A last day & last goodbye

I have to tell you, our reader, about a problem me and Kristina have noticed. In our urge to fit in as much as possible, we fill our business trips to the max – same thing this time! Our last day was no different; why not meet the people when we’re here, discussing via mail later will be so much harder! So, even during the day for our take-off, we were able to squeeze in a few meetings.

At FSDT (see earlier blog), we were greeted by mr Sosthenes Kewe and invited into the board room to describe our product. FSDT invests money in financial organizations, who in their turn support local entrepreneurs. The purpose was to understand how HiLight could be made accessible to the users who does not afford to purchase the HiLight straight off the shelf.

- Your product helps the users directly; financially, with security, environmentally – people can invest in this instead of kerosene. I also see an opportunity for a bigger version, that runs a radio or TV, pumps water and so on!
Mr Kewe recommended us to talk directly to the organizations of interest, and we got a good list of great persons to contact. With the input from our testers in the teachers and health fields, I feel we have a very strong case!

In our next meeting at SNV Tanzania, the local branch of Netherlands development organization, we got the opportunity to meet mr Jan Meelker. SNV in Tanzania is mainly working with energy from biogas, oil seeds etc and not yet looking into the possibilities in solar energy, but could still see possibilities:

- With our focus on renewable energy, this is definitely a product in the right direction. We do

not work with solar energy today, but we see that there is a big demand for it, and a great potential for this type of products!
As a final input, Mr Meelker actually pointed out a few new user groups that we until now did not look into; farmers and local cooperatives! Great news – where do we start?

The trip is drawing to a close. Our bags are packed, ready to head for the airport and a long flight back. How do you summarize a month of experiences? What is going on at home? While cut off from our “normal” life at home for a month, with only sporadic glimpses of news and updates, it feels like we’ve been away forever – yet only made a quick loop out of the normal routines. Soon, we will be back at the desk or with our families, and life goes on. What do we take with us back? How did this trip change the direction of our future lives, our understanding of the world? That’s yet for us to find out. But one thing is for sure; Tanzania - we’ll be back!

Next step: Talking to the retailers

By now, we know that the users are interested. But how do we reach them? We decided to meet with a few retailers to understand their view on our product.

First, we met with Mrs Nasreen Bhimani at Zara Solar. Their head quarter is in Mwanza and is one of the larger solar panel importers. They work a lot with public tenders providing energy in schools, dispensaries and villages, and mainly with larger products. Their product range is between 5W-130W panels, all with separate solar panels.

- My brother is decision maker in these questions, and I’m sure he will

like this product. I’m going to forward all the information to him.

On Tuesday morning, we met with Managing director Francis Kibhisa and Joshua Chikowero, head of commercial service at Rex Investments. Mr Kibhisa is electrical engineer and put a lot of focus on the importance of quality in their product range. Before taking in any new products, they are tested internally by the company for a few months to verify their performance.

- We have met with several companies presenting their products. Look at this! Mr Kibhisa brings a bag full of small solar products. Unfortunately, they usually do not last very long, and at this point, we have still not found any smaller solar products that qualify to be sold by us.

Rex Investments have about 25 sales spots in Tanzania and neighboring countries, and indicates sales volumes in terms of containers rather than single items.

The last meeting in the retailer area is Shoprite and Mr Mathews Kaubo, Procurement Manager. Shoprite is one of the main retail chains in Africa, with shops in 18 countries, and 3 stores in Dar es Salaam and Arusha.

- With increased volumes the price can probably be decreased. This is what the market needs now, this is the perfect product! We can test it in Arusha, because both the Maasai and the tourist organizations shop in our store there. We are even willing to sell with a smaller margin than normal, since we see the value of providing this product to our communities.

Back in Dar Es Salaam and more than 3500 kilometres in the car – our Maasai Maserati - and many, many interesting kinds of roads, both bumpy (or “unbalanced” as our Maasai Rafael referred to them) and occasionally more balanced ones, I guess we must admit that our meetings in the city so far is of the “balanced” kind.

An uplifting meeting on 2nd floor...

REA, Rural Energy Agency, recently moved into a brand new building in the outskirts of the city, with a magnificent view of Dar es Salaam from the top floor. Despite being on 2nd floor, we had a really "uplifting" meeting with Mr Bengiel Msofe and Mrs Justina Uisso!

REA promotes access to modern energy and can support local entrepreneurs in this field by part financing, assuming the applicant can provide a strong business plan for the project. After Rafael has explained why he is engaged in this trip and how he sees the need for HiLight in his home area in Handeni, Mr Msofe says:

- Well, Rafael - you should apply for our support! Give us a project proposal, and we’ll take a look at it!

Mr Msofe and Mrs Uisso is encouraging with their positive can-do attitude. We look at each other and realize that we just found a second strong project proposal, where “Imosut e Purka”, Rafaels NGO (“Awareness for all” in Maasai), could play a large role. We leave the meeting with a great feeling and head off to get ready for our last evening in Dar es Salaam.

Until now, we have not been able to meet up with Regina, who we met our first day in Dar. Regina is a business woman who runs a taxi business, single mom with two kids and works full time in a law firm. We seize the opportunity to meet with her during our farewell dinner.
- You know, I’ve used the HiLight so much! We hang it in the middle room, and it lights up the two adjoining rooms too. We used hurricane lamps before, but it was embarrassing to bring them to the office during the day to charge them, I felt that my colleagues were looking at me. Now I don’t have to do that anymore!

Regina is one of the users who will keep a HiLight, and regularly report to us on how it works and how she uses it over time. A great excuse for us to stay in touch with this remarkable woman!

