Change the Purpose of Blog

Initially, I started this blog when I traveled to Tanzania to do international development and volunteer work in Bagamoyo with Cross-Cultural Solutions. I created it to keep my friends and family updated on my process and in the know on my where-abouts, projects, and shenanigans in-country.
I decided to change its purpose so as to not have too many blogs to have to constantly manage and update. Now, it'll be a blog that includes my current travels as well as my work in relation to Social Justice, Socio-Politics, and Performance Art.
Thank you for reading! I would love to hear your comments.

Naked Orphans Dancing on the Beach

During the evenings and weekends, the volunteers have free time to do what they please. Many of the volunteers used the weekends to get away and go to Zanzibar or on a Safari. I don’t had that luxury as I am on a strict budget here in Tanzania. So on my first weekend I went to the beach with the orphans from a local orphanage called Imuma (ee-moo-muh). A few volunteers who didn’t go on a safari (trip/journey) and I rented a daladala and picked the kids up and trooped them to the beach. This was such an amazing adventure in itself. Imagine driving through a village with children playing in the roads and people doing there chores and daily business on the “sidewalk” or on the patios of their homes. The road is very bumpy, but we finally get through to the end of the village, everyone staring at the daladala that only contains 3 mzungus inside. The people and children are wild-eyed, curious about this massive vehicle bouncing down their street, through their community. We drive up to an edifice no bigger than the size of a large living room. The children of the orphanage are cheering, already knowing what is to come. They wait for this bus to come every weekend; a bus that is their escape from daily life in the orphanage out to an excursion of fun and play on the beach.
The other volunteers and I try to get out of the bus, but as soon as the doors open, the children try to rush in. We tell them hapana (no) and acha (stop), because we need to talk to Sherif, the director of the orphanage first. We just want to make sure that it is okay to take the young people and that we’ll be back within two and a half hours.
After a head count of thirty children we open the doors to the daladala and let the rug rats flood in. Funny thing is that the daladala only seats about 15 to 17 adults comfortably. But who cares about comfort when the first thing that the children do when the bus starts to move is sing “If you’re happy and you know it…” These kids were so happy to go off for a while and enjoy themselves. Of course a tear came to my eye. It was a really special moment.
The first thing the kids do when we arrive at the beach is find a space to strip down, some completely naked, and run into the water and attempt to swim. This definitely took me by surprise, but after a micro second I realized, “they don’t have any swim suits, duh!!!” Some of the older girls watched after the younger kids, which is the way of things here.

It was really great to hang out with these kids. The joy on their faces was priceless. At one point I had to break up a fight between two of the kids. They were both about 7 to 10 years old. Here I come, big ole me, grabbing each kid under an arm and stomping out of the ocean to put them on a “time-out”. Here in Tanzania, “corporal punishment” is favored, but of course I wasn’t going to lay a hand on these kids. Time-out is a very mzungu thing to do and they didn’t know what it was. Anyway, after about 7 minutes I let them go back into the water. I remember telling them “HAPANA!” and “ACHA!” One of them was trying to escape from me by creeping closer and closer to the ocean. I called him out on it and moved him further away from the ocean. A Rasta man named Solomon was watching the whole scenario occur. He spoke some English, so I asked him how to say stop fighting. He told me “Acha gombana”. He proceeded to tell me that the one that was trying to creep away from me is a “matatizo” (problem). Solomon is an interesting character of whom I will discuss later.

