Girls with Neighbor friends Loserian and Namanyaki

Nov. 5, 2008 – KIA Lodge, Tanzania

The Go Away birds and Hornbills above me this morning are seemingly unaware of the importance of this day, but the workers here at KIA Lodge, where we’ve come to stay while picking up Grammy Sally from the airport, are not. They celebrate with us as CNN announces Obama’s 297 electoral votes on our computer screen. A better birthday present I don’t think I’ve had in my 42 years. The significance has us moved back and forth between tears and giddy laughter. Finally, a victory, after so much quiet work by diligently compassionate people. I recall the day of Nelson Mandella’s vicory in South Africa back in 94 or 5 was it? In Tanzania the energy was vibrant. In my lifetime this is a first for the U.S. and rather than a beginning of something big, it feels like the middle of something we’ve been heading towards for years. Like the surge that’s been building and growing without the fanfare it deserved until now. I was just reading in Doris Lessing’s Golden Notebook her character’s theory that history is marked by surges, moments when there is a universal understanding of something new, or an ability to do or understand something new that is mysteriously taken on by peoples spread across regions without obvious access to one another. Go Obama! Oh, the inspiration! Our computer is byte by byte downloading the acceptance speech and we gradually get one or two more words each time. We are now at the place where he is talking about people grabbing the arc of history and bending it towards…?” We can imagine what will come next in this poetic and presidential line that undoubtedly will be quoted for years to come. …a new world where unity is more important than greed… where a consciousness of sacrifice for the sake of the survival of all is accepted as common practice… so many possible endings to that line, but clearly I am not a speech writer. I expect that his will be one worth repeating again and again. HUGE thanks to all of our friends in the states who have been working for this campaign. And gratitude to all of the young people who voted for the first time, as well as to all the old people who stood in long lines in places like Florida and Virginia to make their voices heard. My students in Monduli were talking yesterday about George Bush as President of the World. This is true for so many people in small nations. The international consequences of voting in Barak Obama as President of the United States of America are immense. The reaction is one of great victory here in East Africa. The ending to that line just came through… “the hope of a better day.” Simple and powerful and good.

Rain Comes to Northern Tanzania

A few of Abby's students on a walk outside the campus.

MGLSS Form IV Graduation 2008

Mama Mwiki, the school matron, and I have been having an ongoing discussion about the Swahili word pole (po-lay) for the past week. It began when she asked me what seemed a simple question, “What do you say in English for pole? The conversation ensued.

The easy translation of pole into English is “sorry.” Sometimes it works. If you step on a person’s toe or spill hot coffee on them, you may say pole and “sorry” would work just fine there. However, if you pass someone working in an office, on a farm, or anywhere you say pole, when “sorry” just isn’t right. We aren’t sorry that people work. In this case pole shows empathy and encouragement. In English we might say, Good Work! or Keep at it! or My but we all have so much work to do! (Probably, we just wouldn’t say anything.)

When it is hot, you say pole. When it is cold, pole. When someone is sick, pole is mandatory where in English we might just say get well! Maybe there is less expectation of quick recovery here? When a woman has a baby it is pole with the hongera (congrats). When a child cries for any reason, pole. When you see someone with a broken down car or computer or bicycle? Pole. After a long journey? Pole.

Pole is quite possibly the most commonly spoken word in Tanzanian Swahili – at least here in Monduli where the sun can be hot, the work never ending and poverty rampant. Pole seems to lighten the load for people and to make it easier to enjoy the incredible scenery, smiles and kindness that abound.

Yesterday I had a triple pole experience. I was walking towards home when I passed two men driving three heavily loaded donkeys. Two of the donkeys trotted easily forward towards me, but the third donkey was doing everything but cooperate. Both men were using all their strength and wits in an attempt to make the donkey move forward. None of this was working and the loud breying of the frustrated donkey added to an air of chaos. As I passed, I offered a light hearted “pole.” (as in, that looks like a bummer.) One of the men began a short tirade about the plight of the African, something about working so hard and getting nowhere, to which I responded with a tone of sincerity, “pole sana” (as in I’m VERY sorry that your life is so hard!). The man then made a joke about the donkey being the African farmer’s Land Rover and today this one was, like Land Rovers so often do, misbehaving. My final “pole” was given with an empathetic laugh after weeks of dealing with our search for Land Rover parts. The mood lifted and the stubborn donkey finally gave in. We all parted ways with friendly farewells, further poles unnecessary for the moment.

