Food in Dar Part 1

As many of you know, Jon and I like food. We like to grocery shop, cook, bake and eat, both at home and in restaurants. One of the most difficult things for us to adjust to in Kigali was the lack of restaurants and the lack of western groceries. During our time there, we struggled to purchase things that most Americans view as staples: cereal, skim or low fat milk, tomato sauce, cheese, crackers, granola bars, whole wheat bread etc. We also suffered through mediocre restaurant meals that were expensive, more often than not took 3 hours, and frequently ended with only some of the dishes that we'd ordered actually being delivered to our table.

In some ways, this was great. It forced us to realize how many packaged foods we tend to consume, to eat a lot of local fruits and vegetables, and to strengthen our cooking skills. It also forced Jon to like Indian food, since the two best restaurants in Kigali are Indian. This was a big victory for me, since I've always liked it, and have struggled to get Jon to enjoy it.

Given this background, it has been immediately obvious to us that one of many differences between Kigali and Dar is in the food scene. There are two grocery stores near our house (5-10 min walk), and two more about a 20 minute walk away. Together I think these stores have more Western foods than you can find in all of Kigali. This is partly because there is a much larger expat community here in Dar, so there is greater demand for imported and Western food. It is also partly due to geographical differences. Dar is on the water and is a major port, so things can be brought here fairly easily by boat. Kigali is landlocked and relatively far inland, and so everything is trucked there over land, usually across Kenya and Uganda, which is expensive and risky--the roads are bad and you often see overturned trucks by the side of the road that have been completely cleaned out by people from nearby villages.

In our recent trips to local grocery stores, we have found some exciting items, including delicious Irish butter, a variety of cheeses, and cookies that my mom likes:


We also saw the very same kind of cookies that a boy once memorably gave to Becca before a field hockey game:


And....drumroll please....Shreddies and Parmalat skim milk!


Shreddies are a kind of cereal that is a cross between Shredded Wheat and Chex. It is available in Australia (where I first had it), the UK, and Canada, but not in the US. I really like them, so I was VERY excited to find them at the grocery store near our house. Parmalat is hyper-pasteurized milk that actually tastes like milk (unlike some other brands that are available here and in Rwanda--one brand that I tried tastes like cow, rather than milk) and it comes in skim, 1.5% and whole. I have a soft spot for Parmalat in particular because that is what we drank when I was growing up in Hong Kong. My father is still the proud owner of a set of book ends that I made him as a Christmas present when I was in 1st or 2nd grade that are empty Parmalat boxes filled with sand and covered with marbleized paper.

Although Dar has a lot of exciting groceries that are imported from Europe and the US, it also has many East African staples that we're familiar with from Rwanda, including cassava and sorghum flours, powdered milk, and the every popular Pep-Tang, a tomato-ish sauce that resembles synthetic ketchup, and is often regrettably served with french fries (chips), rice and pasta.


And, last but not least, we have everyone's favorite "Fat Spread":

Pirates Love the Dark 'n' Stormy

I was introduced to the Dark 'n' Stormy a few years ago by Chris and Ben in Castine and was immediately hooked.  The ingredients (ginger beer, black rum, lime, and ice) are quite simple but can be hard to find in sustainable quantities and quality.  Particularly difficult to source are a really spicy ginger beer and a black rum so terrible you can picture the only people drinking it neat are pirates (NYTimes: "as dark as motor oil and with a distinctively charred flavor").  Well, times have changed and the Dark 'n' Stormy is alive and kicking in Tanzania.

As I said the extra spicy ginger beer is the key and Tanzania has a product called Stoney Tangawizi that fits the bill.  Tangawizi is the Swahili word for ginger and the product is made by Coca-Cola in East Africa (though not Rwanda).  It is probably one of those drinks I tried at The World of Coca-Cola tasting room as a child and couldn't imagine someone actually drinking it.  Well, I was wrong.  It is delicious!

