African Entrepreneurship Record

After a chat with the old man, Wells learned that he was a veteran retired from the army, which is quite common in East Africa, especially with the resettlement of soldiers, a feature unique to the region.

Just as the two were about to continue their conversation, a voice that was both familiar and unfamiliar came from behind Wells.

”Big brother!”

Wells turned around to see a young man, slightly over 1.7 meters tall, standing behind him.

”Are you Mel?” Having been away from home for so long, Wells found the changes in his family somewhat disorienting.

”Big brother, it’s me. It’s been so many years, and you haven’t changed much, but looking closely, your demeanor is different. It seems you’ve been doing well in Germany!”

The person welcoming Wells was his second brother, Mel.

”Your voice has changed a bit from before, I almost didn’t recognize you. If there weren’t anyone else around, I certainly wouldn’t have thought you were calling me,” Wells said.

In the years they hadn’t seen each other, both Mel’s appearance and voice had changed to some extent.

Mel chuckled, ”I’ve grown up. When you left home, I was just in elementary school, and now I’m about to graduate from high school.”

”Really? How are your grades?” Wells struck with a critical question right away.

Mel’s smile froze for a moment and said, ”Of course, I can’t compare to you; you are the only college student in our village.”

”That’s exactly why I hope you can make progress in your studies. I used to tutor you a lot back then.”

”Oh, I know that, but thinking about studying abroad like you seems unlikely. It’s more probable that I’ll attend a technical school or university in East Africa. Originally, I wanted to go straight to work, but since our mom values education so much, I can only try to study hard.”

”Mom is right; the benefits of education can’t be described in a sentence or two. If you were in Europe, you’d understand. In East Africa, too, people hold great respect for knowledge. The country needs more highly educated talents in the future.”

Because East Africa had only just begun to popularize secondary education, Wells could only speak of highly educated talents. Currently, higher talent in East Africa is divided into three categories: famous scholars and technical staff who studied in Europe, those who studied abroad, and lastly, talents cultivated by domestic higher education. Given the current situation, this is certainly the case, but it may improve in the future.

While Wells was chatting about family stuff with his brother, Mary also noticed and brought along her son, Wiggins, to inquire about the situation.

”This is your sister-in-law, Mary, and this is your nephew, Wiggins,” Wells introduced his brother.

”Hello, sister-in-law! And a cute little nephew,” Mel exclaimed as he picked up Wiggins. Little Wiggins was only three years old this year and not heavy at all. At home, Mel often carried his younger siblings as well.

”Hello, Mel.” Mary also greeted Wells’ brother.

”By the way, where are Mom and Dad?” Wells asked.

”They’re outside the station. I specifically came onto the platform to pick you up,” Mel replied.

Edllis also came back and said, ”Mr. Wells, the train leaves at eight tomorrow morning, so take your time and reunite with your family! You can store your luggage temporarily, and I’ll lock the compartment door.”

After arranging this, Edllis slipped away and didn’t disturb them any further.

...

Outside the station, Wells met his parents and two other younger siblings. The youngest sister was even smaller than his son, Wiggins.

”In the future, Wiggins will have to take care of his little aunt,” Wells’ parents joked.

Wells’ mother was from the Far East, so she warmly chatted with Mary on the side, while Wells’ father was more taciturn, not quite like a traditional German.

”Let’s go. We’re temporarily staying at a hotel, arranged by the government. Brother, I’ll help you with your luggage,” Mel said.

So the family hopped into a carriage and headed toward the hotel near the Iringa City government, which was one of the perks Wells received. Usually, hotels in these inland areas are provided for government personnel.

Along the way, Mel, still a high school student, introduced the development of their hometown over the years to his big brother.

”Currently, Iringa City has just over four thousand people in the urban area. Including the surrounding regions, it has become a tobacco, grain, and livestock hub. Tobacco is a special local crop and our most important product. Other industries don’t have significant differences compared to the rest of the Highland Province.”

”When I left Iringa City, the entire urban area had only over two thousand people. Now, the population has doubled, and it seems more prosperous than before,” Wells said.

”All cities develop after more than a decade of development, with essential buildings and facilities gradually accumulating. Such development is common in small and medium-sized cities in East Africa, unless war breaks out and destroys them. But this obviously won’t happen. As long as there is peace, a region’s development will steadily accumulate.”

”Many old houses have been demolished and rebuilt. Now the city government and other government agencies are constructed with brick and stone structures, and public facilities in the city are much better than in the countryside. However, the village has also changed quite a bit.”

”Nowadays, the main crops at home are wheat and tobacco. Compared to wheat, tobacco planting is more complex, especially during the harvest season. It’s easy to get all greasy, but the wages are slightly higher than wheat, and we get more household supplies.”

”The roads in the village have all been widened and rebuilt. They’ve even constructed a reservoir at the western end of the village, greatly solving the water problem.”

Wells listened with interest to the changes at home. Overall, it was stable and improving, with the living standards of East African people rising further, a common phenomenon. The main reason was the industrial development in East Africa, providing more consumption avenues for the people.

This could be seen from the family’s attire and spirit. Perhaps because they were going to the city, even Wells’ parents had put on new clothes, and both were extremely frugal.

Of course, Iringa City wasn’t a place that looked down on the poor. Compared to rural areas, cities were just more well-facilitated, and the income gap between rural and urban wasn’t significant.

Currently, East Africa certainly can’t focus on rural development because the urbanization rate is too low, and dispersed construction could lead to resource wastage.

When mechanical levels improve in the future, and rural areas can merge into towns, East Africa will be able to make substantial changes to rural infrastructure, something currently unimaginable in East African society.

The family happily arrived at their temporary residence. Wells had brought back some specialties from Germany, especially food and industrial products from his father’s hometown, Bavaria, which were hard to find in East Africa.

However, in international cities like Dar es Salaam and Mombasa, they should be available, after all, German regions are one of East Africa’s main trading partners. Culturally, East Africa also gravitates towards the German regions. Many things that have a market in Germany have the same in East Africa, and sending letters or telegrams within the country is more convenient anyway.

This reunion was a rare opportunity for Wells, but the only pity was that they could only stay here for half a day and night. So the family didn’t sleep but chatted through the night. The next morning, Wells, his wife, and son had to head to the station to travel to Bulawayo. But, of course, during holidays, they could take the train to reunite again, something that couldn’t be achieved when studying or working in Europe.