The Hurricane Lantern and the Laser Printer

I knew working in Tanzania would yield a clash of ideologies. I knew enough to realize the area that we were coming to was labeled as an extremely poor area in an extremely poor country in Africa. One thing, however, that has been rather surprising is the chasm of how things are expressed between those who do not have and those who, at least from outward appearances, have.

There is no doubt we are in the "have" group. On my plastic table in our living room is a hurricane lantern. It's there because we have regular power outages. Most of the electricity provided to Tanzania is driven from hydroelectric generators. Due to many reasons such as shifting weather patterns the power gets cut. To be honest we've become so used to it that on Friday when we celebrated Quinn's birthday we sat with the lights off even though electricity was available! What sort of strange psychology is that? The power outages are frustrating for business owners. However, many manage by purchasing generators or just stocking up on candles. Of course our students aren't terribly bothered because most live in homes without electricity. The hurricane lamp reminds me of how quickly I can be sent back to a time without electricity. Then, my lesson planning (done by my ancient laptop), my e-mailing (done by Lisa's newer but recently broken laptop), my reading (done by electric light), and my DVD viewing (again, previously done on Lisa's computer...but difficult now with a broken screen...the West Wing just isn't quite the same with a split down the middle of Sam's head!) all gets taken back to the, shall we say, dark ages.

I'm surrounded by a lack of technology in many respects. Farmers farm here with a mouldboard plow pulled behind a set of cattle. Sometimes they can hire a tractor (typically a Massey Furgeson). Most people walk wherever they go due to lack of transport. If they do ride, it's in a crowded share ride such as a dalla dalla (small bus) or boda boda (reckless motorcycle). People get water from a reservoir. I thought it was just for livestock until some of my students said that was what they drank too (which yet again underlines my belief that any of our kids on their worst day is way tougher than me!). Food is cooked over charcoal or wood. Yep, this is truly hurricane lamp country...if you are fortunate enough to have a hurricane lamp in the first place or fuel to make it work.

Now, right next to that hurricane lamp is our printer. It's fairly new. It's constantly out of ink, but works fine for the most part. It also scans and makes photo copies. I can attach at least two of our three computers (and sometimes four or five computers if Quinn is visiting from the other volunteer house) and print in no time. Our school is equipped with solar power that runs, on occasion, one of three LCD projectors we have at the school. Recently, a partner of IEFT donated 15 laptops - nice ones too - not some reject stuff. I saw our kids flocking around it in the library the other day teaching each other how to use Microsoft Word. Further, EVERYONE here has a cell phone (and NOONE has any credit. EVER!). It's a very strange site indeed to see a Maasai man or woman walking along in their traditional garb, holding a spear or walking stick in one hand, and talking or texting from a cell phone in the other! When I go in to church, the church is decked out with swanky speakers, a mixing board and wireless microphones. Recently there is a trend to listen to your music, whether from an I-Pod or some knock off. The rule, it seems, is that you have to walk along with one ear-bud in place and the other dangling down around your neck. I think that's so you have one free ear in case someone "flashes you" on their cell phone (which means they call and then immediately hang up so you have to call them back and waste your credit and not theirs!).

Drake University and some team from Mexico came here to play an American Football game. Lisa contacted them and a few of the administration and players wanted to come visit the school. They left Arusha late so they arrived at the school after all of the students had gone home. Someone must have thought there to be great danger at Orkeeswa because the first car (of three) was filled with a dozen armed police. The second was a fancy new car of a government official of some kind. The third was a 35 passenger bus filled with around 10 athletic administrators. Of course, the presence of all the armed police made everyone more than just a little uneasy (including the villagers who immediately started calling our security guy...from their cell phones...to find out what was going on...thank you small town!) But, eventually everoyne calmed a bit and the touring of our guests resumed. They had digital cameras, video cameras and I-phones to capture the moment. They were courteous and genuinely interested in the work we were doing out at the school. Some of our students were there and I couldn't help but wonder - what must our student's think of these people who need an armed guard to accompany them. I also couldn't help but wonder about our guests - what must they think of Tanzania that they need to be escorted by such a patrol. They left after about an hour. On their way out they passed a small church with plank board siding painted with used oil to keep the termites away. Nearby there was a couple of young boys with sticks herding their cattle (a constant site around here).

There is no doubt I have become used to my new world conveniences. I love being able to type my blog from a new computer and instantly broadcast it to the world. I loved taking a group of students last week to Skype with students from America. But, I can't forget that here it's also the land of the hurricane lantern. And I think that's a big part of why I like it.