There is no Gosling's Black Seal available in the Duty Free of any of the five airports I have been in of late (though my guy at Duty Free in Kigali says he will order some and have it by November) so Bacardi Black was substituted (the Captain Morgan's Black was terrible).  Note: Like with a "Bacardi & Coke" (I learned this in Puerto Rico), Gosling's has trademarked "Dark 'n' Stormy" so if someone orders one in a bar it is required that only Gosling's Black Seal is used (NYTimes: The Right Stuff (by Law)).

Limes/green lemons are readily available in the markets and ice is being made in a very nice refrigerator with ice cube trays in our new apartment.

I imagine I am the only person having the Dark 'n' Stormy in Tanzania, but you should try them at home!  Lime optional, enjoyment mandatory!

• NYTimes: Case Study - Cloudy, With a Chance of Ginger
• Ginger Beer Recipes for home brewers (Morgan)

This past Sunday was our first together in Tanzania. It was sunny and warm and breezy and we spent much of the day unpacking. We’re finally beginning to feel settled in our house.

In honor of it being Sunday, we started reading a book called Strength for the Journey by Peter J. Gomes. Mr. Gomes is the minister of The Memorial Church at Harvard and Strength for the Journey is a collection of his sermons. Below is the cover of the book.


We’re planning to start at the beginning of the book and read through it, one sermon per Sunday. Conveniently, there are sermons for different liturgical seasons and holidays, including Advent, Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving etc., so when we get to those times of year, we’ll skip to the corresponding sermons.

We enjoyed reading the first sermon, entitled “Abundance: Surplus and Substance” aloud to each other and then discussing it. The sermon is based on Luke 21:4, which in the King James Version reads “For all these have of their abundance cast in unto the offerings of God; but she of her penury hath cast in all the living that she had.” Mr. Gomes’ sermon is thus about giving, and he encourages the reader to consider “giving not in proportion to what you have, but in proportion to what you have been given.” A quote from Churchill that Mr. Gomes includes struck me in particular. Churchill said, “we make a living by what we save, but we make a life by what we give.” These seem like very relevant ideas to our new life in Tanzania, where it is abundantly clear that we have been given so much more than so many people in the world. This is something that many people (including us) who live in developed countries often forget, and I think it is very important to try to remember and be grateful for all that we have.

Maybe we’ll find a church that we like here in Dar, but in the meantime we’re going to experiment with having our own kind of church.

**A special thank you to Becca who introduced me to Mr. Gomes’ preaching and gave me this book a number of years ago. Yet another wonderful gift from my big sister!

Africa & Coffee Articles III

Latest installment of articles relevant to our lives in Africa:

• Rwanda New Times: School Girls Held Over Marijuana (9/9/10) - This hard hitting news in the Rwandan national newspaper is too good to pass up: "In a bizarre turn of events, Salim Sintukamazina, a man Police had always suspected of dealing in the drug was shot dead after Police stormed his house following a tip off from an informer on Tuesday night."  Umm...not sure how bizarre it is?