A busy Monday in Dar es Salaam

Monday morning started at the Swedish Embassy together with Mr Samer Al Fayadh, working with Energy and appointed by SIDA, and mr Love Theodossiadis, Private Development and Trade.

They explained different types of funding and projects supported by the Swedish govenment. Love also described FSDT, Financial Sector Deepening Trust, a donor fund working with access to financial services. Some of the donors are SIDA, World Bank, IKN, CIDA, DFID, Dutch Embassy and we will meet with them on Wednesday.

Next stop: Ministry of Health and dr Gilbert Mliga, director for Human Resources Development and working with education of nurses and doctors.

- I agree it is very useful to have something like this. I am impressed and I would like have it myself. For the price, the value is definitely there!

We discussed the possibility to include HiLight in the midwife and nurses kit, which each student get after finishing their education. Annually, over 4.000 nurses finishes their education, and the content in their respective kit is decided by each school separately.

- But this is not only interesting for nurses; also for emergencies, the schools and so on.

The government meetings continued with mr Jeff Felten, representing Ministry of Energy, and Mr Andrew Mnzava, project leader for a solar lantern project which is just starting up.

It seems like we meet them just in the right time, as the project is currently seeking high-quality solar lanterns to include! The project will provide small start-up capital for a number of credit organisations supporting micro-entrepreneurs investing in small scale solar projects. To us, this could be a great way to be independently evaluated against some competing products and an opportunity to increase the knowledge of our product on the market!

Personally, I hope this project will prioritize selecting and promoting high-quality products to the users, since evaluation products and comparing technical specifications is not always straight forward!

During this trip, we've been presented with products without brands and company names or any contact details. In many cases, technical specifications are not included, in other cases, they do not make sense in terms of what the product can deliver!

How is a normal user supposed to be able to judge and compare products under these circumstances?

Catching up...

We never got to tell you about all the meetings that concluded last week! Besides Solar Aid (see earlier post), we passed by both Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education to get meeting appointments for the coming week

After a short meeting at Kilimanjaro Kempinski Hotel (who wanted to meet us to heat the tap water;HiLight does NOT heat water, but I know some companies working with this perhaps I should connect you?), we moved on to Care International/VSL; the community based banking system we discussed the night before. We got to meet Mr George Mkoma, heading more than 15,000 VSL groups in Tanzania, and is in contact with additional 15,000 alumni groups. Again, he liked the product, could see how it could benefit the teachers and others, and again - he wanted to buy the HiLight on the spot!

- We are willing to use this product in our channels, and can use our structure to provide local training.

To round up the Friday meetings, we met with mr Chris Steenkamp and George van der Werken at Game, a major retail chain present in about 14 countries in Africa - and expanding. They agreed to give HiLight a try in their store, and if it would be a success, they saw the possibility to provide our product in other countries!

Busy Friday, and Saturday continued in the same way; meeting up with with mr Matthew J. Matimbwi at TAREA, Tanzania Renewable Energy Association.This membership organisation connects players in the industry of renewable energy, lobbying at governmental level and works against counterfeit and substandard products. We were really happy to hear this, since one of the problems we could face in the future is copying of our product!

- We are running the project "Replacing kerosene lanterns", using radio, TV and newsletters to communicate the message.

Most likely, this is a membership organisation that we will be joining!

We also met again with Ernest Mtayo, the teacher we met our first night in Dar es Salaam, to get his input on the use and suggestions for improvements. He was happy being selected as one of our long term testers, and he will keep the HiLight and give us monthly reports on the result. This is a great way to follow-up how the UV light and heat affects the product over time.

- I have electricity at home, but I still prefer to use this one, he says and points at HiLight. I like the idea of using energy from the sun! I fasten it to my back-pack, and lots of people has come up and asked me what it is!

All in all - our first two days back in Dar has provided us with additional clues on ways forward and a new doors have opened along the way! I already see that we will soon face the difficulty of selecting what customers to prioritze, and how to solve the distribution - one of the main issues according to our meetings.

On Sunday, the team took a day trip to Zanzibar. Fishermen is one of the possible customer groups that keep popping up in our discussions, and the HiLight would be perfect, considering the strong light, water resistent construction and that it floats! The weather gods was in their most giving mode, and provided us with as much rain as we possible could take - and some more. :-)

`I need this NOW...`

Rafael is writing...

-Just remembered a story from the road to Dar last Thursday... Loaded and cruising on the Tanga Segera highway it is a non stop drive untill we reach Chalinze. This is a junction of the main road from Dar es Salaam and the hinterland of Tanzania central and north. It is a high traffic road and it is well balanced... in one of many trip buzz words on the types of raods we have travelled.

In Chalinze we meet maasai hitch hiker and give him a lift; Kibonge, a maasai man I know and have met when I was with my friend and collegue Adam Mwarabu in several of our community activities in Morogoro. We give him a lift and on the way we have a traditional exchange of news. I mention to him that we are moving around with a product called HiLight. I told him we are from north and tanga, and sitting next to him was the creator of the the HiLight. Linda makes a short demonstration of the product while I translate with my focus on the road. He tests that his phone charges, and gets delighted and amazed of the peformance of the product.

- I need this one because some of my cows have moved far to follow grass and I am not getting enough information because phones ran out of charge and there is nowhere to charge phones.

He ask for the price and i tell him it is about 200,000 Tsh (~100 Eur). There was a moment of silence. I suspect that he was scaling the gains, and costs for the product perhaps. I also suspect this will diminsh his enthusiasm.

