Habari

Now that I had arrived safely, the first thing I needed to do was unpack, I had a lot of training material which had taken up the vast majority of the space in my suitcases.

I had arranged a meeting with Neil over lunch, where we would discuss my input, therefore I had to crack on to get organised.

I had decided to divide all the training material evenly between the three suitcases, just in case one went walkabout, it’s never happened to me before, but there was always a first time, so all this material needed to be sorted out and arranged into packs.

Once everything had been unpacked and I was sorted in the room, I found the ATM located in the hotel lobby and withdrew a couple of hundred thousand Tanzania Shillings, that’s about £80 I completed a quick recon of my new home for two weeks and located the restaurant and bar area, just in case I fancied a cold beer at some point, who knows. I also manage to get a complementary security box from reception so I could stash my passport and other travel documents.

Neil arrived in a taxi and the taxi driver Adam took us to an area called Slipway, a short distance from my hotel. Slipway is more of a tourist area than where I am staying, a few shops a supermarket and of course the restaurant, which had a beach front location, over a cold beer and some grilled chicken we carried out our meeting and discussed plans for the next couple of weeks. We picked a table in the shade as it was a very hot day, have I mention the weather yet, sorry slipped my mind, well it’s hot.

The following day I went to the Institute to start work; I had prepared a short power point presentation and would use it to introduce myself and Metroline to all attendee’s.

The trainees introduced themselves: William, Daniel and Michael, in Tanzania, you can either call someone by their first or last name, I preferred to use first names and everybody was more than happy with that.

I handed out all the training material and each trainee received a Metroline high visibility vest, bearing the safety message, “Never cut corners with safety”

Following the presentation and all introductions we located the sixty seat Scania coach in the compound and we began to discuss the importance of vehicle checks.

The lads had a fairly good understanding of vehicle checks, not to Metroline’s standard, but that would soon change, they started by checking levels that needed to be completed with the engine off.

I had prepared laminated copies of the bus checking sheet for the trainee’s to use, it has been slightly adjusted from the Metroline sheet I use at work.

I stressed the point that pre-driving checks are an important part of a bus driver’s job and cannot be under estimated. At Metroline all drivers have comprehensive training on bus checking and this was the high standard I would teach my team.

I explained to my team, before a driver enters service with Metroline, they will need to pass this test, which is conducted by me or another driving examiner. The test falls into three main areas, the cab drill, saloon checks and external checks, trainees will need to explain and demonstrate the safety checks that are required and these checks must be carried out before the bus enters service.

I explained to my team, it is the driver’s responsibility to make sure everything is as it should be; driving an unfit bus will compromise the safety and comfort of passengers and other road users; my trainee’s all agree.

This lesson will work well in this environment, as these instructors may be teaching in excess of 30 trainees at any one time, they would be able to fire question to any of their trainee’s who must be able to respond with the correct answer, therefore, each one would need to revise for this exercise.

We practiced this many times and with the aide of the laminated tick sheet and dry wipe pens Metroline provided (all the lads all agreed this was extremely helpful) I soon had them up to speed and each one in turned took the lead and conducted the lesson on the others, they used Swahili to do the lesson and this was fine by me, I interject regularly for an English answer, which they gave.

Michael is involved with transport initiatives and I will email him a copy which he will translate into Swahili and present to his colleagues. He explained that many drivers simply check fluid levels and are not concerned about other checks; Michael would like to see Metroline’s system used on a wider basis.

Habari

The Boeing 767 which was operated by British Airways, took off on time and the duration of the flight was approximately ten hours. I’m happy to say that the flight was uneventful, the take off and landing was extremely smooth and there was virtually no turbulence, if you travel by plane that’s exactly what you want.

Flying has never really caused me a concerned and this flight hasn’t altered my view. The in flight meal was ok and there was plenty of films to choose from, I could also view the flight path and current location of the plane on the screen which was located on the back of the forward seat, it’s also gave me the altitude of 37000 feet and a land speed of 524 mph, if you fancied stepping out for a bit of wing walking, take a coat, because it was minus 58 degrees outside.

I did manage to get some sleep and a good investment I made before the flight was paying 53p in Tescos for some eyeshades, I prefer to sleep in total darkness and these did the job.

