Back to Uganda

Wednesday April 6th
We slept till about 4am, and that was it! Dogs were barking, Bruce got up, the mosques started to blare out their call to prayer, then the roosters started. A man knocked on our door at 5.40 – he may have been from hotel management, otherwise he was in the nextdoor room and had been woken by the noise of our shower. We left just after 6 am and were on the bus at 6.20. We bought a loaf of bread to eat on the way, and the bus left at 7 sharp!
There was no checking of passengers at Kyotera on the Tanzanian side of the border, and we reached Mutukula at 8.30, and only stayed there a short time. One young man in a yellow T-shirt had been tugged and pushed onto the bus by a woman, his mother? before the border. When the bus stopped at the side of the road in Uganda where a man was standing, he didn’t want to get off and the opposite to what had happened when he got on! One wonders what the story was there!
Masaka was reached at 10.30, then the outskirts of Kampala at a quarter to one. A man got up and started trying to sell medicine – in fact he made quite a few sales – of creams, pills and potions that were supposed to cure anything from baldness to impotency. He was quite amusing as he pantomimed a bit and told all these stories as testimonials – some really made me laugh and amused the other passengers too. I was kept busy outlining it all to Bruce.
Half an hour later, we neared the city centre, where the traffic had practically ground to a halt. It took another hour to reach the bus centre, which the bus couldn’t enter as there were vehicles parked in front of the gates. many of the other passengers had already got off, getting frustrated with the lack of progress – not an option for us, not knowing our whereabouts! We found the taxi stand quite easily, and soon set off for Entebbe. This time we had a much faster journey! It was a pleasant day, 26 degrees. The minibuses stop right outside the Entebbe Flight Motel so it’s a very convenient place to stay.
After dropping off our bags, we went for a walk past the nearby supermarket to the small village shopping centre. Around the taxi park are many small shops and cafés. We chose one that said it served snacks and cold drinks. Lutheran music was playing and we seemed to be the only customers. It was around 4 pm by now. The menu was a little unexpected: the ‘snacks’ were all some kind of meat or fish accompanied by chips, whereas ‘meals’ were the same thing but instead of chips, were served with ugali, matoke or various Ugandan alternatives! I asked the girl whether they had anything smaller like chapattis, and she was able to offer us samosas. We enjoyed drinking mango juice as well. Whilst we were relaxing in that cool place, we noticed a rather amusing poster on the wall. It said that if you smoked, the staff would think that you were on fire and treat you accordingly!!!!
After that break, we walked around a small food market and bought some bananas. Bruce was interested in finding out the price of some very nice looking steak at a butcher’s, and we were surprised to find out that it was quite expensive – 7,000 Ush a kilo (nearly 3USD). In Tanzania it is about Tzsh 3,000 a kilo (2 USD).
We stopped at a rather modern supermarket and bought some water as it was much cheaper than the hotel’s. We had a look around at all the different foods on display and bought some fruit juice. They have an interesting system when you leave the supermarket – you have to hand your docket over to a person near the exit doorway, who has a brief look at your purchases before waving you on. There is also a guard at the entry point. Rather different from here in NZ.
I found out that you have a choice of ordering from a menu or eating the buffet dinner at the motel, so I decided to choose from the menu rather than have to try to eat lots of food at the buffet to make the extra price worthwhile. Bruce wanted the buffet, so this put the staff in a brief quandary. Normally people eating from the menu dine in one room, and those partaking of the buffet in a 3-walled room opening onto the main courtyard. However, they decided that they could serve me my meal there as well as long as we agreed on a suitable time for dining.

