Tanzania - Daily Life

About an hour and a half bus ride southwest of Arusha, Tanzania there is a man in Babati, Tanzania who will setup special village tours. When I got to his office and reviewed the tour options, I told him that I did not like any of the tours because they were all fake. In other words, the locals would get dressed up in costumes and perform dances and other silly activities just for me. I told him that I just wanted to hang out in a village and see what the locals typically do each day. He said he could arrange that for me and that is exactly what I got during my 3 day, 2 night visit.

I stayed with a woman who had 2 children. There was no stove for cooking inside their house. Each meal was cooked just outside the front door of their house using firewood. My host showed me how to cook a couple of things. One of the more interesting meals was a banana soup. In Africa there are at least a dozen varieties of bananas. Some are small and sweet and others are large and starchy. My host used one of the large plantain like bananas. To my surprise the soup/stew was not sweet banana flavor but more like a starchy potato taste. I enjoyed it very much.

As I was guided around the large village, I saw and sometimes participated in the various jobs that people did. At one family's home the children were squeezing all the tomatoes and gathering the seeds to later plant. While the children took care of the tomatoes, the parents were crushing beans with a stick. Instead of picking apart the beans from the pods, the entire bean stock was left out in the sun to dry out. When you beat the dry stocks with a stick, the beans separate from the pod.

I spent a couple of hours harvesting corn as well as sugar cane. Gathering sugar cane seemed to be a man's work. They used a 2 foot long knife to chop down the 10 foot tall stocks of sugar cane. All through Africa I saw people biting on the sugar cane stock. This did not appeal to me.

Although I am not a coffee drinker, I was definitely interested in the coffee bean processing that the locals were doing. I had no idea that coffee beans are actually encased in a bright cherry shell. In the village I stayed at they had a small machine that would remove the outer cherry skin. The bean inside is in fact a whitish color. In the States we see the bean after it has been roasted and becomes a dark brown.

Another job I saw all too frequently in the villages throughout Africa was children raising children. Either the parents were busy working or the parents passed away from AIDS or other causes. Seeing a 7 or 8 year old with his little brother or sister strapped to his back was not an uncommon sight.

On Sunday I went to church. The church service was held in the classroom. Everyone was dressed in his/her finest clothes. It turned out that my guide was the acting preacher for the day, since the regular preacher was out of town. I was formally introduced to the congregation, and I received a warm welcome. My guide gave the sermon and many songs were sung. The musical instruments were made out of odd parts including the metal caps of Coke bottles.

After church we went to the monthly market. We got there by bicycle. At first my guide had me pedaling the 1 bicycle to the market and he sat on back of the bicycle on the rack. This was very typical. In this part of Africa the women did the pedaling and the men hung on in back. My guide seemed disappointed that I was not very good at hauling my weight plus his over a sandy dirt road. Eventually after about a mile we switched places. He pedaled and I sat on the rack on back. I got a lot of funny looks as we rode by the people walking to the monthly market.

This market was huge. You could buy material to make clothing as well as buy the standard school uniform for kids. You could buy live animals. One lamb was screaming. It was tied into a basket that was secured to the back of a bicycle rack. It must have known its fate. You could also buy dead animals. No part was off limits. Innards were everywhere. If you were thirsty, you could buy the local homemade brew from several of the women who were scooping cups full from large buckets.

By far my favorite item being sold were sandals. What was so special about the sandals? The soles were 100% rubber made from used tires. You could pick your tread. You got all weather traction for year round use.

My 3 days and 2 nights spent near Babati were quite special. The people near Babati were kind enough to permit me to take a little peak at some of the jobs they do and the activities they partake in.