After about an hour or so, Steph (from Pittsburg), Megan (from Seattle), and Robbie (from Connecticut) decided that they should take the kids back to the orphanage. Savannah (Northern Cali.), Shannon (Edmonton, Canada), Steph and Mitzi (U. of West Washington), and I started to escort them back to the daladala when Shiabu and Hans from the Umoja (Unity) Arts Group showed up. Previous to going to the beach, I had invited them to come to the beach to dance and hang out. McCoy, who lives next door to the Annex of the Main House had accompanied Shiabu and Hans. BTW, Shiabu likes to be called Chocolate Baby, which I refused to do. His idea is that he wants to marry a mzungu woman and have babies with her. A chocolate baby is a person that is half African, like Barack Obama or Sade. (Later on in my trip I was asked if I was a “chocolate baby”. I’ll elaborate when I get to that. LOL) I told the guys from Umoja that we'll be at the beach by 2pm. We were told that they had something to, but that they’ll meet us there later if we were still around. I completely forgot they were coming until they appeared walking down the beach with their drums as we were leaving.
Hans and Shiabu start to play the drums while McCoy teaches me a couple of steps of traditional dance. A short movement phrase if you will. All the kids crowded around us and danced with us as well, trying to learn the steps as I was. Luckily, Steph (UWW) had a camera with video. She took an incredible mini movie of me taking this dance lesson on the beach with the beautiful Indian Ocean behind me surrounded by these beautiful children. One of the kids actually said something to the affect of “Wow, the mzungu could really dance!” I’ll never forget my first dance lesson alongside the Indian Ocean surrounded by the most amazing people. After dancing with the drummers for a good 45 minutes, I started to teach the kids the Electric Slide. They loved it.

Views from the Internet Café

Internet Cafe named VIP. That's Allison (California), Me, and Holli (Oregon)

Sitting outside of the internet café, finishing a cigarette I look up and notice the colors that exist in my surroundings. Not only the visual colors but the colorful sounds: children playing and crying; birds singing; locals conversing in Kiswahili; the passing piki piki (motorbike); even the silent mzee (older man) riding his bicycle steadily but ever so slowly. The sound accompanied the beiges and grays of the mud and cinderblock houses; the browns of the wooden shacks with the yellow bananas and red tomatoes of the fruit and veggie stand underneath. Against the blue partially cloudy sky the colors are ever so vibrant. The hues of green in the trees took real shape and notice; the branches reaching, stretching to endless surroundings. I sat back watching and listening.
Bagamoyo is an oasis of color. Color is something that has always fed and inspired me intellectually, spiritually, and emotionally. The beauty that exists in the green leaf or the brown of the Baobab tree is very blunt. The sound of the silent mzee riding his bicycle steadily, but ever so slowly contrapuntally with the sound of the humming wheel barreller created a song that was pungent, poignant, saturated with energy that is only Tanzanian.
I stand up from the folding chair, finish my cigarette, say badaaye (later) to Frida, the manager of the internet café, and walk down the beige and grayish brown dirt road, wearing a white cut-off shirt and navy blue cut-off pants. I walk to the beat of Tanzania – adagio con moto (slow with fire). The children take note of the awkwardly dressed foreigner, singing MA-ZUN-GU. Always in the same three notes, MA-ZUN-GU…
I leave the internet café and head to the batik workshop. The view is breathtaking.

My apologies...

I'm so sorry I didn't keep up with my blogging while I was in country. Unfortunately the internet cafe where I was taking care of all my corresponances and connections to the world was closed down for crazy reasons. I'm back home now, so I will be trying to recall my experience and transcribing my writings from my journal.
Thank you for your patience.

Long but Interesting Day

Today we had a lesson on illness in Africa. CCS invited a well known and distinguished doctor to have a discussion on Cholera, Malaria, and HIV/AIDS. There were many things I didn’t know about Cholera or Malaria. Malaria is very common here; a lot like the common cold or the flu in the US. It can be a fatal parasite(s) if not treated and can be acquired very easily, even if someone is taking the antibiotics for prevention. What the antibiotics do is prevent someone from getting a high level of it. Many CCS volunteers, past and present, have had it. The worst case was a woman while on safari (trip) to Zanzibar hurled everywhere and had flu-like symptoms. She had level 5, which means 5 parasites. If someone gets 21 or more attention is heightened. In order for Malaria to be fatal, over 100 parasites need to invade the body. Luckily, I haven’t gotten it yet, though it would be a fun story to tell if I did.
Cholera is another illness I had no knowledge of. It is an acute intestinal disease that is characterized by profuse watery stool. Many people get Cholera because of the substandard sanitation facilities that exist in and around communities where food and crops are produced. Symptoms include abdominal cramps and vomiting due to loss of salt and water. Prevention includes improved water supply, improved sanitation facilities, and prophylaxes.
The doctor was unpretentious and very warm and willing to get to know the very large group that was in front of him. He asked, Jina lako nani? (What is your name?) in which we replied with Jina langu…(My name is…). It was wonderful to have this lecture except that I learned after this lecture, that I need to take a half-hour nap before lectures and language classes. I caught myself dozing off during some of them more than a few times. I know, I know… tsk, tsk, tsk!!!
After the lecture, the staff had planned an outing that included both the volunteers and the staff. The optional activity was to go to the Paradise Hotel and Resort not very far from the home-base and go swimming in the pool. Although it sounded like a lot of fun, I decided to meet up with my co-worker Nasa and hang out with him and go to the Bagamoyo Sculpture School that he attended.
Earlier that day I had the privilege of meeting Tausi (Tah-oo-see), Nasa’s girlfriend. She had come from Dar Es Salaam to visit him and does so every Thursday, I learned. Tausi (which means peacock in Swahili) was still hanging around when I came back to pick Nasa up after lunch, so she came along for the walking trip. (BTW, on my walk to pick Nasa up, and on many occasions, I’ve run into herds of cattle, including cows, goats, and sheep being herded through the roads. It is really funny and cute!)