What a useful word. I’m not sure how we do without it in English. So all I can tell Mama Mwiki is pole.  aaj

Our scope of experience in Africa continues to broaden. Now, after almost three weeks, it feels like we are really here. The girls continue to be interested in just about everything – especially the coconut roasted with sugar and salt! They make friends with apparent ease and enjoy their rhythmic mornings here at home with Daddy as teacher. Eric has taken on the role seamlessly and I enjoy watching as his Waldorf drawings and stories evolve for Claire and Stella. I have a week of teaching under my belt now and am finding comfort with my lovely class – brand new to the school and still trickling in each day. They now number 32, but will eventually reach 60.

Eric and I find, with each passing day, more awareness of both the miraculous and the dissonant aspects of life in Tanzania. We have now spent two and a half weeks fully engaged in the work of locating, purchasing and installing seat belts for the back of our Land Rover. This is a process that would never be repeated in the US. It is purely an African experience. I am skeptical but hopeful that Eric will have success with the final phase this afternoon so that we might safely drive to Arusha tomorrow to visit with Dave and Eunie Simonson, founders of this school. Dave has just had another heart attack last week and we need to get in to see him before any more time passes.

The moon was full this week. Mornings are cool and breezy, afternoons warm and still. Around our house we see or hear the ever cooing mourning dove, breying donkeys, a neighbor’s rooster all day and all night, skinny dogs sneaking around licking at the dish water we pour on our garden – grateful for soapy grains of rice or bits of onion picked out by fussy girls, the intermittent silence of clucky chickens as stealthy augur buzzards swoop through the yard, chirping crickets, the buzzing of mosquitoes followed by the slap of my swatter, rhythmic pings and pongs of jacaranda seed pods hitting tin roofs, the wafting scents of roasting bananas, coconut rice, Rebecca’s baking bread, curries and garbage fires, jasmine, dry maize and boiling beans. Our hair is like straw, caked in dust again just moments after a good washing. We check continually for signs of lice after our friend Laura was sent home from school with a raging case. The concrete floors make for easy clean up, but achy legs. Dirty feet, dirty feet, dirty feet!

Teacher Selina Returns to Maasae Girls

I begin to feel a part of the faculty at school. Two Selinas, two Neemas and Engais, all graduates now teaching here! As I look at my new students – Nambayo, Ngizito, Safina, Naitoi… I reminisce about former student s like Sayanoi who arrived in 1995 unable to make eye contact or speak without covering her mouth with her hand, just like these girls now. Today Sayanoi is a practicing lawyer and a mother, grown and beautiful and brilliant. I know that this sort of future awaits many of these shy little girls. In my assessments this week I found that at least 8 of the girls in the class so far are not able to recite the alphabet or count to twenty in English. I feel frustration with the primary school system but try to trust that their growth these next months will be rapid enough to allow them success in secondary school. I have my work cut out for me and wish for a magic wand. They must be ready to begin Form 1, all 9 subjects in English, by January 5^th – 15 weeks from now!

As Claire and Stella have described, our weekend in Tarangire was a great treat. Friends and lodge owners, Annette and John Simonson, welcomed us for two nights and spoiled us with great food and views and conversation. Having already spent years snapping zillions of photos of lions and zebras, the enjoyment for me was watching the girls take it all in. They were perfectly thrilled by it all, even the little birds and beetles. Nice. And I could never tire of spending time with those Tarangire elephants. We look forward to sharing it all with guests to come!

Tarangire View

We are all still healthy, so if you are one who has been sending good wishes or prayers our way – thank you! Grateful to be here and missing you all at home, Abby

Ps – Eric just sent a text message saying he’s on his way home with seat belts installed! Whew. Stella and Claire are doing a seat belt dance.

ps2 Seat belts broken…

ps3 Just hearing about the week of economic crisis there at home after a week without internet. Hope you are all okay!

