The weather is mild and ultra comfortable. It's basically Southern California weather: t-shirt in the daytime and if you're so inclined, another layer over it in the evening, but not truly necessary, although villagers here dress like it's fall. I suppose for Africa, mid to high 70's is cold. All I can say is that a sweaty, grimey, and sticky feeling is a thing of the past. Bugs will always be a constant no-win battle, though. It has been raining in the mornings, afternoons, evenings and even middle of the night. The rain doesn't last especially long and I welcome it wholeheartedly only because it means I will have an abundance of water as it is truly...scientifically and spiritually... the source of life. In reality, I'm managing all my domestic needs, ie. dish washing, bathing, clothes washing, cooking and just water in general to clean and rinse things. I feel very lucky to have many containers of 2 huge metal milk cans, 3 buckets, and I purchased 2 basins making a total of 3 now and additionally there is a good size plastic container bin and out of greed, I use other big pots and containers to store water. I've become the water hoarder. At night before I retire, I set out the day's collection of dirty dishes, pots, cutting board, colander and cutlery outside for the rain water to give it a first "pre wash" before I use detergent and properly clean it the next morning. No point wasting all that rain water goodness. If there is a heavy rain in the late afternoon and I've been filthy from the day's house work, gardening and cooking and no longer plan to do any more dirty work, I strip naked and "shower" under the heavy rain and take advantage of washing my hair as there is an exact spot under the roof where the rain water pours down with speed and pressure worthy of an acceptable shower head. Rain water is fabulous for the skin. I think it's a wonderful beauty treatment and spiritually therapeutic. My skin feels fantabulous! I've become accustomed to bathing with cold water nightly. It's refreshing and the duration brief. I'm also going to claim that a daily cold bath may strengthen one's body, the immune. Electricity is twice weekly, maybe 3 times; therefore, I light 2 to 3 candles in the kitchen so I have a bit of light when I am outside in my backyard that is completely pitch black when I'm bathing at night. At times, it is disturbing when it is dark as hell and the 8 raised garden beds outside resemble exactly like a grave site but with missing marker or tombstone. I try not to imagine that I have a dead family buried in my backyard because the length and width of the raised soil could easily contain a corpse underneath. When it is night, dark, cold and I'm naked...I try not to look at my garden beds. Instead, I hastily wash and quickly rinse and get the hell out of my backyard as soon as possible. I don't want a zombie rising from the dead from its grave and eating me alive. Especially naked, too. If that's not bad enough, when I need to go to the toilet at night, I go outside to my backyard with my hand crank light. The white light shining on my pitch black backyard cemetery feels as if I'm in "The Blair Witch Project". Living in the dark is scary. I do not have movies, music or any form of entertainment with me. It is by design that I did not bring any except for a kindle to read. I live in solitude and the lack of sound amplifies the aloneness. Living alone in the dark with no sound except for bug noises is all I hear...or the staccato of the rain pounding on my tin corrugated roof. Occasionally, I will hear unfamiliar rustling of something outside the house. I try not to be spooked, but I have my weapons if I need to defend myself. I have no qualm needing to kill a human life in the name of self defense. Since I have no "neighbors" so to speak next to my house, that is why I'm always vigilant if I hear something.
Presently, there is a water project under construction where workers are digging ditches to run a pipe line or whatever for an eventual tap water system. There will be Domestic Points (a tap water with a spigot) that I can fetch water just conveniently right outside my house. This is fantastic but I will continue to be a rain water hoarder because it is too hard to break old habits and more importantly, nothing beats Mother Nature's gift. Although I love rain for its water that I use daily, the downside is that the village becomes one big muddy slushy slime ville.
Despite its good size, Image Village is very underdeveloped. The ground that we walk on is completely of red clay and dirt. There is no paved road with cement, concrete or tar. When it rains, a 2 inch layer thick of mud will stick beneath your shoes. Your feet will feel suddenly heavy and soon you understand why. You now have 2 pounds of mud you're lugging around. Your house floor will track dirt and mud. You better have a good memory too with a lightening speed reaction as you'll want to sprint back home to remove clothes hanging from the clothesline or your solar charger or anything else sitting outside under the sun to dry.
A daily nuisance and moreover a disturbance, is that I've become a Hitler. I massacre massive amounts of bugs on the floor, walls, ceiling and those airborne. As a Buddhist, thou shall not kill. Well, how do I justify this? I think it's obvious. I'll take my chance and see karmically where I'll end up in my next incarnation. My weapons are 2 brooms, cans of bug spray and the most lethal one being my right foot with a heart of rage and fury. If I was wearing green tights, I'd look like I'm imitating Lord of what's-his-face?! Something Flately? Michael? The dude doing the Irish Celtic jig. When there is electricity, needless to say, my life is easier but then the world of insects are attracted to light like the lost souls attracted to that cute blonde kid in the movie, Poltergeist. ( Who died in real life, by the way) Remember that high pitched voice psychic midget granny who instructed to the kid's mother who was going to the other dimension to save her daughter, "Go to the light...!"
