Not much new....

Not much new to report in Kla but I figured it was best I posted something before I heard about it from my mom!


The rest of my week in Dar was good.  While I didn't actually get to go to WEF it was still pretty cool to be on the periphery of it and to feel the energy and excitement.  I did go to a WEF party - there seem to be a lot of them and I am guessing that this is where many of the connections are made.  This was the first time Africa WEF was held outside of South Africa and though I think the organizers faced a whole new set of challenges I hope that they continue to explore venues outside of Cape Town in the future.

A Bajaj in the rain

Flooded Road

This was the main road to the office - traffic was only a bit worse than normal!

Not a great pic - but they had a raised path to get from the truck to the store

En route to the airport

more traffic

Cyclist along the road to the airport

I was home just in time for the weekend and to catch up with some friends.  We had a great dinner of Korean food at Sonia and Janet's (unfortunately no pictures...but the food was really good!).  I also went to a house party - only my second this year.  It was quite something with a DJ and big bar.  I may have to wrangle invites to a few more of these before heading home.


Heading home....for those that are wondering I am not quite sure when that will be but will keep you posted.  I will still be working with RTP in a role at our Headquarters in Toronto.  All of the details are still a bit in the air and I am working on being patient (definitely a skill I have slowly but surely acquired this year).


Before I go home there are a few things that I have planned!  I am aiming to head to Northern Ethiopia for a week in June - if you have any tips let me know.  I had been contemplating it for a while but after seeing Angela's photos I decided it was a must do!  Luckily there are two public holidays in Uganda so I will take three vacation days and travel for a full week!  I also have to white water raft on the Nile.  I am hoping this will happen just after Ethiopia.


I heard there was snow in Toronto for Mother's Day....there is something crazy going on with the weather!  It is STILL raining in Kampala - it started in November!!  (That being said there are still some gorgeous days but the weather is pretty unpredictable so have haven't spent many weekends poolside). 

WEF so far....

Friday morning I left Kampala to head to Dar es Salaam to support the team during Johann's visit and to do some work on the UAM campaign.  Upon arrival at the airport I was a bit worried as the security lines was HUGE.  UN troops from Jordan were getting on a flight - I am not sure where they were coming from or where they were going.  Luckily they let me jump in front of them.  The Air Uganda direct flight was sooo much better than connecting through Nairobi which I did on my previous trip and by 130pm I was at our office in Dar.


Friday consisted of some rushed meetings - first at the office and then at Uhuru Girls Primary school with some colleagues that are part of the UAM campaign to discuss our event that would take place on Monday.  Dar is super hot and humid so it was a great relief to get to my super air conditioned room late in the day.  In the evening I went to a birthday party and then called it an early night.


Saturday was a free day so I set off to explore a bit.  I am staying on the Maasani Pennisula and I had read about the Slipway - a collection of shops and restaurants on the water.  I walked there and promptly searched for a store with AC to cool down.  I spent a good half hour in the bookstore an bought a new book on Africa.  (yes - I know books are heavy and am a bit worried about how they will weigh me down when its time to come back to Toronto).  I had a frapuccino...though it was not what I expected it to be.  After some shopping I enjoyed a sushi lunch!!  Yes I had sushi and tempura!!!

Simon, the Tanzania Country Manager picked me up at 945pm and we headed to the airport to pick up Johann.  He arrived without a hitch, we dropped him off at his hotel and I was back at mine by midnight!


Sunday was a busy day.  We had a staff meeting at the office, a press conference, a field visit and then an interview.

Johann and Simon ready from the Press Conference

Children warming up at PASADA

PASADA is an RTP partner that provides HIV and AIDS treatment - all of the children participating are HIV positive

Cooling down post-activities

post-activity discussion

this girl had a great story about how participating in RTP games had given her the confidence to tell her parents about a family friend that was abusing her - she is 11 years old

Johann and the PASADA group

Chicken Tikka Subway Sandwich I had between the activities and the interview

(only the second time in 9 months I have had Subway!!!)

Upon returning to the hotel I had time for a quick shower and a skype chat with my familiy prior to a dinner meeting to review the plans for the next day with the UAM Africa co-ordinator, publicist and cameraman!  (I should mention that this was only the second skype chat in 9 months and that it was a first for my mom....I think she is still getting over the 'cool factor' of being able to see me!)

