October 22

Day #40 in Tanzania! It's Friday and our last day in Maweni, last day of villages for me here....but the first for many things. The adage of Murphy's Law 'Anything that can go wrong will go wrong', has probably been proven to me all this week, but not more than today's events. It began this morning when I awoke at about 5:20 am (40 minutes unnecessarily early than I'd had to) because my tent mates have been privy to waking and putting on a proper outfit and brushing their hair before chicken vaccinations. Its 6am in a Tanzanian village, you can kind of vaccinate in the same clothes as yesterday which can be the same clothes you slept in (albeit, this may be the genesis of my fungal woes right now). Anway, we loaded in the car to Usitu Ambogo for an early vaccination. Today we were followed by a young boy playing with the lid of a 20 liter plastic bucket and a bended wire hanger. He was playing with the lid along its side and keeping it upright--turning it and walking with it. After several houses I had to give it a shot, and it made him laugh so much as this mzungu is trying to play a really simple game and I couldn't get it right. It was good to have the little guy around, he caught very many chickens that'd escaped. This village is set up more like a 'village' we'd call in a suburb in America. There are main roads, a space delegated like a front lawn of a property and the houses are more neatly arranged as if a planner had come in and organized where the people, cars and houses would go. However, it doesnt seem it's at all conducive to farming. There isn't much space for large farms, most people have only a few dozen square feet near their homes for planting vegetables. Many of the villagers had chickens in those 20 liter plastic buckets, some in their homes, or in poorly made chicken coops. I photographed one great chicken coop on the property of a beautiful little cottage. The house had a wrap around veranda with hanging flower pots, a guava tree in the front yard from which we picked fruits. Afterwards, the community made us chapati and chai and we sat in someone's home. It was difficult the last few times, being lactose intolerant and having to swallow chai with goats milk or fatty cows milk, but this time a counterpart graciously asked for chai without milk for me! I was able to enjoy without embarrassing consequences! It was amazing to experience this kind of hospitality coming to these villages, how thankful they were that we came to vaccinate chickens! Its this kind of experience you'd never get in America, at least not in New York.

That afternoon we concluded training with a lecture on natural pesticide solutions (that always lights up everyones eyes--fermenting weeds in water and spraying it on your vegetables! Its like magic!) The local CCM (the dominant political party) leader came out to give the certificates, and gave a really nice speech about Sustainable Agriculture (CCM fronts a campaign called 'Kilimo Kwanzaa' or Agriculture First, you get the alliteration in Swahili). We gave out refreshments, took some group photos, said goodbyes and headed back to camp to settle ourselves in our homes in Arusha. I've put aside my New Yorkers creature comforts this entire month, but could not wait to have a hot shower at Mama Elly's house! That was all about to be thrown down the choo.

When I got back to the GSC office, I unloaded my duffel out of the Land Cruiser and graciously said my kwa heris (adios!) to the counterparts. Just as I was headed out, I got news that our In Country Coordinator needed to see me. She was the one who dealt with incoming mail, so I clicked my heels thankful my mom's package finally came (sent about a month ago). I walked into her office and asked where my package was. There was no package, instead I got hit with some bad news. The words made my knees weak. 'Mama Elly is moving to Dar es Salaam. She was waiting for you to come back from camp so that you can move out. We found you a new host family, and you will go over to their house today.' NOOOOOOOOOOOO. The questions poured out of my mouth- 'Who decides to move overnight like that? What about my stuff? Where will I go? Is it close? Why is she moving? How come she didn't tell me? What about my shower?!!!'

There were so many red flags, I hadn't seen Mama Elly in about 3 weeks. She'd been away on business in Dar, she runs several jewelry shops and craft markets here in town.As a rule, GSC mandates that at least one person in the host family has to speak English. Mama Elly was the only person in my house who spoke English, and eager to learn Swahili I registered my fancy digs and Swahili housemates as a boot camp for the language. I never complained. And now I wish I had. Apparently, she had been getting some things out of customs and realized the market in Dar was better for her business and she was relocating everything all of a sudden. C'mon lady, I'm here for two more weeks, it couldn't wait!!!

