Advertisement
I have spent many facebook and blog posts describing the beauty that I am seeing all around me. However, I don't want to ignore the fact that TZ has its poverty problems as well. And I want to try to paint an accurate portrait of the area I am in. The media in America makes Africa out to be this wasteland of starving children and unsafe environments. It's really not. Once you get the hang of swahili, and accepting that kids will stare at you for being a mzungu sometimes (haha) its really not that different from home.
I do not know enough about this region to know who is 'poor' and who is not. I see many kids without shoes on, but at the same time, I see many kids with shoes on. All the adults I see have shoes on as well. Can families not afford shoes for their kids, or do the kids just not want to wear shoes? I see others in total rags, while others are wearing clothes shipped from goodwills and other thrift stores in the United States. I have seen people with terrbile teeth. Rotting, missing, falling out, discolored etc. I have not seen a dentist office around anywhere either, and I have looked. Although, other children have totally gorgeous smiles with perfect teeth.
In Iringa, eveyone seems prosperous. It's a hopping town and everyone I see is dressed to the T, however, if you drive up into the hills for about 30-40 minutes, you start seeing villages, and they all look like what I have described above. Also, many buildings are crumbling. They are made from mud bricks and their roofs are either tin or straw. Somehowever have concrete bricks. The doors in windows are just holes in the dtructure, sometimes covered with a flimsy curtain. The roads arent paved, and they are full of potholes bumps and general uneven ness. It makes for a VERY bumpy ride up to Ruaha. Everyone who lives in the villages are farmers, and it seems to me that women and men share the same workload. There are also schools around, but sometimes, during school hours, I see kids running around alone in the village while their parents are out farming that should be in school at the moment, but arent. do they just not want to go to school, or can their parents not afford it? Hopefully in a couple weeks I will be visiting schools to talk to them about the program, I will update what they are like then.
Despite the images which seem like 'poverty' to me, everyone seems happy. Adults hang around a talk and always yell HABARI when we come into town (literally means news, but its their way of saying how are you) And the kids are always laughing and playing with each other, and get big grins on their face when they see a mzungu 😊. Except for one kid. He had to be only 2 years old or something, but when he saw me, he started crying!! Maybe he has never seen a caucasian before.
This region I am in still has many misconnceptions about the HIV/AIDS epidemic. I have seen some propaganda around telling villagers to be safe and use condoms (I took a picture of one), but I dont think there is enough awareness, despite what the media back home says. I have learned that It is EXTREMELY common to have a wife, and multiple other girlfriends in the villages or other cities a man has to travel in to work or whatever. Girls may have multiple guys too. While this is the same in America, its not kept under wraps like it is back home. While I was at the soccer match between 2 villages, Devin told me he heard some man talking to someone else and he heard both the words for HIV and excercise. Later, he asked Julius what the man said, and Julius told him that the man said you can completely avoid HIV by exercising and working out regularly. TOTALLY not the case. It's rather sad. I think if we can really curb this problem, areas in africa will prosper so much more.
The villagers treatments of animals seems to be completely opposite from the states. All livestock (cows, chickens, goats, picks) run around the villages and the surrounding fields freely. And most are well fed. I have seen some skinny cattle, but I think that just depends on the villages resources. Other villages I have seen have gorgeous herds. These animals seem happy to. THey just mosey along, sometimes in the middle of the road eating. This area of TZ truly knows the meaning of free range, unlike those USDA jerks back home who label their animals as 'free range', but really that just means a million chickens are still crowded in a tiny warehouse and they open one door for 10-20 minutes each day to give them the OPPORTUNITY to go outside. key word there. do you think all million chickens walk out that door? 20 minutes outdoors is not enough for any sentient being. Unlike the livestock however, the dogs arent treated so great. Mostly they are used for herding the livestock, and these dogs look well fed. However, I see other dogs not used for herding in the streets and villages that are emaciated and just roam around looking for scraps. I saw one dog with a broken tail that had healed in an odd shape. Others are covered in bugs. Others I can see all their bones, and they look very weary. When I am walking through a village and I see a dog, I whistle to it and beckon it over (that is if they arent covered in bugs). Mostly they just look at me with a confused look on their face and run away. I hear stories of kids throwing stones at the dogs. anyway, there was one dog that didnt fit this mold. He was begging for scraps in Malizanga, where we stopped for breakfast the other day. I slowly approached him, and he let me pet him!! The tips of his ears were missing and he was skinny, and I sat with him for about 10 minutes petting him, and feeding some of my chapati to him. At one point I looked up and noticed that all the villagers around me were staring at what I was doing. One guy even took a picture of me petting the dog on his phone. It was incredibly interesting. It is definitley not common place to treat dogs with affection here.
I want to say the next thing carefully, as I dont want to offend anyone and I dont know the story behind it either. As we drive past these villages, and I see old run down buildings, I also see big beautiful white and blue churches (with actual shingled roofs) every few miles or so. One in each village it seems. I have heard of church groups in the states or elsewhere doing a mission trip to build a chruch for a village in a 3rd world country, but when I see this glorious church building in the midst of run down homes, I cant help to wonder, if this church group has the time, money and materials to invest in building a church in a developing country thousands of miles from home, couldnt they invest all of that that in building better homes for these people to seek shelter in? However, the villagers also may want this church, I dont know. I dont know enough about these programs to make more judgements, so if someone knows more, please please enlighten me.
Maybe more on this later, Rowland will be here to pick us up soon.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.09s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 8; qc: 52; dbt: 0.0507s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Grandpa
non-member comment
Info
Great travelogue baby. You're right - churches are missing their opportunities, some things never change. Anyway, remember what we passed on (from the internet) to you about dogs (dogs aren't the pets we're used to at home - best left alone). Also, how come no boots (or shoes), flipflops=bad, inviting bugs and snakes.