1 Tanzanian shilling = 0.000735 U.S. dollars

Tim's field assistant, Gabriel, was involved in a hit and run. He's fine. We can only assume that the other guy is fine-- since he was able to run. The research vehicle was not fine.

Tim and Gabriel spent no less than 10 hours at the police station, telling and retelling the story of the accident to no less than 3 different policemen. They traveled from the station to the site of the accident so that said policemen could make sketches. They bribed officers to help speed the process. They wrote letters (and included bribes) requesting copies of the "accident report", which was handed to them on wide-lined paper, handwritten in something akin to a crayon. They took pictures, and made copies of the pictures, of the damage to the vehicle. They purchases new parts, had the repairs made, and paid for the repairs out of pocket, collecting receipts along the way. The whole process took, approximately, 4 full days of work.

Then they went to the insurance company to file their claim.


Not two weeks prior to this accident, Tim renewed the car's comprehensive insurance at a cost of 700,000 Tsh. Repairs on the vehicle cost 450,000 Tsh. The insurance deductible was 400,000 Tsh, leaving 50,000 Tsh ($36.68) that Tim recovered for damages. Thus, given the exchange rate, Tim was paid roughly $4.36/hour for his efforts; and that's roughly 4 times what the house girl makes for full-time cleaning our landladies house and our apartment. How is anyone in this country meant to escape poverty that surrounds them when 1 Tanzanian shilling = 0.000735 U.S. dollars?

Documenting...

...the damage.

List of necessary items to file an insurance claim.