Nasa & Tausi. On the left of them is Nasa's painting of a fisherman on a sailboat casting a net. 

Cows and goats being herded through town.

On our trip to the Bagamoyo Sculpture School Nasa took me to meet many of his artist friends that live very close to the Baobab Studio. This entire neighborhood, from the road I walk every morning, to every corner you can turn from the Baobab Studio, is full of art studios and artists. What’s really wonderful about the community is that they truly support each other in their work. One way in which they do so is by selling each others’ art in the different studios in the neighborhood. What I noticed Nasa doing was that he was showing me around to places that he had his art up for sale. Sea View, Peeley’s, and Ras. T, other than Baobab, were the few that he invited me to see his work.
With my very limited Swahili, that hasn’t progressed much from the greetings stage, I met some of Nasa’s friends and tried to carry a short conversation with them. Luckily, Tausi was with us; she is currently studying English at an institute in Dar Es Salaam. The first place we hit up was very interesting to say the least. We walked into someone’s abode without knocking or asking for permission to enter. The door and doorway was one that is very typical in Zanzibar. The place looked like an abandoned building with an odor to support it. In a darkness that was penetrated only by the sunlight peaking through the closed shutters, we walked up a flight of stairs to come to a landing where 4 men were painting. The room was dreary with light blue walls and very little light piercing through the windows. One of the men was a 17 years old who was working on a Tinga Tinga style piece, a style native to Tanzania. Tinga Tinga style is characterized by broad lines and dots and very cartoon-ish looking animals. They are very colorful and absolutely beautiful. The other three men were working on Zuguno style pieces that were a lot like the Tinga Tinga, except that there weren’t any animals. All plants were depicted in these painting with broad lines and very colorful paint.
As the men worked on the paintings, a woman sat in the corner on the floor nursing her baby boy. Tausi a-lined her way to her and started to chat.
After meeting everyone, Nasa showed me through a doorway, through another room that lead to a balcony. On the balcony older men and women were cooking food and chit-chatting away. One of the women was a French woman who came to Bagamoyo to do volunteer work with another organization. She was hanging out with the locals eating ugali (corn meal) and bull-shitting, as though she were one of them. That’s one of the things that gets me about Tanzanians… they always do try to make you feel like you are apart of them. The balcony also had a magical view of the beach and the Indian Ocean. I asked in my tattered Swahili Naomba kupiga picha? (Could I take some pictures?)
After visiting and meeting Nasa’s artsy friends we headed south down a path for about 15 to 20 minutes to the sculpture school. At this point Tausi and I were pretty tired, so I stopped and bought us bottles of water. Nasa didn’t want one. Along the way I learned that Nasa and Tausi have been dating for 6 years. I poked fun at them by asking when they were going to get married. Tausi answered, when she was finished with school and when they were both stable enough to do so.
We finally made it to a road in which statues and sculptures were lining the edge. Some were Nasa’s pieces. We walked a little further to arrive at a giant hut covering a bunch of statues and sculptures. This was the sculpture school. It was pretty much aisles among aisles of statues and sculptures. Outside on the “lawn” in front of the hut were some very political pieces. One main and one of the larger pieces were of an old-time Arab beating a hunched over slave with what looked like a leather strap. It was a very intense piece. Amazing piece, under the hut, was a huge drum that was about 4 or 5 feet in diameter, that had been carved by Nasa and some of his classmates.
After the sculpture school visit, Tausi was rushing us because she needed to get home. It was getting close to dark (about 6pm) and she had to catch a dala dala (bus) and take it about 2 hours back to Dar Es Salaam. She was already running late, but here in Tanzania there’s a saying: TFT (Tanzania Flexible Time). No one is very on-time to anything. Funny, I think Tanzanians are speaking my language.

