Money Money Money

Let's talk about money. I know I am not the only one who is either thinking about it, planning ways to make it or to make more of it, or is being asked by friends or family members to lend them money.

Money is money, period! And we all could use a little more of it. I received a text message from a friend asking me to lend her some money, and I felt sad that I was not able to help her. And my heart feels some type of way when  a single mother is in a financial need. And no, she is not one of those people that just asks for money and does not pay back. She is hard working, juggling between a job that's not paying her well and her own businesses (tailoring and catering) and raising her daughter without any financial assistance from 'the dad'. This is when I wish Tanzania microfinance services were easy to access. People like my friend deserve all the financial help they can get, especially from institutions that are established for hard working small businesses looking to get somewhere in this world and provide for their families and pay taxes.

So as I was feeling bad about the money issues my friend is facing and me not being able to help, I went to a library a few hours later and guess what, the worse money temptation came knocking. And I say worse because I was broke-ish and all of a sudden I came across a wallet with lots of cash in it and I had to debate about my broke-ness vs my morals and spiritual beliefs. 

True story! I was at the library yesterday and decided to change seating position so as to have access to a power outlet to charge my laptop, I dropped my earphones, and as I picked them up I saw a wallet and it looked like it belongs to a man. I picked it up and started looking for the owner's IDs. I found his DL and a school ID, and before thinking any further I pulled out my phone and sent him an email that I have his wallet and he should call me. Then it hit me that I am returning a wallet full of cash and all these cards both debit and credit when I am broke-ish. I literally laughed at myself because I realized I can't cheat my beliefs in this area. And in case you are wondering, I did not take a penny, nada! 

Money man, money is a funny thing. You work hard for it and have no fun. Or have fun but make less money. 

Regardless of how money plays a part in our lives, it does not hurt to know we can reach out to people or financial institutions for a little assistance when in need, just so that we don't feel powerless and stuck. 

Proud of the President for doing this

Friends with the Ex

Hey y'all, 

I think the  toughest yet the easiest question for most people to answer is whether they can be friends with their exes. I enjoy hearing different viewpoints on a YES or NO answer from this question. 

Personally, I just discovered that I don't have the emotional maturity that someone my age should perhaps have when it comes to dealing with relationships, the 'ex' to be exact. I often wonder if the ones that say 'let's stay friends,' have actually outgrown the love hence are capable of dealing with you as a friend, or they just want to hold on to you just in case?

I know for sure that I have managed to be friends with my exes after years have passed. Not the same year when the break up took place! No way Jose!! I need time to heal to the point where I can not desire to be with you in a relationship other than just being friends. And I mean this for relationships that ended well (infidelity was not involved), hence things like distance, lack of parental approval and mutual dying of feelings.

I do know that I can lend a helping hand to an ex in need no matter the length of a break up, but no way am I being buddies within a year of breaking up. And that's when I realized I am yet to mature when it comes to that area. And I do believe in the saying 'out of sight out of mind', if we keep texting or emailing each other, you may be out of sight but your words aren't. Even worse, if we follow each other on social media. Nothing good can come from that. I'm in no mood to see your new girl and no way in hell will I parade my new beau just to make a point. So as far as dealing with exes is concerned, I am perhaps 2 years old emotionally with a tantrum in hand! And I am okay with that.

Xoxo

Mamatembo Safari.

THE PLAYERS Championship 2019 - Golf

Rayvanny Ft Diamond Platnumz - Tetema (Official Video)

What I learned about traveling from my friend

I heard about the Ethiopian flight at Church on Sunday and of course I felt for the those that lost their loved ones, when I got back home around 2 p.m. I remembered Kaka told me he was in Addis Ababa headed to Nairobi. When that memory kicked in I shouted so loud that my sister got scared. I took my phone so fast to look at my chat with Kaka just to make sure he wasn’t on that flight (because we texted a day before the plane crash). I felt a huge relief when I saw his text saying he’ll be leaving Addis on Monday. I can only imagine how those that actually lost their loved ones felt, my condolences to them all. 

As Kaka will be heading to Nairobi, Arusha, Dar and Zanzibar, I wish I was there with him. Our Tanzania adventure holidays involved saving money by staying in non -luxurious hotels (we would search for budget hotels in Tanzania way in advance) and make sure the rest of the cash was used on exploring, enjoy the touristic experiences and eating well. Our travel around TZ taught me a lot of saving skills as a tourist, if I must admit. 

As a tourist one thing to keep an eye on is making sure you eat well yet inexpensive (because you would not want to get sick, nor would you want to go broke half trip). Have enough cash for transportation but also, use the most affordable means of transportation available to you (this way you get the authentic experience of the locals). It's easy to save on accommodation in Tanzania, all you have to do is search for places on online, but also make local friends and find out where they would stay if they were not originally from that specific town. But make sure to keep security as your number one priority regardless of your skin color or nationality, thieves are thieves and anyone is target including the locals.

Enjoy you stay in TZ kaka.

Bisous.

Buying a Car in Bongo vs USA

Hey y'all, 

So, my car was in an accident in December last year, and it was totaled. I was in a mixed state of emotion when I got the news, was the driver okay and how bad is it? Thank goodness the driver's injuries were not so bad, a broken wrist, bruises and a load of pain. For me though, the craziness started when I had to look for a replacement car, it was such a painful experience and I almost cried a few times. I know, I can be dramatic sometimes, but I have every right to feel frustrated and sad because I am so used to the way things work when looking for a cars for sale in Tanzania, life is less hectic when you know how to go about things and in TZ things are straightforward as far as I can tell and have experienced. 

For instance, buying my first car was easy-peasy, even though I bought it from someone and not from a dealership, I was able to grab a mechanic from his office, go with him to the seller for a test drive and do a mechanic evaluation on the car before I bought it. I tried to go the same route here and it sucked big time. First of all, mechanics are super busy on daily basis, and even when I decided to go to a physical nearby mechanic shop - I was never serviced because I didn't have an appointment, LIKE REALLY? How can I schedule an appointment in advance? How am I am to know if I will go look for a car on a particular day and like it and want to take it to a mechanic?  And I know this is an issue because I am trying to buy a car from a person and not a dealership as I believe it's better that way (especially if you don't want to get into the monthly payment business from big dealerships - I blame that on me being broke by the way). 

But even when I went to cash only dealerships, they had a 90 days warranty, they would not return my cash if anything goes wrong with the car, but they would fix whatever problem that rises up, but they would not give me a different car.

I remember buying my second car from Japanese car dealers and all I had to do was go to the bank, make the transfer and pick up my car at the dealership. The sales man guaranteed me the car was great and if anything went wrong in 3 months, they would fix the car but if the problem is sever they would give me a different car, or give me back my cash (which never happens anyway coz they have plenty of cars to exchange with), but how cool is that? You can even get a car imported from Japan through Japanese car importers.

And another challenge is, Japanese cars  are super expensive here. I mean, they do deserve to be expensive because they are durable and all, but maaaan, you could pay $5000 for a 2008 Honda civic with 200,000 miles and pay $2800 on a Volkswagen 2008 with 130,000 miles. It's an interesting challenge buying a car here I tell ya.

I gave up on the whole process and decided to wait for a miracle, like literally, I am waiting on a car miracle because I don't want to pay for a car that will die on me just because I didn't have a mechanic look at it, or end up spending $$$ every month to fix a car. Then I might as well go to Carmax and buy a good car and do a monthly payment and get over with it. But such is life, we live and we learn.

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