Family Structure and Manners

Every night, a few minutes before bed I would choreograph a few counts of eight to teach my new students Sidaz, Manduly, and RH. They really loved the material I showed them earlier in the day, which makes me really excited and inspired to choreograph and teach them more Hip-Hop. I had my lesson plan ready with warm-up, stretch and technique to teach the guys the next morning.
It was day 5, Wednesday in Tanzania. Habari za asubuhi? (How is your morning?) is said amongst staff and volunteers to which Nzuri! (Nice!) is responded. At breakfast we ask each other Umelalaje? (How did you sleep?) to which the response is usually Safi (Clean), Nzuri, Salama (Peaceful), or Shwari (Fine). The day before, while waiting for the CCS van to pick me up, I had noticed that one of the primary schools that some of the volunteers teach in, Wambao Primary School, is right next door to The Baobab Studio. So I decided to walk with a group of the past volunteers who knew their way afoot to Wambao and take the detour to Baobab. It is about a 20 minute walk and was very easy.
On the walk over I noticed a bunch of school children heading to school in their brightly colored uniforms. One group of kids that were clad in green and white yelled at the mzungus to get our attention. They were all so energetic and asking us to nipe tano! (give me five!) I also noticed many women balancing giant baskets and buckets on their heads. Many times I’d initiate a Mambo? (What’s up?) or a Habari za asabuhi? to them. Other times they’d initiate.
The walk over was quite nice, but off to work I went starting at 8:30am and ending at 12:30pm. At about 10:30, I started the dance class. This time I came prepared with a change of clothes that were better suited for movement. When I changed, I noticed that the guys wanted to change also. Two of them had nylon basketball shorts underneath their pants, but one of them just stripped down to his undies. I couldn’t help notice that he had a beach pattern or theme printed on them. It was cute and funny.
After placement and lunch, we had a lesson on family structure in Tanzania. We were also taught proper manners and etiquette. The Tanzanian family is very non-nuclear. Anyone who is around your mother’s age is considered Mama (Mother). The same idea goes for Baba (Father), Kaka (Brother), Dada (Sister), Bibi (Grandmother), and Babu (Grandfather). Many times, I’ve been referred to as Kaka or Kaka Cabbie by many of my peers. In Tanzania the community helps raise a child. Many times a neighbor will punish (physically or otherwise) a child if his/her parents are not available. Also, many times, grandmothers are seen raising very young children. This might happen because the mother is too young to take care of her own child, is off working, has left the child orphaned, has died of complication during birth, or of HIV/AIDS.
Our lectures are usually followed by Swahili lessons and then dinner.