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| Our last day in Africa so we want to make it personal. John Ottaru (we met him on the train ride across Tanzania) invited us to his home and we gladly accepted. First he gave us a tour of Dar es Salaam, his hometown. While he showed us around, he talked about his life and how he struggled to free himself from a broken home, pay his way through college, and then find a job with Tanzanian railways. He's also an entreprenuer, running a chicken farm and planning to start his own consulting business. He tells us, however, that's it's difficult for Africans to obtain bank loans. He says, matter-of-factly, that the banks only loan money to Indians. We wonder if Indians would agree that they have an easy time in Africa. | |||
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John's surburban home in Dar
es Salaam, designed by his architect wife. John juggles several jobs and an extended
family, so we wanted to peek at how he holds it all together. | |||
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The
kid must have played a Vulcan mind trick to beat me at homemade checkers. | |||
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| In Tanzania, employment opportunities are
scarce. John has become a legend in his family by running several enterprises
at once, such as keeping over a thousand chickens in his backyard. No wonder his
relatives come to him and seek employment (and eggs). | |||