for the drive back, the car started shaking crazily and it was clear we had a puncture! Eeek. By then it had started drizzling again and we were in the middle of nowhere on a very dark and quite busy stretch of road.

Kala and I were determined to show proper girl power and not ask anyone for help. The two older girls were holding our phones as torches whilst we put those triangle thingies out and put music on in the car! My mind had to think right back to when I was 18 and my dad taught me how to change a tyre! I think, I did him proud… 🙂

After a good half an hour of trying to get the jack to work, we realised it was actually a little broken, so we were very grateful that a kind guy stopped and lent us his jack. But we took off the punctured tyre ourselves and popped the reserve on! There were a few high fives and a bit of dancing in the road before we, very dirty and wet, got back in the car and drove home!

Safely back, cue celebrations with some coffee tequila liquor for Kala and me… weird combo, but it wasn’t bad considering I don’t like tequila or coffee… so all in all a fun night and and a real boost to my mood.

The week ahead will be determined by another visit to the labour office on Monday… but I fear that it will be another week of ‘nothing’ – as more rain is forecast (it is the ‘short rains’ season), so need to start thinking about a plan B, C and D very quickly…

Enjoy your weekend, everyone, and the extra hour of sleep you’ll get tonight. No summer time here, so the time difference between you and me will be an extra hour… so I’ll be 2 hours ahead of mainland Europe and 3 hours ahead of the UK.

Have returned to Arusha after what I hope was a successful trip to the wonderful island of Zanzibar… but won’t really know until I get a proper contract for work, I guess. I have sent six emails to pitch for training work at hotel level and sent my CV to an interesting NGO in Zanzibar who currently work with young adults… and one of their courses is hospitality so might be some work there. So keep your fingers crossed for me!

Everyone I have spoken to since I got here has advised me against working with the education authorities, they say it takes too long and is, too much of a hassle. And VETA here in Arusha have not been back in touch so maybe they are really not interested in my help… I won’t give up, though, but do think I’ll have to make it a second priority – get some experience and good connections, build my TZ portfolio and then try again at a later stage…

Anyway enough about work! I wanted to share three other things that have occupied my mind in the past week:

1.  Recycling 

I always tend to say that Africa is behind the western world by about 2 or 3 generations in most facets of life. And recycling is no exception, but I do think that Zanzibar might catch up sooner than the rest of Tanzania. There is more of a focus on responsible business amongst the hotels and resorts, it seems… (paper straws, filtered water etc.) although there is still a lot of work to be done. And, I saw this amazing initiative at the Tourism Show which I just really wanted to support, so I bought a plant!

But it’s actually the pot that is interesting, as it is made of recycled hard plastic – mainly water and other plastic bottle tops. This lady (Sjani) is passionate about recycling and their vision is to get the right machines to also recycle the water bottles themselves. Here is some information on the project, their vision and how they made the plant pot (bowl). Am staying in touch with Sjani and hope to get more involved in this project if I end up settling in Zanzibar.

2. Washing [sigh]

A few people have asked me ‘what will you miss the most?’ – and apart from the obvious; friends and family, I was only really able to name bacon… but I am already missing a washing machine a hell of a lot. Washing everything by hand is such a pain in the arse! First of all, it hurts my hands… I also don’t feel like the clothes get properly clean and finally it’s just boring as hell.

As soon as I get some paid work, I have promised myself to hire a local lady to wash my clothes! That sounds like such a diva or expat yuki thing to do, but I tell myself that I give some sort of employment to a local person…is not all bad, right?? Please agree with me! 😉

3. Water

OK, it’s the same theme as point one but a different point… Arriving here I was determined to keep my plastic waste to a minimum in particular since there is no official recycling here and the water bottles (and other plastics) just gets either discarded in nature or burnt as part of the other household rubbish.

Plan A was to boil tap water, put into bottles and refrigerate. FAIL. The water tasted horribly for some reason. Any ideas why?

So plan B is now water refill. Today I purchased 20 litres of water in this large bottle. I also bought a funnel, so now I can fill up my smaller bottles and when the large bottle is finished, I bring it back and get a new one. The bottle itself costs 15,000 tsh and the water 10,000 tsh. So not only am I making a significant cost saving but also wasting a lot less plastic… Feeling good about that!

Have a great week everyone!

Just as life was starting to feel a little too difficult, a little lonely and a little like too much hard work in Arusha, I arrived in Zanzibar. Yes, I’m here for work and for doing ‘dreadful’ networking, but just being here makes me feel like I’m on holiday or on a new adventure.

