Goodbye

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There is no simple way to describe Mwanza and the parts of Africa I’ve seen in the past six weeks. It’s a contradiction. Mansions are constructed on plots of land whose granite boulders were broken down into pebbles by day laborers using nothing more than hammers and their own strength. The neighborhood of the rich, with its houses leaning over Lake Victoria, is bordered by two small villages where entire families live in a single-room, dirt-brick house, their children running around barefoot and dusty. The chaotic rush of the city disappears in a 30-minute drive and in two hours, there’s nothing more than small towns, thatched roof houses and the plains of the Serengeti. The locals have been the most open and friendly people I have ever met, and the most mocking and disrespectful. No matter how comfortable I became here, I was still and always would be, an outsider, a mzungu. Teens, adults, kids and even a toddler unbalanced on her feet called it out at me everywhere. It wasn’t a welcome or friendly tone, and some women’s screeching reminds me of nails running down a chalkboard. I went for a run a few nights ago with my friend Joseph who’s a local, scarily fit and pretty intimidating looking, but the biggest sweetheart. On our way home we stopped to pick up some fruit and there I was, holding a papaya and looking at some avocadoes, when Joseph took off after some guy with my mangoes in one hand and an avocado in the other. If it had of been a cartoon, there would have been a cloud of dust with the odd arm or leg sticking out as the two tussled. All I saw was Joseph tripping this guy and then grabbing the front of his shirt and pulling him back to his feet all while unleashing a barrage of Swahili. He strolled back towards me after a couple of minutes, with a pair of sunglasses and radio, which had been… acquired… from this guy. Apparently, whatever it is the man shouted at me in Swahili was incredibly offensive and abusive and Joseph had jumped up in my defense to teach this guy a lesson about respecting people. He never mentioned what it was that was said and he was so upset by it I didn’t ask. As a white, you would always be an outsider and unless whatever it was Michael Jackson had done works in the other direction, that won’t change.
Then again, Friday evening I went with Christy, an Australian dentist who was staying at Treehouse for a couple of weeks for her friend’s wedding, to take a look at some Tanzanite stones. We were seated at a long mahogany table in leather swivel chairs while boxes of sparkling blue and violet stones were brought out from the safe and set in front of us. And they kept coming, the safe seemed bottomless. I don’t know how Christy managed to choose. Along with the tanzanite, there were green tsavarites. Only found in one site in Tanzania, tsavarite could easily be mistaken for emerald but apparently are lacking the depth, either way, they were gorgeous and incredibly tempting. Unlike Joseph’s alley-way dealer for un-cut and un-polished and probably illegal stones, these had official papers but were a tad bit out of my price range. A great deal if you had a few hundred USD lying around… As foreigners we are outsiders. This had been one experience very few locals would ever have.
This trip has been an incredible experience. It wasn’t life changing and I didn’t have a great epiphany moment, but there was a lot to learn and to see. In the end, it made you feel so lucky.

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Comments

[Cathy]

Oh No......not Goodbye!!
Hey Kim, You are an amazing writer and I can't tell you how much I have enjoyed ever single word of every single entry. The way you described your experiences made me feel like I was there with you and both Bert and I looked forward to each day often asking "have you read Kim's blog yet?". Anyway, I just wanted to thank you for such a gift, that's what this journal was for us.....something to look forward to everyday - Holy, what are we going to read now?! See you soon I hope, C

[Jamie]

Hey Kim, Glad to hear that everything went so well! Your blog has been a fantastic read - I hope you managed to find time to do the whole research part of it too :) Where to next?