Feb 17, 2010
Today when I returned from my morning jog and started on the dishes from last night’s rice and beans, I heard the primary school students from across my yard start screaming and whacking their brooms. Curious to see what the commotion was all about, I stopped what I was doing and walked across my yard to where the students were all standing, their brooms in hand and eyes on the ground. I then saw what used to be a small black snake. Hopefully it’s mama isn’t anywhere close because that snake was a cobra.
I’m fortunate that Tanzanians hate snakes just as much as I do. That’s one reason why they take time to clear all the grass and trash around their houses, to keep snakes from getting into their homes. I was told there aren’t many snakes here, yet I was also told that snakes are the only wildlife around. Apparently there are hyenas as well. Last night teacher Ajabu’s sheep disappeared, and the only evidence was the paw prints of the hyena who took it. I also saw those tracks on the path I was running on this morning. The prints were so big I thought for sure they belonged to a leopard or some wild cat. But I stopped a local man and he said they were hyena tracks only. Hyenas here are like coyotes in Nebraska. They don’t usually harm people, but they can really hurt the livestock. So people here make sure to build high wooden huts to keep their goats, sheep, and chickens in at night. The hyena that visited Ajabu at night had to walk into the center of town to take her sheep, so hyenas must not be too intimidated by people.
These last few months I’ve really been doing a lot of work on my house. My newly built cement storage well is now full of rain water. I have some guys painting the inside of my house and hopefully later they’ll paint the outside as well. I just need to wait awhile before I have enough money to buy the supplies. It’s been great to get color on the walls. Living with only concrete made my house seem a lot darker and dreary. I’ll be excited to have it all painted and dried; it’s been a hassle trying to avoid touching wet paint. My poor cat somehow got blue on his nose and paws, and he’s been trying to clean it off all day. However, it’s oil paint, so I might have a blue cat for a while!
As I mentioned earlier, teacher Mpodi will be getting married this month. I just got an invitation and I bought the same khanga that about twelve of us women will have sewn into similar dresses or what I like to call “moo moos” to wear for the wedding. Should be pretty exciting. Supposedly a vehicle will come pick us up in Namiyonga so the whole wedding party will just pile in the back like livestock. Then we’ll head to Newala (a 15 minute drive) and begin the party/ceremony. Mpodi doesn’t even really know what’s all being planned for the wedding. Guess that’s her fiancé’s job. It’s a Muslim wedding, and Mpodi said she’ll either wear an orange dress or blue dress, just depends what turns out better once the tailor has them finished. Mpodi has three kids: a set of twin girls (9 yrs old) and one boy, O’Malley (12 yrs). I asked O’Malley what he thought about his mom getting married. He said he was happy for her, yet he knows nothing about his future stepdad. Guess that’s not a necessary step here. This fiancé has a wife already in Dar, but he does work in Newala too, so he wants a wife for Newala.
Ha, after I paid the guy who painted my house, he went out and bought himself a wife with that money! I think he said his wife cost him 40,000 shillings (around $30). Now he’s looking to buy himself a second wife, so maybe that will happen after I pay him for painting the rest of my house. The bride price always varies; just depends on what the father of the bride asks for.
Today was a fun day for the women and girls in my village. Around 4 pm, about 150 women gathered under the 4 big mango trees in town and danced to drums. It only lasted a few hours because the women needed to get home to cook the evening meal for their husbands and families. However, they really danced like there’d be no tomorrow. I got numerous requests to join in the dance, but I think I’ll wait till the next drumming party to make a fool of myself. It looked like a lot of fun though. Hopefully I’ll get the video I took posted soon so you all can see it as well. The video won’t do the real dancing justice, but it’s the best I can do.
