Memories are so intense…

I was back from Tanzania a while ago. The trip was so great that I cannot get used to Italy any more. After getting to Dar es Salaam, my travel-mate and I got a local coach to reach Dodoma. Getting to Dodoma by coach is like entering Africa gradually. During the drive people listen to the radio and to Tanzanian music, which is often very loud, you happen to talk to the Tanzanians on board, you happen to buy pineapples from the window or to have a chicken close to your seat. And during the 10 minute break which takes place by Morogoro, at half way, you already get the chance to experience the public toilet, the lack of running water, the sweetness of the mangos and the driver’s punctuality, who, straight after 5 or 6 minutes, starts the engine and hoots the horn. But it is highly unlikely that two mzungo (a kiswahili word referring to a white person or to a Western foreigner) might be forgotten there. If necessary, the driver comes to call you at the toilet to tell you the coach is leaving immediately. Then, in spite of all we hear about “African rhythms” I have to admit that the public coach service is quite efficient. In Dodoma we met the persons in charge of the Kisedet project and we lodged in one of the few rooms made up for the guests. Stark and comfortable room, African wood beds, mosquito net, and also low pressure running water. We had a shower by putting our foot in a basin, in order to be able to reuse the water for the flusher of the toilet. Not that the flusher did not have water, but this way we saved a lot! In Dodoma we visited the orphanage and as an agreement with the children we organised some Italian classes. The children love Italian because in the Dodoma region there are often Italian lay or religious volunteers, visitors and tourists. Who knows how they see us… anyway in seems they like us! We were also able to see how the orphanage is organized and better understand the organizational and economical internal difficulties. With my travel mate we decided to raise funds to restructure and equip the recreational room of the orphanage. But for me, the best part of the trip was our staying in the village of Kigwe. We arrived there on Friday morning, the day of the lamnada, the weekly local market. You go through the stalls, you try to understand what the products are and their use, the colours of the kanga or the kitenge, of the pili pili ( the local chilli pepper ), of the tropical fruit, of the dark faces with very white smiles; the sale of oxen and goats, chickens and calves; the auction sale of second hand Indian clothes; but for me the best thing was to stop for a couple of hours under a thatched  little house to drink a Tanzanian beer.. there are three kinds, the Kilimanjaro (also called Kili), the Safari and the Ndovu.. If you like strong beer I suggest the Safari… In short, under that hut we lost the sense of time and space, and my travel mate and I knew many people and took many pictures, we got lost in the rhythm of the people although Majuto was lazily trying to take us back… Before leaving for Tanzania, I committed myself to study some basic Swahili, and I have to say that it was very useful to be able to laugh a bit with the Tanzanians. Majuto followed us during our stay at the village. He is married and has a baby: now his wife is expecting. Majuto knows some Italian and some English, speaks Swahili fluently and is a perfect African guide: he always gets late and above all by surprise. He suggests things you do not really realise what they are, but then… you find yourself following him. We spent those days at the Kisedet guest house. Our room was nice, essential and with mosquito nets. The bathroom did not have running water, so that to wash ourselves we used the water of the bins we had taken inside during the day. As we experienced how hard it was to carry the water, we then used it sparingly. At night the generator rarely works, so to go to the toilet we always used the kerosene lamp that we always turned off before falling asleep, when we had checked that all the doors were locked and that the hyenas could not enter the room. I’m kidding, of course! In Kigwe we visited the Kisedet vocational schools: tailoring, carpentry and mechanic schools. We spent many hours at the carpentry workshop and we also took a lot of pictures. It was nice to share the work experience with the students. In Kigwe nature is wonderful, so, with Majuto we did some trekking on the hills, we went up back the river, visited the centre of the village, and when we stopped a few hours at the Mbuyuni… I do not know how many hours, I only know that the days spent in Kigwe are interminable but memories are so intense.. you actually do not do anything, you watch, you have a walk, you observe, you stay! To the readers, I strongly recommend a visit and a stay in Kigwe!

Annalisa R. (2007)