"If you can't handle the heat, get out of the ___"
It was time to put aside pleasure and get back to work. I left Nairobi for Kampala, Uganda for the second African university involved in the iLabs project: Makarere University. And oh my, Uganda is hot! The heat was not a problem in Tanzania or Kenya, but here, I can definitely feel it. Lagos is still probably the hottest city I have ever been but oh my, definitely could have melted in this weather. I was too lazy and bothered by the heat to trek out outside, so I just chilled in the comforts of my room.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Day 8: Negotiation for Souvenirs
"I came, I saw, I bought"
Of the many things I am good at, bargaining is not one of them. Herman (MIT '10) took me to the Maasai market to look around and buy souvenirs. I let Herman take charge of the bargaining - well, he is a local. And as I found out, he has good negotiating skills. But he also has a conscience. He gave one of our vendors an extra 50 Kenya Shillings (Ksh) after we had paid Ksh. 500 for three sets of matching bracelets and necklaces.
At the end of the day, I had bought one set of matching bracelets & earnings and one set of matching bracelets & necklaces for each of my sisters. I did not come away empty-handed though. I got a free bracelet as a bonus from one of our vendors. Extra cash and bonuses! These Kenyans are so generous. Definitely a good day of shopping in a wonderful city.
Of the many things I am good at, bargaining is not one of them. Herman (MIT '10) took me to the Maasai market to look around and buy souvenirs. I let Herman take charge of the bargaining - well, he is a local. And as I found out, he has good negotiating skills. But he also has a conscience. He gave one of our vendors an extra 50 Kenya Shillings (Ksh) after we had paid Ksh. 500 for three sets of matching bracelets and necklaces.
At the end of the day, I had bought one set of matching bracelets & earnings and one set of matching bracelets & necklaces for each of my sisters. I did not come away empty-handed though. I got a free bracelet as a bonus from one of our vendors. Extra cash and bonuses! These Kenyans are so generous. Definitely a good day of shopping in a wonderful city.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Day 7: Niaje Kenya
"If a Kenyan tells you s/he's coming in x minutes, double it"
As I was saying Asante to Tanzania, it was time to say Niaje to Kenya. The purpose of my visit to Kenya was to talk with the professor who evaluates the program for the Carnegie Foundation. The foundation funds many aspects of the iLabs program - research assistantship for Master's students at MIT, travel, equipment, etc. Besides the discussion, he took me on a tour of the city's CBD and the University of Nairobi. Two words to describe that tour: absolutely astounding. In terms of grandeur, I thought I was in New York City. Nairobi is the first major African city I have ever toured and I only hope the others are like that.
What did I love so much? The layout, the streets, the small businesses, the markets, the local chains, the fashion, the food and of course the beautiful people. Obviously, not all aspects of the city and the country will reflect what I say, but the Kenyans should take pride at this majestic and well-functioning city they have produced.
Then later that night, I met up with Ciku (a MIT '09 Alum), her sister and Mugisha (MIT senior). Along with a friend of Ciku's friend, we went out and partied like only Nairobians could.
Nairobi. What a truly wonder city!
As I was saying Asante to Tanzania, it was time to say Niaje to Kenya. The purpose of my visit to Kenya was to talk with the professor who evaluates the program for the Carnegie Foundation. The foundation funds many aspects of the iLabs program - research assistantship for Master's students at MIT, travel, equipment, etc. Besides the discussion, he took me on a tour of the city's CBD and the University of Nairobi. Two words to describe that tour: absolutely astounding. In terms of grandeur, I thought I was in New York City. Nairobi is the first major African city I have ever toured and I only hope the others are like that.
What did I love so much? The layout, the streets, the small businesses, the markets, the local chains, the fashion, the food and of course the beautiful people. Obviously, not all aspects of the city and the country will reflect what I say, but the Kenyans should take pride at this majestic and well-functioning city they have produced.
Then later that night, I met up with Ciku (a MIT '09 Alum), her sister and Mugisha (MIT senior). Along with a friend of Ciku's friend, we went out and partied like only Nairobians could.
Nairobi. What a truly wonder city!
Day 6: Finishing up in Tanzania
My last full day in Tanzania. The overall aim for the final day in Tanzania was to meet with the other members of the UDSM iLabs team. The team members belong to one of two "schools": School of Informatics or College of Engineering & Technology (CoET). So far, I had stayed with the team at the School of Informatics though a few students in CoET came over. At CoET, I delivered the same set of lectures from Tuesday (Day 4). After that, I was assisting them in fixing issues.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Day 5: Insomnia and Blackouts
"Put your kerosene lamps up in the air. Put your kerosene lamps up in the air"
I had properly planned my sleeping on the plane to ensure that I had minimal jetlag. Unfortunately, I still had difficulties sleeping. Most nights, I manage two to three hours before I wake up in the middle of the night. I am not taking any naps during the day, so for most days, I have been functioning on 4-5 hours of sleep. Initially, I suspected the insomnia was because of the itchy mosquito net. Now I suspect the heat. It is not extremely hot here, just warm. I have issues sleeping in warm temperatures. Usually, I either leave the window open to make the room cold or just use a fan. I have been using that here since day one and it has not helped. I hope to at least have a night's rest of 8 hours before I live in two days.