Yeah well...I sure didn't instruct or invite the tons of moth and other insects to my lightbulbs and walls and freaking everywhere including them buzzing in my ear and face. Life sucks when you're swarmed by bugs and its times like this for a brief second I say to myself..."f*** this, I'm out of here!"
Another challenge is food. I live for food. I love food. I may love it more than my own mother who spewed me from her loin, my only daughter whom I spewed from my own loin, my good looking pets whom their mothers spewed from their little animal loins and my foreign language collection of my favorite book "The Little Prince" all together. In a populous village where I live, there's no open market, not even a weekly one. I find myself like a broken record asking the villagers, "mnaenda kununua vyakula wapi? Translation: Where the f*** do you buy grub? Here's the deal: I live in a nation where people live on one food item and it begins with a capital "U". It may be "u"topia for them, but ain't me. Tanzanians' national treasure is ugali. The white play dough that you roll in your right hand into a ball and then stuff it in your face. Yums...the southern Maasai eat ugali and milk. Mmmm...can you say "the white combo"? Ugali is the main staple and for companionship so the ugali doesn't feel so lonely, we'll add some beans and some greens. These side dishes are truly minimal in quantity. Meat is expensive so it's not an everyday affair. It is consumed during special occasions and holidays and it is still not a whopping portion. No big, fat, slab O' meat fest like in U.S.of A. If you raise hen, you can easily eat eggs. Depending on the season, the fruit trees will bear avocados, bananas, breadfruit, passion fruit, pears and plums. Other fruits may be available in my town coming from other region hence the higher price.
80% of villagers in Image are farmers in that they have a piece of land growing crops. Yes, corn for ugali. Surprise, surprise ! They grow corn, beans, and some greens. The majority of my villagers' crop are for personal use. They live off their land. They take the corn kernel from their corn and grind it into fine flour. The entire population lives on this nutritiously deficient ugali. It's just corn flour, some salt and water. Stir these 3 ingredients until thick and dense and voila...white play dough...Bon appetit! This is filling which is why they love it. Cassava root flour ugali is less filling so they prefer the corn. So, with the people living mostly off their land, they have food to eat, albeit the same things: ugali, beans and greens. There still is a food security problem in my village. A quarter of people don't have enough food to eat. They don't have money to buy fertilizer for their crop to properly grow; hence, their land is not yielding enough food for the size of family they must feed. Another reason is that their farm land is small and a good portion has trees on it where it's not space to cultivate.
The villagers still need to travel into town to supplement food and other life's necessities. Personally, I don't enjoy going into town. Njombe town is a dump, it's unattractive and depressing. That's basically every town and city in the country, lets be honest. The small public bus leaves my village daily at 6AM in front of my house to journey the 60 kilometer ride into town. A total of 120 kilometers round trip. The ride sucks! It's the human sardine can on wheels. My last trip, I had ass, hips, and assorted body parts shoved in my face. In Tanzania, public transportation falls under the principle of stuffing and cramming as many human bodies physically possible...along with their belongings. I can handle the physical discomfort but for those dedicated reader of my past postings, you know well what kills me. Thats right: THE STENCH of BODY ODOR! I'll take ass in my face any day than sit with someone who hasn't bathe after a good ol' sweaty work out on the farm. (These expressions regarding body odor is not directly intended to claim that the host nationals smell bad naturally as it is genetically something they were predisposed. It's a commentary describing the living condition of a population that struggles with hard manual labor (farm work, cooking with firewood, household chores, etc.) non existence of bathing facilities (running water, let alone hot, bathroom appliances, fixtures and plumbing) and the common knowledge of basic hygiene and proper sanitation. )We arrive in town pass 8AM and I rush to shop or do what I need to do in town as the only one bus returning to Image Village is at 12PM. But this is a lie. Consistently, the bus doesn't leave until 1:30 or 2 PM. Once we depart, we then stop at another village sitting like nimrods for an hour waiting for more bodies to pile in. My ass doesn't get back home after nearly 6PM. All this torture just to buy some repetitive food. I ain't doing no public transport anymore. I have connections now. I'm going into town with a private truck. No more torture ride.
This is a typical day:
I wake between 6 to 7 AM. This is not counting once or twice middle of the night toilet run outside my make-believe cemetery.
I make my bed ensuring the mosquito net is securely tucked in. I clean and sweep the floors, ceiling and walls of dirt, cobweb, and dead insects. Many broken insect wings abound.
I eat breakfast. Fruits or and last nights pot of whatever.
Continue house keeping: wash dishes, wash underwear, organize house. I'm very clean and organized so I spend time making my house as sanitary as possible for the well being of my health and visual comfort.
