7/15/09

Yesterday, 7/14/09 I went with Focus, the chairman of the Tanzania Carvers Association, to the embassy. We intended to meet councilman Sun, but he unfortunately had left the office for the day. Instead, we met with Ms. Wang again, who I found out directly reports to the councilman. We first thanked her for printing the books, then I let Focus do most of the explaining. He emphasized that the most important thing was that the embassy help to find teachers to continue the teaching of Chinese. He said three would ideal, but we’d be more than happy with 1. In addition, he wanted to try to set a date for the party in which the Tanzania Carvers Association and the Chinese Embassy would thank me for my work as well as pass the baton to the next set of teachers. We wanted to try to get the media involved and he requested that the embassy use their political power to try to draw in some media outlets. Finally, he requested vehemently that the people from the embassy come personally see a Chinese class at the Carvers’ school. Ms. Wang replied that the embassy is busy recently, and will only have time about 2 weeks. She expressed, however, her interest in going and said that she would like to go even to just learn some Swahili.

To be honest, Ms. Wang seems sympathetic to the cause and seems very eager to get something done. Whether something actually will happen remains to be seen. She was able to get the books printed within three days, which I suppose by embassy standards is fairly quick, and gives me hope that the other events will be taken care of as well. Nonetheless, what happens now is pretty much out of our hands, and we can only wait patiently as the Chinese embassy makes its’ decision.