We have electricity today!
(knock wood)
For the past few weeks, the
power has been cutting out in the morning and (usually) returning in the
evening. This happens regularly, but not quite regularly enough to predict when
our neighborhood will have a few hours of power and when we’ll sit in the dark.
TANESCO, Tanzania Electrical Supply Company Limited, has commented only vaguely
on the outages. Official word is that they’re overhauling the infrastructure,
and they’ll be done in December or in “we even don’t know” depending on whom
you ask.
Anyway, now seems like a good opportunity to post some details from
the Nane Nane agricultural festival. The festival started on August 1st
and built up to a climax on the eighth—8/8, or “Nane Nane” in Swahili. Twende
and GCS demonstrated and sold products from a tent in the main fairgrounds surrounded
by other tents with food, agricultural machinery, music, and dozens of other
vendors. Our workshop is also in another corner of the festival grounds, so we spent
the week surrounded by the celebration. Due to power outages, we weren’t able
to get enough shellers manufactured to sell at the tent, but we drummed up plenty
of interest with a bicycle set up for people to try out. The machine performed
consistently for the whole week that it was on display, and we’re starting to
receive calls from people who heard about it and want to know more.
When we weren’t busy demonstrating products or greeting guests to
the workshop, we explored the festival grounds, learning about other
agricultural organizations and tasting tasty things grown across Tanzania.
During the day, the grounds were packed with families, school children, and vendors
selling an interesting mix of anything from electric juicers to secondhand
jeans. In the evenings, bars and restaurants from around the city promoted themselves
with temporary stages for dancers and competitions. We had an exciting week,
but between the long work days and the hectic energy of the festival, I think
we were all ready for a bit of rest and quiet by the end.
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