Village Life Continues...

Something horrible has happened. Kimulimuli and Giza are both missing. I left them at the teachers’ houses like I normally do when I go to town, and when I returned no one had seen them in over a day. Now back in my village a week, still no sign of either of them. I tried to not get attached to them, knowing that things happen to pets here, but I am crushed. I didn’t realize how I relied on them. I also feel guilty and horrible that something happened to them and it was my fault. To make matters worse, I woke up to a rat asleep on my windowsill; they run through my roof at night and have taken over. Those cats served a purpose, and the rats just remind me of what I have lost. My villagers don’t seem to get it, because cats are just cats and are interchangeable. Get another one, they tell me. Not really understanding that I only want those ones. I need one though, but to get one means accepting that my feline family is gone. I will never forget how much they loved me and how they made my life here full. I have offered a reward to anyone finding either of them, but that has just led to villagers showing up with random orange cats that vaguely resemble Kimulimuli. Juster seems to get my attachment to them and is trying to help me, but she doesn’t really live here anymore. The loss of them was a blow that I really didn’t need now.

Village life continues…

Imelda successfully finished her first year of secondary school thanks to my money and her brains. A new school year has started… Lau is now in standard one and Anna is attending a preschool type thing at the primary school. My third group of standard 7 students have begun classes on health and life skills- how is it possible I have been here that long?

Mario, my drunken village executive officer, somehow scraped together the money to buy a car. Unfortunately, he bought some little Toyota type car and not a big four-wheel drive land rover, so while it works in Image, during the rainy season there is no way that it can leave the village. Since Mario prefers to remain drunk, William has always been his motorcycle driver, and while no one rivals William’s skill on the motorcycle, a car is an entirely different thing. He had never driven one. So while I watched him struggle to start the car while in drive instead of park, I figured that this guy could use some help. Teaching William how to drive has been somewhat hilarious. For one thing, everyone is so excited about the car, there is always about six guys crammed into the backseat just to go along for the lesson. Teaching is funny because everything is one the wrong side. They have to move the gearshift with their left hand instead of their right like Americans. I wonder how they feel about this since Tanzanians do next to nothing with their left hands (it is the “unclean” one). Pretty much no one can drive in my village, so they are all stunned that I know how to and have been for about a decade. The women are thrilled because the men have the idea that no woman can handle driving, so I really want to teach a woman how to drive the car next.

Maybe an even funnier story has been teaching Puce how to play Cribbage. He is horrible. I am not sure that Tanzanians are very good at planning ahead or strategizing in a Cribbage type way. Puce has a million questions. He is good at many things, but it doesn’t look like Cribbage will be one of them.

On an embarrassing Brie moment: I had a huge intellectual conversation about African countries during colonization, while I was at the village bar peeling potatoes, and talking to many of Image’s men. I kept talking about South Africa and apartied. Of course the conversation was in Swahili, and I noticed every time I said the “South” , in South Africa, the guys made eye contact. Finally, when I was done going on and on, William tells me casually, “Brie, just so you know, you weren’t saying South. You were saying the verb for illicit sex.” All the guys are trying not to laugh, I probably turned bright red, but laughed and said, “All right already, why did you all wait to correct me!?!” Then they all just cracked up. Oh Geez.

I watched the “African Queen” for the first time since living in Africa. What a brilliant movie. I was so lucky to have parents that showed us weird movies for kids to love at young ages. I didn’t realize that it took place in Tanzania and Bogart even speaks a bit of Swahili in it! I remember watching it as a child and dreaming about this amazing continent. I thought my romance with Tanzania would end. It should after what I have been through here. My friend Matt told me, “People are always attached to places where they have great trials and come out on top.” Maybe that is it. Why I still love Africa. A place that is wild, beautiful, violent, but free. Tanzania has been a journey that challenged what I didn’t even know I had.