• WSJ: New Malaria Drug Candidate Holds Promise (9/3/10) - Malaria is bad.  We are now taking malaria medication everyday.
• NYTimes: In Somali Civil War, Both Sides Embrace Pirates (9/1/10) - Just up the coast from us, pirates and al Shabab join forces to leverage each others talents.
• NYTimes: Rwanda Threatens to Pull Peacekeepers From Darfur (8/31/10) - The Rwandan government doesn't like being implicated in the violence in Congo.  Perhaps things in Rwanda aren't as rosy as it appears from the outside?
• WSJ: Sudan's President Stirs Rift in Kenya (8/28/10) - African leaders stand united in the signing of Kenya's new constitution, even though some have outstanding warrants from the International Criminal Court. Sundanese President Omar al-Bashir did not attend Paul Kagame's inauguration on Monday with Rick Warren, who apparently is Rwandan now.
• NYTimes: U.N. Congo Report Offers New View on Genocide (8/27/10) - Obviously there have been and continue to be a lot of bad things going on in Congo, but is the Rwandan government involved?  Friends in Kigali seem to have mixed feelings, given that the research may not be top notch.
• WSJ: Germany Charges Ex-Rwanda Mayor With Genocide (8/18/10) - These types of situations have been coming up with more and more frequency as Rwanda gets more global attention for progress.  Odd how the estimates on the number of people killed in the genocide very so.  This one says "At least 500,000" and most would put it at twice that.
• WSJ: Kagame Wins Rwandan Election in Landslide (8/10/10): Kagame carried 90% of the vote with no competition.
• WSJ: Naomi Campbell and the 'Blood Diamond' Hoax (8/10/10) - Interesting opinion piece on the reality of blood diamonds.
• NYTimes: Doubts Rise in Rwanda as Election Is Held (8/8/10): Benevolent dictator?  All of these articles on the Rwandan election have excellent background on the country as a whole.
• WSJ: Opposition Parties Cowed in Rwandan Election (8/7/10) - With the main opposition being disqualified from the election or jailed, Paul Kagame  is likely to be re-elected President.
• NYTimes: Kenyans Approve New Constitution (8/5/10) - A new Kenyan constitution passed with 67% of the votes following traditional tribal lines.
• WSJ: Kenayans to Vote on Controversial Constitution (8/2/10) - With quite a bit of U.S. influence, Kenya put a reworked constitution to vote.
• WSJ: A Journey Through the Jungle (7/24/10) - Jane Goodall reflects on the last 50 years that she has studied and lived with chimps in western Tanzania.
• NYTimes: Obama's Overdue AIDS Bill (7/20/10) - Desmond Tutu puts the onus on the U.S. to keep increasing its funding to treat those in Africa with AIDS.
• NYTimes: Rwanda Opposition Figure Found Dead (7/14/10) - With the Presidential election coming on August 9, more and more stories like this one are coming out where opposition voices have been killed or jailed.
• Washington Post: Rwanda's Ex-U.N. Ambassador, Who Vanished After Genocide Resurfaces in Alabama (4/4/10) - Just found this really interesting article on Rwanda's representative to the U.N. Security Council during the genocide.

Coffee:

• WSJ: Is It Time to Start Hoarding Coffee Beans? (9/8/10) - I regularly read the ROI column in the WSJ anyway and this weeks happens to be on the soaring price of green coffee.  Probably not a real investment opportunity for the casual investor (and most of the upside has likely been missed), but the volatility in coffee prices is just another factor that has to be dealt with by the Coffee Initiative.
• WSJ: Coffee Futures Are Near a 13-Year High (8/30/10) - I think in the last few days this high has been blown away.  High prices are sometimes good and sometimes bad for the Coffee Initiatives cooperatives.
• WSJ: Nestle Plans Ground Attack Over Coffee Beans (8/26/10) - Roasters (like Starbucks and Nestle) are doing more and more to solidify their coffee supply chain, especially as prices continue to skyrocket.  Some of the concepts described in this article are similar to what the TechnoServe Coffee Initiative does in East Africa.
• NYTimes: A Coffee Conundrum (8/3/10) - Green Mountain Coffee generates more than 80% of its revenue from its single-use K-Cups (it has a virtual global monopoly).  It is exploring how to make these K-Cups more eco-friendly.

This is ripe coffee cherry at a TNS cooperative in southwestern Rwanda right before it goes into the wet mill (aka "pulper").

Our New Home

We finally moved into our new apartment last night. Thank goodness! I do not like being unsettled and not having a home was beginning to wear on me. However, it was good practice as I am striving to be more patient and better at dealing with the unexpected. This is something that Jon and I have both been working on over the past year, and I think that Jon especially has made a lot of progress with maintaining a zen-attitude about the the daily challenges of life in Rwanda, and now Tanzania.

And now for the grand tour. First, the driveway into our compound. This picture is taken from our parking lot, looking back at the street. You can see our building on the left side of the photo. We are living on the first floor of an apartment building this year.



The front door opens into the living room/dining room. The door that you see on the left hand side of the dining area goes to the kitchen. As you can see, the living room doesn't look very lived in, but hopefully we'll be able to do something about that.





This is the kitchen. Since I like to spend time cooking and baking in the kitchen, I am excited that it is quite open and light-filled.



I am especially excited about the nice large refrigerator. This fridge may not look large by American standards, but it is much larger and newer than the one we had in Rwanda.

