Lost & Found in Iringa

It happens a lot- you lose things. You leave things behind in various places. I’ve had a number of experiences over the years leaving things in all the hotels that I have frequented. Statistically though not so many especially considering the number of hotels where I have rested my weary head. The following is a short summary of my most recent loss and surprising find!

I arrived to my second home- Dar es Salaam, Tanzania- on Saturday night around 10:00 p.m. Groggily checked into the new Holiday Inn (yes the same American chain), showered off the 24 hours of travel, and slept. 10 a.m. the next morning picked up in the Land Cruiser with our Country Director, Tim, and driver, Zully. We spent about 7.5 hours driving on tarmack from Dar es Salaam to Iringa in the southern highlands of Tanzania (see map- slightly bolder line from DSM to Iringa to track our route).


We started at sea level, drove by the hills of Morogoro, through Mikumi National park where along the drive we saw elephants, giraffes, and water buffalo minding their business. We continued on through what we like to call Baobab forest...only this time it's the rainy season so the Baobab trees are covered in green. The baboons by the side of the road still look as mean and weird with their pink rear ends. Then we get to lovely cool Iringa. We settle in at the MR Hotel where all is basic- foam mattress beds, hot water, and basic breakfast included (no porridge please).

The next day we held a day long brainstorming workshop with Ministry of Health staff (some from the regional level, some from the districts, some from the health facilities) to determine how we can strengthen the operation of their drug ordering and reporting systems (drugs = medicines). We end the day on a good note, head out for nyama choma for dinner (grilled goat meat), and call it a day. After heavy rains all night long and into the morning, Tim and I wait on Tuesday morning for Zully to get back from the market. The ladies at the office always have us pick up bags of rice, peas, tomatoes, and other goods while in Iringa (better price, better quality). With the Land Cruiser all packed up and the car smelling of rice, we hit the road back to Dar es Salaam.

About four hours into the eight hour drive, I wake from the head-bobbing groggy car slumber and think "did I leave my contact case (with my contacts) on the bathroom sink? Certainly not. No. It's gotta be in my toiletry bag. I'll check when we get back to Dar." Four hours and a lot of city traffic later, I arrive back at the Holiday Inn looking a little worse for wear. Wind-blown hair, glistening sweaty face, and crumpled clothes. While unpacking in my clean, cool, new room, I determine- yup contacts are still in Iringa. Guess it's glasses for 11 days.

Next day in the office, I call the MR Hotel. Yes, the cleaning lady found the "little bottle" on the sink. The receptionist at the MR Hotel says to me "Have Zully call me and he'll tell me how we can get it to Dar." In my head, DHL? UPS?, but will they transport something with liquid. Am thinking this may be a lost cause. But Zully our driver calls the MR Hotel and instructs the receptionist to tape up my bottle (to ensure the solution does not leak) and put it in an envelope with Zully's name on it, send on the Scanavia passenger charter bus Thursday morning, and Zully will collect it at the Scanavia bus station tomorrow evening or Friday morning. Perfect! Contacts lost. Contacts found. Now let's see if they survive the eight hour bus ride from Iringa to Dar.

Just one example of how items you might think may never be found again, can find their way back to you in the most creative ways!

UPDATE ON MY CONTACTS:

Today my contacts made it back from Iringa courtesy of Scanavia buslines. Zully, our driver, and I went over to the bus terminal about 9 a.m. this morning. They have a little good receiving area where there two older Tanzanian guys were working behind the glass window. Zully gave them the waybill number for my packager, they looked it up in their notebook (all handwritten) and match my package. Behind them are shelves of packages and a filing cabinet. The one mzei (older man in Swahili) looks into the filing cabinet and pulls out a small envelope- stapled shut all the way around- it has my name on it (Irine). I show my passport, the mzei takes down my passport number, and voila the package is mine!

We get back into the car, and I open up the envelope. Samson at the MR Hotel as thoroughly wrapped up my contact case- doesn't appear that anything has leaked!
I got back to the office- showed everyone my precious package and then ripped open Samson's careful wrapped and popped in my lenses (after washing my hands of course). No more four eyes, just my face, my eyes- me with clear vision! And guess how much that delivery cost- 2,000 shillings- a little less than $2.00. How did we pay Samson in Iringa- via text message of course! We bought him a 5,000 shilling (3,000 tip for the trouble) cell phone voucher. We texted him the number that he needs to enter to give his phone 5,000 credit- voila he's paid! That's the best $5.00 I've ever spent!