I’ve spent five days in Dar es Salaam and have had meetings at the U.S. Embassy, the Tanzanian Rural Energy Agency, the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training and I dropped off a proposal for a grant at the Aga Khan Foundation. Whew…

The meeting at the Embassy went great! More on that later….

Hamisi, the head of the Tanzania solar company we use, recommended me to Mr. Msofe the No 2 person at the Tanzanian Rural Energy Agency which is a division of the Ministry of Energy and Minerals. Mr. Msofe gave me an application for a grant which I submitted to him today. He said it was all in order and he is going to consider it.

I also met today with my friends Mr. Kalinga and Mr. Ponera at the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training. Each time we meet they are more and more enthusiastic about what we are doing. They are eager to come to Banjika to see the computer lab and they want me to meet the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry. Mr. Ponera is the head of the IT department at the Ministry and Mr. Kalinga is in charge of Monitoring and Evaluation. (The press we are getting in the Tanzanian Daily News is definitely helping our cause.)

Also wrote a letter and prepared a proposal for the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Information, Youth, Culture and Sports.

I got a referral to the Executive Director of the Aga Khan Foundation in Dar es Salaam. He is on vacation now, so I dropped off a letter and our Action Plan for him to consider when he returns.

Well I’m off to the airport…will be home Friday afternoon.

Baadaye (Later)