And this is our bedroom. As you can see, we have not yet unpacked or hung up our mosquito net (see previous post). You might notice that the air conditioner is in a state of disrepair. We were initially a bit concerned about that, but it is not very hot yet in Dar (80 and breezy most days, cooler at night) so we are perfectly content to use the ceiling fan for now.



Karibu nyumbani kwetu! (That means "Welcome to our home" in Swahili.)

The Land of Mosquitos

Sadly, we have left the nearly mosquito-free Land of A Thousand Hills and have plunged into the thick of the Land of Mosquitos here in Tanzania.

You can see from the picture of my room at the Swiss Garden Hotel that the Tanzanians take their mosquito netting seriously. For those of you who are not well acquainted with bed nets, this net is especially nice because it is hung from a frame that is the same size as the bed, rather than from a single point in the ceiling, with a small hoop to stretch it out. This means that the sides of the net go straight up and down, instead of slanting inward and impeding on your sleeping space.

Hopefully when Jon and I move into our apartment we'll be able to rig up a similarly impressive contraption.

Our New City

Here you can see part of downtown Dar es Salaam, with the Indian Ocean in foreground. It looks so teeny from this picture, but it is really quite bustling.

This is our third ocean in a month: the Atlantic in Castine, the Pacific in San Francisco, and now the Indian in Dar. Hopefully we'll get to do a lot of (bilharzia-free) swimming and sailing this year.

A new city. A new adventure. Jon arrives from Kigali today and we can't wait to get started!

Successful Return to Africa

After spending an incredible summer in the U.S. visiting friends and family, Lucy and I left New York at 6:30pm on September 1st for our 30 hour return trip to Africa.  Between our reunions, weddings, and book stamping adventures this summer, we had accumulated quite a bit of stuff to take back with us including a home theater projector, camera, 5lbs bag of chocolate chips, and two canisters of garlic salt, among other things.  We successfully packed all of the stuff going back with us into three checked bags (we had six last year) and four carry-ons.

We landed in Amsterdam at 8:00am local time on September 2nd with a layover just long enough to buy a reasonable supply of duty free cheese (remember: no cheese in Africa), pastries, and chocolate and take in a riveting art collection from the Rijksmuseum on Dutch Cows.

In Amsterdam we went our separate ways with Lucy flying straight to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (our new home) and me flying to Nairobi and on to Kigali to pick up our stuff that we had left there.  Lucy arrived at 10:30pm local time on September 2nd and settled in at the Swiss Garden Hotel, a bed and breakfast where she had stayed when she first arrived in Dar in January 2006.  I arrived in Kigali at 2:10am local time on September 3rd and am staying at a friend's house where I am staying until I head to Dar sometime this week.

All in all, a stress free trip back, minus almost missing our flight out of New York (who knew it took two hours to get to JFK on a Wednesday afternoon!).  Once again KLM was a pleasure to fly with good food, free drinks, and plenty of entertainment (I watched six movies, Lucy slept).  They also seem to love America!

Today is I think what is known as a Lazy Sunday and I am catching up on email and other things I have been meaning to do.  Since arriving in Kigali, I have met up with a handful of friends, checked in at the Technoserve office, ran with the Kigali Hash House Harriers, and gone to see our seamstresses at Kimironko (they hemmed all my new pants and fixed all my old ones that were ripping for ~$8.00), among other things.

Tomorrow is the Presidential Inauguration in the National Stadium right by our house so that means the whole country will be shut down and people will be celebrating in the streets.  Apparently it hasn't rained since we left but there was a bit of a downpour today so the short rains must be starting.

America! IV

In honor of our imminent departure for Africa, I present the fourth installment of America!



America, see you next year!

Homosexuality in Africa

Homosexuality is obviously a hot topic around the world, and East Africa is certainly no different.  Many countries in Africa have considered or are considering criminalizing homosexuality in some way and some go so far as to include the death penalty as punishment.

Obviously, the fact that this type of ideology can make it this far in the legislative process is quite scary.  If you are interested in some of the broader influences on the topic in Africa, you should definitely read The U.S. Christian Right and the Attack on Gays in Africa.

