Standing in a dala dala

The Germans, with whom we have been in class for four weeks, are leaving today.  It will be different around here.  I suspect there will be more silence.  At first, we and the Germans had a couple unpleasant encounters.  A few cultural misunderstandings and simple clashes of very different personalities.  Very little time passed before these were forgotten and friendships were formed.  It is odd how quickly one forms relationships with people in strange situations.  I think that this is suggestive of the human need for others.  In previous blogs, I have commented about independence and codependence and interdependence and how in Tanzania the last two are stressed far more than the first, so I will not go too far into this thought.  The idea that "person is people" is simply confirmed by this desperate grasp for relationship.  We need each other.  No one is really independent.  It is good.

Yesterday we had a send off celebration for the Germans so we were allowed to leave our studies early to prepare.  Every nationality was to cook a meal from home.  The students from the US had a rather difficult time coming up with something to cook that was really "american" and easy enough to prepare for 30+ people.  We finally decided on mac and cheese.  Since this doesn't really require more than two hands the rest of us went to town to buy supplies for the party after the meal.  It was way good.  I really enjoy going into town.  On the way, our dala dala broke down so we got to walk for about a mile, very refreshing.  Oh, for people who are thinking of coming to TZ: know that you can get most toiletries from the store here.  Small travel size things are fine and will suffice until the first visit to Pira's Cash and Carry.  On the way back home I got the wonderful opportunity to be the last one into the dala dala so I stood up in the speeding vehicle with my backside in the face of this lovely Muslim gent.  The dala dala is quite the experience when you are sitting.  Standing up doubles the fun.  I really enjoy the dala dala.  Ok.  So we came back and had food and it was delicious.  I have been jonesin for Indian food and we got some last night so that was wonderful.  During the celebration I got into a discussion with our teacher Delta.  We talked about school and how he wanted to go to university to be a community developer or business person but would have to wait for the second picking of his agemates.  He told me about when he first started school and how he was too young but he basically whined until his mom let him go.  So whenever he wanted to feign sickness and stay home his mom would say, remember how you wanted to go to school?  Get up and go.  He had no excuse.  We talked about family and how he and his older brother used to fight a lot.  We shared stories of the best fights with our siblings.  Then he said that the respect he began to show his brother really changed everything.  In TZ culture, a younger person is to greet an elder with "shikamoo" to which the elder responds "marahaba."  I had no idea but this apparently can also apply to brothers (Johnny).  So when he began to greet his brother with shikamoo his brother began to feel a responsibility toward Delta and the relationship has improved.  I think this is very telling about human relationship.  If parties show respect and begin to feel a responsibility for each other then things will improve.  We are our sister's and brother's keepers.  It is amazing that respect is so deeply ingrained into this culture.  There are so many other areas of life here that are centered in respect for another's humanity.  Even the greetings.  A person never goes anywhere without greeting and the greetings can last for a very long time.  No conversations just gets down to business.  It is a cultural norm here to really care about how a person is doing and how their life is.  It is very humanizing.