Traffic jams

Friday March 25th 2011
We ate the provided breakfast, which is quite nice – mango juice, fresh tropical fruits, then toast and jam. There is also tea and coffee. We then took our bags across the road and down the way to the minibus taxi park, trying to dissuade all the hopeful taxi drivers (of both cars and bodaboda (motorcycles) from giving us a lift. It was quite cool and cloudy so it was easy to carry our packs - and we were travelling light – we only had one large pack and two small ones. It was easy to find a minibus going to Kampala, so we climbed aboard and didn't have to wait long before it was full enough to set off.
The first part of the ride was fine, travelling through the lush countryside as far as Kampala, but once in the city, the traffic became totally chaotic. It wasn't nearly as bad four years earlier when we’d travelled through the city on a big bus! Instead of the usual 40-minute trip, it took an hour and a half!
This time there were solid lines of gridlocked minibus taxis - some were stationary waiting for passengers and others were trying to get somewhere! In places they were lined up 3 deep.
Once we had disembarked at the Old Taxi Park, we tried to remember where the Gateway buses leave from, but unfortunately all we could remember was that you have to go uphill. We chose a likely-looking street and tried asking some passers-by, but they couldn't help us. One group of three young men wanted to chat with us, but after a while, Bruce decided that one man's attentions to me were a bit over-the-top! He had first called me "sweetheart", then wouldn't let go of my hand - so Bruce said, "Leave my wife alone," - which caused a number of questions! Qualcel bus 60,000 sh!!! + 10,000 Mutukula to Bukoba on Gateway. Stuck ¾ hour petrol station, passed bus depot 1 hour after setting off, ½ hour to leave city – at noon!
Eventually we found someone who reckoned he knew where the Bukoba buses leave from, but we were rather perturbed when he set off downhill. We followed a little reluctantly and ended up at a different bus depot where there was a bus due to depart to Bukoba about half an hour earlier than the Gateway bus would leave. I was rather surprised at the price charged for the tickets – the ticket-seller told us the fare would be 30,000 shillings – each! However, I assumed that the price was higher due to it being a different company and the steep rise in fuel costs. As it was getting rather late, and we weren't sure if we could find the Gateway depot in time, we decided to take the ride.
We were glad to be able to buy some water very cheaply from a lady who came onto the bus to sell her wares, and then it was time to set off. First the driver went to a petrol station and put just a few litres into the tank before setting off - only to find that he couldn't exit the petrol station because the traffic was so busy on the street that it was really hard to exit onto it. We were stuck behind several other vehicles and had to wait our turn. After a while, the driver got impatient and followed someone’s very silly advice to try another exit. So, after reversing from where we were, and manoeuvring to another exit, we found that it was totally jammed by 2 or 3 rows of stationary daladalas (minibus taxis), some waiting for fares! No-one would let us out, and eventually our driver caused some extra chaos by reversing back towards the pumps again, then returning to our first exit – as the vehicles that had been in front of us before had all managed to leave, and in fact, there were fresh vehicles queuing up there, waiting for the rare gaps in the traffic. By the time we were able to leave the petrol station, we’d spent 45 minutes there, and slowly completing a circuit of a block, we arrived outside the bus station again, a whole hour after we’d left! I was hoping that we wouldn’t re-enter it again to pick up more passengers! Fortunately we already had our quote and it was time to get going! Another half-hour later, we exited Kampala. It was great to be out in the countryside, the only disruptions to the traffic being the frequent judder bars at the entry and exit points of villages and towns, and the odd police check.
We made quite good time and reached Mutukula around 4pm. What a surprise it was when everyone started to disembark before the border post and started to climb on board a Gateway bus!!!!! The new conductor asked for another 10,000 Ush and I explained that I thought I'd already bought a ticket for the complete journey - oh no, that was just for the Qualcel bus! At least 10,000/= wasn't too much to part with, and it was a little amusing really!
We didn’t have to spend too long at the border, and were soon in Bukoba, very happy to be greeted by our friend Gayle Smith, together with an ex-student of ours, Hassan. She’s sponsoring him through school as his Muslim family disowned him when he became a Christian. Unfortunately he got a much lower grade than expected in the National Form Four exams, but was still able to get a scholarship for a school in the South East of Tanzania. We’d first met Gayle just a few months before we left Bukoba in 2007, when she came to start teaching at the school where we were working. She is now working at a different school.
We had time to buy an SIM card for our phone and a voucher before squeezing into a taxi with several other people. Gayle says it’s the usual way of getting to Kemondo now if you’re too late for the daladalas. But it isn’t very comfortable with 6-9 people in a car built for 5!
We were thrilled to be hailed by someone in the street near the taxi stand – our friend Aristides, one of the stone-cutters Bruce worked with at Harvest. He’d had an accident since we last saw him and had had his leg amputated below the knee late 2010 as an earlier operation had never healed properly and had left an infected wound. He’d managed to get an artificial leg and proudly showed it to us. More about that later!
Our taxi driver did a surprise detour on the way to Kemondo – to avoid a police check. He said the policemen is like Colonel Gaddafi!
Once at Gayle’s feeling rather weary after all our days of travel, we waited for tea. She makes a really yummy avocado dip. She’s sharing a house with a couple of other teachers at the mission school. We’d visited it briefly 4 years earlier.