The legislation failed in Rwanda but it remains a topic across the region:

• Rwanda:
• Rwanda To Vote on Criminalizing Homosexuality on Wednesday
• How Did Rwanda's Own Homosexuality=Crime Bill Arrive Under Everyone's Nose?
• Rwandan Parliament Dismisses Homosexuality Bill
• Uganda
• Americans' Role Seen in Uganda Anti-Gay Push
• UK to Protect Ugandan Gay Asylum Seekers
• Malawi
• Gay Couple Released After Presidential Pardon

More Interesting Africa and Coffee Articles

The second installment of interesting articles that help explain some of the issues in Africa:

• NYTimes: Somali Refugees Fear Loss of Ugandan Haven (7/21/10) - After the explosions in Kampala during the World Cup Final, Uganda has dramatically altered its asylum protocol.
• WSJ: In Crisis, Foreigners Turn to $100 Bill (7/20/10) - $100 bills (post-2004 Series) are certainly the  currency of choice in East Africa.
• WSJ: Global AIDS Fight Shifts Toward Prevention (7/17/10) - More discussion about which is a more effective form of healthcare aid: prevention or treatment.
• NYTimes: Tricked, Rwandan Refugees Are Driven Home, U.N. Says (7/16/10) - Rwandan refugees in southern Uganda are being forced to repatriate through deception.
• NYTimes: Our New Life, in Blood and Color (7/16/10) - Thoughtful opinion piece on the aftermath of the bombings in Kampala.
• WSJ: Militants Find Symbolic Targets in Uganda (7/13/10) - We have traveled to Kampala twice (See map of places we have been) and the recent terrorist attacks there have reminded people how unstable things still are in East Africa.
• NYTimes: Islamists Claim Attack in Uganda (7/12/10) - Many people heard about the attacks in Kampala during the World Cup finals.
• NYTimes: For Final, South Africans Put Past Aside (7/10/10) - As former colonial masters, the Dutch were not the most kind rulers of South Africa, but when it came to the World Cup final the preference of the people based more on style of play.
• WSJ: The Tenacious Buzz of Malaria (7/10/10) - Brief history of attempts to contain malaria.  After not taking anti-malarials last year in Rwanda, we will likely be taking Malarone everyday next year in attempt to avoid contracting the disease.
• NYTimes: Walking With the Herds in Kenya (7/1/10) - I've traveled this road twice visiting Lake Naivasha and Lake Nakuru northwest of Nairobi.
• WSJ: Talks Stall on Zimbabwe Diamonds (6/24/10) - Africa is very rich in minerals and it tends to be quite easy for governments to exploit their country's natural wealth. 
• NYTimes: Diamond Find Could Aid Zimbabwe, and Mugabe (6/21/10) - Root story related to article above.
• WSJ: Toxic Citizens? (6/13/10) - Another article on expatriates renouncing their U.S. citizenship due to the Patriot Act and changes in taxation.  Some international banks are also rejecting account applications from U.S. citizens just to avoid getting involved.
• NYTimes: Children Carry Guns for a U.S. Ally, Somalia (6/13/10) - Title pretty much sums it up...
• NYTimes: To Save Africa, Reject Its Nations (6/11/10) - Independence from Europe's colonizers swept across Africa 50 years ago.  Since then many of these new nations have been governed by corrupt leaders who have exploited their position for personal gain with many of the leaders remaining in power for decades.  Is there a remedy for this?
• The Atlantic: Brewing an Antidote to Poverty: Coffee (5/25/10) - The author, Jerry Baldwin, is a co-founder of Starbucks and on TechnoServe's board.  He came to visit the Coffee Initiative and does a great job offering a high-level explanation of the project.