- Two hundred thousands, he repeats. `Hmm.. light and charging... I need the charging more.`

`I think I will even need to take two so one can stay with me and another with the herd in te bush so we have constant contact.` I tell him 'Sorry we don't have any for sale right now. But he insists. 'Sell this one to me!' he demands. I tell him again this is for test in other places, otherwise we will not have anything to work with.

`Can I get one next week?` he asks and I say 'no, but I will give you information as soon as they are possible to get. We exchange telefone contacts so he can check me often for updated. We drop him in Vigwaza after reaching home station and say good bye. It is amzing when you find bush natives who make a decisions upon meeting an opportunity and costs are non issue as envisaged by many. We proceed to Dar es Salaam.

PS. Linda adds: Having a massive maasai next to me in the car demanding to buy two of our test HiLights is quite an eye opener. This was a guy used to get what he wants, and now I'm standing between him and a solution to his every day difficulties. Again, I realize that if I can provide a solution that is good enough, money is not an issue! DS.

A SolarAid offer - but next week is too early....

Our first day back in Dar Es Salam starts with a beautiful view and breakfast.

We hurry on to a meeting with SolarAid - a NGO with mainly solar products in light.

Mr Mason Huffine describes their distribution models to schools and how they by funding can distribute with a low cost for the receiver. He tells us about the kiosks and the plans of building more kiosks.

He starts talking about selling HiLights in these kiosks and invites us to an opening of a brand new one in Dar. Exciting but by then we`ll be back in Sweden, too bad! But next time perhaps?

//Kristina

Kwa heri Tanga, Jambo Dar es Salaam!

First, apologies for not keeping you up to date with yesterdays adventures! So, a short recap of our last day in Tanga: we had a great morning meeting with Ruth Nesje and Ragnar Johansen on how we could structure a future larger project supporting health or education - or both - in the Tanga region. The need on a grass root level is definately there, now we need to make sure that we get all parties on board! If we succed, about 2.500 teachers and/or nurses will have access to a great, safe light and charging!

Then time for "Kwa heri" to TICC (for now - we'll be back!) and take-off for the Maasai Maserati and a last trip! 7,5 hours later we arrived, tired and sweaty, for a meeting with Ms Daphrosa and Mr Ngate, with experience from working with VSL/Vicoba (see earlier post). At least 300,000 persons are currently involved in this type of local banking, probably twice as many including the initial groups!

Slipway is our new home for the remaining week; after check-in, an exhausted team enjoyed a well-deserved pizza along the shoreline of the Indian Ocean. If we only knew then what the Friday should bring... [oh, yes - a cliff hanger!]

Every meeting opens new doors!

As the Maasai Maserati parked at the schoolyard of Mwhako Primary School, we were greeted by head teacher Mr Edward Mokiwa. Mr Mokiwa tested Mrs Zainab Nanyaro's HiLight for a few days, as he - as most people in the area - lack electricity in his home where he lives with wife and 3 children.

- We have electrical grid in the area, but it is too expensive to connect it to our house. Kerosene is the only option, but it is expensive. As a teacher, I need to prepare my lessons at night, which requires working in the light from a kerosene lamp. If the families had access to HiLight, children could study at night and the teachers could start evening classes in the schools.

Another meeting participant, mr Abraham T. Khatib, added such;
- This product does not only solve the problem of fuel cost or mobile phone charging - it would also save us from burnings and health problems. The injuries and smoke from the fumes is a common problem but not clearly pronounced, people don't see a link to the use of kerosene! Tanga town has about 1,200 teachers, and the Tanga region about 8,000 teachers. Imagine that all teachers could get one HiLight each; that would make a huge difference in our communities!
Well, actually, I think you should meet with the Regional Administration Secretary to discuss this possibility.

So off we went! Mr Tikhatib quickly rescheduled his morning meetings, we got his bike into our car and drove off towards Tanga to talk with the RAS, Regional Administrative Secretary, responsible for the day-to-day management of the regions affairs. He was not in, but we were lucky enough to meet Mrs Monica Kinala, Assistant Administrative Secretary of Land & Infrastructure, and Mr Julias Mhanusi, Regional Educational, Health & Social Welfare Officer. After explaining our sudden appearance, we introduced our ideas around a common project directed towards teachers. Monica liked our product, despite having electricity at home:
- How many of these do you have here? Can I buy it?

After discussing our thoughts on a common project, we were directed even higher.
- You should talk directly to the City Directors, and the ministries of Education and Health in Dar es Salaam.

This fits well with our travel plans, as we are heading for Dar es Salaam tomorrow!

We had earlier on planned to meet up with BRAC a microfinance organisation with its offices in the region. Our attempts never succeeded depite visiting the office premise some 3 times to find no one.

We headed back to proceed with more meeting at TICC in the remaing part of the day....

Taking over the keyboard...

Since our project secretary has left the keyboard unattended, the remaining parts of the team is taking over! Linda, Kristina and Rafael will from now on, with combined forces, try to keep up the great communication level of Leif.

In his absence, we started the day by meeting Mr Ramadhani Jawa, the Ward Executive Officer of Tanga Sisi Ward, being the contact between local communities and the City Directors on a district level across all areas; education, health, infrastructure, livestock etc. Mr Jawa used one of the HiLights for more than two weeks to put it to test.

- I would like to buy it myself, for my mom. She does not have electricity and uses kerosene for light, which is exponsive. My friends who saw it likes it very much, they want to know where to find it!

