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Published: September 6th 2009
Photo 1
Mama Tisila, Rachel and Neema working in the kitchen.What a week! So much has happened. First of all, I’m determined to become a member of the Kitongo Choir. I love to watch them dance and I have began to practice with them in the evenings. The other volunteers and I are the token “wageni” or foreigners. We pretty much just get laughed at, but I think I’m starting to get the rhythm.
I got to see my first JBFC soccer (or football) practice! Ashley, Chris’ assistant, has started a JBFC soccer team which will play in a Mwanza league. The girls are super excited and practice with Ashley and Chris every Saturday and Sunday evening. As the other volunteers and I watched from the sidelines, other village children started to gather, along with a group of boys who were quite disgruntled that “their” soccer field had been infiltrated by feisty little girls. The field itself is just a flat, dusty area with homemade goal posts, quite creative actually in my opinion. About halfway through the practice a tiny African puppy came running up to our group of village children and wageni. It looked like a fluffy little thing, but when we heard the ferocious growl come from deep
Photo 5
What we thought was a cute little puppy... inside it’s chest we all decided it best not to pet the creature. Though we realized what the puppy was running from when a heard of cattle was driven across the field, which paused everything for a moment as the cattle heaved themselves slowly by, leaving little brown presents all over the field.
On Monday I began my Swahili regiment again. I can now count to 20, greet people comfortably, and conjugate verbs quite well. Now I just need to expand my vocabulary and learn the grammar. Monday also brought Fish Night at the dining hall. While searching for the girls, my fellow volunteers and I discovered a fish cleaning assembly line. Three matrons and five girls were sitting and singing softly in beautiful four part harmony while cutting the heads off, gutting and de-scaling Talapia that had been caught in the lake. It was a very cool sight to see.
Speaking of food, we ate quite a bit with the girls this week and finally got to try some authentic Tanzanian food. Ugali is the most traditional dish and is made out of corn flour. You eat it with your hands and dip it in whatever sauce
Photo 2
Joscelyn holding a baby as usual. that is made that day. We’ve also had a variety of rice and beans, which I love. For breakfast we often have chai tea with a Tanzanian version of the “doughnut hole” which is called Mandaze.
Mandaze Recipe:
1 kilo Flour
1 cup Sugar
1 tsp. Salt
3 tsp. Baking soda
5 Eggs
Mix ingredients & drop little balls of dough into hot oil and fry up until golden brown. (can add chai leaves or cinnamon if desired)
More on the subject, I encountered my first pig slaughter. While sitting outside an unbelievably loud squeal/scream pierced the air and we all realized what was going on. The screaming lasted for about an hour before silence took over. Then the various pig parts started appearing in the kitchen. First the legs with the hoofs and skin still intact, then the barrel body of the torso, followed by the lovely “innards” and finally the head…sitting in a bucket peering up at passers by. Luckily my stomach was a lot stronger than I thought and I could tolerate the sight much better than some of my fellow volunteers. However, the smell of pork quickly spread throughout the house and lasted
Photo 3
Ellinore, enjoying the choir practice. for the next two days. On Friday night we had a great big feast with all of the JBFC staff and children, which included pulled pork, homemade rolls and mashed potatoes. Although it was hard to keep my mind off of where each mouth-full had come from, I swallowed every bite. *Side note: (it was also “soda night” on Friday. The first executive decision that the JBFC student counsel made!) On Saturday we had sausage for lunch, cased in - of course - pig intestine…yum. It really wasn’t bad and I again swallowed every bite. Though I’m not sure how hungry I’ll be for pork in the next few weeks.
Although my week was filled with culinary adventures, it was also filled with bug/insect activity. I’ve gotten used to the geckos and various lizards that climb our walls. They don’t bother us anymore than we bother them. However, the rubbery black/brown spiders (a little bigger than the size of a quarter) still give me the hibbie-jibbies. I am constantly shooing them out of my room every night with broom handles and shoes. In fact, as I am writing this I hear a scream coming from the room belonging to
Photo 4
Soccer practice! the Swedish interns…of course it’s a spider. Off to save the day………. Mission accomplished, spider gone. My mosquito bites are finally healing, and I haven’t seen any other snakes, however, my fellow volunteers have informed me that on more than one occasion I have stood next to harmless garden snakes. On Thursday, however, after my daily run, I laid down on the mat in my house to do some calisthenics and a tiny scorpion ran out from underneath me…not something to be deathly afraid of, but enough to startle me. I’ve also been informed that the beautiful, brightly colored lizards that we are all so fond of and chase around for pictures are poisonous…who knew?!
*Fact of the Day: Swahili word order is almost the opposite of English. It goes: Subject - Location - Adjective - Quantity - Demonstrative…YIKES!
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Lizzie
non-member comment
I MISS YOU!!!
Hey there pretty lady! I finally got my act together and read up on your doings in Tanzania! It sounds fantastic and insanely challenging and chalk full of new tastes, sounds, sights, and adventures!!! Your laundry pictures make me almost nostalgic...almost! Gah! Can you get on skype ever? Or phone? How about an address? OOO!! I CAN SEND YOU A PACKAGE!! Oh now that is exciting! If nothing else I can mosdef (Sometimes I try to be Suni/Steph, I don't think I can really pull it off though.) send you a letter!!! Henny way, I love you dearly and I am so glad you are snuggling in so comfortably! Lizzie Ps. Have you taught everyone how to play spades yet?