Masai Country

Never did hear back from PC about the trip until late Sunday so of course I couldn’t officially go. Luckily my close friend *ahem* Manderz does not have the same restriction and was able to take advantage of the opportunity. She told me all about it and I will relate her experiences here. (She is a dead ringer for me so you may think it is me in the pictures).

Manderz woke up early, biked to her friends to drop off a key so her pet could be looked after, and went to the 07:00 mass at the hostel. After chai (i.e. breakfast), she got into the Land Cruiser with Fr. Magnus, Sr. Valentina, and Patrisi (driver). They took the backroads way to Dareda so Manderz was able to see more of the countryside. From Dareda, they continued to Babati then turned towards the north again with the first stop at a tiny little church just off the road near the Monduli area. They were quite late but the people were very happy to see them. The tiny church was packed with Masai women and children…and one man not counting Fr. or the other minister guy. Manderz sat next to a bunch of children toward the front who seems intimidated by her; probably the first white person they’d seen up close. In true Tanzanian hospitality, they were invited to a nearby little shop where Manderz, Fr. Magnus, and Sr. Valentina were given chai and chapati.

Following the snack, they were directed to a small group of houses way off the main road where some sort of transition celebration was taking place. The men were standing straight and jumping in place in a (stereotypical) Masai dance when they arrived and were introduced. Someone asked if they had a camera and took pictures of Fr. Magnus, Sr. Valentina, and Manderz with the group of Masai. Manderz even had a beaded disc from one of the women placed around her neck and thinks she was proposed to by at least one man. Even out here they were served sodas as they visited but had to finally move on to Meserani with a gift of a goat for the home for runaway girls run by the sisters where they stayed for the past 4 nights. The girls are 17 or younger but were being married off. I have heard that life for Masai girls and women is very hard. The girls at the home wanted to continue their studies rather than get married. Apparently a couple of the girls are technically married. To some, 17 may not seem too young to be married (*cough* Utah) but girls here (and kids in general) tend to mature much slower than in America and Manderz noticed the same is true for these girls; they still look like girls, not young women. Right now the girls are at the home caring for the animals and garden because the schools are on break. I am told that most will return to boarding schools when it is over.

Most the next 2 days (Mon-Tues) was spent going back and forth between Mbuyuni, Nanja, and Meserani to supervise some construction. A primary school and Benedictine hostel are being built at Mbuyuni where they helped to build a church recently. Near Nanja is a new church that will be receiving a catechist at the beginning of next year (2011) and the living quarters are still being finished. Between the 2 days, Manderz was asked a lot for things by local children (Mbuyuni), learned how to bargain better (& acceptable prices for some souvenir items), and saw a few methods of rainwater control. The souvenirs (necklaces, bracelets, carved soapstone bowls, and paper artwork) will be sent to a sister in Luzern (Switzerland) who will sell them and send the profit back to the projects here in Tz. On the Benedictine hostel & school near Nanja are gutters that lead to large cisterns to collect water when it does finally rain; it’s still teaching us. Also near Nanja was a tree planting project that is helping to control erosion and well placed concrete troughs that direct water to a big cistern in the ground. Being an Earth Science nerd too, Manderz noticed how the rift valley was much broader up there with many little triangular cinder cones and a large composite volcano in the distance, Mt. Meru.

Wednesday was shopping day in Arusha. While the Land Cruiser got a couple of new tires, Manderz went with Valentina and Fr. Magnus to Shoprite. She said it was really weird to be in a western style supermarket after 3 months away. Just at the entrance there were toys like remote control cars for people to buy as Christmas presents. Although there were many wonderful things to choose from, Manderz didn’t want to impose on her ride and just bought a juice box, packet of soup, Italian herbs, and 250mL of extra virgin olive oil. The last 2 were crucial as they were given to me as a Christmas gift (I’m part Italian). After Sr. Valentina and Patrisi picked up some notebooks and pencils for some local school children (to encourage them to go to the government school and not the Muslim school), they made a stop at a safi bookstore. There was a large selection of books, including many in English, and Manderz picked up the NECTA (National Examination Council of Tanzania Association) exam books for Chemistry ad Physics for me as well as a Standard 1 science book so I can practice Kiswahili in my general subject. Fr. Magnus then bought them some delicious samosas from a nearby bistro (it must cater to tourists b/c Manderz said it looked like one you would find in America or Europe). On the way back to Meserani, they stopped at the Archdiocese complex on the outskirts of Arusha so Fr. Magnus could stock up on wafers. Apparently not only is the church large, but there is a good size community of sisters there; not sure about brothers.

They headed back to Gitting today but it took them forever as Fr. Magnus made sure the construction projects were taken care of (including some small things at the girls’ home) and the workers were paid. There was quite a bit of lightning to the south and they hit some rain but most of the rain had occurred before they drove through so the roads were very wet. Patrisi proved to be an excellent driver as he maneuvered around/through deep puddles and up slippery mud banks.

She also wanted me to note that traveling with an Austrian meant she was served much non-Tanzanian fare like pickles, macaroni, sardines, and fruit cake (a good one, not like the horror stories you hear this time of year).