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Published: September 10th 2006
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coke stand
coke is ubiquitous I've now been in the country for nearly 2 months and I've just about stopped making comparisons between here and my experiences in India. Well almost.
Unfair and trite as it may be, it's been impossible not to. Once again, I've found myself having to adapt to and soak up a different culture. But this time I feel like I’m wearing my own clothes.
I don’t feel quite so ‘other’ here. Things seem somehow more familiar, more Western. I’m surrounded Western music, Western cothes (mostly football shirts for the men and shimmering polyester dresses for the women), TV programmes. And thouh I am ‘muzungu’. I’m not stared at quite so much… Or at least not in the same way. In fact, in Dar (as in Moshi) I had my own cultural shock as to how many white people were around. In Moshi it's mostly teenage gap year students climbing Kili or student volounteers working at NGOs. In Dar, small groups of tourists on their way to Zanzibar and in Zanzibar mostly wealthy Italians.
But the plethora of white people (and those who have settled here) is not the only difference.
There’s Red Bull as opposed to Horlicks.
coke road
coke is ubiquitous Neil’s film ‘Swahili Islands’ showed the cans being used as bunting for one of the village celebrations. Coke is pretty ubiquitous and even easier to get than water, though I haven’t returned to my old style from my last Africa trip of drinking it for breakfast (accompanied by a Malboro) - as 12 years ago in Malawi, it really was easier to get than water or coffee. And gave a better caffeine kick.
Then there’s Indian helpfulness versus the African shrug. Time and time again in India I was overwhelmed by friendly people who were messianic in their determination to convert me to the joys of India. Their enthusiasm for me to enjoy certain foods (nuts or no nuts), sit in certain places or visit a certain monument was at times hard to counter. Once I was thrown off a bus (with all my luggage) by a smiling woman who insisted that I go visit a nearby temple. The fact that I was trying to get to the bus station was irrelevant.
Here, people will smile, but you have little chance of getting information. And so far my experience of African helpfulness will either involve some kind of
exchange (often financial) or will result in a stare and a shrug.
A friend of mine’s mother taught in a school here. When asked why one of the pupils didn’t do his homework, he replied (with wide eyes and a shrug) “I was defeated”.
Asking for coffee in India will result in you being brought a specially made brew laden with milk and sugar because that is how you should enjoy it. Asking for coffee here will result in you being brought … a tin of coffee. If you ask for a cup, a spoon, some water (and here you have to specify ‘hot’), and even maybe some milk and sugar, each one of these will be brought in turn at their own leisurely African pace.
There is enough meat on display to make any self-respecting Hindu run straight to temple. Other than chicken and chips (kuku na chipsy) ‘nyama choma’ is the most consumed meal. Huge chunks of meat are hacked off a hanging carcass, grilled and served…. With chips. Damned tasty to be honest, but still only a second runner to my favourite mtori - banana and (goat’s) meat stew (see previous entry), which I have
no doubt would sort out any hangover.
I’m surprised to find the poverty here less overwhelming than in Tamil Nadu. I’ve been on one of the best coaches ever - complete with air conditioning, toilet and video (not together). And even in rural areas children seem to have better access to clothing and education. Most children walk to school with some kind of footwear and clutching books. Neither of which I could guarantee seeing in India.
Don’t get me wrong, there sure is poverty around. People walking miles to get water or to the market to try and sell their wares to get enough money to buy a portion of rice. Villages rarely have running water and only 10% of the country has electricity.
However this country also has an incredible amount of tourism laregly due to the safari and Kili circuit, which has brought a certain amount of wealth. Nearly 800 million us dollars is brought in each year from tourists 80% of whom come to see the plains of the Serengeti or the magnificence of the Ngorongoro crater. The money is accompanied by a lot of Western culture - Moshi even has it’s very own
bombay slums
this photo was taken right by the side of the road, from a car window to be precise. People eating, sleeping, and going to the loo right at the side of a main road. Starbucks replica, complete with crooner-playing jukebox, which I find particularly scary.
With the government last week advising farmers to stop irrigating their crops, I guess it remains to be seen how this wealth will be distributed.
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branka Srenger
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travels
I follow all your travels, very impressed by adventures and events that are happening. So happy for you to have this great opportunity to see the world from different angle. I heard that you planning clime to Kili! Have fun and Happy Birthday on one of the tops of the world. I am off to another top next week, himalayas form other side. Going to Bhutan via Kathmandu (been there some parts...but the rest of the trip is new). Love from branka