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Published: October 24th 2010
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Red-necked Africans?
We were trying to explain American red-necks to Francis when we saw this, and thought maybe it was a good example in Africa. Day 12-Arusha and Mt. Meru Craft Market
Sleeping in until the sun hit our faces was so nice! We weren’t scheduled to have Francis’s services today, but he said he would borrow a friend’s car and take us shopping. We went to a large craft market to buy some things. The shopkeepers were very aggressive, but we just had to smile, say “No, thank you”, and keep moving. The open air stalls were filled with African ebony carvings, Tingatinga paintings, batik, and beaded jewelry made by the local people. We purchased several things and had a great time meeting the people. Although Kiswahili is their language, many of them speak enough English to communicate with tourists. They’re very friendly, happy people. When Len explained to Francis that he is the director of an Assisted Living facility, Francis couldn’t understand why we would put our aging parents into a large facility where strangers take care of them. In their culture, as in many cultures around the world, the children are expected to house and care for their elderly parents as the parents did for them when they were young. Extended families are very close, and everyone seems to be a brother,
Jewelry artist
At the Mt. Meru Craft Market Sally bought a necklace made by this woman. She belongs to a women's cooperative that makes beads out of newspaper comic strips and then strings them into jewelry. cousin, aunt, or uncle! Driving through Arusha was quite an experience. We never saw a stoplight or stop sign in our entire trip. There was a lot of traffic in Arusha, and the intersections are wild! Everyone just weaves through cross traffic and somehow makes it work. They drive on the left side of the road with the steering wheel on the right, thanks to a British history in Tanzania. The road is shared with goats, cattle, donkeys, carts, bicycles, and pedestrians. The public transportation is called a dala-dala. It’s a van used as a bus, and they pack in as many people as possible. Sometimes you’ll see someone hanging out the window because there’s no space inside. We saw someone doing that and they fell off into the street. The dala-dala driver didn’t even notice or care, so it kept going and the man got up, brushed himself off, and walked away. A little later we saw someone open the rear doors on a dala-dala and 2 goats stepped out! People walk with heavy objects or water containers balanced on their heads. There are lots of carts being pushed or pulled with human power. What a place! While we
Starling
These birds were everywhere! were shopping Francis went to his house and picked up his wife, Lillian, and their one year old daughter, Tallista. We were excited to meet them, because we'd learned all about them after 2 weeks with Francis. That morning was Tallista's baptism, so it was a big day for them. We had teased Francis about not having pictures of his family to show us, so we took lots of pictures and later emailed them to him. Lillian doesn't speak English, so we weren't able to talk much, but we really enjoyed seeing them and watching Francis be a dad. They are a wonderful family! On the postings for these last 2 days we're going to include some more pictures that we took along the way.
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