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Title 4. Tanzania, 1991 – 1995.  Kenyatta Drive 25, Dar es Salaam.

We arrived In Dar es Salaam, Tanzania in August 1991, and we could not move directly into Kenyatta Drive 25, as the Embassy had decided, that the building were going to have a total overhaul, so we were given a house in the Nordic Compound called Valhalla, where Else also stayed from 1980 – 1983 as wife to a Danish expert, but this time she was employed as Attaché and Administrative Staff Member of the Royal Danish Embassy, so things had changed since the year 1983, and it was still difficult to have Embassy staff members living among Project Experts, as living conditions and contract conditions were still different for the two categories, but we managed to keep things separated. I was here that I managed to fulfill the dreams of George, that he wanted to be a cook, and I had the time to teach him, and then he had to teach me as much Kiswahili as possible, at the same time I went to the Embassy every day for private tutoring in the language. George did recommend that his cousin Tina should take George’s place of cleaning the house and to take care of all the daily activities in the house, and that was the way we started out with our servants and we are so proud to announce, that we were given their trusted service for the rest of the time we were in Tanzania.

You will find two pictures attached from September 1991 showing us and the 10 weeks old Charlie at the terrace in Valhalla and a picture of our staff Cook George, House girl Tina, Shamba (Garden) boy Prospery and the puppy Charlie, named after the black and white in the movies of Charlie Chaplin.

In November 1991 we moved into the house at Kenyatta Drive 25. The Carpenters would have gone on forever, if we did not move physically into the house on a day announced beforehand. Christmas was getting close and I had just got a position at the Royal Norwegian Embassy as “Procurement Officer”, locally employed, and I could return to normal working conditions. The employment lasted until I had to return with Else to Denmark in August 1995 and I did not only buy things and in many cases imported them to the embassy, I was also given the responsibility for the enormous amount of vehicles owned by the embassy, plus all the maintenance of the short wave radios stationed at different points in Tanzania connecting the experts with the Embassy. That job took me “on the road again” for two months every year, together with my friend the technician, and I can honestly say, that I know by heart every corner in Tanzania, because we have been there several times – Iringa – Mbeya – Shinyanga – Kigoma – Ujiji – Mwanza – Arusha – Moshi just to name a few of the places we had to pass through several times every year.

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