The discussion focused on how people in deciding positions could understand the need for the product to include it in a coming budgeting for the city municipalities and region. We also explored the presence of local NGOs and financial institutions like PRIDE TANZANIA, FINCA, BRAC, POVERTY AFRICA and SEDA; all providing ways for people to borrow small amounts of money to start businesses providing an income for the families. In Tanzania today, only 5% are eligible for loans at the regular banks!

Our amazing host Ruth Nesje at TICC helped us further in our search, by arranging a meeting with Michael Nyangusi. Mr Nyangusi founded a nursery school in Popatlal, is Swahili teacher and initiator to a local VICOBA group; the latter being reason for our interest.

VICOBA stands for Village Community Banks, a "saving and credit society", creating small, local "banks" run by the group members. After saving money regularly for 3 months, you are eligible for a loan of 3*your savings. Since your fellow "bankers" are friends and neighbours, the risk of not getting the money back is limited. To our current understanding, this system seems to be a good way to get the local communities to work together to create an improved situation for the neighbourhood!

After a long day, we are looking forward to an early morning meeting with the head teacher of the local school. I'm excited to hear his opinion on HiLight and how it could simplify his daily life!

The last good morning view - from Tanzoma Hotel in Dar es Salaam.

So it it's the last day in Tanzania. The excitement of being i Dar again, going home to meet the close ones (including the new grandchild) is combined with missing my journey partners since almost a month now. Kristina, Linda. And of course Rafael, my friend and partner.
We have traveled over 2500 km in our "Maasai Maserati" and before the others are back their journey will exceed 3000 km.

What have I learned? I wonder. This is a brief summary:
* Go here to learn, not to help. If you come here with the mind of "not knowing" you open up for learning also within thw people you meet.
* When you are in true partnership with the local community you stay connected.
* Dare to trust in people, until you are proved othervise.
* There are so many opportunities here!

The Metafari was start if a journey in new perspectives. Learning from the spaces we enter, the people we meet, and ourselves.
Together with HiNation we have learned so much about people, market, trends.
We have shown a solution to a real need for 85% of Tanzanias population, and we have become rich in relations, knowledge, experience.

Finally, one last observation. We knew that we have been testing a product with a rather high price. But looking back at the test persons: The wealthier person, the more objections on prices.
Swedes and Americans: Too expensive!
Maasai: When can we buy it?

Rafael, don't forget to post today!
...........................................
Sent mobile from Tanzania

A farewell to Leif....

This is Rafael taking over the story as it is the last day for Leif to be in Tanga with HiLight team. I drop him at the airport to catch with a flight of Coastal Aviation services that operates flights between Tanga and the off coast islands of Unguja and Pemba and finally to Dar es salaam.

Leif speaking...

- It will be very strange not to hear the snoring of my maasai friend in the nights here in Tanzania. We have gone through new levels of learning together, and maybe started a company here in Tanzania. What do you think about the name Metaspace Tanzania ltd?

An unexpected story, lunch at the Yacht Club and the inevitable farewell

When we find the Kagame family house the door is closed and nobody is at home. Within a minute we are greeted by others who come rushing! A small old woman appears and opens up the door to the house. This is the great grandmother. Bent back, lively eyes and a big friendly smile! Maryam soon comes with her two children.

As we are greeted into the house we sit down on the floor, and the great grandmother starts to tell her story. She has been working as a midwife all her life, without a formal education. Now she is retired but is still called in when there are complicated cases. She was born in the time British colonial time. When she was young she was hurt by a falling coconut, which made her back bad. Others told hernot to put strain on the back but that was an advice she could never follow.

-How can one not work. Someone needs to carry things, and take care of the house.

We are proceeding to talk with Mariam. Her husband Abdi has gone to Zanzibar to work. Here in Tanga, Abdi fishes, buth fishing does not give any serious money. In Zanzibar he can make some money to bring to the house, selling to tourists. When at home, Abdi also works in the home as a private teacher for people who needs to learn more. This is mostly evening classes for adults.

Others told us that this is a very good family, with a real responsible father. In this village it is too common for children to be left behind, not only by fathers but also mothers. So the grandparents get to take care of the children.

We ask Rafael about his views about this.

• Sometimes I feel that it's only we Maasai that takes the responsibility of marriage seriously! It's terrible how these people behave!
  

Now we enter into serious test discussions. Linda asks if they filled in the test. We see a perfect user report with statistics for each day. The family has used the HiLight every day for two weeks, putting it out in the sun at around 8 in the mornings and letting it charge until late afternoon. At night they switched on the light around 20:00 and then keep the light on until sunrise.

Maryam has been taking responsibility for the testing. Rafaels interviews her in Swahili. A neighbor comes in and asks what is going on. Rafael tells that we now have three tribes in the room; Wadigi, Maasai and Mzungu.

-Generally this is very good. We used it for both light and charging. I have been moving the HiLight around to fit best to the position of the sun. People were bringing me phones to charge. Unfortunately our HiLight did not work to charge phones, but otherwise I could have made some money on that function. I am very grateful to be part of this test, even thoughthe HiLight did not work perfectly.

Off to the Tanga Yacht Club where we reconnect with Sture Teir, one of the three Swedes in the Tanga area. Sture moved to Tanga six years ago when he was looking for a warmer place where his health could be better. In the cold of Sweden he gets serious back aches. In Tanzania he is well, and with a Swedish pension he can live well. He has already married a local woman, Ellen.

When seeing the HiLight when we were in Tanga last time he got very enthusiastic, and he became a tester. In this role he used it on the boat, fishing and with tourist, when hunting and having it as an emergency light in his car. For him, light and charging is equally important.