My Swahili tutor back in London has always encouraged me to set up my life in Zanzibar and I am starting to think that he might be right somehow.

The networking today was pretty successful. I had two ‘yes please, we need training’ and two ‘maybe, let’s talk’ which is not bad for a few hours of chat!

But I am really still hoping to be able to work with VETA – the vocational education authority here – and they are in Arusha, so… But who knows if they want my help! I went there for a meeting last week, but I didn’t manage to speak to he decision makers as they were offsite. Am waiting for an email to set up a meeting with them for next week, so we’ll see – but as you all know, I’m not the most patient person in the world, so the waiting time is getting on my nerves a bit! Haha 😆

Anyway, another day and a half here… more networking tomorrow but will also try to get a bit of culture in, I think. I did spend half a fortune on the flight here after all! Internal flights are very expensive in TZ – no Ryanair here! The return flight from Arusha to Zanzibar cost me $290, to be fair it was a last minute booking, so might have been cheaper in advance… Staying at a pretty cheap hotel though, Jambo Guest House in Stone Town – it’s great though. Shared bathroom but the shower is heavenly, it’s clean, breakfast is tasty and the WiFi is strong – can’t ask for any more for $30 per night!

So… as I was enjoying a gin & tonic with the sunset this evening I really felt like I was living the life that I set out to live… and I know it’s not going to be beautiful sunset drinks all the time and that sometimes life will be shitty and a bit lonely, but these are the moments I have to remember to get through those times.

Starting a new life is not easy… I did it when I moved to London for university and to a degree in Munich as well… and I was thoroughly miserable for a few weeks each time… trying to be more pragmatic this time (I am older after all!) but even though this really is my dream, it’s still difficult to start again… new surroundings, new friends, new habits etc. But today I’m optimistic and happy!

I love hearing from you all by the way… helps me a lot! Sending hugs to everyone back home… and cheers!

Over the Summer, back in crazy busy London, I promised myself to have a different lifestyle here in Africa… and just after a week in Tanzania it is going quite well! I sleep more, drink more water, eat healthier (not difficult!) and I give myself time for daily exercise.

The exercise is nothing serious, just some Pilates and strengthening activities with squats and stuff. Oh and held the plank for 1 minute today! Aim is to get to 3 minutes before Christmas… sounds rather pathetic since I just googled that the world record is 8 hours!! Anyway, will keep you posted on that! Haha 😉

The healthier eating is helped by living in a quite rural area, also crisps are expensive and so is eating out. Let me give you an idea of the costs of different things…
£1 = 3,000 Tanzanian Shillings (tsh)

– an apple: 1,000 tsh (imported)
– small yoghurt: 950 tsh
– beer in a bar: 2-3,000 tsh in a local bar (5,000 tsh in a hotel)
– small bag of crisps: 1,500-4,500 tsh (dependent on brand)
– pack of bacon: 14,000 tsh
– 10 organic tomatoes from a roadside stall: 500 tsh
– bottle of wine: 12-20,000 tsh for the cheapest Tanzanian or South African wines
– motorbike taxi ride into town 3-5,000 tsh
– lunch at a cafe yday; omelette and Coke Zero: 8,000 tsh

They do have Diet Coke in the supermarkets but it’s so much more expensive than Coke Zero so have switched, trying to keep them to a minimum though because of the plastic waste! There is even Red Bull, but have avoided it so far – also expensive!

In short, I can get most things here, but anything imported is of course a lot more expensive and since I am trying to live on quite a strict budget I have to prioritise my ‘luxuries’… my luxury items this week were bacon, butter (real butter from Ireland – no Lurpak!) and a bottle of wine.

Anyway, here is a quick tour of my little house… (had to compress the video right down to make it upload, so the quality is quite bad, sorry!)

I will probably live here for another month, but then it might be time to look for something a little more cost effective if possible, will play it a bit by ear, though. The owner of the house here is from the UK. She has lived here for 20 years, is married to a Tanzanian and has three children. She has given me so much great advice already and I feel lucky to have chosen this place to live just for that!

And on her recommendation I am flying to Zanzibar on Tuesday as there is the Zanzibar Tourism Show – need to start making some connections! Three days of small talk and ‘selling my abilities & services’ – my worst nightmare (as most of you will know), but just got to bite the bullet and get on with it!