A disastrous trip

Friday July 24th Well, what a day! It started slowly, no-one apart from Bruce seemed to be in any hurry to get up, and eventually I had to ask him to settle down, he was getting me uptight! Breakfast was sooty peanuts and slimy pawpaw at 7. Michael hadn't as yet appeared, and the taxi was due in twenty minutes! We waited for him to join us, and he looked very surprised to see us still sitting there at 10 past, he’d forgotten all about food! Pic: Bibi & Mama Lucia outside the 'new' house.
Just as well the taxi was a little late, Jeremia had had to walk to Nzega to get it as the driver didn’t know the way to bibi’s. We were a bit surprised to see no bus waiting at the bus stand as it was supposed to leave at 8 sharp! Eventually we were told it had broken down on the way from Mwanza, but would arrive at 8.30. Michael jokingly said it wouldn’t come till 10!
Well, it hadn't come by 10 so we started discussing the possibility of getting a refund and finding another bus. Michael wanted to arrive before dark and Jeremia said we’d need to leave by 11! No-one was talking much, Michael kept wandering around the bus station. At one point he hugged Jeremia, asking, “Why are you so cold & your heart beating so fast?” “Mama’s running away, and I want her to stay & stay & stay....!” It was quite sad. He was going to return to Igunga later that day.
Well, we had to wait & wait & wait – until 11.45, when the bus pulled in and there was a mad dash to load up the luggage and push passengers on board. I delayed getting on to give Michael time to stow our bags away underneath the bus, aided by Jeremia who came up to say a last goodbye. Michael was only just in time, we were almost pushed up the stairs by the conductor!
It was sad, we couldn’t sit together again - it was a smaller bus, the seats were in pairs not threes. However, Michael sat behind us, and little Michael sat on my lap.
We stopped just after Igunga, they opened up the panel behind the driver’s seat to access the motor. Bruce was really worried by the hissing sound as they added water to the radiator, he thought we had or would get a cracked cylinder head!
The stop at Singida was only for 10 minutes, hardly time for anyone to get to the loo, so we just stayed on board.
I'd been told it’d be tarmac roads all the way to Dar, but after Singida, it was back to rough sand and dirt. The roads will be nice one day, there’s a major roading project as far as Dodoma. The new road’s being built to one side of the old one, some parts had already been tarmacked by prison gangs. We were only allowed on one brief stretch near Manyoyi.
The scenery near Singida and Dodoma is fantastic, there are amazing rock formations: huge crags and gigantic rounded rocks looking like they’d just been dropped from heaven!
Just after one of several weigh-stations near Dodoma, a helmeted policeman, waiting on a motorcycle at a police checkpoint, came on board to accompany us! At first I thought it was just a routine things, but it soon became apparent we were in trouble!
After stopping in the large car park outside the Dodoma police station, the driver and crew went off, with no announcements made re how long we’d be there. There were a few kiosks selling food, but no sign of public conveniences, and I was feeling uncomfortable.
After asking Michael if there were toilets, I thought he said no, and then he got off the bus. I was a little worried we’d have to stay in Dodoma as it was now 6 p.m., and public transport doesn’t normally run after dark in Tanzania
Bruce and I stood up to rest our weary behinds, but I got too desperate so went outside to see Michael, and was very relieved when Michael pointed around the corner – wondering why on earth he hadn’t come back to the bus to let me know!
Once I returned, I asked if he knew how long we’d be there and why we'd stopped – well, apparently the bus driver, well-known to the police, had been arrested for some minor misdemeanour on the way, and no-one knew how long it would take to get him released!
While Michael took little Michael to the toilet, one of the bus crew came out of the police station to tell the group of passengers standing around to go into the office, but he specified men only much to my relief, I was the only woman outside and there was no way of letting Michael know. I was more relieved that the man hadn't told everyone on the bus to get off.
When Michael returned, I told him what had happened, standing in full view of the three officers at the desk indoors. I don’t know whether the sight of a stranded Mzungu standing outside quietly made them relent or whether the men had had to pay a bribe – but they all trooped back out again, telling us to re-board the bus, we were off! It was great news, although by now it was nearly dark.
We reached Morogoro about 10 p.m., then the outskirts of Dar around 1 a.m., everyone dozing between stops. Just before each stop, the lights would be switched on & the destination announced to the sleepy passengers.
We were very glad to disembark at 1.20, waiting for the bags to be offloaded – somehow they’d switched sides on the way - then went by car to the guest house, which unfortunately had only a double room available, no singles. The two Michaels walked off into the dark back to his little room. Our bed might have fitted three but not all four!
We were glad the staff agreed to look after our bags the next day till the afternoon and to let us pay the next day. We needed a bank or ATM, we didn't have enough cash left and had an afternoon flight!

Tazengwa at last!

