Tengeru Village market day, visit to neighbors

Outside of our placements, we’ve done some touring and visiting in the community this first week. Wednesday 8/8 was the “Nane Nane” holiday in Tanzania, which is Farmer’s Day. So we opted to stay out of what was sure to be overcrowded Arusha. With our guides Deo and Bariki, who have taken us around the village a couple times, we visited the Tengeru Village Market on market day. So much for avoiding crowds. It was a sea of people, many of them shouting to advertise their goods, and we were told to be extra careful because pick-pockets abound at the market. There were second-hand clothes and shoes, fabrics, maize, cucumbers, bananas, fish, traditional medicines in the form of roots, seeds, herbs… One man showed us a substance and said, through translation by Bariki, that it was “powerful than Viagra”. Later that day Mama Simba, who is the CCS Country Director in Tanzania, took us to visit a family very nearby in the village who had had a death the previous night. It was a woman of about 40 with a husband and 4 children, only two of whom were living with her. We couldn’t really understand where the others were, and we don’t know what caused her death, only that there were problems in her chest. As is customary, we brought gifts to offer our condolences, which included sugar, rice, tea, and cash, and the family was greatly appreciative of our gifts as well as our visit. A couple of us went inside one of the houses, which I could only describe as a very small, dark room with women lining 3 of the 4 walls and sitting on the rug/mat-covered floor. We removed our shoes and went in to shake each of their hands and offer our condolences. It was a Muslim family, and some women invited us to take our shoes off and sit on a blanket outside while we visited. A few of them sat with us, one of whom I learned was named Cecilia. She was obviously eager to try to speak some English, although she knew very little. I was as eager to try to speak Swahili, and we had a mutual mini-lesson. She was pleased with this, and said “You teach me English, I teach you Swahili” and then said “You come home with me”. The few of us sitting there laughed, as did she, but I’m not sure how serious she really was. It’s possible she was just inviting me to visit her home, which is an example of how warm and communal people are here. When we were preparing to leave, an old man in the family who had been talking to some of the other volunteers stopped us to tell us all to be sure to go home to America and tell everyone that they say hello and send warm wishes. For some reason, this struck a chord with me. The warmth he was wishing to send, even in the midst of grieving, was so genuine and sincere that it was palpable, and I think it made me sad that many people may not fully appreciate it. So if you are reading this, please do place some value in those wishes I was asked to send to you all! And one last note - thank you for your comments and emails. I'm sorry I haven't been able to respond to everyone individually, but I appreciate each and every note and look forward to hearing from people. And I still have my camera thank you very much, Adam.