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.

After The Placement

After teaching the guys a short bit of Hip-hop choreography, I went outside to wait for the CCS van to pick me up and head back to the main house. Sidaz was hanging out with me for a bit, shooting-the-shit, filling each other in on our home lives. An older woman came towards Sidaz and I, carrying about a 2 year old baby. I greeted her with “Shikamoo!” (A greeting given to elders (refer back to Swahili Lesson Blog) meaning, “I respect you!”) Her response was “Marahaba!” (I accept your greeting!) Sidaz, in his broken English, introduced me. She was his mother. The baby she was carrying is his son. This was interesting for a couple of reasons: 1) I didn’t figure Sidaz to be a father yet. He’s a pretty young guy seemingly unbothered by major responsibilities: 2)His son (whose name is escaping me now) was hanging with Sidaz’s mother as though he were her own child. Also, Sidaz didn’t really treat the child as his son, but more as his younger brother. The funny thing about the whole interaction was that Sidaz’s son is terrified of mzungus. I tried to make him comfortable with me and gain his trust, but it wasn’t working.
Forty-five minutes passed and I was still waiting for the CCS van. I decided to wait a few more minutes and if the van didn’t show, Sidaz offered to walk me back to CCS for I didn’t know where it was from where I was. Fifteen minutes later I was walking back to CCS. Later on Didase, Mama Clementine, and Zik apologies for forgetting to pick me up.
I met an older man on our walk. He had to be in his eighties. He just noticed that tall mzungu and stopped me to greet me. I said Shikamoo! He replied Marahaba! He was the sweetest old man asking me about my stay in Bagamoyo and my home life in America. He told me that I was very welcome by saying Karibu Sana! (You are very welcomed!) He also assured me that I was in good hands with Sidaz. He asked where he could find me. I told him at the Baobab Studio or at Cross-Cultural Solutions. Immediately, he knew what I was talking about. Apparently, CCS is very well known in Bagamoyo.
Just before getting back to CCS, I bought Sidaz and me a soda. Kind of like a thank you for going out of your way gesture. We both got orange Fanta. (Yes, that’s right, there’s Fanta here!) The soda’s were only 800 shillings each (about 75 cents) for a big bottle. We sat and drank up for a bit. After about a half-an-hour walk back to CCS, it was already lunch time. I thanked Sidaz for walking me back.
After lunch we had our second Swahili lesson with Mwalimu Mwalubawa (Teacher Mwalubawa). Our first lesson was on Sunday, the day before. Bwana (Mr.) Mwalubawa is the sweetest old man. A retired teacher. He taught for over 35 years. Now he teaches English for extra cash, although he doesn’t seem to be hurting for money. The lesson was on basics such as family members, pronouns, greetings, and days of the week. I really do enjoy learning Swahili.
After the language lesson we had a lecture on the school system. Many of the volunteers here are assistant teaching at pre-, primary, and secondary schools. Tanzania has 3 kinds of schools. Parents can pick between a Non-Formal education with no certificate; an Informal education which is somewhat structured and ending with a certificate; or a Formal education that is the most structured. The Formal education starts with nursery or pre-school (ages 3 to 5 and sometimes 6 if the student isn’t ready to proceed) where the students learn Kiswahili, community sharing, numbers, and the vowels a, e, i, o, and u. Primary school is standard (grades) 1 – 7 and culminates with a test at the end of standard 7 that determines if you can make it into secondary school. For those who don’t get selected go to either vocational school or a private secondary school. The mwalimu was a woman teacher. At the end of the lecture, she got into gender and the school system. She seemed to be very passionate about this subject. She is currently working towards women’s empowerment through education. It was super interesting to listen to he speak about the issues that she relates to the most. I was so happy that CCS chose her to lecture us.