`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.