This weekend I finally put the lumber in my backyard to good
use and completed about 2/3 of a fence before I ran out of nails. Once I have
it finished I will no longer have to worry about people watching me while I
wash my laundry or dishes. I may also have a place where I can sit outside and
enjoy the sun—in shorts!
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| 2/3 of my fence... |
Saturday afternoon I decided to get my butt off of my couch
while taking a study break and walk into the village to get a soda and attempt
to be social. Along the way I ran into a fellow teacher who had a soda with me
and then suggested we “crash” the wedding celebration that was happening near
by. I should note that in Tanzania you are usually given an invitation to an
event and you RSVP by sending in a small donation and bringing the invitation
to the event. However, because of the culture randos usually show up and you
have to accommodate them as well, so as not to offend anyone. I figured this
could be a unique experience, so we set off. Along the way we made a pit stop
at the local pastor’s house for another soda and some conversation about the
potato harvest—stimulating. Eventually we made it to the celebration, which was
taking place outdoors. About 200 people from my village were gathered around
the bride, groom, maid of honor and best man, who were standing in front of a
home made stage decorated with brightly, albeit not matching, fabric and
balloons. When we arrived people were presenting their gifts to the new couple
and the emcee was blaring really loud Tanzo music.
I should explain that the presentation of the gifts is
probably as far as you can get from the way it is done in the States. At home a
couple (the bride) signs up a William Sonoma or Crate and Barrel for the place
settings, silverware and expensive cheese board. The gifts are then selected by
wedding guests online, or in the store and conveniently wrapped and sent to the
couple’s residence or brought to the reception and left on a table. The whole
process is decidedly very discrete. In Tanzania, the people presenting the gift
or gifts buy what they think a new couple would want and gather in a group to
pitch in money for said gift. At the reception the gifting group dances holding
up their unwrapped gift to the bride and groom. While hollering, blowing
whistles and bouncing up and down.
During the twenty minutes I spent at the reception the bride
and groom received, plastic plates, glasses, bed sheets, a mattress, a
suitcase, buckets, basins, rice, potatoes, blankets and my personal
favorite—firewood. Not quite the Margaretville blender or the KitchenAid mixer,
but necessities nonetheless. Also during the brief time I was there I noticed
that the bride looked absolutely miserable, almost on the verge of tears and I
honestly have no idea why. I mean I could probably guess and say that she was
shy and did not like people, the marriage was arranged or she registered for
the Fiestaware and the plastic plates were just not cutting it. All I know was
that she did not look like she was thrilled to be married or even at the
reception. After about 20 minutes, the emcee finally spotted me amongst the
guests (not too hard) and announced, in Swahili, that a white person was
present. At this I looked around for the white person when I quickly realized
he was talking about me, I blushed and two minutes later made a timely exit.
Actually being singled out was uncomfortable because I consider myself a part
of the community, but also interesting for the same reason; most of the people present
knew I was there long before he said anything, but did not make a big deal
about it because they see me everyday. I either teach them or their kids or buy
things from their store or produce stand. It was really only a big deal to the
emcee, who probably came from Mbeya. I guess in the end I was comforted by the
fact that no one was really surprised.
Saturday night, while I was washing dishes on my back porch,
a baby kitten made her way on to my back porch. After looking around for her
mom or owner I took her inside and gave her some milk, made her a bed and a
litter box. The next day I asked my mkuu if he knew of anyone missing a cat, to
which he said, “If you found a cat, you should keep it”. So, long story short I
now own a cat, her name is Patagonia and she is the 4th animal to
live in my house here. Hopefully I will not have to put her down, bury her or
give her away – like her predecessors.
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| Neighborhood Girls |
Everything else has been going well here. I am still in the
middle of studying for the LSAT, as well as writing a grant for a school
library! I am actually really excited about this secondary project because our
school is in desperate need of a library and one thing I really miss about home
strangely enough is a quite environment to sit and read that is not my house.
The mkuu and I went over a list of things we would like to see in the library
to which I added couches and chairs. At first he thought this was absurd, but
after I explained that a welcoming atmosphere would make the students want to
sit, stay and read. He seemed to understand where I was coming from and so when
our library is finished it will have a reading corner! It will also, hopefully,
have a mural drawn by a student. The other teachers and I decided that we
should have a mural contest and the student with the best idea/ skills will
have the privilege of decorating one of the walls of the library. As an aside,
it is amazing to me that some of these students are wonderful artists, but the
teachers or the school system here do not foster any creativity in them. Maybe
by initiating a mural contest at school some of the students will realize that
they do posses a valuable skill besides memorization of random facts.
Also while I am on the topic of secondary projects, I am
still looking for a group to adopt my basketball court project. The group would
raise money and then come to Tanzania to help build the court at my school for
a week. If you are reading this and know of any groups who may be interested
please tell them to contact me for more details!!!!!
Well I have to finish up writing this grant so I can send it
to PC for revision, we will see how many times this takes… I have heard horror
stories. Hope all is well at home and that everyone has his or her power back!
Miss you all!
All my love from TZ
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