Day 27and 28

 Day 27

Our next few days will be spent visiting the ACTT agents in other locations in Tanzania. Robert wants to see how they are all getting on and offer any further help and support that he can.

Today we travelled to Nansio on Ukerewe Island. This is the home of Japhet who has been an agent for several years. We have met him before in Mwanza but we have never been to Ukerewe. 

Robert and Shabani picked us up at around 8 and we drove to the ferry port. This ferry is much smaller than the car ferry we use when going to Geita. It is mainly used by passengers and freight. Pete said it looked like an old landing craft. Shabani had to reverse the car on to it. There is just one lorry and one “motor bike truck” also on board.

The ferry sailed at about 9am. The weather was clear, calm and sunny. We had good views of Mwanza as we departed. 

On the way we saw a few other boats as well as the same ferry as ours going the other way.

Robert told us that there were some rocks in the middle of the lake that he always looks out for, because then he knows Ukerewe will be visible soon.

True enough we could soon see the island and as we got closer the crew lowered the ramp ready for us to disembark.

The ferry port is actually in Nansio and it was only a 5 minute drive to Japhet’s office/shop.

We had a quick chat here and then Japhet took us to a hotel he thought would be ok for us. I took a few photos outside Japhets place and on the drive to the hotel.

The hotel is called the Holiday Motel Nansio. The room was fine so we just dropped our bags and then headed to the restaurant next door for some lunch. As always the food took an hour to arrive but was good.

We then drove out to a Teacher Training College where Japhet had supplied some computers that had been funded by Rotary. We had an interesting chat with the Deputy Head and he then took us to see some new buildings that were just being finished for the college, one of which would be a new computer lab. The new buildings looked very impressive. 

On our drive back to Nansio we met up with Bartholomew, a friend of Robert’s. He invited us to stop for a soda and a chat. He was a really lovely man, really very interesting. He also spoke really good English. He had various projects on the go that were trying to improve the lives of local people. One of which was a chicken project that he was just about to start using a different breed of chicken that produced a better yield of eggs. He told us that 32 local farmers had already made a small investment in the project and if all went well he would hope to expand this further in the future. His business plan made good sense.

Japhet then invited us to his home to meet his wife and baby daughter....a neighbour’s daughter joined us as well. She seemed very confused by us!! It was lovely to meet them.

Japhet also wanted to show us his Computer Training Room that he has just finished setting up. It was just across the road from his office so in a good location. Robert was trying to encourage Japhet to do more training so was very pleased to see the room.

It was now about 7pm so we drove to the beach for a drink. The location was lovely although the bar was rather run down.

By around 8.30 Pete and I were just happy to go back to the hotel......it had been a long day. Our hotel room is typically African and actually better than I had expected. It is TSH 50,000  ( £16.50) for bed and breakfast for the 2 of us.

Day 28

So today we are travelling to Bunda to meet up with Bernard, the ACTT agent based there.

This obviously involves using a ferry, but a different one to yesterday departing from a different port. 

It’s about a 20 minute drive to the port and we arrive at 10.15 for a 10.30 sailing. I am slightly confused when we arrive and nearly buy a bus ticket to Bunda rather than a ferry ticket........much to the amusement of Pete and Robert!! 

This is a small ferry and is already pretty full and we are lucky, Shabani is the last car to board. We walk down to the boat following the car and must be among the last passengers to get on - I think we are making a habit of this. 

All the “seats” are taken so we squeeze past people and buses to get to the front of the ferry where there is some standing room. As always on these ferries we are the only white faces.

The crossing takes about 30 minutes and we dock in Kisorya.  The little port area is pretty busy with lorries and buses as well as lots of people waiting to buy tickets or collect items off the ferry. 

There are also lots of fishing boats and plenty of birds. The marabou storks actually look like they are waiting to board.

It takes about 1.5 hours to drive to Bunda. The first half is on a tarmac road, the second half is compacted stone, much of it in poor condition. Consequently the first half of the journey was a lot quicker and more comfortable than the second half!!

We stop in Bunda and grab some lunch and then stop to get one of the tyres checked. It has been causing us some problems for several days now and keeps gradually going down. So today Pete gave Robert the money to go and get it replaced, hopefully this will mean less problems for the rest of our trip and for him on his return drive to Moshi. Shabani will go and sort this out this afternoon.

We then checked into the Alma Santa Hotel. Our room here is the same price as yesterday, TSH 50,000, but we have definitely gone up a level. Robert has also decided to stay here tonight.

We put our feet up for a bit before enjoying a drink in the bar area. The hotel is obviously pretty new but it all looks nice. They even look like they are building a swimming pool. 

About 5pm we met up with Robert and Shabani and drove out to meet Bernard. His shop/office is in Nyamuswa, about 25km from Bunda. We enjoyed the scenery on the drive there, though the road was pretty rough.

Bernard has a very well organised shop where he sells a variety of items including computer equipment. He also offers various services, including printing, scanning, emailing etc.

After we have spent some time at the shop we adjourn to a nearby bar to carry on our discussions. Robert is trying to encourage Bernard to get out into the schools to do some computer training with the teachers and also to get himself a training room like Japhet. As with all the other agents, we offered Bernard a free PC to donate to a school as an incentive to the teachers to do some training. He seems keen to do this but also thinks he needs to find someone who he can work with to share the training etc. I think it’s not always easy to find someone who is good at the job but also trustworthy. Robert has suffered in the past with dishonest staff and it makes him quite cautious now. He is keen to help Bernard find someone but thinks it would be good to get a personal recommendation.

Just as it was getting dark it also started to rain so we said goodbye to Bernard and drove back to Bunda. This time we drove the long way round using the tarmac road. Pete took this nice photo of the moon rising.