[insert culturally appropriate greeting here]
so i get to raise an issue on the other end of the greeting spectrum, forget this 'war on Christmas' bullcrap.
One of the reasons I haven't written in a few weeks is that i've been INSANELY busy. I visited my good friend Meena in Musoma, which was fantastic because I got to watch movies [Constant Gardner and Crash, both very good], eat delicious food, and talk to someone that I feel very close to and we understand each other. As much as I love Tanzanians, and even if they could understand my American english, it's just not the same!!
Well, another reason is that i've had a ton of work. Last week I was in a 3 day 'stakeholders meeting' for reform of the district government near me. It was 3 LONG days, though I enjoyed hobnobbing with all the important people in my area [district government folks, teachers, religious leaders]. Seeing as it's on a rather sensitive topic, i.e. how poorly the local government is planning and running the work they do, I will not comment on any of the material itself. Some areas they are really doing well, some not so well. It was fun for me to participate and help them make plans and find ways to improve what is going on, the 'outsider' always has an interesting perspective so I had some fairly bigshots listening attentively to what I say, rather atypical for me.
So every morning, they greeted us as follows:
Salaam alekhoum? [alekhoum es salaam]
Bwana Yesu asifiwe? [amina]
That's a muslim greeting basically saying 'are things peaceful', and a christian greeting saying 'don't let Christ die' or 'Christ hasn't left us' or something like that [response = 'believe it!]
where was the secular greeting, 'good morning'? there was none. I wasn't a huge fan of that.
other highlights of the meeting:
no place to take a crap. this was dealt with using very delicate kiswahili, i.e. 'if you feel anything heavy, you may want to go unload it now before we start our work for the day'
my name was spelled BLIAN at least 5 times
the last day was incredibly long, lasted until 8pm, and I was dead tired. we had spent the day making plans for policy, which included the following headings
Department, Area, Goal, Priority level, Justification, Policy action
so for example....
Department:Office of Water
Area: Well water
Goal: Clean drinking water for every village by 2010
Priority level: TOP
Justification: poor water causing diseases in villages currently
Policy Action: Survey and build 1 deep water well per village
So I got pretty darn tired, both physically and mentally, and so I sketched up my OWN policy plan and shared it with one of my friends. She started laughing so hard she had to leave the room, and then proceeded to show a bunch of respected government people, including the ward executive officer of my area..... I was afraid they would be offended, but they all apparently thought it was the funniest thing they'd seen over the entire 3 days, and couldn't stop talking about it.
Department: BRIAN
Area: Todays work
Goal: Achieve complete rest and relaxation by 6:00pm
Priority level: TOP
Justification: I am freakin tired
Policy Action: Skip out on the rest of this seminar and go home
and let's see, the final highlight of this experience may have been seeing my old landlord. Now, had this meeting been 2 years ago, he would've been involved in the finance committee. but he had 'problems,' and lost his job. so here we all are, listening to the facilitator, and i look out the window and see this man [who's rather chubby] having an incredibly difficult time trying to steer/rope a goat that had apparently escaped. he was kicking, pulling it, pushing it, and even picked it up for awhile. I couldn't help laughing, nor noticing that I wasn't the only one amused....
In other news:
My good friend who fixes my bike was apparently ditched by his wife. He's a fantastic guy, seems very sensitive and pretty quiet even though he's a welder and is rather rough/ragged looking, so when I asked him 'what's up' the other day, he was hesitant to share.
He had asked to borrow my bike the other day because he missed his wife and wanted to visit her. She had told him she went to visit a sick relative about a half an hour away. I couldn't lend him the bike because I needed it, so I said sorry and told him we would meet up later.
So he shelled out his hard earned money to get a minibus ride to his wife's village. Well, to near it, and then walked for abotu 2 hours. And when he got there? She wasn't there. Nor had she been there that week, that month, or in recent memory.
At first he presented this very straightforwardly, and then kind of lost it and teared/choked up a bit. I had a hard time figuring out how to console him, definitely couldn't give him a hug [his shop is right next to the main market, very busy area], but wanted to show some support. So I said something stupid to try to cheer him up, something that would normally provoke eye rolling but at the time seemed appropriate. She still hasn't turned up.
There's a new soap opera, but i'm not watching it. It's not very well done, it's Phillipino and people always say I look like one of the main characters. Umm...
Speaking of which, the soap opera led to an interesting conversation the other day. Why do ALL white women have fake hair? Um, what do you mean, I asked. Well, they all wear weaves, and have really long hair. Why aren't there any who just braid it or leave it natural?
Oh, I exclaimed. Then went on to clarify that, in fact, the long hair they were referring to was real, that white people [and asian people, and other people who aren't black Africans] have naturally sleek and long hair. They were apparently shocked by this revelation, I have rocked some worlds. Namely the worlds of the ladies who spend 3 hours a week at the salon getting a bad wig woven on, or having their hair relaxed against all natural forces.
I was offered a camera in Mwanza a few days ago. 'Only one hundred dollars my friend' I dont have a hundred dollas. 'Because you're my friend [never met this guy before], i'll sell it to you for 50'. I don't have 50 dollars, I have 10 dollars. 'Twenty'. I have ten. 'Fifteen'. I walked away.