Claire and Daddy Watching...

Baby Baboon

Claire: Last weekend we went on our first safari. When we were on safari we went on many game drives. When we first got there and we were paying our park fees, me and Laura went off exploring and we found some elephant poop. We picked it up and it was neat. It wasn’t gross. It was just chewed up grass. It looked like grass, too.

The next day I was sitting with my dad and mama said, “Hey Claire, Look!” and there was a mama monkey with a tiny baby on her back, right next to our tent. It was cute. My mom took a couple of pictures and the mama monkey came right up to me. I went inside to go to the bathroom and Daddy said, “Hey Ab, look.” When I stepped out of the bathroom to see what he was talking about there was a daddy tent looking at me inside our tent! It was neat. There were so many monkeys. Some tipped over our morning tea. The mama with her baby came again when we were sitting on the front porch of our tent and the mama came, picked up a yellow fruit, took a bite of it and left. It was neat. Laura and Trish walked up with their bathing suits on and the monkey walked right in front of them on the path. I got my bathing suit on and we went swimming. I was jumping off the edge when Daddy came up with Stella. Daddy said that a monkey had come and peeped into the tent looking at Stella when she was asleep. Then the monkey grabbed the zipper and started zipping it up! Daddy shooed it away though. I think it was going after our chocolate bar.

Twiga...

Swala mama

We also dik diks. We would sit in front of our tent in the morning drinking tea and watching the baby dik diks bounding about. One had horns and the other two didn’t. They were girls. They were cute. We also saw elands from our porch. They are big and huge like moose, but bigger.

There are many mosquitoes here. You cannot sleep without a mosquito net. Grammy Sally, we made a cozy fort, but you won’t be able to sleep in it when you come because the mosquito netting doesn’t go over it.

We also saw lions eating their kill at Tarangire. We were sitting in the car and we watched as they took turns eating their buffalo. We went back the next day and the lions were still there. On the third day we went back again and the buffalo was covered in vultures but the lions were gone. The vultures probably cleaned it all off and then left. Then it was just an empty skeleton on the beach.

My favorite part of safari was seeing baboons. I’ll put a picture here of a baby baboon staring at us. It liked having its picture taken. It made a funny face for the picture. I think you’ll like it, Dave.

How are things going there? Here in Monduli everything is going good. We are busy with knitting right now, but we’ve also been playing and taking outdoor baths. We don’t take them in a tub like you do in Washington. We take them in a little laundry tub. It’s fun. The electricity has been going out a lot. Yesterday it went out in the middle of dinner. We had to share some candles with our next door neighbors because they were scurrying around in the dark.

Daddy is teaching us school at home. It’s going good. We do beeswax and main lesson and songs with recorders and walk. I like first grade. It’s fun. Hi to the kids in my class at Sunfield! I think it’s probably night time there. Here it is afternoon. Goodbye.

THe tiniest baby elephant

Hello, this is Stella. This is about our time in Tarangire, which is a national park in Tanzania. It is about an hour and a half’s drive from our house. I’m going to tell you about the elephants (tembo in Swahili) first. Tarangire has a LOT of elephants! We were driving out on a game drive – a time when you drive around looking at animals. We were looking out our windows and we saw a mother elephant with her baby the size of a puppy! We’ll show you a picture. They were in a whole group of elephants and we drove right up close to them.

We kept driving and we were looking and looking for lions and leopards. Finally, we were passing by the river and I said that it smelled bad. We came around a corner and there were some lions (samba) eating their kill – a water buffalo. There were ten lions altogether. We watched them for a long time.

At the beginning of our game drive we saw some wildebeests. We also saw impala (swala) , zebra (punda milea in Swahili – striped donkey), baboons, giraffes (twiga), and a lot of different birds. One was a secretary bird which is a great big huge bird. I wish you were here. It was fun.

This is the secretary bird

Oh, and also, the Maasai girls are still singing at the school every day and every night and it is major beautifulness.