New Home

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I have spent the last two weeks house hunting so I can stop spending more than a third of my living allowance on my accommodation. The kinds of places I am looking at are just one or two rooms attached to a compound that a (usually extended) family lives in. These places usually run about $10 / month or less, which is vastly better than the $100/month that my current room is costing me. It has taken me a lot of talking to convince people that I am actually serious about wanting a place like that. I keep being told that a) there will be lots of disturbances that a mzungu (white person) wouldn’t want to (or be able to) deal with, b) it’s not safe, this is usually said by people from one neighborhood about another, but then you here the opposite when you go there c) I just get looked at like I am crazy. The best response was from a woman who I wanted to rent a room from, she laughed so hard she had to walk away and get her son to talk to me.

The place I finally found is quite nice. It’s two small connected rooms with a door that locks as well as shutters on the windows. The area is called Isanga, and my coworkers have taken to telling me I am going to get killed there, “nenda Isanga… kufa! Hahahaha” (going to Isanga… to die!). But most other people have just told me not to keep my valuables up there, especially when I am going to be out of town for a couple days at a time. And to not walk up the creek bed at night because that is where the people who have drank to much pombe (locally brewed beer) hang out.

My only exciting story about my house was that after returning home from a couple days in the field I found a mess on the floor of my bedroom. I couldn’t figure out what it was until I turned the light on. I was then presented with the sight of a soupy mix of chewed up Imodium, ibuprofen, Panadol and Pristine B. A rat had chewed holes in the bottoms of a bunch of bottles of pills, and then chewed up the Prisitne to add liquid to the mess. My first thought was, where’s the body? I don’t think I would have survived eating most of 6 imodium a bunch of painkillers and some liquid chemicals. But then I saw a rat scamper across one of the rafters and I remembered how tough they are. Now I have to decide whether to try and live with the rats, or start trying to kill them. Although, given that multiple pain killers, anti-diarrhea medication, and water purification chemicals don’t seem to have slowed them down, I may just have to accept them. I could always take a page from Never Cry Wolf (or Paul Slomp for those who know him) and start eating them.

Note: After writing this I came home and found my food which was hanging on the wall chewed up and a hole in my mosquito net, so now it’s on like donkey kong.

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Photos

Home sweet home
The bed is strategically placed as far from the hole the rats come in through as possible,

Comments

[heather fleming]

rats
Hi Eli, rat poisoning - warfuren (sp?) definitely kills rats. My dog ate some 6 months ago and almost died within 2 days. The counter to rat poisoning is Vit. K. I am glad to hear that you are connecting so well to the real people of Tanzania. Take care and thanks for the news. The girls and I are healthy and happy. Kate's second year at U of T is much better. The teachers in BC are on strike so Kari is enjoying some time off. Right now, I am doing interesting work around leadership for 19 - 25 year olds and work with mentoring community boards. Warmest regards, Heather