Mtwara

So here we are in Mtwara, two of my Tanzanian colleagues and myself to meet cashew farmers and others in the cashew industry, learn about what is going on, and to exchange ideas about future collaborations. This 'first contact' in a new region is a critical moment in time, a sort of tipping or balancing point when the new contacts don't know you and you don't know them, and every single minute everyone is assessing how much they might trust or distrust the other party. It is sort of an exciting process but also a bit stressful. I find that one also tends to collect information about the situation and make assessements based on all kinds of inputs tangible and intangible. We've got 5 days here to make our initial call. I'll keep you posted of course.

By the way, I was obliged yet again to check a bag and it did arrive and is here with me safely at the guesthouse. This drops my lost-bag percentage probably to somewhere around 50%.