I sat around the office, hoping this was some sick prank because I have wacky sense of humor. But no, soon another Mama showed up to the office with a teenage girl and they announced they were my new host family. She was Mama Mary, a woman about the same age as Mama Elly, but she seemed so sweet and had a really big laugh, the girls name was Irene and she was 18. I greeted them and introduced myself, but still felt a tinge of anger that this was now pressed upon me. They told me they lived in Sakina, about 40 minutes in the opposite direction of where I used to live! It usually only took me about 15 minutes walking to get to HQ from Mama Elly's house, and now I have to take 2 dala dalas for about 30 minutes!! Most awkward, I now had to go to Mama Elly's house and pack my things, with my new mama waiting outside and then go to their house. We took a taxi there, and I almost cried when we drove up Sekei to where Mama Elly lived. I must have looked like a fool, but my anxieties about coming here from a month ago were coming back and I'd now been so comfortable! As we sat in the taxi, Mama Mary and Irene were super impressed with my Swahili and they seemed like such nice people. At Mama Elly's house, everything seemed normal from the outside. The housegirl Marchelline answered the gate and said 'Habari' just the same way, except inside the house was totally bare, like they'd been robbed. The only sign of life was the dining room table which looked like they were about to have dinner. Only Mama Elly wasn't around. Her daughter, who I'd never met said 'hello' but not much more, and her sister who'd lived in the house with me asked me why I was leaving. It was like I came back from camp into the twilight zone!!'. I was so confused, and I even felt unwelcome. I packed my luggage quickly, and now we had to wait for Mama Elly to come back so I could say goodbye. We waited for about half an hour! I apologized to Mama Mary and Irene for the wait, and honestly I wasn't sure if her tardiness was because of Africa-time or because she was putting me off as a sort of delay to her move. Finally, she came and her first words weren't even sorry! I quickly told her I understood, but then realized....What about gifts, usually volunteers leave a gift or money as a thanks for hospitality. I think today's events would left a bad taste in my mouth, and decided I would make this go as quickly as possible. I bid goodbye, she said goodluck in Cambodia and I was off to Mama Mary's.

As we drove away I realized, I never took photos of the house, Mama Elly, my room, anything. Maybe this move is for the better I thought, maybe there will be better internet, better food, less awkward Swahili/English conversations where I'm not holding my phrasebook and dictionary when I talk to people in my house. I tried to be optimistic as we were driving, but till I realized we were still driving!! This was super far! We finally turned off Nairobi-Moshi Road, the main road into dark alleyways and drove for a while until we stopped in front of a house. I couldn't make much of where exactly I was, nor what the outside of the house looked like. Nonetheless, everyone greeted me nicely and helped me carry my luggage to my new bedroom. It's a really nice space, its a king sized bed!!! I've never had one before! I now have two closets (without cockroaches and beetles like the last house, I hope). Soon after I got settled in, they called me for dinner. It was the nicest spread I'd ever had here for dinner I thought I'd cry. Rice, beans with so much seasoning I could see the spices floating in the top of the bowl, and stewed beef with vegetables and SODA! I told them I was so thankful for this meal, and it was a sign of good things. They were very nice to me, and really interested in where I'd come from, what my family is like, etc. I soon realized, these were things that my first house never asked me about, which was a nice feeling.

In the house is Mama Mary, Irene is the oldest daughter, Rachel is 15, Dorcas is 11, they have one son who I haven't met yet, and Baba, the dad is a Pentecostal preacher. It was so cool to hear about them, too. They're MAASAI!! They don't speak it, nor practice any of Maasai traditions but it was really funny when they heard me greet them 'Sobhai'. I think I'll be really comfortable here, and tomorrow I'll set out to explore where exactly I am. In a way, its great to examine the differences between this part of town and Sekei where Mama Elly lived. Plus, Mama Mary's household is pro-Chadema! Mama Elly's house everyone was CCM. Speaking of which, elections are next weekend! The buses and vans playing Chadema and CCM songs are more frequent, I've noticed the political advertisements here are nothing like back home.

Two weeks left in Tanzania! I don't ever want to leave!