• NYTimes: Moonshine or the Kids? (5/22/10) - Witnessing gender roles in Africa has been one of the most interesting aspects of living abroad.  Women tend to raise the children while tending the fields with the youngest child tied to their back.  Men tend to reserve the more "technical" roles for themselves but this often results in a lot of standing around and chatting with the other men.  Men usually collect all the paychecks and spend the money as they see fit (sometimes on alcohol and prostitutes).
• New Yorker: The Povery Lab (5/17/10) - This is just an abstract of a profile on Esther Duflo who could win the Nobel Prize for Economics in the coming years for her work in development economics with the Abdul Latif Jameel Povery Action Lab (J-PAL).  The TechnoServe Coffee Initiative has partnered with J-PAL on a few projects and Esther came to visit the office in Kigali for a few days.  The article says the following: "Duflo had started the day at a meeting in the Kigali offices of TechnoServe...It was a place of chinos and strong handshakes.  The Harvard Business Review was available in the lobby, and someone was eating a bagel..."  When the article came out it was universally recognized that this line was talking about me.
• NYTimes: For Rwandan Students, Ethnic Tensions Lurk (5/16/10) - Pretty telling article on the current political scene and how it affects the conversation about the genocide.
• NYTimes: Visiting Africa's Eden (5/14/10) - Africa is obviously full of beautiful, exotic places but they are virtually unknown (or ignored) by the local population
• NYTimes: Rumors of Conspiracies Rattle Madagascar (5/14/10) - I've always had an interest in visiting Madagascar and the government being unstable makes it even more appealing! 
• NYTimes: At Front Lines, AIDS War Is Falling Apart (5/9/10) - Brings up the discussion again of what is the best way to spend development money to improve the health of the developing world as HIV/AIDS treatment programs around the world are losing their funding.  The last estimate I heard was that 3% of Rwanda's population had been diagnosed with HIV/AIDS.
• The Huffington Post: Nothing Good Comes Out of Africa (5/3/10) - This is a must read on Rwanda!
• NYTimes: Rwanda Pursues Dissenters and the Homeless (4/30/10) - This is a must read article on Rwanda!  Sheds light on one way the government keeps the appearing so clean and organized.  My friends who work in the Prime Minister's office (and other government groups) recently confirmed with me that none of the vocational training mentioned is actually taking place, with only suspect plans to begin in the future.
• WSJ: A Supply-Sider in East Africa (4/24/10) - This is a must read interview with the President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame.  You can see how the international community backs him no questions asked.  As some of the other articles here indicate, things in Rwanda may not be as rosy as people seem to think.
• BBC: Illegal Banana Gin 'Kills 80' in Uganda (4/23/10) - We were at Lake Buyonyi near Kabale for the weekend when people started dying after drinking waragi (typically a step down from paint thinner).  The area was in such panic that our really nice island hotel where we stay poured out all of their waragi!
• NYTimes: 16 Years after the Genocide, Rwanda Continues Forward (4/6/10) - We have met the author of this article a handful of times as he and his wife, among other projects, own the most expat focused restaurant in Kigali, Heaven.
• NYTimes: Mauritius Dreaming (4/4/10) - Who knew Mauritius is on the other side of Madagascar?  Now that Iceland and Zanzibar have been checked off the list I have to step up the dream travel spectrum.  Lucy and I are officially moving to Dar es Salaam Tanzania next year so both places are well within reach for a vacation (looks like via Johannesburg or Dubai) and we will be looking for traveling companions!

