It hasn’t been long since Jordan’s first entry but we’ve had such a flurry of activity that there was good reason to keep regular with our reporting. In a Taboran-nutshell, our project has really taken off in the two weeks since we arrived and there seems to be no shortage of areas and places where we can help here.
On the weekend we visited a “go-down” which is essentially a large warehouse where the tobacco arrives from the farmers and is weighed, re-packaged and placed on a large transport on its way to the eventual buyers. Quite recently, they have initiated electronic tracking of the tobacco bales which provides an excellent example that IT is both welcomed and already improving the efficiency of the business dramatically here. Jordan and I also provided the entertainment when we volunteered to join the workers and carry the bales (which can vary in weight from 35 – 60 kg). Apparently, the workers had never seen Mzungus (foreigners) joining them carry the bales and found our attempts hilarious.
Following the go-down, we visited a few local communities to meet with primary societies and specifically, the farmers. It was an enlightening first experience to learn what’s on the mind of these farmers. This certainly planted some seeds of thought of how integrating IT into their work can improve the overall standard of living. Speaking of standard of living, we saw a couple of communities which had previously been considered to be ‘dying out’ but have since been revived from the influx of income via specifically the tobacco trade. Only a few years ago, food was hard to come by but today when you see their markets filled with consumer goods – clothes, games, etc. – it’s clear that the lives in these communities are improving (relatively speaking).
We also had a chance to today to check out the home base for Alliance One’s “Oxen Project”. The project is an arm of the company’s SCR campaign and is focused on obtaining, training and then selling oxen to farmers. The project leader, Claudio, gave us a tour of the facilities and explained how once the oxen have been trained, they are provided to farmers who pay for this form of ‘advanced technology’ through a system of microcredit. It was quite clear to us quickly that the socially focused project was capable of achieving immense improvements on the farmers’ lives. For example, with an oxen and plough it takes 1 farmer 1 day to plough 1 acre. Without the oxen it would take 12 people, 2.5 days to plough the same amount! 
The improved efficiency allows them the time to grow other crops such as maze to ultimately push them closer towards being self-sustainable and comfortable. Moreover, Alliance One is also finding that the project allows for the farmers to begin affording luxuries which we often taken for granted such as being able to rest and afford education for their children. Also, those in the communities with oxen become major enables for others as they often use their extra time to help others move things around such as clean water.
We started our computer education classes last week. After setting up a couple of computers with some generously donated educational software (thanks to the Dalton family!), we were able to take the children through an interactive book which they absolutely loved. As Jordan pointed out, the ubiquity of computers in our lives back home makes us forget how life-changing even the simplest applications and usage can be. It also makes explaining what comes very natural to us such as using a mouse or hitting the enter button, very hard to explain. Although early in our project, we are thrilled to see the children’s desire to learn and we are eager to get more computers so we can involve more kids and eventually the greater community.
We’re heading back to Dar this weekend for a series of meetings with various organizations who will help us gather information for the eventual application of our plans so expect another update soon.
Finally, I want to give some shout outs to two wonderful individuals – Amy and Ben – who were volunteering with other organizations and left Tabora recently to go back to their respective homes. For those of you thinking of volunteering with us, the people you’ll meet here are phenomenal and it’s simply sublime how close you become with one another. It certainly makes missing home hard when you’ve got such a great family here.
Kwaheri, Adil.