Monday was the big event.  We hosted 20 World Economic Forum Young Global Leaders (YGLs) at one of our schools, Uhuru Girl's Primary School.  In addition to the YGLs, members of the Twiga Stars (Tanzanian Women's Footballers) and Yvonne Chakka Chakka participated.  We had 150 children playing malaria games and each received a mosquito net that was donated by A to Z textiles, a Tanzanian company.  Overall the day was a great success - it was amazing to see the pride that the school and staff had in RTP!!

climbing a pole - coconut style- to hang a banner

sign made by the school to welcome the YGLs

Activities underway

Head teacher, Yvonne Chakka Chakka and Simon

Johann playing

YGLs discussing challenges with mosquito nets

Johann addressing the YGLs and some teachers

(note the baloons and RTP pictures - the TZ team decorated the classroom)

Uhuru School Staff

Today has been a bit of a catch up day.  Due to the extreme WEF traffic and road closures it was decided that I would work at the hotel as opposed to spending an hour plus each way to get to the office.  Tomorrow we will attend some meetings and in the evening I will attend a Standard Bank event.

I know there are no pictures of me....I have been busy trying to capture all the events and get pictures of Johann for the website and annual reports.  I will try to get some before the week is out!

to WEF I go...

Tomorrow I head back to Dar es Salaam for the Africa World Economic Forum (WEF).  While most of my participation will be limited to the outskirts of the Forum I am still quite excited to be going.  The 'actual' WEF participants are all heads of global organizations or countries!


The primary reason for my trip is to coordinate the RTP activities around WEF, our relationship with UAM and hopefully assist Johann (my old boss, RTP founder) in securing some new corporate connections.  I will be there for a week and it will be pretty packed week though much of it is still in the air as I am unsure what I will get access to.


The tricky thing about any event with this calibre of participants is that security is a HUGE concern and access to the venues is therefore limited.  The other issue, well in Dar, is that every hotel is booked and they are all price gouging!  Susan, our amazing travel coordinator in Toronto, tried to book me a room at the same hotel that Johann will be at.  She went through the event company and was told that they will only assist 'registered participants'.  I ended up getting lucky as Anna, the UAM coordinator in Dar, had booked a block of rooms....so I have somewhere to stay and won't be sleeping on the beach.


The downside to attending WEF is that I will have to wear proper shoes!  This may sound like whining....which it is...but for the past nine months I have lived in my birks.  I have only put heels on twice and my black flats once.  I am preparing myself for sore feet and a couple of blisters.


I will try to post an update mid-week to let you know how its all going.

Volcano Disruptions

Picture from Fox News

My dad left Kampala last Tuesday April 13 early in the morning in one of the worst rain storms I have seen in a while.  He made it to London with the plan to spend three nights with our family friends before heading home on Friday April 16.  Well....he is STILL in London.  I think he is one of the lucky stranded passengers as he has been staying with friends and has taken advantage of the opportunity to get to know London a bit better.  I think the person really suffering is my mom, who is home all by herself and currently engaged in a war against a tail-less raccoon that she encountered on the deck.  I think she should take the time to enjoy the peace and quiet as within the week she will have not only my dad but also two sisters back in the house.  It will be Chaos!!!

I will sidetrack for a moment to talk about the munchkins - maybe at 21 they are getting too old to be munchkins?  They are finishing university!!  Well Caroline is officially done - she wrote her last exam on Tuesday and then promptly headed to NSLC (the liquor store) to get some champers and celebrate.  Good for her!!  She completed her Commerce Degree at Dalhousie University (I think with a specialty in finance) and would be a great addition to any company.  If you know of anyone looking for a super talented finance guru, who happens to be a great chef on the side please let me know.  She will return to Toronto next week.  Emily is still in exams.  I think that in 8 exam periods at Queen's University she has ended up with the final one at least 6 times.  How unfair is that!  But she is on the final stretch, has completed and defended her thesis and she too will be back in Toronto within the week.  She will start work at Toronto General Hospital (I think as a researcher in the ICU) in mid-May.  It will definitely be nice to have them both back in Toronto when I get there:)

E & C on somewhere on the California Coast

E, C and big bro (well my little bro) Oliver in Santa Monica

Back to volcano disruptions!  Last weekend I attended two welcome back dinners for people that had been out of Kampala for a while.  Well - the returnees did not make it back - they were stranded!!  We toasted them an enjoyed great food (on Friday at my fave Tuhendes and on Sunday a great Middle East themed potluck at Peter's).  The volcano has also caused some work related issues - one of my colleagues was supposed to arrive in Kampala last Friday to assist the team with some reports but her trip has now been cancelled:(  

In other news - last week I went to a Pilates class, a yoga class and had a squash lesson!!  All were fun and I planned to keep it up this week but have been sick with a head cold so played it smart and have been catching up on rest.  This weekend we will have a welcome back dinner as hopefully Trude will have made it out of Europe and back to Africa:)

photos from dad's visit

4 days in Paradise

It's official - of all the places I have visited Zanzibar is one of my favourites.  It is a tropical paradise with striking contrasts between the beauty and the apparent poverty.  There is a good balance of history/ sight seeing and prefect places to relax.