So when I wake up in the middle of the night, I watch TV, read a book or read Bible passages. The previous day, while I was reading a book, the lights went off. It was not the first time. There had been five blackouts the same day. In my first two days, I experienced only one blackout. According to Josiah, blackouts on campus are rare because universities have a high priority for power. At each blackout, the Tanzanians would say something akin to "Welcome to Tanzania" or "This is Tanzania for you." I just smile and laugh. I tell them about my NEPA days during my years in Ife, Nigeria. After all, the blackouts in Tanzania lasted for a maximum of 2 hours whereas in Nigeria, it was usually a minimum of 2 days.
NEPA is an acronym for National Electric Power Authority, the previous name of the organisation that managed Nigeria's electricity. If you want to hear some hateful vitriol, come talk to me about NEPA. I haven't met an organisation I hated more than NEPA. I probably never will.
I had properly planned my sleeping on the plane to ensure that I had minimal jetlag. Unfortunately, I still had difficulties sleeping. Most nights, I manage two to three hours before I wake up in the middle of the night. I am not taking any naps during the day, so for most days, I have been functioning on 4-5 hours of sleep. Initially, I suspected the insomnia was because of the itchy mosquito net. Now I suspect the heat. It is not extremely hot here, just warm. I have issues sleeping in warm temperatures. Usually, I either leave the window open to make the room cold or just use a fan. I have been using that here since day one and it has not helped. I hope to at least have a night's rest of 8 hours before I live in two days.
So when I wake up in the middle of the night, I watch TV, read a book or read Bible passages. The previous day, while I was reading a book, the lights went off. It was not the first time. There had been five blackouts the same day. In my first two days, I experienced only one blackout. According to Josiah, blackouts on campus are rare because universities have a high priority for power. At each blackout, the Tanzanians would say something akin to "Welcome to Tanzania" or "This is Tanzania for you." I just smile and laugh. I tell them about my NEPA days during my years in Ife, Nigeria. After all, the blackouts in Tanzania lasted for a maximum of 2 hours whereas in Nigeria, it was usually a minimum of 2 days.
NEPA is an acronym for National Electric Power Authority, the previous name of the organisation that managed Nigeria's electricity. If you want to hear some hateful vitriol, come talk to me about NEPA. I haven't met an organisation I hated more than NEPA. I probably never will.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Day 4: Presentation to the Undergraduates
"Do you understand the words coming out of my mouth"
Ever sat through a long boring technical presentation? Well, I just put eight undergraduate students through that. Today, I met with 2 of the 4 College of Engineering final-year students and the 2 Electronics final-year students doing projects on iLabs as well as 2 enthusiastic students eager to learn about the architecture of the user interface and debugging. The presentation was not bad. I did see one sleepy student, but most appeared intrigued and the enthusiastic pair stayed to the end. The problem was that my presentation was long (2 hours) and I extremely dislike of long presentations, so it was personally aggravating to be the one delivering it. It was an ad-hoc informal presentation just like yesterday. Otherwise, I'd had cut to a max of 30 minutes.
Since 11th grade in high school, I have been explaining or tutoring fellow students. The one skill I still need to improve on is gauging the comprehension of my presentation or assistance. So at today's presentation, I asked the standard Anyone confused? and Did you understand what I just said?. In general, they usually said no, but I know what it is like to be in their shoes. Sometimes people are scared or apathetic. After all, only one student consistently spoke up to ask questions - solicited and unsolicited. The same student had already been asking my team at MIT questions for a while. I gave everyone my emails so I'll find out about my presentation and maybe get a few other students to be forthcoming with questions.
Ever sat through a long boring technical presentation? Well, I just put eight undergraduate students through that. Today, I met with 2 of the 4 College of Engineering final-year students and the 2 Electronics final-year students doing projects on iLabs as well as 2 enthusiastic students eager to learn about the architecture of the user interface and debugging. The presentation was not bad. I did see one sleepy student, but most appeared intrigued and the enthusiastic pair stayed to the end. The problem was that my presentation was long (2 hours) and I extremely dislike of long presentations, so it was personally aggravating to be the one delivering it. It was an ad-hoc informal presentation just like yesterday. Otherwise, I'd had cut to a max of 30 minutes.
