hujambo! - Sijambo ;) merhaba! Nzuri ... ;) these are the greetings you hear all the time - everyone greets everyone else when you pass them on the track/road etc.
I'm in Arusha now in a decent house so it has electricity, and a hot bath. And full meals.,
Out in the village i was struggling to get a fire going with firewood - refusing to use kerosene to help ignite as my training I felt had been to use it traditionally. And I'm proud to say i got a fire going, yay! hehe So happy - we cooked all our meals in this outdoor kitchen - which had a couple of windows but the squatting kind where you fan the flames within a stone etched 'stove' of sorts. There were two iron rods that can be moved on the top of the opening to allow a pot/saucepan to sit on. The secondary school boys and older who hung around our 'camp' would come and chat with us to practise their english - pretty good standard!
The village is called Mbaaseni (pronounce everything pl). And it's predominantly christian - lutheran. Distances bet villages and houses were long and I'm getting fit walking around everywhere. bicycles seem to be a luxury but am trying to get one. we have an oil lantern and candles and several torchlights. It's quite an exp. Just outside the house is a grave (marked with a cross) and on day 3 i noticed there's another one ( more raw) kinda perpendicular to it. It says RIP and a date of 2005 as passing date. The only thing is I have to pass this grave everytime i need to go to the outdoor toilet (dunny). It's creepy late at night cos no elec so you have to walk with just a torchlight and well you know the rest. So i'm trying to 'do my toilet' thing before it gets too late or drag a friend to stand outside the toilet while I am in there! hahaha See your dearest fudge is not so brave afterall.
The flip side of all this is the heartwarming smiles, acceptance of the villagers, mamas (older woman who are married&mothers - they are given a lot of respect in society) and the teachers and farmers who constantly help you along with your smattering swahili. It's fun to learn and similar to arabic! nice. :)
They grow lots of maize, banana, avocado (not ripened yet - darn!) and so many vegges it's pure joy to try out the salads. The bird life is fantastic! every morning i hear different birds - have heard the night jar. saw the Sacred Ibis (gorgeous stork like bird). oh and ofcourse forgot to mention that I've been seeing Kilimanjaro every day when it's clear. today is cloudy. But gosh when it is clear, what a magnificent sight! SubhanAllah - breathtaking.
The other nice thing is having made local friends - one in Dar es salaam who calls me almost every night to see how I'm going. She's an architect I met on flight from Doha to Nairobi. we clicked and may travel to zanzibar together. Another couple of friends in Arusha who are also volunteering and the big plus is I'm meeting my niece from Oregon here as she's spending her summer volunteering with me. After this email, we are walking down to Taj's Curry to have pani puri. Oh and there are so many yeendians here but very different from the indians back in SG. These are all 'africanised' hahaha they speak like africans and seem well blended in. At the border from Kenya to tanzania i saw some paki looking guys to whom I said salam to. There seems to be a pak community in Dar and Arusha too apparently as Ismail tells me.