It is a hot day, the hottest day yet. I escape from the interview to the cooler water. After a good late lunch at the Yacht Club we return to TICC. After dinner, Rafael brings Linda and Kristina out in the darkness of the streets in Tanga to explore the sales stands along the road. I stay at the center, talking about the future of the Metafari and other project with Ruth Nesje.

And then it's the last goodnight here in Tanga for me.

Preparing to visit friends - the Makame family.

Today it will be interesting to hear the stories from the Makami family, living in a village just outside Tanga, close to www.MeetingPointTanga.net

A morning walk with unexpected perspectives

Five o'clock in the morning, and I am clearly awake. Thoughts wander around about our project here and other the network projects back home in Europe. At 5:30 I hear church bells. I must have fallen asleep again because I dream music and singing, until I realize that there is music and singing going on in the world that is awake too.

So I get up and walk in the direction of where I heard music. And only about 100 meters from Maweni Farm I enter another world. Dormitories, class rooms and a church. I hear praying. As I walk closer I find an open door where it is possible to look into the room, full of young men in blue trousers and lighter blue shirts. I see the priests at the altar, and communion starts just as I find a place to rest. Blood of Christ. Body of Christ. The serenity of the ritual is touching, and tears want to come out. Music, reading and prayers continue, until at around 7, the morning mass is finished.

Outside the church I meet two priest who tells me this is a Priest Seminar with 220 students who are on the path of becoming catholic priests.

I ask if there is a path up the mountain and they point upwards. As the walk starts I recognize the desire in me to go to the top of the mountain. It's still early in the morning. I left my phone at the tent and I don't have water. But now it is too late. My legs have started the ascent so it is just for the rest of my body to join upwards. On the very steep path I pass banana trees and, what I later learn, coffee plants. When I am close to the ridge I suddenly enter a village. It seems this narrow path is the only way there.

-Jambo! Jambo!

-Habari? Msuri!

-Karibu sante! Asana santé!

Hello! How are you? Good! Welcome! Thank you. The words come out naturally, and suddenly I feel I am on a first step of beginning to learn Swahili.

I reach the top ridge breathing heavily. It is nice and cool, but I am sweating. Thirsty I begin to feel the desire for breakfast, down in the valley at Maweni Farm. I enter the village again and am greeted in English by a man.

-How are you man! Welcome!

-I am well thank you! I was at the top!

-Where do you stay?

-Maweni Farm. But now I need to go down for breakfast!

-Welcome to eat breakfast here!

-Sorry I must go now!

-Bye bye

Further down through the village I'm greeted by the children and as I exit there's a whole group following me down the hill! Some elder boys were machetes. For a moment I feel a little concerned, but it drifts away like the clouds at the ridge when I feel the friendliness surrounding me.

-Photo, photo!!

I get some great photos of the kids. After a while I hear

-Hey Mzungo!

I turn left and the others go right. I start to feel a little concerned.

-I hope they are not nervous for me down at Maweni Farm, now that I have been away for so long.

But in the breakfast room it is empty. Linda, Kristina and Rafael are still asleep.

I feel happy about my excursion. There's always another world waiting to be discovered. There are always new perspectives to be explored.

Before lunch Linda is interviewing the manager Subi about her usage of the HiLIght. Again, great reviews. Subi lives in an apartment house where there should be electricity, but the owner did not pay the electricity bill so electricity is shut off! But Subi would still appreciate the HiLight for the bright light alone. Now she could read even in the night.

We are served lunch before we leave. Pasta Bolognese, cooked by the best chef in this part of Africa. Visit www.maweni.com and dream about goin there!

An invitation to join the conversation.

Dear all! We have been blogging now for almost four weeks, blogging from every possible position here in Tanzania, except in Engaruka, where there was absolutely no network.

We can see that the number of pageviews are increasing – and now we have almost one hundred per day…

But it would be cool to get in touch with you more. What questions does our journey awake in you? What do you think about what we do? We are traveling with our partner Rafael, who is Maasai – do you have questions for him about the way of the Maasai, or about Tanzania? What can you see we could do better, especially with regards to spread the blog to a larger audience!

This goes definitely beyond selling solar products to Africa – We are on a learning journey where we hope that our journey inspires you in some way, dear reader.

It is very easy to post a comment. Or you can just become a follower of our blog. Please – join!

Deepening the conversation in Nanyogie

Today felt like a real turning point. Up early at Herbs & Spices Ethiopian Restaurant and Guest House in Arusha. We wanted to reach Nanyogie around lunch for performing seven test interviews: Two at the school, one at the dispensary, and four in the Maasai community.

Approaching Moshi we were lucky again with sightings; Kilimanjaro in full glory rising above the clouds. Snow on top. After being stopped and released by police controls a number of times Rafael tells me that I am an African now!

-Jambo!!! Nice to see you! How are you! Glad you are here! Oh, we are going to Mombo today! Yes, thank you!

Smiles, handshakes and happy faces takes you a long way here in Tanzania.

At around noon we reach Bwiko, where we turn off the road to drive the bush road 16 km to Nanyogie. Two Norwegian nursing students and the young warrior Mussa awaits us to join this trip, thus saving themselves a four hour walk.

It is to Bwiko the people of Nanyogie have to walk or ride the bicycle to charge their phones.

• No more four hour walk to Bwiko – and four hour back if we have the Higlight!!
  

Simon, the young teacher is almost ecstatic by the thought, when being interviewed by Kristina as she and Linda are doing the follow up test interviews after the 10 days of use! He continues

• This is so great! We have used it every night for reading, and we have been able to charge our phones! If we had this at school we could borrow it out to school children if they need to do homework.
  

