Bruschetta, soap and muddied waters

George and I just got home from our day at work…it seems Monday-itis even claws its way into Tanzania where every day is as chilled as can be. We’re both exhausted…and it wasn’t even that big a day. So, I’m sitting on the couch, writing this post, listening to some Lynyrd Skynyrd and Dorje…it’s just one of those days hahaha.

So, we both woke up at about 7am, and got ready for work. The routine regarding breakfast that seems to have set in is that we all sit down and grab a quick bite to eat for 5-10 minutes before grabbing our bags and heading out the door. Today, breakfast was these donut type things. George knows what they’re called but he’s sleeping right now so I can’t ask him. They were just like cinnamon donuts, except without the cinnamon on the outside. They were incredibly crisp on the outside, and soft and fluffy on the inside, and coated in a sugary, oily type of thing. Mama cooked them herself. They were really good…I’m getting the feeling I’m gonna get back to Australia heavier than when I left hahaha.

Anyway, once we got to the office, (we were the last two to arrive, only at 9:05 so it wasn’t bad hahaha) Elizabeth moved everyone to the side meeting room, and started working through the weekly schedule; telling us who was going to be presenting what and when, who would be doing business visits, what reports had to be written up, stuff like that. That’s the weekly meeting that happens…well…weekly…on a Monday morning…that’s all there is to it really hahaha.

After about an hour of people just doing their own prep for the week, the driver arrived and we all piled into the family mover to head off to our first group of the day, the Aged Sunshine group. They’re all elderly women (I was under the impression that there were men in the group too but there weren’t any at the meeting), some of whom have businesses and some of whom are just starting out. Elizabeth made us introduce ourselves, and when I did, I got a round of applause from the women. Elizabeth said that they commended my Swahili accent and how well I spoke Swahili. She said I’d get a lollipop at the end of the day hahaha. In all seriousness though, I still haven’t got it. While George did a presentation on “business plans” and why they were important, Cleo, Yuta, Rachelle and I all interviewed Theresa, a 67-year-old woman who runs a small business growing fruits and vegetables, and who doesn’t make much money at all. She estimated that if a loan was given to her (not that any of the women know that PA gives out loans until we actually decide that we want to give them to that group), it would take her 6 months to repay a 100,000Tsh loan…which is about $27 AUD. I’ll let you do the maths, but that’s around about most of her income. She usually makes about 1,000-2,000Tsh per week once she covers her seed expenses and stuff like that.

After the interview, and after George had finished teaching, we went to do two business visits. Both the women lived in tiny, TINY mud huts. Each one had about 1 square meter of free floor space to move around in, and about 4 square meters overall. They were absolutely tiny. Now imagine two women, Rachelle, Cleo, George, Yuta and me, all stuffed into that space…yeah it was fairly cramped. Only fairly…hahahahha. The first women wove straw-like material into strips about 2 inches wide, which were then stitched together to make a rug, or mat, or mattress support…yeah it was really unclear and none of us really understood its use, but she seemed pretty adamant. The materials for each one cost her about 10,000Tsh and she sold it for 50,000Tsh. A fair profit eh? Except it takes her 4 weeks to make one. Her rent is 20,000Tsh per month…so that means she lives on about 5,000Tsh per week…absolute max. Provided she can work to schedule, and provided someone buys it immediately. When we told Elizabeth she just said, “yeah that’s not a good business” hahaha. The second woman was both a tailor and a weaver. She made shagpile-looking things that may have been rugs or blankets, but it was really unclear. That wasn’t her main source of income though. She wove baskets/handbags out of plastic strips. You know when you get a massive box in the mail or delivered to a warehouse or something? And you know how it’s wrapped in those blue safety strap things in a couple of places? Yeah it was that stuff. She bought it in a variety of colours and made them into these beautiful, durable bags. When Cleo was looking at one she was holding it, squeezing it and looking at it in a very distinctive way. A way I instantly recognised. “Handbag shopping?” I asked. She just laughed and said yep! She ordered one in black and white that she’ll get next Monday. Anyway, back to the second woman. The materials cost her 4,000Tsh and she sold them for 5,000Tsh. Now, I’m no student studying accounting….actually yeah I am hahahah, but that is a veeery slim profit margin. The reason she ran that slim was because she could make 2 or 3 bags a day! So that was her main source of income; walking the streets of Arusha trying to sell her bags every few days.

After that we headed past the same shopping plaza that houses the Mexican joint we went to on Thursday night, except this time we went to the Italian place two doors down; Ciao. It was, without a doubt, the…BEST FEED I’VE SINCE I GOT HERE. I just got Bruschetta, but it was SO good. It was so garlic-ey and had so much fresh tomato…ugh I really needed it. The good news is that we’re going back there on Thursday night!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I went over the road and swapped some money to Tsh from USD because I was running out. Okay side note here…when you eat out here in Arusha, it takes so long. You order your food, right? But then you have to wait…I’d say close on 45 minutes at least for it to be ready. I really don’t understand why but anyway. We piled back into the van and headed off to the afternoon group.

They were really quite nice women. Yuta did a presentation on break-even point. Some of them were confused by his explanations of certain aspects, like Contribution Margin. George tried to step in and help but he kind of muddied the waters a bit more. So, I used the universal language that everyone apparently understands; beer. (there’s a backstory to this joke. Okay so in English, “beer” is “beer”. In German, “beer” is “ber”. In Swahili, “beer” is “bia”, still pronounced the same as beer. It’s the same throughout other languages too. Beer seems to be the only thing you can reliably order in most places in the world without actually speaking the language of the country hahaha). Anyway, they understood it after my explanation of selling beers hahaha. Meanwhile, George and I handled the bookkeeping and collections side of things while Cleo conducted an interview of a new potential group member. After the whole group meeting we went to a woman’s business nearby where she makes soap and shampoo. She makes bars of soap and liquid soap, then sells them for a hefty profit. I don’t remember exactly how much. But she owns her own little shop-front…so it’s a lot I’m guessing. She was nice. She told us about a chemical she had in a bucket at her feet that makes your fingernails fall off if it gets on your hands…so that was fun. We didn’t put our hands in the bucket…

Then we came home, and that’s led me up until now. Tonight is kind of like Belle’s last night (she flies out at 4am on Wednesday morning) so we might be going out to some place for dinner and then to a bar afterwards. It’s Mei’s last night too (she’s working on the construction project here in Arusha). So that’s it for the day.

When we got home I noticed a little area tucked behind the fence that I hadn’t noticed until now…I say little but…just look…

Thanks for reading again hahahah!