And some more articles on coffee:

• WSJ: Coffee Buzz: Futures Jump Toward Highs and Stays Up (7/8/10) - Higher prices (should) mean more take home pay for farmers.
• WSJ: Using Starbucks, Dunkin' Donuts to Track Economy (6/30/10) - As a non-coffee drinker, I am constantly amazed by how much people spend on their coffee habits.
• WSJ: From Ethiopia, For Ethiopia: $10 Java (5/13/10) - Ethiopia represents 50% of the TechnoServe Coffee Initiative's focus because there is so much good coffee being produced there.  I had no idea what to expect when I went to Ethiopia but it is an absolutely beautiful country with extreme poverty and a truly impressive bureaucratic government (nightmare).

'05 Dartmouth Reunion Video

Jason found a shout out to me in the video below at the 0:35 second mark. (Jason how do you find this stuff?)



So your first impression after viewing...Jon is:

1. Unemployed
2. Thrifty
3. Conscientious
4. Cheap

Wonderful to be back in Hanover for a few days...

On an entirely unrelated note, a recent opinion piece (NYTimes: Are Profits Hurting Capitalism?) sheds a little more light on the topic discussed in my post Restructuring Incentives in Finance.  Not sure I entirely agree with the premise of the opinion piece, but we certainly are shooting ourselves in the foot by focusing on short-term results at the expense of long-term growth.

College's ROI

Probably a pretty small sample size and maybe not entirely relevant (WSJ: Top 20: Colleges That Offer Best Return on Investment).

Unfortunately the embedded charts aren't working but you can find the full list here.

Restructuring Incentives in Finance

During the latest economic downturn, there has been a lot of discussion about what drives businesses to do what they do, even when it has disastrous effects on the economy on the whole, and how employees are best incentivized to maximize their (and their company's) potential.  A common complaint is that the stock market in general has a negative effect on the economy due to, among other things, its:

• Stringent and constantly changing reporting requirements that potentially leans too far to the side of "increased transparency"
• Heavy dependency on analyst forecasting for present valuation that drives management to limit their long-term growth potential in exchange for meeting sometimes arbitrary short-term financial goals

Well, our 43rd President, Al Gore, just had a reasonable opinion piece run (WSJ: Toward Sustainable Capitalism) that takes a high-level stab at the situation and may be of interest to lay people.  Also reminds me how interesting what I do is and what a difference it makes when the only expectations (generally) that must be met are those of the contributors.

America! III

So I really enjoy America! (and America! II) and lo and behold America! III has come to my backyard.



This message speaks to someone!

On a related note, Tennessee lawmakers passed a law each of the last two years allowing handgun permit holders to bring guns into bars and restaurants (Huffington Post: Tennessee Lawmakers Allow Guns In Bars), which have subsequently been vetoed by the Governor (CA: Gov. Bredesen vetoes bill to allow guns in Tennessee bars) and had the veto overridden by simple majority in the State House and Senate (Tennessean: Tennessee House overrides guns-in-bars veto).  Last year's bill was deemed unconstitutional, but unfortunately this year's bill was not so now permit holders, as long as they don't drink while carrying (Enforcement? Ha!), can take a handgun into any bar and restaurant in the state unless the establishment has individually banned handguns.

Apparently this topic must be quite important to some people considering how much airtime it has received and how it has taken precedence over other topics that seem slightly more relevant (The Economy? Healthcare? The United States of Space?  Tennessee Football?).  One of the bill's sponsor's from a Memphis suburb had this to say: "To be honest, it's just another example of the governor vetoing a bill and never getting involved...and his lack of respect for the handgun-carry permit holders in Tennessee..."  Maybe the governor realizes this type of legislation maybe shouldn't be such a high priority right now?  Or maybe he actually disagrees with the law?  Crazy!

Well at least the Chicago City Council is fighting the good fight voting 45-0 to ban gun shops in Chicago and prohibit gun owners from stepping outside their homes with a handgun (WSJ: Chicago Approves Tough New Handgun Restrictions).

Advances in Sunscreen

Having had skin cancer in my family, I try to pay attention to new information on how to protect yourself from the sun.  There are always new products coming out including detergents and clothing that enhance sun protection.  A recent article (NYTimes: UVA Reform: It's Not PDQ) discusses the FDA delays in adding a rating system for UVA protection to the existing UVB projection (e.g. SPF 30).

It is going to be very hot and sunny in Dar es Salaam next year (See picture below from when we visited Zanzibar), particularly when compared to Kigali, so we are going to have to be extra diligent in putting on sunscreen.

I Went, I Saw, I Conquered

Two weeks ago, I was in the Democratic Republic of Congo waking up at the edge of the crater of a 11,385 foot active volcano.  After a five hour hike literally straight up the Nyiragongo Volcano (switchback trails haven't found their way to Africa yet) through first jungles then volcanic pumice covering about 5000 feet of vertical climb, I reached the top of the volcano and its active lava lake.  Tents were set up right on the edge of the crater and I settled in for the night to watch the lave lake spew sulfurous gas, gurgle explosive lava, and emit enough heat to warm me from less than half a mile away.  I don't know of any other place in the world where you can do this and the picture below pretty much sums up the experience.