Linda is interviewing Maria, Daniel, Martin with help of Rafael. For them this technology is also a revolution. Maria already had started to charge phones for 200 tzs each. For Linda this was also a great thing as she has children for evening classes. They all have been very serious filling out test protocols, and have been using the product extensively!

I walk around with my friend Jacobo, who I met already in 2007 when I was here for the first time. It was not until the third time I was here that I found out that he speaks really good English! We walk down to the school and meet the head teacher, who I also know since the first time I was here. I get an idea and bring up my computer to check if we can connect to internet. The Zantel network is not live here, but the Vodacom network has really improved and we have a full reading on network strength. I try to connect using my Samsung Galaxy as mobile access point , and voila – it works!

So 16 km from the nearest electricity outlet we have a good internet connection here! A used netbook computer, a USB Internet stick from Vodacom, and the possibility to charge the computer would actually give the school internet access! This was not possible two years ago!

So we get more ideas to feed to Rafaels and mine project idea around "Off Grid Community Development" .

We could not stay in Nanyogie tonight, as we had to go to Maweni Farm for our nest test interview. So here I am here at this wonderful spot up in the Usambara Mountains. And the food is definitely the best in this part of Africa. Go here if you can! Good night!

The HiLightIn Tanzania live journey map

This is our journey. Currenty being updated. Click on the blue pointers to read about people and places


Visa HiLightIn Tanzania - 2010 på en större karta

First test interviews, and elephants along the highway.

We thought that we'd said goodbye to the wild animals as we started our drive back toward Arusha.

But suddenly we spot a whole herd of elephants along the highway. A whole clan, more than 10 of them are here.

We stop to have our lunch, waiting here to see what happens.

This morning we said goodbye to Barbara of ol Mesera. It has become home to us. Go and stay there if you can.

There was also the first concluding interviews of the test. Marias described the HiLight as a revolutionary tool for the Maasai.
-Suffering is finished, as for phonecharging. The best thing is that it is very userfriendly. One button, no wires, anyone can use it. After two days our village was already depending on the one HiLight unit. We charged 8 phones in the first two days! This saved us 12000 TZS = 6 EUR!!

-We had it in our shop during the early evening, and then my boys brought it home to do their homework. Also, during a normal day we use two coca cola bottles of kerosene, costing 2000 TZS = 1 EUR. This we also save.

-I showed the HiLight to the person we buy kerosene from and he was speechless! Already I had people here asking where they can buy it!

Barbaras statement was:
-This is so good so you have to use "seeing is believing". This would lower the cost of diesel but also a way to be environmentally friendly. I would buy the HiLight to my 5 staff and pay half of the cost myself. They could then bring the HiLight home for light and make some money on charging.

Something about communication technology on our journey

This post is for you who is a bit interested in how technology makes our postings possible.

Tanzania is a country where less than 15% of the population have access to electricity.

Less than 15% have a bank account, and only about 5% of the population is eligible for a bank loan.

According to this article there are 15 million mobile phone users in Tanzania, accounting for around 25% of the population. Another source states that by 2013, the penetration will reach 100%

In the Maasai villages we visited it seemed that the penetration was higher. In Ngaruka, where there was not even a network coverage, the people estimated that around 3 out of 4 owned a mobile phone.

The postings of this blog has been done entirely via the mobile network. We have three solutions

• A Vodacom Data account on my Samsung Galaxy makes it possible to to connect from the phone. Postings can be made by taking a picture and then e-mailing it to the blog account.
• A USB stick from Zantel connects my computer to Internet where Zantels network is available. This only seem to work in the cities. On the other hand, when it works it is quite speedy, up to 1Mbit
• The last resort is to use the Samsung Galaxy as a Mobile Access Point, thus creating an instant WiFi network. This is how I am doing this post now. The speed here at the foot of Ngorongoro mountain is about 128kB. A bit slow, but it works.

The cost of 2GB Data is about 38000TZS which amounts to around 20EUR. Much cheaper, and a lot faster than using the Internet connection at most hotels. And you can connect to Internet anywhere this way.

It is a connected world!

HiLight in Tanzania is starting the journey back

Good morning all!

After two days of Safaring it is time to become Metafarians again and get back to work. On our journey back we will meet the people who has borrowed HiLights for testing, interview them and to collect their experience of using the product.

The three HiLights we have left have been through some serious testing. Exposed to the extremely penetrating fine dust, and the hot sun. We discover things to modify and improve, but so far this journey has validated the idea and the construction of the product.

One striking reflection is how we always have been in "business conversations" - Not once has somebody brought up the idea that "we should give this to them".

Rafael adds.

-Yes we have been on a mission that everybody understands and all seems to want to be part of this. There is an interest of becoming both buyers and sellers of the product.

We have posted som reports and added in the right place in this blog. Follow the links below

- Ngaruka Juu Primary School

- Community meeting in Ngaruka village

- A visit to the Kirumuru luxury tented camp

- The story of how Marias Ole Pello became a Maasai leader

Today we will pay visit to some lodges along the way back to ol Mesera where the owner Barbara is testing a product. But she already gave us an enthusiastic report.

-It is really great! I could do needlework in the light of the HiLight!

Safari days at Lake Manyara and Ngorongoro

As we now have handed out all the HiLights to their testers we could take two days off to do some actual Safari. Sunday we spent in Lake Manyara National Park, and Monday in the Ngorongoro Crater.

We tried hard not to talk about HiLight, but failed miserably. But we also had many interesting discussions around the not always easy relationship between Maasai and farmers/landowners.

Share our journey here. Don't miss the lion activities.

