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.

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