The Journey begins

Dodoma 22nd Jan 2005

I have arrived !
I arrived in Dodoma on Thursday 11pm Sydney time which is 3pm local time. It is good to be here at last where the climate is pleasant, a cool breeze in the morning and evening with high 20's during the day.
Dodoma is infinitely more pleasant than Dar es Salaam (henceforth referred to as Dar) my first stop in Tanzania, on the coast and where the international airport is.
I arrived from Jo'burg about 3pm and was met at the airport along with another misso going to the medical centre at Moshi. We went back to the place we were to stay the night and met Ken & Di Phyllis. Where we sat under the gazebo had 2 bottles of Sprite for the cost of 70c. The humidity in Dar is incredibly oppressive all the time!‑
When I went to the bus terminal the next morning to catch the bus to Dodoma, a 6 hour trip, there was a sign which said it all albeit accidentally, it said;
Tangazo = "Notice" but the english translation below said "To our steemed customers ".

I am staying with friends until Monday afternoon when my unit becomes available. Yesterday was a public holiday , Jeremy - the Headmaster and I went to the school to start setting up the computer room, the computers are on the desks but we need to finish setting them up before I can start creating the domain and all the other following tasks. There are 5 IBM 300GL's and as 8 other newer machines there had been a power surge a few days earlier and 2 of the power supplies on the 300GL machines went bang so I am currently trying to source some replacements.
Today, Saturday is pool afternoon, we go for lunch at the pool club where there is a swimming pool, a pool table and a squash court. It is a very pleasant oasis, one could easily forget you are in the middle of Tanzania, but Tanzania it is, and the pool is in the grounds of the hospital which houses their psychiatric patients who spend nearly all of their time inside because the government doesn't have the money for the drugs which will allow them a more normal life.
On the other side of the pool is the maximum security prison.