The story of how Marias ole Pello became a chief

Marias ole Pello became a Maasai chief in 1986. This is his story of how it happened.

In 1986 people of the area had a big big meeting, where over 200 elders gathered. The reason for the meeting was to decide on a new traditional leader for the area of Engaruka. In that time there was about 1600 people who lived in that area with around 400 in my age group.

When we have special problems we call on meetings and solve problems. At this time our current leader was getting too old and a new one was to be elected. The elders think that now is the time to have a new traditional leader, and therefore call to this meeting.

Initially the people decide on 10 names out of the 400 young Maasais. In the next step the people decide on 10 names. When I first heard my name called I got very afraid. I could not feel that I was strong enough to deal with the community problems, and to finish them.

We don't make votes. The selection happens in the conversation.. Elders stand up and present names. Others express views around those names and the number of names become smaller until only one is left. The selection process takes around three months, and the elders meet a number of times during this period.

When I was elected, the younger elders made a very big ceremony between the communities. They chose a leader stick and brought it to me. In the ceremony they slaughtered 10 cows and 60 goats and sheep. They made a traditional alcohol for the celebration. Many people came to this fiest where people were eating and drinking, dancing and singing to celebrate the new leader.

At this time I was 26 years old. I was very happy to realize that all people in the areas respected me. People where happy to have a new leader.

I think I am a good leader because I give people space to decide themselves. Also many times I have helped people. I have sold cows so that I could sponsor people in my village at times.

After I become a leader my life was changed in several ways. One way that is different is that as a leader you are no longer allowed to have an opinion. As a leader I help my community, my people to make decisions. If I get a new idea I must share my thoughts with the community. Being a Maasai leader is not like being a king. I don't say "I like that cow from Leif. Bring it!" or similar. I am always obliged to share my thoughts with the community and to find solutions together.

An amazing day at Ngaruka

This was an absolutely amazing day. From the traditional welcoming meeting at Marias ole Pello's home village to the business meetings in the town.

Find the stories here

- The community meeting in Ngaruka village

- The Ngaruka Ruu Primary School

With these two test groups we've reached our furthest point at this journey, and we will also leave two HiLights here for long term testing. This will be seriously testing, the dust here is present everywhere, and the sun is as very powerful here just south of the equator.

Allow yourself to enjoy the images in the slideshow below

Ngaruka Juu Primary School

We drive up from Ngaruka town a few km toward the mountain side of the Ngorongoro area and arrive at the Ngaruka Juu Primary School where we are met by Mikas Laizer, the head teacher of this school.

• The school has currently 910 pupils and around 14 teachers. Thanks to sponsoring from Tanzania National Parks four new classrooms are being added so it can become a total of 11 classrooms.
  
• The number of students that passed standard Seven level last year was 79 and could go further to secondary school. Only 12 students went on to specialized schools. (technical, medical etc) The school was founded in 1949 by a Lutheran church. In 1963 the school was handed over to the government.
  
• We have now two major student groups. One group are students from Maasai places. They don't pay anything. We also have some students from other places in Tanzania. They pay a small fee to support food etc.
  

Again we enter a new meeting. Two of the Maasai elders from the village joined us here, and now we are set in a classroom with five teachers who also joined us for a conversation. Marias stands up and makes the introduction, introducing us all in Maasai language.

• Linda, those are our school teachers. This is the head of our school. And now you maybe could show us the solar product.
  

Linda makes an introduction and give back the task of demonstrating the product to Rafael, as usual. He becomes a better and better salesperson each time, each time also demonstrating his natural authority as a leader. Even though we don't understand what he says, we get really sold on the product. Nods, hums and an intensive interest is shown today in HiLight, as it does every time.

Rafael leaves the room open for question

• Is it possible to charge a radio?
  
• If it is possible to charge a radio from USB, then it works
  
  

As the conversation flows on and move into the subject of mobile phones we hear that 3 out of 4 here has a mobile phone even though that there's not even any network coverage here in Ngaruka. You have to climb up to the top of the mountain to get in reach for the mobile network!

The school has a solar unit on the roof, and people come to the school from the villages around to charge their phones at a cost of 500tzs per charge. ( appr 0,2 EUR)

The teachers also live at the schools, in rooms that lack electricity. They use kerosene lamps for light, as do the pupils who live at the school. Kerosene is expensive but also dangerous. The school uses 40 l per month of kerosene at a cost of approximately 20EUR.

• Would the HiLight be useful here?
  
• Absolutely. We would buy these with our own funding, but we could also ask parents for contributions to buy.
  

And we drive back to Ol Mesera in the sunset after a overwhelming day. In the back of the car we bring two men and four 50l bottles of water back to Marias village

Community meeting in Ngaruka

After the welcome ceremonies in Marias home village we travel to Ngaruka town, where Marias has his office, bar and campground. Marias sent out a message yesterday that we will make a presentation of something special and now we gather to start the conversation. Around 15 men are gathered and we are waiting for some women to come and attend.

The welcoming and friendliness is amazing. But it is hard to give the situation justice, as words used to describe the feelings become cliché-like.

As we wait for the women Marias start to tell about the product. The people gathered here are important people from the area, council representatives of the local authority, council leaders.

One of them is Samuel Laizer, a representative from the village government who was the one billing us 8,000 TZS each to enter the area. This fee is one way to get income to the community.

The women has now arrived and the meeting can start. Rafael starts the conversation.

-People we are now gathered, and I think we will start to explain what brings us here.

