I stood up to stretch my legs and caught a glimpse out the plane window of beige mountains below. A little farther off in the distance was a body of water the flight tracker identified as the Red Sea. We were over Egypt. For so long, Africa had seemed like such a faraway place, practically another planet. Now it was real.
I stood up to stretch my legs and caught a glimpse out the plane window of beige mountains below. A little farther off in the distance was a body of water the flight tracker identified as the Red Sea. We were over Egypt.
For so long, Africa had seemed like such a faraway place, practically another planet. Now it was real.
Our flight from Amsterdam finally landed in Dar es Salaam around midnight local time. We had spent nearly 20 of the past 24 hours in airplane seats and were extremely grateful to reach our air-conditioned hotel.
Dar es Salaam
Our jet-lagged crew managed to drag ourselves out of bed at 8 a.m. this morning to head upstairs for breakfast. Our first activity of the day was a visit to Davis & Shirtliff, a supplier of pumps and piping where the materials for our projects will be sourced. An engineer named Rosemary gave us a tour of the warehouse and a presentation on Davis & Shirtliff’s water solutions.
We learned about their work to expand access to clean water throughout Eastern and Central Africa. They supply systems for remote borehole wells powered by solar energy, as well as equipment for irrigation and swimming pools. We also learned how new systems are implemented with sustainability in mind and how those innovations could be applied to future Design for Life projects. Gasoline and diesel generators are being phased out and replaced with solar panels to power pumps in remote locations where grid power is unavailable. Rosemary and her colleagues will review our designs, help us maximize the efficacy of our water distribution systems, and advise us on making them last as long as possible without requiring maintenance.
Afterward, we had lunch at an open-air restaurant overlooking the Indian Ocean.
Driving around Dar es Salaam is wonderfully chaotic. Our driver, Shadrak, has done a great job navigating our bus through the crowded streets, with motorcycles and three-wheeled bajaji (known elsewhere as tuk-tuks) darting and weaving around us. Combined with the unfamiliar sensation of driving on the left side of the road, it always makes for an exciting ride.
On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at the carvers market. Before turning us loose to the aggressively friendly salespeople, Matt led us down a narrow back alley to see where the carvings are actually made. Dozens of carvers were working away at pieces of ebony wood with knives and chisels, mostly creating safari animals and Maasai figures in traditional garb, as well as chessboards, ashtrays, jewelry boxes, and larger statues.
We then spent a few minutes wandering the market, trying not to empty our wallets too quickly, before hopping back on the bus to the hotel for a brief rest before dinner.
