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Dusty Road to Kabanga

When you’re doing anything in Tanzania as mzungu, you’re bound to get some attention – some wanted, some unwanted. Mostly – the attention I get is wanted, even (most of the time) when it comes to the repeated requests for saidiya (help) … most of the time, I must repeat. Sometimes, it’s annoying and exhausting at best.

In this one case, I didn’t need to be asked. The babu or grandfather for one of my young friends, Saidi Sadiki, is named Saidi Mkete. He’s such a cool old man – and I say that based on my observations of his behavior and others’ reactions to his words. I barely understand him but I adore him as if he were my own grandfather and again, I barely know him. I think this is because there is something vulnerable and wise about him.

The vulnerability comes from his near blindness. His eyes have been bothering him a lot recently and he is progressively losing his sight. As the sight goes, it leaves him in great pain. I thought he was fully blind when I first met him because he’s always sitting with his head in his hands – or his eyes resting on his knuckles. He’s never without a cloth to wipe his eyes.

Continue reading “Dusty Road to Kabanga”

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Finger Lickin’ Good

I love eating with my hands. I love sitting down to a meal of whole fish, beans, spinach and rice with freshly washed hands because I know what comes next. I get to squish some rice around in my palm, making a nice tight little ball that I use to collect spinach before stabbing some fish that I just peeled off the bone and then wading through the beans. Then I take the whole messy stack, scooped onto my middle, ring and pinky fingertips and with a little help from behind, my thumb pushes the whole delicious helping into my mouth. I look around and enjoy seeing a room full of adults eating with their hands. Naughty naughty … or normal. Continue reading “Finger Lickin’ Good”

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Rafiki Zangu – My Friends

Although my work now is primarily in the village of Mgaraganza, I still have some important lasting relationships with the first village I lived in during the summer of 2008 – Kiganza. It’s been wild to stay in touch with people from so far away – see their faces light up when I return year after year, watch their families grow and shrink with births and deaths, share in their children’s delight over going to school and just sit in the comfortable silence of their small, humble homes with no need to say too much. Continue reading “Rafiki Zangu – My Friends”

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Dokumenti – Some Humorous Finds

There are lots of writings here – on t-shirts, dala dalas, walls, signs and in various other random spots – that just make you chuckle a bit. I saw a dala dala (minibus public transport) drive by with the following on the back window:

Don’t tease me, if you can’t please me

There was a cute little girl standing in the market in her black skirt and a pink t-shirt that said: Tough guys wear pink. That was funny in the moment and became even funnier when we saw a piki piki (motorcycle taxi) driver wearing a pink woman’s jacket and then another young man walking with a pink woman’s purse a few days later. Tough guys use pink purses. Continue reading “Dokumenti – Some Humorous Finds”

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Musings on Friendships

I have time left on my internet session but no connector for my camera and the computer – so really no desire to tell any of my stories at present … but, I made one discovery today.

One day last week, I started to feel exhausted and shaky. It hit me around midday and I returned to the hotel to eat, pound some water and hope with all my might that it wasn’t the malaria that I was expecting. After long hours of sleeping and lying around – moping really – I recovered with bright eyes and all my energy the next day. Continue reading “Musings on Friendships”

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Nime Choka Sana! Lakini, sasa naweza kubeba mawe!

Which means: I’m so tired, but now I can carry stones (‘to the head’, as they say). If I had typed up this blog yesterday after working with the villagers in Mgaraganza at the school site, the title might have read ‘Eff That!’ And ‘That’ would have been a reference to the work that we did – which was ridiculously difficult and in my opinion just plain ridiculous. But let me back up a bit… Continue reading “Nime Choka Sana! Lakini, sasa naweza kubeba mawe!”

