Once the block work was done, it was time for the architectural work to kick in. This started with a trip to the land planning officer. We went to this meeting with Dr. Norbert, a colleague of Fr. Setonga who manages another local Catholic charity, Mater Dei Africa. They have a building under construction in town. In talking to David, the land they bought in town was a small fraction of the acreage we bought for more than half of what we paid for our land, so it turns out $25k is a steal for our grassland.
Passersby the site
Traffic Jam
David and Kevin had spent a couple days trying to get a meeting scheduled with the land officer, and we finally got one. The office was simple, a desk with a table and 4 chairs in front. But so vastly different from the planning department in LA. First of all, the land officer told us about a petition by the neighbors that they wanted some sort of compensation from the sale of the land, which they have no right to, because obviously they do not own the land. That conversation took about 30 minutes. Then we talked about the discrepancy between the survey points, the town plan, and the gps coordinates in the field. It was difficult to explain the situation to another new party involved, because getting a new city official knowledgeable about our project often takes more than one meeting. And ultimately he deferred to the regional officer who was supposed to be in town the following day (we set a meeting for 11am). So the meeting seemed to be good in some ways but completely inconsequential in others.
This dragonfly met an ill fate!
After the meeting we headed back to the Motel to work on the sign design.
That night we drove to an overlook for sunset that was quite beautiful. Richard didn't want to come, I think Tanzanians just do not understand why we want to be in the sun so much, but I dragged him along, and I think he was happy he went.
While the engineers had designed the base, it was up to Tom and I, the architects to design the sign.
Measuring field conditions for the sign
We stopped at the hardware store to look at the available materials, and decided on some sheet metal for the actual sign, with corrugated metal as a frame for the sign. We had to consider a lot of things including the tolerances we would need to accommodate, which were great. The sheet metal was wavy and field welding would have been difficult to source, so we decided to use bolts to sandwich around the rebar, and then we would bend the rebar around the bolts in order to secure it from theft.
So the next morning Richard and I went back to the hardware store to ask my list of questions:
1. Is it possible to cut corrugated metal in both axes?
2. Is it possible to pre drill holes in the sheet metal?
3. Are bolts available in the size/length we need?
4. Is field welding an option (if all else fails)?
The hardware guy sent us to Mbura, who was the local metal craftsman. We got all the right answers to our questions so it seemed like we had a plan. We rushed back to the Motel for our meeting with the Regional Planner (yes we had agreed to meet at the motel), and we found out from Norbert that the planner was not coming because he had other business to do. How frustrating, we were assured that Monday there would be a meeting to resolve the issues. We were surprised they had even suggested a meeting considering that Friday was a Muslim holiday, but they had confirmed and everything.
Richard had to leave that afternoon, he was heading to Moshi to visit a friend's bar for the night. He stopped by on his way back to Dar, but I was so sad to see him go... Crazy to think we have known each other for 12 years.
So we went to work on the sign. First we determined all of the sizes and quantities we needed, as we were trying to hold everything together, including the sign and the frame, mechanically. We changed the size of the sign from 3'x5' to 4'x4' to minimize waste and cuts, bought some black spray paint and red paint and brushes and headed over to Mbura's shop, where he was going to cut the metal and pre drill the holes. To cut the sheet metal he used a power saw (!!) which was exciting to see but for the aluminum he used shears. It was much easier for him to cut perpendicular to the flutes than parallel to them. And then he outsourced the drilling to his friend. He disappeared on the back of a motorcycle then came back with a 3rd fellow who then left again to get drill bits. The drill didn't look like it was going to make it, but somehow they were able to drill the 20 holes. He sharpened the drill bit on the blade of the power saw, while another old man was welding something in the corner...so OSHA isn't a big deal here. All in all, we were there for about 3 hours, and we were out about $65 for materials and labor (Mbura's 3 hours of work was Tsh25,000 or about $12. We agreed on the price earlier with Richard but I thought for sure when I came back and he realized how much work it was he would charge more, but nope.
