Having the mayor on speed dial?!

In the week ahead, Melanie, the International Research Coordinator from the University of Western Ontario is visiting Mwanza. In preparing for her arrival, I have been busy booking meetings on her behalf, and in the process learning a lot about the social norms of appointments and communication.

First, planning ahead seems to be a foreign concept here. When I made requests for appointments the following week, most people thought I was from Mars.

Second, a communication infrastructure built almost solely on cell phones has very interesting dynamics. When I was first given the list of appointments to book (the Dean of the Medical School, the Chair of the Medical Research Institute, the Mayor, to name a few) I thought I was being sent on mission impossible. With no phone numbers, I had to visit the offices of these individuals. On more than one occasion, this is what happened: I arrived at the office and asked his/her assistant if they were available, the assistant responded “He/she is away at meetings/vacation/trips, but you can reach them on their cell phone.” I am so used to the Canadian approach of deflecting communication from high ranking officials, that I was absolutely floored with how freely they distributed personal contact information for these individuals.

Yesterday morning I called to confirm an appointment with Leonard Bihondo, the Mayor of Mwanza, Tanzania’s second largest city. Apparently I am a saved contact in his cell phone, since he knew my name when he answered. Then we had a candid conversation about how our Monday morning meeting would jive with his personal weekend plans to visit his home village. Talking weekend plans with the mayor on his cell phone…unbelievable….