Depending on my mood, lately I have begun to go to school to sit in the classes ranging from grade 1 to 7. I sit in and try to pick up Swahili. A teacher would invite me for tea time break at his home. I drink over sweetened tea and eat fried bread or potatoes. We return to class and I sit in another two classes until lunch break. Students return home for lunch as well with all the teachers. I go back home and cook lunch. Afterwards, heavy coma hits me and I find myself sleepy as hell. I rest trying to sleep but I always get interrupted by knocks on the door. I think to myself, what now? It's children. I'm now annoyed. Scenario one: I look at them asking in Swahili "yeah?" They give me empty shy looks and silence. I ask again, "what do you want?" Again, they look away sheepishly without a word. My reaction: "you don't talk, I'm outta here." I close my door and return back to my couch to catch some zzzzz. Scenario two: "Hi friends! What are you doing? I'll give you crayons and paper but you have to promise me to return the crayons so when you come back next time, I'll have crayons to give you." The children light up like the Rockefeller Xmas tree and are shoving each other to get my goodies of pencil, crayons and coloring book. I've also been interrupted by adults. As a good hostess, albeit a sleepy and groggy one, I welcome them into my home and start making coffee. I'm truly tired and don't want to play Ms. Social Suzy but I must, so I suck it up big times.
By the time they leave, I'm exhausted and no longer wish to sit in classroom where my ass hurt from the hard wood bench with no back support.
It's dinner time for me so I prepare the same food. Cook it and eat it.
I take my cold bath in the dark. Get the hell quickly out of my backyard. Technically, I have a room to bathe in. This room is outside in the backyard. There is even a light. Well, this is what happens. If there is electricity, when I turn the light on, tons of moth surround the lightbulb. No way Jose am I bathing in there. End of the story.
I locks all doors and get inside my mosquito net and get comfy and read from my Kindle. Good night all!
On Sundays, I go to the church because it's a place where I can see many humans at once. I integrate, I donate, I pretend I am kneeling on the hard plank of wood in front of me, and I listen to the songs sung by the church choir. If there is a soccer match, I attend it only because I've been either invited or informed. But moreover, it's because again, I can see mankind.
I live in a big village where it's a bit ghost town-ish. Everyone is at their farm working. My village is quiet, inactive and not a lot of people are out and about because almost the entire village is not in...they are working on their farm which is far from their home.
I have been asked spontaneously to introduce myself unprepared by religious leaders at churches and the school. Eventually, I will properly and formally introduce myself to the villagers at the village meeting. I have a speech to give in Swahili. I will inform them what my gig is all about. I have already started the report/ research requested by Peace Corps. This Village Situation Assessment report will be given to my region's government office, my village office and to Peace Corps Tanzania in Dar Es Saalam. This compilation of various methodologies of acquiring information supposedly allows us to assess the needs of the community.
This is my current work for the next 2 months. I have already begun gathering information and started the draft.
Although it is against the advise and protocol of Peace Corps, I have chosen to begin work now and not after the completion of the VSA and further Peace Corps' In Service Training. I can not sit in the house killing bugs everyday in this ghost town. If I had to chose a place on the globe to chill in the crib and do nothing like a permanent vacation...a poor rural village in Africa ain't my top 3 choice. I need to keep myself active. Villagers are out in their farm from Monday to Saturday, so how can I integrate with them? Go with them to help pull out weeds? I suppose that's an idea! No, no, I will begin teaching at the schools and working at the dispensary as I see this will be good use of my time and presence. I am the third generation of Peace Corps Volunteer in this village in which I am the last they will have. I feel that the village should utilize me as much as they can. Why waste time? I am gladly offering to start now then later.
I have been invited to eat meals at people's home, attended soccer games, received people at my home where we drink coffee and chat, attended a funeral, received gifts of food as people are hospitable and generous, walking some streets and learning about this and that through people I have met and of course, befriending children.
I will begin tomorrow, the 31 st day after my arrival, working in the dispensary. The vaccinations have finally arrived; therefore, tomorrow, Monday being the busiest day, I will go in at 8 AM sharp and start. It is also baby weighing day. In addition, most patients with ailments come to the medical officer on Mondays for treatments.
The Head Teacher at Image Primary School is also ready for me to teach. I will start an after school club of Art and French and an English class. I justify teaching these, as one may feel this is unsustainable, in that I believe the children should remain active and engaged after school regardless of the subject. It is my time and effort I am contributing. This is my choice and what I can easily offer the village children, my students. The other option for them is to return home and play with mud or do housework...or come to my house. The students do not own school books or have homework. They own nothing, not even a single toy. They are lucky to have a pair of shoes. Their school uniforms are tattered, torn and perpetually dirty. Although Tanzania speaks Swahili, assorted tribal dialect, and English, her continent is also Francophone. Perhaps a student in the future may leave the country and find work in west Africa where French is spoken. To have exposure to something new is a worthwhile experience and always a positive. I hope my students will enjoy their time in my class.
While I teach these classes, I will continue creating the report of the needs for the community before engaging in bigger projects and assignments. I pretty much know what I will be doing for the next 2 years: Lots of education to adults and children, assisting and building facilities, and encouraging people to find their voice and take action to positively impact their lives and families.