One of the reasons I haven't written in a few weeks is that i've been INSANELY busy. I visited my good friend Meena in Musoma, which was fantastic because I got to watch movies [Constant Gardner and Crash, both very good], eat delicious food, and talk to someone that I feel very close to and we understand each other. As much as I love Tanzanians, and even if they could understand my American english, it's just not the same!!
Well, another reason is that i've had a ton of work. Last week I was in a 3 day 'stakeholders meeting' for reform of the district government near me. It was 3 LONG days, though I enjoyed hobnobbing with all the important people in my area [district government folks, teachers, religious leaders]. Seeing as it's on a rather sensitive topic, i.e. how poorly the local government is planning and running the work they do, I will not comment on any of the material itself. Some areas they are really doing well, some not so well. It was fun for me to participate and help them make plans and find ways to improve what is going on, the 'outsider' always has an interesting perspective so I had some fairly bigshots listening attentively to what I say, rather atypical for me.
So every morning, they greeted us as follows:
Salaam alekhoum? [alekhoum es salaam]
Bwana Yesu asifiwe? [amina]
That's a muslim greeting basically saying 'are things peaceful', and a christian greeting saying 'don't let Christ die' or 'Christ hasn't left us' or something like that [response = 'believe it!]
where was the secular greeting, 'good morning'? there was none. I wasn't a huge fan of that.
other highlights of the meeting:
no place to take a crap. this was dealt with using very delicate kiswahili, i.e. 'if you feel anything heavy, you may want to go unload it now before we start our work for the day'
my name was spelled BLIAN at least 5 times
the last day was incredibly long, lasted until 8pm, and I was dead tired. we had spent the day making plans for policy, which included the following headings
Department, Area, Goal, Priority level, Justification, Policy action
so for example....
Department:Office of Water
Area: Well water
Goal: Clean drinking water for every village by 2010
Priority level: TOP
Justification: poor water causing diseases in villages currently
Policy Action: Survey and build 1 deep water well per village
So I got pretty darn tired, both physically and mentally, and so I sketched up my OWN policy plan and shared it with one of my friends. She started laughing so hard she had to leave the room, and then proceeded to show a bunch of respected government people, including the ward executive officer of my area..... I was afraid they would be offended, but they all apparently thought it was the funniest thing they'd seen over the entire 3 days, and couldn't stop talking about it.
Department: BRIAN
Area: Todays work
Goal: Achieve complete rest and relaxation by 6:00pm
Priority level: TOP
Justification: I am freakin tired
Policy Action: Skip out on the rest of this seminar and go home
and let's see, the final highlight of this experience may have been seeing my old landlord. Now, had this meeting been 2 years ago, he would've been involved in the finance committee. but he had 'problems,' and lost his job. so here we all are, listening to the facilitator, and i look out the window and see this man [who's rather chubby] having an incredibly difficult time trying to steer/rope a goat that had apparently escaped. he was kicking, pulling it, pushing it, and even picked it up for awhile. I couldn't help laughing, nor noticing that I wasn't the only one amused....
In other news:
My good friend who fixes my bike was apparently ditched by his wife. He's a fantastic guy, seems very sensitive and pretty quiet even though he's a welder and is rather rough/ragged looking, so when I asked him 'what's up' the other day, he was hesitant to share.
He had asked to borrow my bike the other day because he missed his wife and wanted to visit her. She had told him she went to visit a sick relative about a half an hour away. I couldn't lend him the bike because I needed it, so I said sorry and told him we would meet up later.
So he shelled out his hard earned money to get a minibus ride to his wife's village. Well, to near it, and then walked for abotu 2 hours. And when he got there? She wasn't there. Nor had she been there that week, that month, or in recent memory.
At first he presented this very straightforwardly, and then kind of lost it and teared/choked up a bit. I had a hard time figuring out how to console him, definitely couldn't give him a hug [his shop is right next to the main market, very busy area], but wanted to show some support. So I said something stupid to try to cheer him up, something that would normally provoke eye rolling but at the time seemed appropriate. She still hasn't turned up.
There's a new soap opera, but i'm not watching it. It's not very well done, it's Phillipino and people always say I look like one of the main characters. Umm...
Speaking of which, the soap opera led to an interesting conversation the other day. Why do ALL white women have fake hair? Um, what do you mean, I asked. Well, they all wear weaves, and have really long hair. Why aren't there any who just braid it or leave it natural?
Oh, I exclaimed. Then went on to clarify that, in fact, the long hair they were referring to was real, that white people [and asian people, and other people who aren't black Africans] have naturally sleek and long hair. They were apparently shocked by this revelation, I have rocked some worlds. Namely the worlds of the ladies who spend 3 hours a week at the salon getting a bad wig woven on, or having their hair relaxed against all natural forces.
I was offered a camera in Mwanza a few days ago. 'Only one hundred dollars my friend' I dont have a hundred dollas. 'Because you're my friend [never met this guy before], i'll sell it to you for 50'. I don't have 50 dollars, I have 10 dollars. 'Twenty'. I have ten. 'Fifteen'. I walked away.
posted by Brian at
3:53 PM
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