Leaving: Final Thoughts

Monday, March 25, 2019

Leaving: Final Thoughts

For the last two weeks of our time in Arusha, we didn’t see much of Mama Kundayo.  For many evenings in the last 3 months, Janet and I enjoyed sitting out in the courtyard with her and catching up on all the gossip.  There was the story about the Australian woman who was afraid to fly home; about the young woman who ran away an hour before her wedding; and, about how the rats ate the word of God. Occasionally Mama came to see us and we’d talk about our food adventures and daily activities. Mama and all of her interpreters were very interested in who we are and what we were doing, both here and in the US. Recently, however, Mama wasn’t feeling well and she finally ended up in the hospital with kidney stones.  They were pretty bad and they couldn’t do surgery so she had to get rid of them with time and patience and suffering. We didn’t see her for awhile. We sent her flowers and a card. Then, one day, we were allowed into the inner sanctum of her personal courtyard and house for a visit. We talked about when she was able to make it out to the big courtyard, we would celebrate with beer. She laughed.  We laughed. And a few minutes after returning home, Emmanuel came over with 4 beers for us to start celebrating early. We continued to visit her every couple of days and afterwards, Emmanuel came with 4 beers for us to celebrate her recovery.

On Saturday—2 days before we left—Emmanuel brought over an entire traditional Maasai Tanzanian African meal—mbuzi (goat), ugali, tomato salad and a kind of okra vegetable dish….and 4 more beers. (Yes, the beers are piling up because neither of us are big beer guzzlers. John doesn’t drink at all.) Anyway, the meal was pretty nice and John was super happy because goat and ugali are his faves.

On Sunday, we went to church for the last time. Several people I’d gotten to know said their goodbyes.

We went to lunch with Sharon and Terry and another woman, Chantal who is visiting from France. The restaurant, named Andrews, was one we (the Js and I) hadn’t been to before. Terry had been there which turned out to be a good thing. After we were seated, the waiter told us what was on the menu and expected us to order. Terry said that we needed to see menus with prices. It seems that she had organized several days of strategic planning meetings for the Albino Peacemakers at this restaurant and the first day they charged about 3 times more than she was expecting—because they hadn’t seen the price list. So, the waiter brought 1 menu for 5 of us and Terry asked him to bring menus for all of us. With a pained expression on his face, he did. He brought a second menu for us to see. Terry asked him in Swahili, why he didn’t bring menus and he mumbled something about not having everything on the menu so he didn’t want to have to explain. Terry told him we needed to see the prices and then he understood.

This is an example of people here thinking that Wazungu are all rich with unlimited funds. Understandably, they think that anyone who can afford to go to Arusha and eat out at a restaurant and buy stuff must be rich.  There is so much poverty here that it’s unimaginable for them to think that by our standards, we’re not wealthy. After all, the average daily wage is $1.50. Beans and corn is a staple food—when they can afford the charcoal to cook it. It appears to me that everyone is trained from a young age to ask for something from Wazungu. Here are some of my examples:

·      A middle school student on his way home from school walked beside me and kept saying over and over that he was hungry. He didn’t look hungry and he wasn’t dressed like he needed anything.

·      A woman stopped us in the street and asked us if we would give her a job. She didn’t speak English and we couldn’t even figure out what kind of job she wanted.

·      A man from church one week said he needed $1500 to plant his field in onions. The next week he said he needed a used computer. Not!

·      When I asked the lady at the produce stand if I could take her picture, she said I had to pay her. I didn’t go back to that stand.

·      On the dala dala, the man didn’t give me change until I asked for it.

·      An old woman downtown kept tapping my arm with her open hand as she followed me down the street asking for money.

OK, it goes on and on and on. So what do I do? In my great “benevolence” am I supposed to open my purse and empty my wallet? And if I don’t, am I selfish, indifferent or heartless? It’s something I haven’t been able to resolve. Personally, I believe in giving through “sweat equity” rather than coin but that doesn’t help the common person on the street who has nothing. I also believe that just giving money to people is not a dignified way of helping. That feels like I am putting myself out as someone more than or greater than they are and how does that help? Money is a very powerful force that determines the course of one’s life.  So… I leave Arusha without having resolved this for myself.

I don’t want to leave my blog on that note. Tanzania and Arusha are considered to be “Africa light” because it’s easier to live here than in just about any other place in Africa. It’s the only former colony that has not had a civil war after independence. People seem to get along here and are very friendly. I could definitely return for another warm winter to experience something completely different. There are so many choices. For now, though, I’m ready to return home to see what choices I have there….and what adventures await me.

I'm posting two slideshows here as a final final overview/wrap up of my Africa Adventures. 

The first is called Around Arusha which is a variety of photos from Arusha. Many were taking from a moving vehicle and others were taken while I was walking or just out and about.

The second one shows photos of me in many situations and conditions. You can get a general idea of the variety of experiences that I had.

Until my next adventure…..