Subject: Bukoba #10: September Solitude
Sunday, September 16, 2001
The Cyber Centre has established services to send and receive e-mail for 500/= (US$0.55) per message. (I'm not sure how skilled they are in sending messages to multiple recipients or getting me my responses, so I'm keeping the list short for now; feel free to forward to others.) They have reportedly received the satellite dish and hope to have full, faster Internet access in a few weeks. I haven't been able to use anyone's Internet account to Dar es Salaam lately; the phone bill is very expensive anyway. I have applied and paid for a telephone and line and hope to be connected "any day now". The problem is that I'm rarely home during the day for them to install it. I hope to be able to eventually get my own e-mail from home.
But not without a computer. My hard disk no longer works; the FAT is damaged and I strongly suspect physical damage to the disk since I could not even repartition. I will need to replace it, and perhaps also fix the fan and other things that are not working inside. It might require major repairs that nobody here can do. I managed to back up most of the files to zip (though the Windows 95 filenames were mangled to DOS 8.3), but my files are scattered everywhere and it will take ages to organise everything. Our best printer stopped working last weekend and the Cyber Centre has been unable to find the spare part this week. I took my ergonomic chair and keyboard to work, and they help tremendously. It is past dark and there is no functioning light in this room save the computer I am using and the computer next to me that is taking 90 minutes just to upgrade to Windows 98.
This past week I taught an advanced word processing workshop. The students and I clearly enjoyed the workshop, found the materials reasonably useful, and learned a lot. Unfortunately I only had two students: one from the RAS and the road engineer's secretary. At least they were both women, in contrast to the three men-dominated basics classes. I expect next week's advanced spreadsheet workshop to be better attended, and I may also be able to re-teach an improved version of the advanced word processing the following week if the interested RAS staff return. I can't take a vacation to Kampala until I get my passport anyway, so why not? We were fortunate that the RAS arranged to pay us for the courses I taught, and we were paid some of our back salaries from that.
No news on the future of the university. It seems extremely unlikely that we will be able to start the first academic term on time in early October, as we have little money, ready facilities, staff, etc. The fundraiser seemed a bit discouraged about the university's financial management and therefore unable to help as much as she would like, though she may return in early or mid October. I did see my VSO programme director a couple times and discussed the situation, and I told her I was flexible about the kind of alternative position I would take with VSO if the university were to close. (I would prefer to stay in Bukoba if possible since I'm getting more familiar with and used to the place, but I am flexible about the location as well.) I'm not the captain of this ship and wonder how close to sinking it must be before I should abandon it. I guess if I'm not able to be very productive here I might as well at least enjoy life here as long as I can.
We have had a few rainy days lately, including a rare afternoon rain today. (Unfortunately my laundry was soaked and I may be up late rewashing when I get home.) I spent all day yesterday cleaning my luxurious chateau and doing more laundry. I have been getting a little more exercise through tennis and running and feel marginally better and more well-rested. I had two female British guests at my house for a total of nearly a month, and it almost felt like I was married, but Fiona took a vacation to Kampala this week (with Gwynnyd) so I'm single until she returns. Professor Katoke is still in the US with his son. Even my domestic assistant, Mariana, is visiting her school-aged children in Rwanda this month, so I felt quite isolated this week. But the past month has been for me a relatively sociable one; I have often gone to the Lake and Edan hotels for supper, visited several people's houses, and talked with Fiona, Anna, Jesh and others.
It has been a time of small but bearable crises here, but a large one in the US. Tuesday night Jesh said something in Swahili about Boston, and I thought he was saying there was a guest at his place who wanted to talk with me, but I didn't get a chance to stop by until 8, and Chui, his dog, didn't recognise me and wouldn't let me pass, so I stayed home. The next morning he said it wasn't a guest but that someone had set off a bomb in the US and 200 people had died. I got a bit more of the real story from the registrar about terrorists ramming airliners into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, but I didn't know until Friday that the entire Trade Center had collapsed and that about 5000 people had died. I have been listening to shortwave radio a little and bought two local newspapers that each had a few pictures and short articles about it, but I have not seen any TV pictures, though I suppose I could have watched at Jesh's or the nearby NBC club. It was a tragedy for all people, for the world economy, for world peace, for religion, for tolerance, for freedom; nobody will remain unaffected, not even those of us on the opposite side of the globe.