Helicopters & Hybrid Airships - Part 3

By Dr. Timothy Merritt June 6, 2021

Helicopters & Hybrid Airships - Part 3

Figure 1: Airship St. Paul at IDP Camp in Uvinsa, Tanzania

Peace and Freedom An idea for a disaster relief project in East and Central Africa aims to connect Uganda, the most globally linked country in the region, to surrounding conflict zones, delivering supplies to refugee camps rife with infectious disease and loss of life.

Peace and Freedom networks from around the world have been striving for years to provide the resources and tools people need to realize their own dreams in this region. With the ability to land on completely undeveloped airfields and even on water, hybrid airships offer the promise of a previously impossible transportation infrastructure.

There is an incredible economic potential for this technology, as governments and other global organizations have been unable to meet the heavy lift capabilities by any other means.

In addition; on June 28th, 2016, scientist using a new technique discovered a massive reserve of helium in Tanzania. It is said to contain up to seven times of the entire amount of helium consumed worldwide each year.

Tanzania shares a border with Uganda to the north, and it is inevitable that any future airship operations in the region will regard Tanzania as an important strategic hub.

Figure 2: US and Tanzania Cultural Comparison

Unlike Canada, with Tanzania we find significant cultural differences from the United States.

Due to the complexities of the tribal dynamics there, we looked specifically at a subset of the Kenyan and Tanzanian culture, the Maasai culture, as representative of the region.

Maasai culture is extremely collectivist; individual standout talent is not approved by tribal leadership. A common leadership theme in Maasai culture is stewardship and servant leadership.

There are cultural differences from other tribes in Kenya and Tanzania, which tend to foster the value of isolation.

The skills that are valued by the Maasai leaders are those that are of value to the collective not the individual. It is likely that standout talent and charismatic leadership could be rejected by Maasai members.

Remember that charismatic leadership and individualistic performance are hallmarks of the American culture; so the potential for cultural problems is high. https://www.hofstede-insights.com/product/compare-countries/

References: Godsall, J. (2018). Solarship: the Bush Plane with Buoyancy. Airship. The Journal of the Airship Association, 194(Summer). https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/new-extremely-valuable-helium-depositdiscovered-in-africa/ Ward, J. A., Brown, W. J., & Kiruswa, S. (2015). African Maasai Leadership: An Extension of The Globe Study. Journal of International Business Research, 14(3). Retrieved from http://eres.regent.edu:2048/login?url=https://search-proquestcom.ezproxy.regent.edu/docview/1768621804?accountid=13479

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