The town of Goma in the DRC is directly over the border from Giseyni, the largest city in northwestern Rwanda, and on the northern shores of Lake Kivu.  Congo and Goma itself receive a lot of attention from the international press for a variety of reasons including the countries rich mineral deposits and the seemingly unchecked rebels that exploit these minerals while raping and pillaging everyone and everything that stands in their way.  Eastern Congo also has many refugees from the Rwandan genocide more than 15 years ago that occasionally add fuel to the rebels fire.  For this reason the park that contains Nyiragongo has been closed for nearly two years and only reopened in March 2010 for tourists to visit (See picture below for bullet holes in national park sign).

Another concerning factor is that Nyiragongo is in fact an active volcano and has had two major eruptions in the last 30 years or so.  In January 2002, the volcano erupted, essentially repaved the entire city of Goma and furthering the despair of its 400,000 inhabitants (NYTimes: Volcano's Lava Engulfs a Congo Town & NYTimes: Warily, Residents Return to Lava-Scarred Congo City).  While the picture below may look staged, it in fact was not as the child in the picture just happened to be rummaging around in the lava flow that wiped out the Catholic Church in Goma.

So as you can tell, Congo is a pretty exciting place and climbing the volcano truly was the experience of a lifetime.  I will run through some picture highlights below but also uploaded a bunch of pictures from the trip.

Outskirts of Goma town with Nyiragongo in the background.  Note people on the right carrying bags of lava rocks to be used for building houses and fences.  It is pretty much the only building material available locally.  The right side of the picture is sharp lava rocks from the lava flow that have never been smoothed over (like on the left side of the picture.

About halfway up the mountain...

This type of volcanic surface is pretty much what you find the entire way.  My hiking boots were purchased in Nashville when I was in 8th grade.

A break with my porter...

About halfway up...

See the steam vents in the background at one of the rest stops...also note our guards...

Peak covered in clouds...

Getting higher...

Landscape is changing...

That is my porter on the last stretch...

Moonscape...

Summit...

Lava lake...

Sunset blocked by sulphuric gas...

My tent with my porter on the edge of the crater...

Lava lake at night...

Full moon and clear night...

Next morning...

On the way back down...

Other links on the volcano that may be of interest:

• NYTimes: Some Congolese See Hope in a Caldron of Liquid Fire: Written in September 2008 before the latest closure of the park but is pretty telling of the experience
• Guardian: Tourists visit the Nyiragongo volcano in Congo: Some action footage of the hike and lava churning

Other links on Congo that may be of interest:

• NYTimes: Orphaned, Raped and Ignored: The town in the dateline is just across Lake Kivu from Kibuye in Rwanda where we traveled on weekends occasionally.
• NYTimes: From 'Oprah' to Building a Sisterhood in Congo: Bukavu, where this article was written, is the Congo southern Lake Kivu border town with Cyangugu in Rwanda.  I was there ten days ago visiting one of TechnoServe's coffee service providers and some of the cooperatives.
• NYTimes: The World Capital of Killing: Another article on the on-going wars from Bukavu.
• NYTimes: Rwanda Stirs Deadly Brew of Troubles in Congo: An older article on Rwanda's influence in eastern Congo but still extremely relevant today.

America! II

This amazing commercial just aired prior to the U.S. vs. England World Cup game.

So I am back in the U.S.!  After a night in New York (Shake Shack was delicious!) and a night in Boston, I am settled in Martha's Vineyard for a week with some friends from college.  America is great!

Roundup

My father loves Roundup.  A gift of Roundup makes him ever so happy.  While my father's love of Roundup is a result of his desire to keep our gardens free of weeds, this article (WSJ: Superweed Outbreak Triggers Arms Race) focuses on large farm usage of herbicides and discuses yet another challenge in operating a successful single-family farm.  Modern farming is very expensive and quite risky!

The first season of daffodils in the new raised beds outside our kitchen window.

Same field behind first picture with the cotton in bloom last fall.

Amazing how plants and animals adapt to deal with whatever humans throw at them.  Science!