Reliable services do exist

Garbage truck.

No shouting, no noise, no hassle — unbelievable.

Despite the challenges of finding people who take pride and care in their work, reliable services do exist here, they just take a long time to find.

Once found, we are even more grateful for the services we have in and around our house.

Firstly there’s our help in the household: her older sister brought to the big city from Iringa and she’s been working for us for a year and it’s a pleasure having her around.

Always on time, and after a few explanations and additional tips she makes sure our house and terrace are almost dust free, which is a real challenge with sandy roads along the house and large lorries passing frequently.

Then we have our security guards, posted by a company but now with us for almost two years. They work seven days and nights every week and never fail to show up.

If one needs to go to the office or see a sick relative, they work out together how to compensate the extra time.

Finally our Taka Taka or Mazingira truck.

The companies we used before always had issues of their truck breaking down or getting stuck at the dumping site — meaning no collection for at least two weeks, very undesirable in our hot and humid climate.

From a referral by a friend we found this company that still amazes us every week.

Mondays (even sikukuu — holidays), usually before 7 am, a large truck arrives.

It switches off the engine, one guy jumps down and knocks our gate.

There are a few greetings, then the bin is rolled to the truck and turned over.

Then it’s back, the guy takes his seat again, the engine starts and within five minutes all is done and over with.

No shouting, no noise, no hassle — unbelievable.

Once a month the office person brings a receipt which we pay in advance and all is in order.

What a pleasure to enjoy such care and consistency in our daily life in this otherwise dynamic and challenging city.

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About the Author

Josie van den Hoek
Josie first visited Dar es Salaam in 2000 and is still here. She writes about encounters on her daily walks and Tanzanian life.