Since 11th grade in high school, I have been explaining or tutoring fellow students. The one skill I still need to improve on is gauging the comprehension of my presentation or assistance. So at today's presentation, I asked the standard Anyone confused? and Did you understand what I just said?. In general, they usually said no, but I know what it is like to be in their shoes. Sometimes people are scared or apathetic. After all, only one student consistently spoke up to ask questions - solicited and unsolicited. The same student had already been asking my team at MIT questions for a while. I gave everyone my emails so I'll find out about my presentation and maybe get a few other students to be forthcoming with questions.
Monday, January 11, 2010
The overview lecture
"Anyone confused or has any questions about what I previously explain"
It's Monday (Day 3). Earlier today, I presented an overview of the iLab architecture to the majority of the Masters' students working within the University of Dar Es Salaam's iLab unit. In all, it took under 1.5 hours. I was interrupted several times by questions or had to wait for live demonstrations. I hope I have done a good job so far of hiding my propensity to dominate conversation or talk too much. I enjoy explaining to people, so I was glad to do the overview.
I have never being able to determine if I am truly answering a person's question, but I have heard that the type of questions asked can be a good indicator. The questions that were asked did indicate overall that people followed along well with my explanations and the nods that accompanied my answers to their question made me feel great. I expect to do another presentation tomorrow, when I talk about debugging and the technical details of iLabs. I plan to be concise and find ways to gauge the audience's understanding.
It's Monday (Day 3). Earlier today, I presented an overview of the iLab architecture to the majority of the Masters' students working within the University of Dar Es Salaam's iLab unit. In all, it took under 1.5 hours. I was interrupted several times by questions or had to wait for live demonstrations. I hope I have done a good job so far of hiding my propensity to dominate conversation or talk too much. I enjoy explaining to people, so I was glad to do the overview.
I have never being able to determine if I am truly answering a person's question, but I have heard that the type of questions asked can be a good indicator. The questions that were asked did indicate overall that people followed along well with my explanations and the nods that accompanied my answers to their question made me feel great. I expect to do another presentation tomorrow, when I talk about debugging and the technical details of iLabs. I plan to be concise and find ways to gauge the audience's understanding.
Karibu. Sasa. Wapi. Unasema Kiswahili? (Do you speak Swahili)?
Person: [unintelligble]
Me: Sorry, I don't speak Swahili.
As I was editing a previous blog post, the power went out in the building a hour ago. I saw it as a sign from the heavens that I should take a computer break and eat lunch. Off I went to the Hill City Park area to grab lunch. When it was my turn to be served, the server had to go back to the kitchen to add more soup. She said something to me and I gave her my ticket assuming that is what she wanted. A man in line behind me told me, "She wants you to move back." Oh.
I was prepared to hear Swahili, but I was expecting to also overhear conversations in English. Approximately 99% of English conversations I hear involve me or happen within my guest housing area. The newspapers are in Swahili. The radio programs are in Swahili. Of the 10-12 TV stations I can watch, at least three are in Swahili including their Christian channel. And yes, they can still speak English properly and effectively.
For those that do not know, Swahili is inter-tribal language. It facilitates communication between many East African ethnic groups in the same way that Castilian (Spanish) allows Catalans, Galicians and Basques in Spain to communicate or how Scottish, Welsh and the Irish can use English to communicate. Speakers of Swahili may speak other local languages, but will only use them in the appropriate settings. I have not come across such a unifying language as Swahili elsewhere in Africa.
Me: Sorry, I don't speak Swahili.
As I was editing a previous blog post, the power went out in the building a hour ago. I saw it as a sign from the heavens that I should take a computer break and eat lunch. Off I went to the Hill City Park area to grab lunch. When it was my turn to be served, the server had to go back to the kitchen to add more soup. She said something to me and I gave her my ticket assuming that is what she wanted. A man in line behind me told me, "She wants you to move back." Oh.
I was prepared to hear Swahili, but I was expecting to also overhear conversations in English. Approximately 99% of English conversations I hear involve me or happen within my guest housing area. The newspapers are in Swahili. The radio programs are in Swahili. Of the 10-12 TV stations I can watch, at least three are in Swahili including their Christian channel. And yes, they can still speak English properly and effectively.
For those that do not know, Swahili is inter-tribal language. It facilitates communication between many East African ethnic groups in the same way that Castilian (Spanish) allows Catalans, Galicians and Basques in Spain to communicate or how Scottish, Welsh and the Irish can use English to communicate. Speakers of Swahili may speak other local languages, but will only use them in the appropriate settings. I have not come across such a unifying language as Swahili elsewhere in Africa.
