I promise I’m still alive! My boss left in early October because her mother is sick back in the US, so things have been busy around here. Thankfully, we are still able to communicate with her via email, and I have some pretty amazing Tanzanian coworkers, so we haven’t gone completely crazy.

A little update on work: we’re in the midst of a month-long low season for Mount Kilimanjaro, so we’ve been teaching classes! We’ve been focusing on organizing classes to teach porters about their rights. Basically, we arrange with the companies to meet with their porters (sometimes 20 show up, sometimes 500!), we teach them about their rights, and then we invite the director in at the end to discuss any issues. It’s been a learning experience, but we’ve had some really great classes these past few weeks. Sometimes I get teary hearing the porters standing up for themselves in front of their company director. Usually they are too afraid that they will lose their jobs to do this on their own, so it’s very rewarding to see the staff of our organization acting as mediators.

A few pictures:





As I’ve mentioned in earlier posts, it’s been an interesting few months for our organization politically, and I’m seeing many sad parts of Tanzanian life that I didn’t realize were there before. It’s depressing to think about how things came to be this way and even more difficult to think about how things will be able to improve.

That being said, there are still many parts of Tanzanian culture that I love. People are generally friendly and kindhearted and willing to go out of their way to help you. Sharing, cooperation, and togetherness are values deeply embedded in the culture that I think we could learn a lot from in America. There are also some quirkier parts of everyday Tanzanian life that I’ve been noticing and loving a lot lately. I thought everyone might enjoy it if I explained some of them here:

1. Pedicures at the bus stand. Most people travel by bus around here, so the bus stand is a pretty hopping spot. The stand is full of people trying to sell lots of stuff-from tickets to snacks to shoes. But my favorite salesmen at the bus stand are young men in the age range of 15-25 who carry around nail files and a basket of nail polish, and for $1, they will give you a complete manicure/pedicure.

2. Text forwards. I think these may have been somewhat popular in the US for awhile, but they have really found their niche in Tanzania. And with the types of texting packages that are available, people can be free to send lots and lots of these forwards without paying extra. Their charm lies in their dramatic abbreviated language and how they make you think you should be able to understand them if only you were a little more philosophical. For example: FWD: Neva think of the past b’z it brings tears n don’t think much of the future b’z it brings fear. Lif is where u a, commitment & self determination ar ze mirror or ur precious upcoming future look 4ward with confidence & backward with gratitude & where u a with hope!”

3. Man Love: This is somewhat related to texting forwards. Homosexuality is technically illegal here, but it is definitely not illegal for a young man to send another young man a text message along the lines of “I miss you and love you so much that I'm going to die,” even if they have just seen each other 5 minutes before.

4. Celine Dion: It’s also not a shameful thing for a man (or woman or child) to truly and deeply love Celine. My 25 year-old taxi driver made a special trip to get a “special” playlist before taking my friend and I to the airport a few days ago. It turned out the playlist was “Falling Into You” in its entirety.

5. Unabashed Requests for Contact Info: On the daladala yesterday, I sat next to a young man. Our conversation went something like this:
young man: How are you?
me: Fine. How are you?
young man: Fine. What is your name?
me: Laura. What is your name?
young man: Emmanuel. May I have your contact so that we can communicate in the future?
me: Ummm…I have to go. Bye!

This is my life, over and over again.

6. Name Confusion: This is another typical conversation:
Tanzanian: What is your name?
me: Laura.
Tanzanian: Flora?
me: no, Laura.
Tanzanian: Glory?
me: no, L-A-U-R-A.
Tanzanian: oohhh, Laura. Like Laura Bush. You look just like her!

7. Waiting in Line: When you go to the store or market here, you just have to elbow your way up to the front. I used to try to wait my turn, but after being passed up too many times, I now cut line without even thinking about it. I’m a little worried how this is going to work out at Target when I’m home for Christmas…

8. Saying No: As a general rule, a Tanzanian will never tell you “no.” Even if something is utterly impossible and both he and you know it, he will tell you not to worry, it will happen “tomorrow” or “another day” or “when there is time.”

9. Buying Vegetables: Another general rule: you most likely won’t get a mama at the market to decrease her price, but you will get her to increase the amount of fruit or vegetables she will give you. For example, maybe you are shopping for oranges. She says she will sell you 5 for 1,000 shillings but refuses to go down to 900 shillings. She will, however, give you 1 or 2 extra oranges for free which makes the per-orange price less than what it would have been if she had decreased it to 900. Ah well.

10. Traveling Pharmacy Salesman: This is maybe my favorite cultural phenomenon. You’re on the bus, and all of the sudden there’s a young businessman up in the front asking for your attention. He proceeds to pull various health and beauty products from a bag, describe them, and explain how they are all being sold for just a fraction of the cost! It’s kind of like the Home Shopping Network but live and in-person, and you’re on a bus so you can’t escape.

11. Chinese Products: Cheap, fake Chinese products are everywhere here, and Tanzanians have a somewhat love-hate relationship with them. They scoff because things are Chinese-made (or “kichina” as they say in Swahili) and will wear out so quickly, but they buy them because they are so cheap. For example, I currently have in my possession 2 pairs of sunglasses (one pair of Dolce and Gabana’s and one pair of Ray-Ban’s) and an Adidas watch. I bought them all for a total of less than $6, and I can almost guarantee you they will all be broken by next month.

12. Burned Movie Collections: In a topic somewhat related to fake Chinese products, “movie collections” are also available on the streets of Moshi. These are basically multiple pirated movies burned onto the same disc and sold for less than $2. For example, there is one collection called “2010 New Movies” that includes When In Rome, Date Night, Remember Me, The Back-Up Plan, etc. Various seasons of "24," "Heroes," "Lost," and "Grey's Anatomy" are also readily available and all on one disc. And as an added twist, many of these movies come with non-removable English and Chinese subtitles. And I don’t know how it happens, but the English subtitles aren’t exactly what the actors are saying—it’s this weird, overly translated version that tries to mean the same thing as what the actors are saying but doesn’t make sense. For example: No, I want to take him to the park” is subtitled as “Do not, I wish bringing it to garden.”

So there are a few hidden gems of Tanzanian culture—I’m sure a Tanzanian living in the US would have many funny things to share about American culture, too. You are all welcome to come visit to experience all of it for yourselves!

Hope everyone is doing well, and I hope to see many of you at Christmas.