Technical schools trained technical personnel, and electrical engineering schools trained electricians. The purpose of Mbeya city's Electrical Engineering School was likewise to cultivate qualified electricians for East Africa.
In this era, electricians were unquestionably an extremely scarce profession. As an emerging industry, very few cities in the world had yet popularized electricity. Even most European cities were still in the age of oil lamps and gaslights, so naturally there were not many electricians.
Mbeya city had hired more than thirty veteran European electricians to serve as teachers at the Mbeya city Electrical Engineering School. The power industry had only emerged a few years ago, so the value of these old electricians went without saying.
"Gentlemen, the school will not open for another two or three months. The entire campus is rather empty at present, and neither the staff nor the equipment is fully in place yet. Therefore, I suggest that you not live at the school for now. The city government has arranged homes for you in the city. You can prepare your lessons in peace, then return to the school to register in September," said Rodman, director of the city education bureau.
"Director Rodman, I'm Adri Ross, formerly an employee of Hechingen Electric Company. I'd like to know whether the dormitories are habitable now. I was thinking of moving into one first."
"Mm! Mr. Adri Ross, why do you want to live in the dormitories? They cannot be occupied at present. It is not that the living facilities are incomplete, but aside from the caretaker, there is no one there. With no human presence at all, if you are not particularly bold, living alone in the dormitories might be frightening."
Hearing Rodman's description, Adri Ross shuddered. Too much emptiness really could make one uncomfortable.
So he hurriedly explained, "I