The legend of the 100 mosquito bites
"You shouldn't need to sleep with the mosquito nets"
It is strange how once you leave a place, you can never go back to it the same way you left. That is after all why they say you can never go home. July 7, 1997 was my day of no return. I have returned only once since then - April 2002. Even then, I still felt like a foreigner to a place 5 years earlier I had call home. This same feeling coursed through me as I packed and mentally prepared myself for this trip. Unlike 2002, I had accepted that I was different
So I prepared like a foreigner, which meant buying anti-malaria pills. In 2002, I hadn't packed those malaria pills. Nothing happened during the two weeks. Actually, in my 9 yrs and 4 months in Nigeria, I contracted malaria once. And here I was in 2010, thinking that I would manage to get infected within the three weeks in Africa. But again, I was a foreigner and I must take all precautions.
Above my bed hovered a mosquito net. The first two nights, I slept under the mosquito net. On the third day, I abandoned it. Why just two days? Not quite sure why it happened. Was the net itchy? Was I imagining mosquito bites. I do know what happened. At the end of the 2nd night, I scratched myself that I ended up with 100 mosquito bite-like bumps had appeared over my body - most on my elbows and arms. After that third day, the scratching stopped. The damage was already done. My colleagues here asked me how the mosquitos had managed to cause such damage to both arms and elbows; I had to confess it was all self-inflicted.
Lesson learned: leave the mosquito nets to the real foreigners or at least check that mosquitos come into the room.
It is strange how once you leave a place, you can never go back to it the same way you left. That is after all why they say you can never go home. July 7, 1997 was my day of no return. I have returned only once since then - April 2002. Even then, I still felt like a foreigner to a place 5 years earlier I had call home. This same feeling coursed through me as I packed and mentally prepared myself for this trip. Unlike 2002, I had accepted that I was different
So I prepared like a foreigner, which meant buying anti-malaria pills. In 2002, I hadn't packed those malaria pills. Nothing happened during the two weeks. Actually, in my 9 yrs and 4 months in Nigeria, I contracted malaria once. And here I was in 2010, thinking that I would manage to get infected within the three weeks in Africa. But again, I was a foreigner and I must take all precautions.
Above my bed hovered a mosquito net. The first two nights, I slept under the mosquito net. On the third day, I abandoned it. Why just two days? Not quite sure why it happened. Was the net itchy? Was I imagining mosquito bites. I do know what happened. At the end of the 2nd night, I scratched myself that I ended up with 100 mosquito bite-like bumps had appeared over my body - most on my elbows and arms. After that third day, the scratching stopped. The damage was already done. My colleagues here asked me how the mosquitos had managed to cause such damage to both arms and elbows; I had to confess it was all self-inflicted.
Lesson learned: leave the mosquito nets to the real foreigners or at least check that mosquitos come into the room.
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Meeting some of the iLab students
"Hello my name is Yemi. What's your name? [Unintelligible answer]"
I wanted to use the internet and Josiah thought it would be good to introduce me to some of his fellow colleagues that were working in the lab even on a Saturday (we are still in the lab as of 8pm). After we went through the usual introductions, I realised that I am either horrendous at pronouncing Tanzanian names or they just mumble their names. So far, I have met Kwame (no, he's not Ghanaian), Nassor, Godwin, Baraka and Isaac; Isaac and Godwin had to give me their English names because I had no shot on their native names.
I talked to Nassor about his project before I finally got to my real purpose: getting online so that I could contact my family for the first time since arrival and chatting with friends who happened to be awake (Tz is GMT+3; +8 from US East Coast). I was interrupted several times by others including Baraka and Josiah to give an overview of what I had done and help them with their projects. Once, a group of them gathered around me and listened to my big mouth flap continuously. In four continents and at least five countries, it is a known fact that I talk too much. My shrink is helping me out but until I'm cured, I hope to not add Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda to that list.
I wanted to use the internet and Josiah thought it would be good to introduce me to some of his fellow colleagues that were working in the lab even on a Saturday (we are still in the lab as of 8pm). After we went through the usual introductions, I realised that I am either horrendous at pronouncing Tanzanian names or they just mumble their names. So far, I have met Kwame (no, he's not Ghanaian), Nassor, Godwin, Baraka and Isaac; Isaac and Godwin had to give me their English names because I had no shot on their native names.
I talked to Nassor about his project before I finally got to my real purpose: getting online so that I could contact my family for the first time since arrival and chatting with friends who happened to be awake (Tz is GMT+3; +8 from US East Coast). I was interrupted several times by others including Baraka and Josiah to give an overview of what I had done and help them with their projects. Once, a group of them gathered around me and listened to my big mouth flap continuously. In four continents and at least five countries, it is a known fact that I talk too much. My shrink is helping me out but until I'm cured, I hope to not add Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda to that list.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)