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Tulienda Kiganza – Visiting the Children

Today we made our way into Kiganza village to visit with my friends – young and old. It was an emotional day for several reasons. Lucas met us in town in the morning and after puttering around a little bit to get some money changed and buy some sunscreen, which we shockingly found in the duka la dawa (pharmacy), we hopped on the dala dala for my first ever ride into the village. In past years, Lucas and I would ride part of the way until the road basically became impassible by cars and the transport cars wouldn’t go further. From that point, we would walk 1.5 hours each way in the blazing sun (uphill both ways). After walking 3 hours a day, eating dust, burning flesh and starving – we would grub down on a full fish and some rice together and I would collapse in the bed. This year, we three spoiled princesses get a ride right up to the Kiganza market – footsteps from the homes of the students Project Wezesha supports and the families I’ve grown to love. From here, it is still a 30 minute walk to Mgaraganza village, but it’s through the shaded forest and across a stream, so who’s complaining! Continue reading “Tulienda Kiganza – Visiting the Children”

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Interview with Hadley and Laura

I asked Laura and Hadley some questions on the veranda of our hotel the night before they left. Emotions soared as they thought back on some of their experiences.

You’ve been in the city, the beach, the small town and the village. Which do you prefer and why?

L: I don’t like the big city at all. Zanzibar is good for tourism. I felt relaxed there and wanted to go to the beach. I liked the atmosphere. It’s touristy so if you’re looking for that, it’s good. If you’re looking for life experience and something deeper, then being here(in Kigoma) is the thing.

H: I would say that Dar was not my favorite place, but I’m glad that I experienced it because it let me see kind of the sad state of affairs of the reality of things here. That people would be coming from villages to Dar looking for a better life only to find more desperation is unfortunate. Zanzibar was a nice touristy respite, but it did feel touristy and didn’t feel as real. And now that we’re in the villages the landscape is incredibly beautiful and while the people are probably just as poor as they were in Dar, there is more warmth and there is more friendliness. It makes me sad that people would leave the villages where there is still warmth and love to go to a place like Dar where the desperation is that much more evident. Overall, I would say that I’m enjoying my experience in Kigoma and surrounding villages the most because it feels the most real to me and I am enjoying connecting with the people on a more personal basis. Continue reading “Interview with Hadley and Laura”

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"Nitarudi" I said, and return I did!

We arrived in Kigoma at long last! We experienced the bustle of the big city, the tourist trap of Zanzibar, Indian Ocean and a lot of surface interactions – but now we are here. We are here – where relationships with the people I know are real and deep.

Lucas, my friend and partner in Project Wezesha, greeted us at the airport and escorted us up to the place I’ll call home this month. We enjoyed some introductions, catch up conversation, important updates and the glorious view of Lake Tanganyika. Hadley was psyched to finally meet the young man I’ve been referencing all these months leading up to this trip. Of course he won Laura and Hadley over instantly with his smile. They could feel what I feel – Lucas is awesome. He’s trustworthy, gentle, kind, protective, funny and sharp. Continue reading “"Nitarudi" I said, and return I did!”

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Humanitarians Spring for a Kitten

Late one night on the island of Zanzibar, Laura, Hadley and I were returning from a triumphant match between Spain and Portugal, which we enjoyed from Mercury’s Bar – so named because Freddy Mercury was born here … or some history along those lines. Triumphant because Laura is from Spain – so of course, Villa Maravilla, Venga and other Spanish cheers were leaving our table with more volume than most in the bar expected from a group of seemingly mature women and wazungu at that. Way to go Spain!!

Back to my story… We were returning from the match around midnight and we were only steps from our hostel’s entry way when the high pitch cries of youth in distress whipped my head to the side and down where I spotted the tiniest of tiny kittens, wailing away and all alone. I scooped it up and it fit easily in the palm of my hand – its eyes weepy, orange coat soiled and whiskers curly from having been burned away at the ends. Of course, the three of us began cooing as women do around baby animals and baby humans – a cooing which quickly turned to moaning about how we could help this animal, after midnight, just outside our hotel with no information about where its mother might be. Continue reading “Humanitarians Spring for a Kitten”