Five Months Without My Tribe

November 12, 2008

Five months in Africa. Am I a different person? No, definitely not. Am I more hardcore than I thought before? Of course. Five months is really no time at all and in months I will probably be laughing at this entry and that I viewed this as an accomplishment at all. But I am almost finished with the part of service that PCVs agree is the most difficult part (first 6-9 months). Five months without running water, with a pit latrine, living with cockroaches and hundreds of spiders- so I might be a slightly tougher person when I get home. All of this makes me miss my sisters- I wish they were here to make disgusted faces with over daily life. I have lived for five months as a minority, which as an Oregonian, you have no idea what this feels like. I have not really understood what was going on for almost half a year, as a language I only barely speak is uttered all around me. And yet, somehow I have formed some real relationships. My host family, Roma (Who called me yesterday to say, "Ninakupenda"- "I like/love you" and told me to come visit his family again soon), Katherine, Juster (Who calls herself my African sister), the rest of the teachers, and many more community members.

Yesterday, half joking but mostly serious, I told the teachers that during my time here I am planning on taking the train to Kigoma, visiting Jane Goodall's Reserve, and then going through Burundi and into the DRC, where I hope to see some Mountain Gorillas. Suddenly, all the 15 teachers I work with were talking loudly at once in Kiswahili. Finally, Jen pulls herself together and yells at me in English, "Brie, there is war there! Those people are crazy. Tanzania is the only safe country in Africa. No, you will not cross any of our lakes. Don't you think that they will not realize that you are part of a Tanzanian tribe? They will think you are American and kill you." I remind her that I am American, but I am touched just they same that they believe now I am really Tanzanian. So, there is acceptance.

A note about tribalism in Tanzania- It is here, very strongly, but not like the DRC or Sudan. One of the first questions Tanzanians ask each other is the question of tribe, but I think it is more to decide if they have to speak Kiswahili or not. I live with the Bena tribe, so they speak Kibena (language of the Bena people) to each other. Not sure how Kiswahili won out as the national language. Juster comes from the Haya tribe, who live way up north on the border with Uganda. Yet she receives no unfair treatment now living with the Bena people. They know she is Haya but have no bad feelings toward her for it. I am not sure how Tanzania gets away with being so accepting, but there is none of that "tribal warfare" that so many Americans feared for me. People have a sort of kinship with their own tribe as they are known for certain things and speak the same language, so they are excited to meet one and other. I am often asked which tribe I am from in America. Since tribes in Tanzania mostly group together regionally, I usually answer this question with "The Portland, Oregon Tribe." It is a good one, we are known for good beer and coffee, Birkenstocks, and tirelessly working to get a Democrat in the White House (Yay us!) When they talk about how it is odd that I don't eat meat, I explain that this is very common for my tribe. So I must say that if I met someone else from my tribe, I would be excited too. But we have much more warfare going on with the Texas tribes than any of the tribes do here. :-)