Will write more about the work side of my life next week, it’s all still very much up in the air, so…

It was with mixed emotions that I arrived in Tanzania… nervous, excited, apprehensive, happy and a little scared! The first few days were familiar, though. I stayed with friends at The Secret Garden guesthouse in Moshi and met up with old friends and students! They were all happy to see me and super supportive of my ‘mission’ here, so made me feel less nervous.

The manager of the guesthouse is my friend, Daudi, he is Masaai and a few of the staff are as well, and one evening they invited to join me in their daily (I think) ritual of drinking their local medicine. It is made up of ‘soup’ boiled on cow bones thoroughly mixed with a local tree root liquid. The roots are soaked and boiled for a week before they can take the liquid for this concoction. They drank A LOT of it… I had a sip! It was not very tasty – a bit of salt would have done wonders – but that is not allowed, so it just mainly tasted of animal to be honest.

So in short, I had some nice days in Moshi, but it was also the end of holidaying! When I left there on Saturday I knew that the next few weeks will determine what is happening in my life for the next many months and my nervousness returned.

I arrived in Arusha (a two hour drive from Moshi) to the accommodation that will be my home for the next three weeks at least. And when I said goodbye to Ngereza (my regular taxi driver and friend), a feeling of ‘being alone’ hit me hard! I had a long cry and was rather annoyed that I had not brought a bottle of wine – haha. But then I pulled myself together and started unpacking – I was ready to start my new life…!

After saying goodbye to our wonderful driver – was quite sad – we arrived in Addis Ababa. Oh before talking about Addis, here we are with Lauga by a very phallic looking rock! Haha

Anyway, won’t dwell too much on the capital, as it is just another African city that I was unimpressed by… ‘fairly charmless’ as Jamie put it!

We did visit a couple of the museums – saw Lucy the skeleton (the oldest human ever to be found), we had some nice food – oh and stayed at the most amazing guest house a little out of town called Kefetew – if you ever get to Addis, stay there! And of course we met some really nice local people, too – thanks to Biruk and Joni for a fun day! See you again soon, I hope!

But mainly we reflected on what a great trip we had… so here a quick recap of some of my observations from my first Ethiopia experience.

More churches than people… not true but there are sooooo many churches and I was starting to wonder if it was a ‘seen one, seen them all’ scenario. But it was not… they are quite different from region to region and totally impressive, although I found that sometimes the churches were less interesting than their location. I have probably visited more churches in the past two weeks than the rest of my life! Jamie and I did have a chuckle at the fact that we were two of the most nonreligious people travelling around one of the most religious countries in the world.

Breathtaking nature… it really is! I know that my photos won’t have done it justice, but I hope they have at least given you an idea and maybe even a desire to come and see it for yourself! Ethiopia need more tourists to boost their economy (although it’s a shame for the those of us who like to travel in a culture not yet spoilt by excessive tourism).

Don’t believe what you read… well, it’s not all untrue of course – there is a lot of poverty and some unrest at times, but the western perceptions of Ethiopia is only famine, war and Haile Gebrselassie. People were quite surprised and/or shocked by our choice of holiday destination, but I can truly say that it is a fantastic place! People are genuine, friendly and smile lots!

What most surprised me…
– the natural beauty – I had heard about it, seen pics but never realised how beautiful it really is
– excellent quality of bread and cakes – the tastiest bread I have ever had in Africa
– so many donkeys! they are everywhere, being worked so hard as well, felt quite sorry for them actually, they looked so sad!
– a lot of pasta and pizza on the menu everywhere, the Italian influence I guess

Too many people… back in 1960 there were around 23 million people in Ethiopia, and now there are over 100 million! The population growth rate means that Ethiopia remains one of the poorest countries in the world. Too many children being born, not enough schools and teachers, not enough resources etc. etc. But with the new prime minister there is a sense of optimism in the country, I just really hope he can make a difference. I am certainly looking forward to seeing how the country develops over the next few years! 

Beer ratings… the beer research was a great success I think and Jamie and I rated the selection on our last night!

1. Walia –  German pilsner like, always available and tasty 
2. St George – as above
3. Raya – local to the Tigray region, pilsner taste again
4. Habesha – ‘cold gold’ is their slogan, tastes different to the top three – still quite tasty!
5. Dashen – drinkable
6. Harar –  drinkable
7. Zebidar – the newest beer in Ethiopia, just one year old, shouldn’t have bothered really

So that’s it… end of a fabulous holiday. The experiences were so great – I have totally fallen in love with Ethiopia and look forward to going back to see more of it in April.