The next day we were invited to Mr. Shegheri's home for breakfast, which was a very special treat. Of course, I hadn't been eating very much so I was a bit scared of what was to come, but culturally, a big deal to be invited into someone's home, and they were preparing a goat for us. Their homestead is a few houses just past the site (remember we bought our land from him). I think we probably ate in his home, but there were a couple neighboring houses that were his children's I'm guessing. Upon arrival we saw the newly slaughtered goat hanging from a tree (warning: graphic image ahead) as they were cutting the meat off (we could tell it was a male because of what was sitting in the tree, apparently a delicacy). Mr. Shegheri showed us his livestock, including his camels, I could have watched them for hours.
They escorted us into his living room, which had nice pillow covers out for guests and was very simple, but their family was so very warm and generous. David said (and I have to agree) that it was the most generous gesture he has experienced in all of his travels. There were 2 young women who prepared the meal and translated every time Mr. Shegheri wanted to address us. They were both very shy but their English was quite good.
We started with hand washing and warm camels milk tea, which was delicious. That was served with warm chapati bread. Then came the goat stew (broth with separate chunks of goat that was to be added to the broth). It was quite flavorful and they had cooked the entire goat for us (like an entire croc pot of goat chunks), which was a huge deal. I had 2 small pieces, as I still wasn't fully healed from my previous local food incident, and everyone else took a fair amount, and it looked like we hadn't even made a dent in the goat. Then they brought in spaghetti as well.
Dr. Norbert asked us if we liked it because we hadn't eaten very much and so everyone else took more to show our appreciation. He had said that a goat could easily be eaten by 2 Masaai in one sitting. Wow. He also said that he was used to seeing other parts of the goat in the pot but they didn't put them in because they knew westerners aren't used to seeing "those parts". We asked what his favorite parts were and he said he couldn't say in front of Tarrah! After dinner they washed our hands and we exchanged words of gratitude and hope for the school. We took a photo outside of the homes and I gave Mr. Shegheri a California keychain as a gift. The mother of the household was amazing, such a warm woman, always smiling. On our way out one of the young women sang us a song in English, which brought tears to my eyes. It's such a moment to put life into perspective. It teaches what is really valuable in life, respect for and embracing of other cultures and how powerful enough that can be. My heart was full.
So all that was left to do was the sign construction. We spent the afternoon painting the signs, which took us to the very end of daylight. The paint was quite toxic... It looked like it had been sitting in the hardware store for years and then I googled lead paint in Tanzania and it looks like as of last year they are starting to phase out of using it... So an afternoon of breathing it in was fun. But the signs came out pretty good.
That night, Kevin, David, and the students put together a taco dinner (including guacamole, since avocados here, parachichi, are 10 cents) for all of the staff at the hotel as a thank you to them for being so hospitable. Showing them how to assemble a taco was pretty comical, but it was a nice last dinner at the Elephant Motel.
That night we headed with Kazoka and Joseph to Padeko for live music and dancing, which was hysterical. Turns out Kazoka and David (Richard's uncle) know each other, and one of the planning officers was there as well (small town!). David kept asking me to dance but when I would go out there to dance with him he would just stand there. He told me I had to "rotate my hips" more and then ultimately, he said "it's ok, I know you are trying your best." So that was, hysterical, funnier than when he imitated Americans dancing. We were definitely a spectacle in the bar though. We saw a couple drunk people get thrown out of the bar (literally), and I bought the whole table a round for Tsh3700 (about $1.65).
The next morning we had to get up super early in order to assemble the sign and get on the road. Using Kevin's rule of thumb, we assumed it would take about 3 hours (that's the minimum duration of any task here), and that was pretty accurate. The warped metal and low construction tolerance made it really difficult. We also filed down the bolts to make them (hopefully) difficult enough to remove. So the test will be whether the sign is still there and in tact next year! Looking back, we probably should have not even used the corrugated metal, but another great lesson as we move towards actually building some architecture over the next few years.
After a group photo, we headed back to the hotel to say our goodbyes, before we boarded our bus to Moshi! We stopped there to buy some gifts and then headed to KIA Lodge, where David and I got off the bus and the others picked up their Land Cruiser for their safari. And so ended another great East African adventure... I will be back!
