Blogs from Arusha, North, Tanzania, Africa - page 8

At the choo Some directions, are culturally appropriate to ask and worth asking. Knowing the whereabouts of a choo, sometimes referred to in urban areas as the WC, is after all, often necessary. Choos are placed in a variety of locations, mostly unsuspecting ones. You may ask, “Choo?” or the more polite, “Please be so kind as to tell me where the water closet is.” There is danger is speaking Swahili too well as the response may be beyond your understanding. Given that the locale of the choo may be out of doors, through the corridor to the back alley and around the building next door to a structure without a sign, you may want to carry a notebook in which you can draw a map. Choos come in many forms, but you can be guaranteed ... read more

Church Etiquette (or the Gospel account according to Binti Kelci) We were invited to the Christening of the baby of Naomi, the financial treasurer of CHES Tanzania at the Lutheran Church. It was to start at 7:30 AM and we were advised to arrive at 7 AM. It was to last an hour. The choir had arrived as had a few members of the congregation. The music was wonderful and mum reassured me I would not have to dance although swaying and clapping of hands to the music was appropriate. We were unsure of where to sit and decided on the second row of the middle group of benches on the far left. This was opposite the choir, near the baptismal font, and away from the altar. As more and more people piled into the church ... read more

Serengeti: THIS IS AFRICA! The Serengeti is what you picture when you think “African Safari”. The Savannah (Swahili for “endless plain”) with its umbrella acacia trees, waving golden grass as far as you can see, and HERDS of animals. I have never seen so many animals! It is the “Great Migration”, and Wildebeast and Zebras in thousands and thousands dot the landscape. THIS is Africa. We have seen just everything here, from herds of elephants touching our car with their trunks to giraffes looking at us curiously from the side of the road, baboons in the trees, herds of zebra and wildebeest (they are almost always together, they apparently get along fine, and there is safety in numbers.) We have seen bat eared foxes (they are adorable), hyenas who were 5 feet away in the dark ... read more

It's two weeks before I return to Tanzania and friends and former projects. I am reminded of the journal I kept in 1991-1993 long before the word blog was known and years before Tanzania had internet. I think it will be interesting to revisit my entries and look with fresh eyes at those cultural clashes that are inevitable. As I attempt to remember my Swahili, I remember some of the learnings of my first experiences with the language and the speakers: Communicating in Tanzania Tanzania has 127 living languages and at least half a dozen dialects in each one. No, don’t despair. Thanks to Mwalimu Nyerere, President of Tanzania 1964-1985 who had a collectivist philosophy known as “ujaama”, Tanzanians all share one common language-Kiswahili or Swahili. Educated urban Tanzanians learn English in secondary school, a vestige ... read more

Relaxing at the plantation today. Kilimanjaros by the pool. No power in the rooms today. Sunny with thunderstorms in the area. One light shower for a few minutes.... read more