My dad and I were picked up from my apartment at 3am on Thursday morning and we headed to the airport.  We quickly progressed through check in and immigration and settled in on some seats to wait for our gate to be announced.  We left on time and were in Nairobi by shortly after 6am.  I did some quick duty-free shopping and we settled in at the gate to wait for our flight.  Also departing from our gate was a flight to Somalia and it was quite interesting to see all the women in full black hijabs with henna designs on their hands speaking on their cell phones.  The exciting thing about this flight was the amazing views of Kilimanjaro.

Kili from the plane

One of the perks of traveling with my dad is staying at nice hotels!  We stayed at the Zanzibar Serena and it was incredible.  (I should note that we booked our rooms on a Spice Tour package so it became quite reasonable.)  Upon arrival our rooms were not quite ready (well they were, but we didn't want to be on the ground floor so waited for other rooms!) so we had a bite to eat and enjoyed the views!

View through hotel lobby

Dad checking out the ocean view

We decided to do our city tour in the early afternoon so that we could get our bearings.  I had spent two days in Stonetown in 2007 but never did a proper tour so it was a great experience.  I should mention that we traveled to Zanzibar at the beginning of the Long Rain season - this means it was incredibly hot (+33) and humid (my estimate is 90%).  I am unsure when I have been quite as sweaty as I was there when not actually working out!

Old Fort

In 2007 I attended a 'Best of Tanzanian Hip Hop Concert here but did not recall it looking this way!!

View from the top of the "House of Wonders"

me in front of giant carved doors in the "House of Wonders"

building beyond repair

it cannot be town down as Stonetown is a UNESCO World heritage site but the city does not have the money to repair it...

Alley in town - the flags are from a recent Agha Khan celebration

narrow alleys that are easy to get lost in

Bright coloured building

After a snack on the way to the hotel we settled in by the pool to watch the sunset - the hotel had louge chairs set up facing the ocean....it was a perfect end to a long, hot day!

Dhow sailing across the sunset

Sunset

Friday morning we woke to grey skies and rain.  Over breakfast we decided that it would be a good day to do our spice tour and that we would hope for good weather on Saturday for a beach day.  I had been on a spice tour before and remembered it being humid but was prepared...or so I thought!  I was ready to call it quits well before my dad as I was too hot and getting eaten alive by the bugs (my fault for wearing flip flops!!).

me in one of the tubs at the Sultan's ruin's

it is a bath structure where his 99 concubines would visit him

spice used as makeup for women

don't recall what spice it is - but it's pretty:)

Dad as King of the Spice's

me as Princess of the spices

goofing around with the spice glasses!

The day turned out to be hot and sunny.  After lunch at the Archipelago Cafe we returned to the hotel for a couple hours by the pool.  I wore tons of suntan lotion and managed to avoid burning!  Late in the day we left the oasis of the hotel and went to buy some gifts for my family.....I found a skirt and dress for myself!  We watched the sunset while having some pre-dinner snacks at the Fordhani Gardens (outdoor foodcourt of seafood delights...and falafel for me).

sunset

Zanzibar dessert pizza

Saturday was beach day but the weather did not want to cooperate.  We drove around 45 minutes to the somewhat secluded Serena Magwapani Beach - near the slave caves.  The setting was perfect.  There were some traditional fishing boats and a group of boys swimming in the perfect blue water!  I settled in on my chair ready for a day of relaxation.  Shortly thereafter the rain started and by lunchtime it was a full downpour BUT it was beautiful.  It looked like there was a silver shimmer above the water.

Trying to wait out the rain

Post Lunch the sun came out!!!

sunset cocktail back at the pool

Saturday night we headed to Mercury's for dinner - I had Zanzibar Fajitas and was reminded of my love for mango salsa!  We sat on the covered balcony at the water's edge and watched the brief thunderstorms....which brought some much needed cool air!

We wanted to make the most of our last day - in the morning we headed to Prison Island to see the giant tortoises.  They are the second biggest ones - just behind the ones in the Galapagos which we had seen in 2007.  They were incredible - we got to feed them and I even picked up a couple of the babies!  

Starfish at Prison Island

Turtles mating

(yes - I do have video!)

me...speaking to a baby giant turtle

me at the Prison Boutique - it was closed though

After the Island we spent some time at the pool before wandering around town to finish gift shopping.  I went on a mission to find a store that I had seen on our tour - I was unsuccessful and got lost in the winding alleys!  Sadly, after lunch we had to gather our things and head to the airport!  The computers were down so we receive handwritten boarding passes and had to pick up our onward passes at the transfer desk in Nairobi.  We were home in Kla by just after midnight.

It was a wonderful four days in paradise and really felt like a vacation!  Thanks Dad!!