drama

Yes, there was some drama in the village this week. It all started the day of the November village meeting. I felt very fortunate to be invited to share a brief lesson to the village leaders-both male and female-about HIV/AIDS: including definition, symptoms, prevention with flipcharts, etc. It went really well, but the meeting was interrupted by the news of a nearby house fire. Ends up a woman (the owner of the one village “mgahawa” or café serving chai, rice&beans) had burned her own bed after finding her husband sleeping with wife#2. Being wife#1, she didn’t like the thought of wife#2 being in her territory. I actually joined the village government for the “hearing,” if you will (which consisted of our VEO writing the husband and wife’s stories on sheets of paper and placing in a file for who knows what); we then proceeded to the house to observe the tragedy. The bed was truly burned to ashes. I couldn’t believe it. Isn’t anger a scary thing? It can make one so irrational. Polygamy, as well, is asking for nothing but trouble if you ask me, but this practice is rooted in this culture. For instance, I asked my favorite “bibi” (grandma – she’s 99 years old; looking into her eyes is like looking back in time) how many wives her father had – 4!Granted, this was back in the late 1800’s, but you get the picture—it’s quite common, still practiced by many in Manga, even my Kiswahili tutor. He did say it was the first time he’s heard of a drama such as this. I then jokingly asked him with which wife he was going to sleep with tonight…he laughed.

The drama continues…so, I left the house on Friday morning for a bike ride to my first village “msiba,” or funeral. Participating in events such as funerals is not only a cultural experience, but also a way for me to demonstrate to my villagers that I care about their health, and about them as neighbors, friends. Apparently, this child had passed away from what seemed like chicken pox-he had bumps all over his body, but no one is really clear on the cause of this death. Unexplained fatalities such as this seem to happen far too often around here.

Anyway, I departed on this beautiful crisp morning, gazing out over the valley, greeting villagers cheerfully. It was one of those mountaintop moments you experience often here. I then noticed a woman and her baby strolling slowly in the same direction as I, towards Igongolo (the village where my friend Becky used to work, but was recently robbed; more to come on that below). Perhaps feeling over-confident on my bike, I decided to offer this woman and baby (she was carrying him like all women do around here on her back in cloth tied tightly around her shoulder) a ride on the back of my bike. This is what locals call a “bike liftie”—very common all over Tanzania. An effective tool for integration, right? Just imagine me biking along with a woman wrapped in colorful African garments, breast out, nursing her baby as we whip through the wind….what a picture…oh, glorious….that is until you have your guests fall off suddenly, wiping out face first on the main road for all to see! I felt horrible, especially when the baby starting crying. What a sight…and amazingly, she insisted to get back on my bike to continue our safari. Karibu!, I said. Resilient, I say…

As for the robbery, my friend Becky was indeed robbed recently; however, I was reluctant to mention this unfortunate occurrence because I was afraid all of you readers out there will worry and think I’m in such a scary, dangerous place, but it truly is a different village. The people in Igongolo are have “tabia mbaya” as people say here or “bad manners.” They are located in a different district than Manga and people criticize their dishonest leadership often, even though it’s only an hour bike ride away.

Anyway, apparently, 3 young kids entered into her house when she was in Njombe with me, hacked down her door, and took her CD player, radio, clothes (even underwear-nice), etc. I couldn’t be more impressed with Peace Corps’ response. They acted quickly to comfort Becky and drove the next day from Dar straight to Njombe to explain Becky’s options, who was clearly quite shaken up. They have already found her a replacement site – better than before if you ask me; things always happen for a reason.

Amanda (my other closest neighbor from Black Mountain, NC) and I went to move her and pack up her things this week with 2 Peace Corps vehicles. Her village had the nerve to ask Peace Corps to reimburse them for the guard who had been working since the incident. See what I mean—bad manners! Sorry, Peace Corps said…your village safety is your own problem. If there’s one thing Peace Corps is most serious about, it’s SAFETY & SECURITY. Truly. Did you know I could be kicked out of TZ, and sent back to US if I’m found not wearing my bike helmet? Okay, yes, this is probably a good idea due to my biking record (from recent event above), but they’re serious. They’ve already sent one volunteer home.

What else? Perhaps there will be drama this week as all 30+ new Health volunteers from my training group reconvene in Dar es Salaam (where I’m typing this now). We have what’s called IST: In-Service Training. Basically, it’s an event to share our village needs assessments, exchange ideas for our Plans of Work for the next 9 months, and for Peace Corps staff to train us all in grant writing skills for future activities we may want to tackle at our sites; for instance, we may tap into PC funds in order to support taking girls to climb Kili for girls’ empowerment, to conduct a training of teachers about HIV/AIDS prevention, or even to paint world maps (excited to do this one – most students have never seen a map). Not to mention IST allows for a great reunion! It’s been soooo nice being with back together with everyone, especially my closest friends in my training group, and those already in-country, who are helping with this training. Christmas and New Years plans are beginning to form…Zanzibar? It’s looking good!

Oh, and did I mention, the US Ambassador invited us all (all 100+ Tanzanian PCV’s) to his home for a Thanksgiving feast and volleyball match? It’s such a generous offer, and sounds like a good time. I’m already salivating thinking about real turkey, stuffing (won’t be as good as Gramabea’s though), and maybe even cranberry sauce if we’re lucky. It sure beats eating guinea pig. Yes, people in my village eat guinea pig, I recently discovered! They claim it tastes like fish, and out of curiosity, and in the name of integration, I may just have to find out for myself J. I’ll let you all know…if I live to tell.

Happy Thanksgiving preparations to all!
Greetings from the big city of Dar,
Tait

*Love from my cute dog, "Nyota" (Star), too