Mimi si Mzungu! Ninaitwa Camerooon!

"Mzungu", meaning "white person" or "foreigner", is a word that I've come to know all to well. Every morning walking to school is like my own personal parade. Just smile and wave, smile and wave. Greetings are a huge deal in Tanzania and will often go on for a number of minutes. Hi, how are you? I'm great how's your morning? oh good? how's your house today? Great! How are you feeling today? Good! etc etc. And for many of the greetings the responses are "Safi! Poa! Freshi!" These all translate to "Cool! Clean! Fresh!" which I find ironic since I've never been around so many people who couldn't be further from fresh and clean... So it takes me a bit longer to get to school. But I'm hearing mzungu less and less as the children know my name and at least attempt to say it. Everyone seems to have a hard time with it, and usually I'll end up with Kim, or Karen, or Kemlen. So, I've simply began introducing myself as Cameroon, so they know what I'm saying. Even Big Boy addresses me as Cameroon now in class.
Kiswahili class is going really well. We have our mid-training OPI (Oral Proficiency Interview) on Friday and I'm kind of nervous. I've been here for about a month and as of right now my language skills should be equivalent to two semesters of language back home. I can't believe how quickly its going.
Every day at school we have a break for chai and we go to the neighboring mud hut, where the Mama sells chai and chapati for about 200 shillings. We've dubbed it our "chai-bucks", and now we're noticing more and more of the small mud huts around town. I told my group, "Man there's a chai-bucks on every corner of this village. This is just rediculous!"
I'm not sure that I ever gave a recap of my Tanzanian family members. I have a much better understanding of the language now, and thus have a better understanding of which children are actually living with me. There's Mama Mwanaidi and Baba Mgumi. Baba is a farmer. Mama has 5 kids, and the first couple of days Dada Asha was around, but I guess she and her children were only visiting. There is one older Kaka Njema, who doesn't live with us. And then actually living in the house is Dada Mainda, who is 14 years old and she works as a seamstress. And then there's Kaka Dula, who is 11 years old, and he goes to school. And finally my little Dada Edith, or Eddie, as I like to call her. She is about 3 and a half years old and rediculously adorable. Eddie and I always "help" Mama cook dinner after school.
My pie baking skills came in handy the other day as I was helping Mama make "chapati", which is basically a glorified African tortilla, consisting of wheat flour, coconut water, and tons of oil. I helped role out the dough and fry it, and tried to explain apple pie in my broken Swahili. I don't know if they got it, but they were impressed with my rolling skills. I also made use of my braiding skills the other day. I braided Mainda's hair for her into what was as close to corn rows as she was going to get from me. While the braids were pretty good, I lent Mainda my small mirror to take a look and she responded with a "good try." When I came home later, Mama had redone them and they were smaller and much better. What can I say, my braiding skills are not quite up to par with these ladies.
The other day after school, the group tried to get together to play some cards and relax. Normally after school, I go straight home to help cook, or do some other chores. We didn't realize how much of an ordeal our "playday" was going to be. I feel like I'm 11 years old again. My Mama had many questions about where I'd be going, when I'd be back, who was going to be there? She had to walk me over to Paul's house to meet everyone, which is literally a stone throw away, and she made sure that I'd be returning before dark. Meanwhile as my Mama is holding my hand to cross the road, there are mobs of 5 year old kids running around the village with machetes. I don't know who or where these parents are, but for the most part kids take care of themselves around here as soon as they are able to walk it seems like. Yet, Kilulu needs to hold a village meeting if the 5 white kids wanna play some cards.
We actually did get to attend a village meeting this week for class. We had to give ourselves a short introduction in Kiswahili, and then we got to ask some questions to learn more about the history and community of Kilulu. We opened the meeting with an energetic "Kilulu Ju!!", which is kind of like a rally call for the village. There were about 20 village leaders, and they were mostly all old men. I didn't get really nervous until my Mama walked into the meeting. But I introduced myself and talked about why I had come to Tanzania, and thanked them all for being at the meeting that day. It was a really good exercise to be able to practice the language as well as learning more about how Kilulu functions, how many kids attend/don't attend school, what crops are grown here, what diseases are prevalent, how many people have AIDS, etc. We learned that there is no official record when or how the village was established, there are no health centers in Kilulu, there is an estimated 32 people infected with AIDS, there are a number of crops grown here, and that a good amount of the girls who actually do attend the primary school don't go on to secondary school.
