June Journal
June 23, 2001
Professor Katoke said that the university is highly unlikely to close down at the end of June. The renovations of the new campus will take a few months, so the administration is moving to temporary offices at another of its properties in the old immigration building. From about mid-July to mid-September I will teach non-degree computing courses there, the courses and levels depending on the response to a survey I made for prospective students. The site is very near the Lake Hotel and has a nice view of the lake. Unfortunately the lake flies are most prominent during the dry "summer" season of the next few months. Thursday, as I waited two hours to be served my chicken curry and chips and watched the lake flies swarm around the lights, I was thinking they should rename it the Lake Fly Hotel. I will not have to move out of my current place for a few months, which is lucky since it's a nice place and I'm so conveniently located for shopping. If I have summer courses to keep me busy and can stay healthy, I will almost certainly stay at least through September. The university might not be able to offer a computing/IT degree yet because of the need for equipment and additional lecturers (and possibly my inexperience), so I'm not sure if I'll be willing to spend a year or two just teaching non-degree basic courses.
I have made a list of expensive things I'll need to buy if I decide to try to stay a long time: mattress, fridge, ergonomic desk and chair, bicycle, UPS, spare computer battery, cell phone, palm organiser, wardrobe, chest of drawers, bookshelf, and books and magazines ordered by credit card from the Internet.
The postal system brought me two pleasant surprises. The airmail package that Mom and Dad sent me arrived on May 28, in just 13 days. The box of books that I sent to myself in February as a surface m-bag arrived on Friday, after 13 weeks, taking 7 times as long but costing about 7 times less per kg. I didn't have to pay any customs on the airmail package, and only $1 for the surface box, and I didn't need to pick up either one in Dar es Salaam. The airmail package was unopened, but they cut partly open the surface box to verify that I had sent just books. Now that I know I can successfully receive books through the post, I will soon be compiling a list of books I will need sent by October.
I spent much of the past week setting exam questions on PowerPoint, HTML, Access, Pascal, and JavaScript. I actually created two exams for each of my two classes so my students would have a practice exam for studying. I spent a few hours compiling and printing a 10-page list of review questions from one of my CDs, but the secretary I asked to make copies must have forgotten about it, and now it is too late. I will have to invigilate five three-hour exams in the coming week. Luckily I now have many reading materials.
I talked with Hasnain at the Bukoba Cyber Centre and he said Hussein was in Nairobi working on getting an expensive satellite Internet connection. He also said that an American company was going to set up business in Bukoba to assemble computers for the region and neighbouring countries, so the future of computing in the area is looking promising.
In early June I went with the two other foreign lecturers to Mwanza. There we visited the Bujora museum of Sukuma culture and Saa Nane island (see the photos and descriptions on my website), and had nice dinners at two restaurants. The ferry M. V. Victoria was no Love Boat or Titanic, but it wasn't bad: took about 500 people and had three decks and a nice restaurant/bar with TV. We sat at the stern and had a pleasant chat. It was late departing and spent a long time at a stop, but it moved quickly when it was going. We took first class on the way there but could only get second-class tickets for the way back. I actually got some sleep both ways. The journey took about 9 or 10 hours each way.
After the Mwanza trip I caught a bad cold and cough, much like I often had in Namibia, and took two weeks to mostly recover. (I still have a few minor symptoms.) As usual, my back has been bothering me because of too much computing, lack of exercise and my foam mattress. I think I am finally getting enough protein, though I'm getting a little tired of daily powdered whole milk and sardines.
The weather has been much drier and sunnier, though it did rain about eight days in June, including good rains about three times. I bought a 1993 Macmillan atlas of Tanzania for $15 and saw that in the African tropics it generally rains in the summer and is dry in the winter (which was May through October in Namibia because it was the southern hemisphere), but near the equator it is relatively rainy throughout the year (particularly in the DRC which is largely tropical rainforest). Bukoba is only about 1.2 degrees from the equator and one of the rainiest places in Tanzania, receiving over 2000 mm of rain per year (but not as wet as the Niger delta or the coast of Liberia and Sierra Leone). Mwanza was much drier and dustier.
Ann, the Communication Skills and Basic Arts lecturer, left before the end of the term because her mother was very ill. She will finish her work on the exams, the school prospectus (course catalogue) and newsletter from the UK. I and everyone at the university will greatly miss her valuable contributions, unflagging dedication despite the many obstacles, and ever-friendly attitude toward everyone.