Immigration, Aid and Condoms

I promised myself I’d write once more before our quick trip to England. I promised this last week and now we’re only a day away from travelling, so I guess it’s time to get typing.

As I write, the sky outside is pretty grey and overcast. Not as foreboding as it seems to be in the UK, mind- snow is a pretty unlikely phenomenon anywhere in Tanzania other than the top few hundred metres of Kilimanjaro. However, we do seem to be getting a rare spot of rain.

The weather here this year has been a bit strange. As I’ve written before, we normally get a short rainy season followed a few months later by the main rains. This year, however, the short rains appear to have almost entirely failed. We’ve had a few major rainfalls- generally an hour or so of monsoon like rains- but then nothing. I’m not sure what that means for the main rains- if they fail however then things really get tough- severe power shortages for a start, given that most electricity comes from the dams across the country.

The weather here hasn’t been as bad as the UK though. Every time I check the BBC or call home it seems as if the world is coming to a snowy, icy end. I’m quite looking forward to the novelty of feeling cold- I’ve not felt anything below 20 degrees Celsius in years. We’re painfully aware, however, that the weather is cold and that simply wearing longer shorts and thicker T Shirts probably won’t cut the mustard. Soma has been running round her friends trying to find winter clothing- for obvious reasons not something readily available in the shops here!

Life in the UK seems pretty miserable right now- from reading the news, people seem to be pretty down on more or less everything and everyone. Bankers seem to have a pretty bad press these days and, more relevant to me, so do foreign workers.

The recent protests in the UK have certainly not gone unnoticed over here and make rather uncomfortable reading for expatriate Britons. “British Jobs for British People” seems to be all the rage, but the obvious flipside appears to have escaped many people. I am also a fan of “British Jobs for British People” but, in at least one instance, I am a far bigger fan of “Tanzanian Jobs for British People”. If heavy restrictions were to be placed globally on foreign workers, then clearly a lot of Britons will be heading home.

Recent figures point to there being about 2.3 million foreign workers currently in the UK. Losing them would logically create the same number of vacancies. However, given that even back in 2006, the total estimated UK expatriate population exceeded 5.5 million, competition for these new vacancies might be a little tight should all of us expats flood back home!

Anyway, life in Tanzania moves on. We have our own issues here, not least the perennial issues of development aid and corruption. I’m not going to talk much about corruption other than that it definitely exists here, there is a major drive against it and that it permeates society.

What is sad, however, is when corruption mixes with development aid. Development funding is always emotional since you are dealing with one group of people giving to another. When that process is undermined, you upset those who have given and you ignore those who were meant to receive.

One common example came a few weeks ago, when Soma was shopping in Kariakoo- in Dar city centre. Now the background to this was that a year or so ago, we were lucky enough to receive a state visit from the then President George W Bush. Unlike most parts of the world, the former president was largely popular here- his policies on Africa are recognised by and large to be positive as far as I know. Anyway, one result of the visit was the donation of 1 million free mosquito nets for the poor of Tanzania. Given the fact that malaria is both endemic and highly potent here, it is not surprising that this donation was very loudly praised here.

Anyway, was the donation used well? Who knows? One clue may be that Soma was approached by a street vendor offering prime mosquito nets marked as “ Donated to Tanzania by the people of the USA” for $10 a pop. Wonder how many of these freebies ever found their way to the intended recipients!

Corruption apart, I guess it’s not surprising that there is a huge disparity between the expectations of a donor and reality on the ground. The recipient community may be poor but they are human like anyone else and have unpredictable human reactions too- not always be in line with the mental image painted by the donor. We may like to think that our donations are life changing and are received by an enraptured community but, unsurprisingly, reality isn’t always that way. Whose problem is that, one might ask.

Perhaps a lot of these instances derive from our need as donors to feel good about giving- a very natural human need. People who donate to Soma’s deaf school like to know what their cash is being used for so always donate to a specific project, rather than to the less glamorous “general kitty” set aside for expenses such as unclogging the school toilets. All donations are admirable, and this is not meant to disparage anyone who gives to anyone else. However, human nature being what it is, sometimes the offers of help meet with unexpected responses- sometimes funny, sometimes a bit deflating.

I’ve certainly received a few reality checks here. I’ll sign off with one recent instance that comes to mind and brings to light the mismatch between this particular donor’s expectation and the actual response to a donation. We’ve been actively promoting an HIV/ AIDS awareness campaign on the island for some months now. Training has been held and the next step was to bring in masses of low cost (high quality mind!) condoms. I thought that, with condoms being both rare and expensive on the island, that this donation would be very well received indeed. One day in the office my assistant got a call from the island. He came to me looking a little embarrassed.

“It’s one of the villagers” he said “He’s asking about the condoms”

“What does he want?” I asked. “Is he happy?”

“Kind of” came the reply “He just had a small request though”

“Okay- what does he want?”

“Next time, could we make sure the condoms are ribbed or flavoured instead?”

I don’t think I’ve been that lost for words in a while. After much thought, I came up with the only addition I could think of to this intercultural exchange.

“What flavour do they want?”