During the meeting we were able to present an idea we came up with. Each training group is required to make a permagarden at their villages to practice and learn more about the process. We decided that we wanted to do ours at the local primary school in Kilulu and have the kids take it on as a learning project and then after we leave the school could maintain it and take ownership of the garden. Hopefully it will serve as a good food source for the kids at school, as well as a way to educate the younger generation about sustainable farming techniques, which they can then pass on to their parents. The village leaders were very supportive of the idea and said that the school and the kids would be very excited about the project. We start working on Tuesday and I can't wait! I'm really excited, but we'll see how efficiently we can manage all of these watoto (children) in Swahili.
After the the meeting we had a chance to converse with some of the village leaders for a bit. Luckily my Mama was there to support me throughout my conversations. She said I spoke very well, and that she was happy that we did such a great job at the meeting. I'm trying to talk to one of the village leaders, but he talks so fast that I have a hard time understanding. Every time he finishes a statement, I look to my Mama for the "Cameron translation" and I understand her perfectly every time. Mama knows that she needs to speak to me as if I were a 5 year old who's a bit slow, and then I'll know what you're saying. Apparently, this man had asked me how old I was, which of course was immediately followed by the question of whether or not I was married. Before the Mama translation I didn't realize what he was asking and I said yes, at which point my Mama quickly corrected me.
We also got to take a trip to Tanga this week. Tanga is the nearest major city, so it was definintely a culture shock within itself to travel there from our quaint little village. We had to board a cramped daladala to get there. We got to exchange some money, hunt for cell phones, and get what was as close to an American meal as we were going to find. Walking around, I knew I was coming up on a bank when I saw the men in uniform with massive shotguns pacing the building. We found a couple phone shops, where there were literally only 5 phones in the shop and they were all locked behind glass cases. There was a man with a gun outside the phone shop as well. I came upon a solar power phone and decided that given the available amenities and the local environment, a solar powered phone would be great investment. However, there was only one to be found in all of Tanga. So I'm holding out until next week when they will get some more in the store. We stopped to get some food and I saw the word PIZZA on the menu and decided to take my chances and gamble on a Tanzanian pizza. What I ate would probably be considered closer to a shepherd's pie than anything else. There were peas on the pizza, the marinara sauce was replaced by mashed potatoes, and don't even get me started on the sorry excuse for cheese that topped off this "pizza". It wasn't exactly what I had in mind, but you know what, it was something different for a change.
Another thing I noticed more of in Tanga were the men holding hands. Women and men can't touch in public. Some women can't even show their faces in public. Homosexuality is illegal. Yet, if two men are walking down the street and talking, it isn't uncommon for them to be holding hands for the duration of the conversation. I'm still trying to get used to all that. All throughout training, the Peace Corps staff has referred to poor conduct or appearance as "notorious behavior". They always say "notorious" when they're talking about behavior that is disrespectful, permiscuous, etc. So now, whenever something slightly questionable happens, we all start singing "Notorious!" My kanga blew up the other day and my bare naked knee was exposed for all the world to see! "No-No-Notorious!" Becca and I had a gin and juice at the "bar" last weekend....because well, we needed it....Notorious! But really though, I haven't been acting seriously notorious. I promise.
On Friday we went to MATI and met up with the rest of the trainees for a day of class there. I heard some interesting stories from the other villages. Apparently, one of the trainee's Mamas is an actual witch doctor, who exorcises spirits and such. He got to attend some event with chanting, and he said she started foaming at the mouth. It sounded intense, but really interesting. However I'm glad that my Mama isn't a witch doctor.
Yesterday was our Sports and Games Day! We went to the village of Lusanga to meet the rest of our group. I got to play volleyball, frisbee, and some soccer with what seemed like a hundred watoto. It was really fun, and a nice break from what turned out to be a very busy week for me. Before the games started, there was a group of 3 boys and 1 girl who did some dancing to welcome us. They were amazing, jumping around, flipping, doing the splits, stacking chairs and doing handstands. There were a few guys playing the drums for them the whole time they were jumping around. After they were done, we all got in the circle and tried to do some dancing, which we of course failed in comparison, but we still had a lot of fun.
I think that's all I got for this week. I hope that everyone back at home is doing well and having a great summer! I miss you all and hopefully I'll get to talk to you soon. I got my first letter from home this week and it made my day. I was so happy! Thank you CJ! I can't wait to come back next week with some new tales to tell!