The last day in Njombe was a little strange. Houseboy Faki asked if he could keep my ipod. Apparently people here always ask you if they can have your things.
That same day, mama invited some random dude with a camera over to the house and we proceeded to have a two-hour photoshoot complete with props and wardrobe changes. They took photos of me doing everything from turning the TV on and off to squatting by a rock, (where an entire colony of fire ants crawled up my legs - which only caused a minor blip in the photoshoot schedule) then balancing on a treestump with Faki, then pretending to drive the truck with Mama, then pointing to the bumper sticker that said, "This car is protected by the blood of Christ." Afterwards the photographer asked if he could take a few pictures of just him and me. He gave the camera to Faki and held both my hands as Faki snapped away. He then thanked me, told me he would frame the pictures, and left. I'm sure that by next week all of Njombe will believe that I'm his new white wife.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
I realized that I haven't told you all much about the other volunteers. They have been a big part of the experience and I've neglected to include them in my stories! We spend most of our time relaying wacky stories about our host families and talking about our favorite pasta dishes. So without further ado, here's the cast of characters:
Krista, 18, from Kansas: The other American girl. She's funny and outspoken...typical American! Unfortunately she got sick with ameobic dysentary which was immediately followed by a terrible ear infection. We thought she was going to die for a while but now she's ok.
Kyler, 21, from Maryland: A recent graduate from Emerson College in Boston and the only boy on the trip. He worked for Obama hardcore before coming to Tanz...but even he hasn't bought the Obama fabric because it's too ugly.
He got to kill a chicken in Njombe and one of the other volunteers videotaped it. We're all pretty jealous.
Laura, 24, from Adelaide, Australia: Very sweet primary school teacher from down undah. She's also really funny and both of us get into trouble in school because we chat too much and laugh at all the Swahili words that sound like dirty English words.
Annabelle, (Bella) 17, from Australia: Very mature and smart for her age. Much more mature than me. Probably smarter, too. She lives on a farm in Australia and has her own horse! She also showed us pictures of this activity where they castrate bulls and throw the amputated apendages at each other. Fun!
Jolene, 27, New Zealand: A bike courier who is originally from South Africa, so she has a silly accent. She is also the first of us to get malaria. She says funny things like, "I must go have a sleep."
Claire, 21, from Birmingham, (England, not Alabama!): Also very funny. Neither of her host families owned mirrors, so she hasn't seen herself in four weeks.
Keisha, 21, from London: Also hilarious, (it's a good group!) she has the thickest british accent I've ever heard and I couldn't understand her for the first two weeks.
Ali, 23, from London: Ali is a pro at Africa. She's been in Ghana for the past four months so she's a lot more chilled out than the rest of us. Last week she got a marraige proposal from one of her Tanzanian neighbors.
Doratea, 27, Birmingham: An art teacher who is originally from Sudan, so she brings some african flava to our mzungu group.
Gwen, 25, Belgium: Gwen already speaks like 45 languages and is much better than the rest of us at Swahili. Oh, Europeans...
------------------------------------------------------------------
On a more sobering note...HIV/AIDS in Tanzania:
While in Njombe we visited an HIV testing site to get information about the HIV/AIDS rate in our specific region. We have been placed in the Iringa region because of its alarmingly high HIV infection rate, (up to 20% in some places). This is due to a number of reasons:
Iringa is located on a main bus and truck route. People pass through the region to go to Dar es Salaam, Lake Victoria, Kenya, Rwanda and Burundi in the North and Malawi and Mozambique in the South. Iringa is also a large university town so there are many young people milling around. And you know what young people do...
It has been proven that it is much easier for uncircumcised men to catch and spread HIV. Southern Tanzania is much more Christian than the heavily Muslim North, and most Muslim men are circumcised.
Gender roles and cultural beliefs add an extra element. The HIV infection rate is highest among people aged 24-50, (In the US the highest infection rate is 13-24). This is interesting because most women start to get married around age 24, so many of the people getting infected are married. Typically, women become pregnant within two years and many Tanzanians believe that it is uncouth to have sex when a woman is pregnant or breastfeeding. Since Tanzanian families have an average of five kids, it could be a decade before the husband and wife can be intimate on a regular basis. This leads, predictably, to infidelity. Men are almost expected to have affairs and some even take multiple wives! A don't ask, don't tell policy leads to infection within the marriage.
55% of Tanzanian infections are in women. It is much easier for a woman to get HIV than a man because the virus can very easily penetrate the vaginal wall. On top of all this, divorce is frowned upon and men often abuse their wives.
In other interesting cultural news, a few friends directed me to this article about the albino killings:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/17/health/17albi.html?_r=1&emc=eta1
**A note on packages**
It's pretty expensive to send bulky packages to this far away part of the world, so I don't want anyone spending too much money! That said, you should send me things anyway.
No comments:
Post a Comment