 
I arrived in Dar es Salaam about 7am local time and passing through customs wasn’t a problem, all I needed to do was complete a simple entry form and have my finger prints scanned and that was that. When I got to the luggage carousel all three of my suitcases put in an appearance, what more could I ask.
 
I was met at the airport by Neil, the Project Manager for Transaid (who I had met before in London during my pre-brief regarding the trip) for the short taxi ride to the hotel. On the way to the hotel we passed a road traffic accident on the other carriage, nothing too serious, a fender bender with a couple of cars. The police were already in situ with their tape measures; there was quite a lot of traffic, all at a standstill. I was told by Neil that traffic jams are common place.
 

The hotel is called the Blue Pearl and is situated on a busy road not far from The Institute of Training, where I would meet the trainees and start my day from. The room is clean; there is a kitchen area with a table and chairs, a coffee table and a two seat sofa, so no complaints there. I even have sky sports on tap.

I’m in room 1304, I was given room 1305 at first, but when I entered the room for the first time, I was immediately confronted with a pool of water on the floor, looking up, there was a hole in the suspended ceiling the size of a dart board and the offending water dripping to the floor, the suspended ceiling conceals all the air condition ducts, a few words to the porter in Swahili from Neil, soon produced the key for the room I have now.

The room number as I said is 1304, that’s room number four on the thirteenth floor (not rocket science really is it?)  Neil booked this floor as it tops an adjacent building and gives me a better view over the landscape, access to the room is by an open walk way, where a member of staff sits all day making sure that the gym next to me and the infinity roof top swimming pool are only used by guests. The hotel is also used for conferences and exhibition, there was a lot of activity from staff when I arrived, who were very busy erecting stands for this week’s exhibition, promoting Tanzania and environmental issues, many delegates wore traditional African attire and I can tell you they all looked fantastic.

Outward bound

Saturday 19^th Nov 2011 Outward Bound

Well, the day has arrived for the first leg of my trip to Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.

Over the last few weeks I have developed my plan of action and have a clear objective of what I want to achieve, but like all plans there will be a need for flexibility, when I get out there and assess the guys I will be working with, I will have a better understanding of their needs, so my plans have the scope for that flexibility.

Prior to the trip I have had a host of inoculations and to be honest it knocked me for six and made me feel quite ill, with flu like symptoms, no not man flu I hear you say, this really was quite discombobulating, Friday was the first day I started to feel better and am glad to say that it continues in that vain.

As I type this I am in the cab on the way to the Heathrow. I’ve decided to sit in a back seat for a few reasons, one being and if you’re honest you have done this yourself, we try and strike up a conversation; usually by posing the same questions to the driver: You working late? Normally followed by: Have you been busy? To which they usually retort “yes and not too bad” you soon get the feeling they are not really bothered about chit chat and end up in a stony silence for the rest of the ride.

It gets worse for me though, I then sit there for the rest of the trip marvelling how they attempt to get from A to B as fast as they can, breaking more rules than you can shake a stick at. The main reasons though for sitting in the back is, I can you use the time to start my blog.

I’ve never even followed a blog before, let alone write one so it’s all new to me, I think it’s like my version of trip adviser and with that in mind I should make the point of saying, that anything contained in my blog, is only my observations and doesn’t represent the views, opinions or policies of Metroline and for that matter Transaid or anybody working within these organisation, it’s just my view, views of an Englishman abroad.

 

Ah, I can see the turn off for Heathrow and the driver is planning his decent into terminal five, it always raises a rye smile with me, as to why they call airports “terminal” anyway, I'm getting there in one piece' that’s an encouraging start.

So here I am, Heathrow Airport terminal 5, I have arrived in plenty of time, I hate getting any where late, I’d sooner arrive somewhere early and kick my heals for while, rather than stress myself out running late. There are scores of self check in kiosks, I have printed off my boarding pass and been allocated a window seat, not a lot to see really as it will be dark before take off. The plane I am flying on is a mid range Boeing 767.

Security was fairly painless, but the security people do have a way of looking at you don’t they. I once went on a training course and got chatting to a guy there, who was once a passenger profiler at Heathrow, they can tell quite a lot from the answers you give, to the most simplest of questions, anyway they let me through. Just got a text from NC wishing me a good trip, nice touch. Just checked the information boards, I can go to the departure gate now, so better be off, the last thing I want is to miss the flight.