Rafael grabs the leadership sticks, raises up and starts an introduction in the Maasai language. We hear words like HiLight, HiNation, Kristina, Linda, Leif, solar…. Now 40 men and women are here under the tree listening with high attention. Rafael introduces the HiLight, demonstrating the light and the charging functionality. He also shows how the HiLight can be positioned in different ways.

After Rafael, Marias stands up and continues the introduction. Both Rafael and Marias are interrupted by questions, both by the men and the women.

I is a bit amazining sitting here under a tree in Ngaruka having a conversation around a hitech product like HiLight. We are now very interested to hear a translation of the two speeches as we don't understand anything. As the conversation gets free we only hear one question:

-When can we get this product? we all need it!

Rafael translates to us what happened

-I made an introduction of the HiLight, the story behind, what it can do, how it works, and then what we could do to get it work properly. We got some questions about how many phones we could charge. But you want light you need to balance between light and charging.

-One man asked when we can have it. We just want to know when this is possible. When we know it is available, we can pay for it and then get it.

Linda thinks…..

-Testing is made now and then we could make the order within 2-3 months. Delivery could be made in the first quarter of 2011.

Rafael concludes.

-When the product is ready to be delivered to be ready, Marias would be the one that brings the information about orders and delivery. There is also a good business here. A telephone charge in this area is about 1000 TZS which means that the HiLight could bring in 5000 TZS per day. Nomadic charging stations, that would be something!

Marias now concludes the meeting. Kristina and Linda writes down the information about the test users, and we continue to the next place, the village school of Ngaruka.

Leaving ol Mesera for Ngaruka

We are now leaving our host Barbara for a day trip to the Maasai settlement of Ngaruka. There is no contact with networks there, so you might have to wait a day for a report.

Visiting the Kirurumu Tented luxury camp – And we almost get an order!

After a dusty afternoon drive passing Lake Manyara climbing the wall of the Great Rift Valley. Our first visit is the Kirurumu Tented Luxury camp. This is a highend camp with 23 tents and up to 43 guests.

See their website here

Joseph Moshi is assistant manager for the Kirurumo Tented camp. The camp is fully electrified, so each tent has light. However they often operate mobile tent camps where they have solar powered lamps.

-This is a very interesting product. Especially for mobile use. You should talk to tour operators. This could be a component in any safari car. There are hundreds of tour operator in this area. This is a big business here.

-There are many different types of Safari. Some use small tents, some stay in luxury lodges. We could also sell this to our guest. Many are suffering a lot from lack of charge.

Now Gerald enters, the lodge manager. The incredibly friendly welcome is consistent. We have not booked here at this camp where a night costs over $500, but immediately both the manager and assistant manager make themselves available.

-Wow what a product. I get interested to buy one myself. I am always in need of charging. But it could be used both in our business, and to sell to the tourists.

-Yes we could buy for this lodge, and have in the reception when there are blackouts. Where can I get contact with you, and when can I get the HiLights?

So our conclusion is that we have yet another good meeting, with an enthusiastic reception of our product. No Nay-sayers here.

Welcome to Lake Manyara viewpont

A splendid view. Now off for some luxury lodges to present HiLight

Morning conversations in Ol Mesera

We are gathered under the roof to talk about the project sorting out practical matters. Marias came early to be with us, and will remain with us and to guide us for the rest of our time here.

We will be staying here for a total of three nights, waking up each morning with the view of the Great Rift valley.

We are talking about the way the Maasai live, trying to sort out what a settlement is and about migration of the people along with the seasons.

We are given an introduction to the use of milk in the community. The Maasai do not make cheese,  but a special type of butter called ghee.

Now we ask about how the HiLight could be of use in the community. Marias tells us...
-I have never sen...  It is light portable and easy to use. We all have phones. It is to much use. I want to test it and see how it works and after that I will give a statement. It is very light and handy.
- I would charge it strapped on my back, or put it on my stick when I am walking.
-Our family have 300 cows, 300 sheep and goats, and about 40 donkeys.
-A cow is worth around 100000 tzs, a goat around 50,000 tsz. We don't sell donkeys.

We calculate.. Maria has a capital in livestock of around 45000 EUR!!  So 120 EUR for a HiLight is hardly out of reach.

And people at home has told Linds that this is not a market because people are too poor......

Habari ya asubuhi wote - Good morning all from Ol Mesera

We arrived to Ol Mesera at 22:30 after what felt as an endless drive at the final stretch of road from the village of Mto Wa Mbu where we met our dear friend, chief Marias ole Pello who had been waiting for us the whole day.

Marias came in his own car together with his driver and the local councellor of Selela. Rafael had previously been telling us about the incredibly dusty roads here. Following Marias car we realized how true this was.

Earlier, at the dark roadside we found new and good use for the HiLight. It is a great reading lamp, we had very good use of the charging. And when the repairman came after 3 hours it also made an excellent work lamp to be used under the car. The flat shape makes it perfect, providing really sharp and clear uplight.

We were extremely happy to be on our way again. As we arrived to the meeting point we were overwhelmed by the warm welcome of Marias. Some of you who read this remember Marias from a network meeting in Stockholm in February 2009.

Today we will go to his village for a welcome ceremony and a discussion about the testing of HiLight. By the way, the councellor wanted to buy one HiLight immediately!

Rafael, any comments?
-The owner of this place, Barbara, is a good host. She was waiting for us and kept the food warm until we arrived.
Ol Mesera is a quiet place, beautifully situated on top of the hill, which makes it an ideal place for contemplation and reflections. In the reception you meet one of the biggest ol Meseras in the region. Ol Mesera is the Maasai name for the bao bao tree. The name of the lodge is truly synonynous with the place.