Tuesday, July 15, 2008

After a night in the swank Addis Ababa Sheraton Hotel, I prepare to fly to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. I get a better view of Addis in the day light as the shuttle leaves at 8 AM with much traffic and people traveling to work and school. Near the hotel is some sort of palace with royal symbols in gold metal wrought into metal fences painted black otherwise. Guard towers manned by soldiers confirm it is of some importance. Arrive at the airport and wheel my back with a cart into the airport, assisted by a porter among the many who automatically assumed the task. I carry a full green duffel bag and my carry on Samsonite brief case that I also took to Desert Shield/Storm in 1990/1. It has held up and allows me to carry books well, although it does get heavy and does not convert to a back pack with straps. I get my ticket and check my bag in straightforward fashion, then proceeding through customs with little difficulty. I board Ethiopian Airlines in Seat #1A (first class again) and sit next to a European Union official from Germany who is pleasant company and who has lived in several African countries.

Mount Kenya appears above the clouds to the left of the airplane. I have a good view from my left side window seat. Closer to Dar we see the ocean and a substantial body of land some distance offshore with a large airport I suspect may be our destination. However, we proceed and do not land there, so it must be Zanzibar which is heavily populated and has such an airport that I later confirm on a map. The plane will go there next after its stop in Dar es Salaam.

After landing we unload, go through customs and wait for bags to unload. I identify Sergeant First Class who is waiting for me outside and we wait, and wait, and wait. It took about an hour for the bag to come out. I was not too worried since most others on the flight were also waiting. I walk out and SFC advises me to change some US dollars into Tanzania shillings; the others converted $2,000 so I do the same and get 2,120,000 shillings in two large stacks of 10,000 shilling notes that the clerk counts out with a machine. I then must also get a passport photo taken to complete the application for my Tanzanian temporary veterinary license, which we do at a close by shop for 3,000 shillings. Not a good picture but what you get is what you are.

We go to the US Embassy to meet the some of the others in the Team who flew down the day before on a C-26. I was the odd one out who would have put us overweight, so I got to fly commercial and spend the night in Addis. We leave the embassy and head to the vet supply business owned by Dr. Mwassa, who goes over the order with us. Amanda Coenen had met him yesterday after she arrived from Djibouti and had discussed it.

There had been a problem with the contract since he had not been assured of payment for the approximately $60,000 order including anti-trypanosomal, anti-theilerial, antibiotics (oxtytetracyline, penicillin-streptomycin, lincomycin, anthelmintics [injectable ivermectin and oral albendazole], and wound spray [furazolidone + gentian violet]). I think that’s all. Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) vaccine and Lumpy Skin Disease (LSD) vaccine not delivered; to be delivered later. FMD vaccine has to be made to order and has shorter shelf life. Also we get Newcastle Disease (NCD) vaccine for poultry that is water delivered not ocular administration. It’s a modified live vaccine (MLV) which needs to be refrigerated but I have serious doubts about the “cold chain” up to this point and our ability to keep one from here on.