Friday 17th July  We woke up far too early at 3.30!  We'd just finished getting ready when suddenly, loud cries rang out: “Mwezi, mwezi” (Thief, thief!).  My blood ran cold: if a thief gets caught, they are often stoned to death! Michael turned up soon afterwards, & went to find out what had happened - the thief had used a wire to open a window & hooked out some money + a cell phone.  He hadn’t been caught.  We were glad we’d put our things well away from the window, we’d locked it but the bars were rather far apart.
We weren't pleased when the taxi driver charged double because it was night.  We could easily have walked but it isn’t safe; even taxis get held up, especially when carrying Wazungu: we show up like beacons!
The bus was in a poor state of repair: our seats tended to recline if someone put a hand on the back.  My seat cushion wasn’t fixed in either, so I had to push it back every so often to stop being squashed into the seats in front; the men behind us had their feet under the seat!  At least we were able to all sit together this time!
We set off at 6 sharp, but after an hour on tarmac, it was bumpy roads. We stopped at a petrol station in Singida for 20 minutes, just time for a comfort stop and to buy some food and water.  It was expensive: takeaway chicken/chips was 3,000 Tsh, twice the price and half the quantity of our tea - so we ate buns! An earlier toilet stop had involved using the roadside, not so bad for men, but no good for the ladies, unless you have the right kind of skirt!  It pays not to drink very much on bus trips so that you last out! 
We arrived in the dusty bus park at Nzega at 2.30, then took a car to Tazengwa a few kms away, turning off down a wide sandy track - the main road to Tabora - before leaving the road for an even-smaller one winding between trees past a couple of houses towards 2 entwined bougainvillea trees, 1 orange and 1 purple, in front of bibi’s house. 








Well, she actually has two houses now: the old house (left, front entrance) is only used as a store as it’s getting too broken-down to sleep in, + the newer one (right, back entrance) was built about 5 years ago (or less) with the help of missionaries when they saw the condition the old one was in.
After greeting bibi, who was just as I'd imagined her, except shorter!, our bags were put into the new house, then we went for a little walk with Michael round part of the  shamba, which is partly native vegetation, & partly ridged for cultivation.  The remains of maize, beans, + cow peas were dried up & breaking down. 
At one side of the old house is the ‘bafu’ (bathing shelter) made from branches covered with long grass, but as it was rather broken down, it would be our job to repair it the next day. We were told we'd go to Mama Lucia’s to bathe this time. 
Further over are the remains of the small 2-roomed house where Michael lived with an uncle, (well, a 1st cousin once removed – but most relatives your parent’s generation are ‘uncles’ or ‘aunts’ – apart from your mother’s sisters who are mamas, & your father’s brothers who are babas!)  After the back wall fell down it was used for goats, but these are now in another village. 
A section further on has been set aside for a school or another project.  At one side is where his mother & Boniface lived before she died - now it’s just scrub!  Returning towards the old house we turned left past the brush-walled pit toilet: the curtain door is a bit low down & is a bit tricky when it’s windy – but at least the neighbours are some distance away! 
Closer to the main track is what remains of Michael’s little house. He made his own bricks and built it with the aid of a fundi.  He was so sad, when he came home after being away for more than 2 years, to find it had fallen down: he’d obviously been very proud of it, he kept saying in English, “Good house, good house!”  Cheeky me said it couldn’t have been that good, or it wouldn’t have fallen down!  He moved into bibi’s new house after that. 
Bordering most of the paths is a succulent hedge that he planted, it needed pruning, but you have to be very careful, the sap can damage your eyes: the antidote is milk from a nursing mother!
I was interested to hear that he’d been born near Shinyanga, but a year later, his grandfather moved the family to live next to the Free Pentecostal Church of Tanzania (FPCT) in Tazengwa, he’d been called to become its second pastor.  They went to the shamba later on when he retired and another pastor took over.
We sat down on chairs outside the old house, then some of Michael's cousins turned up – they were happy to greet him, but not us, preferring to stand behind the porch giggling!  So he put a small stool on the ground (just a few inches high, used for sitting on when you’re cooking over the open fire), said it was the welcoming seat, & made each sit on it in turn & greet us in English!  It was very funny! 
Mama Lucia also came to greet us briefly, saying she’d return later.  Her husband, Enock, had gone with some other village folk to a neighbour’s funeral in Bukoba.  They have 4 daughters: Martha (19), Maria (15), Magdalena (10) & Margaret (who’ll be 3 in November). 
‘Uncle’ Paulo arrived later on – first we were told he’s babu’s sister’s son, but later on that he’s Michael’s great-grandfather’s first wife’s sister’s son – no blood relationship at all as babu was one of the second wife’s sons! Confused yet?There was a bit of a lull in activities: Michael went indoors presumably to sort things out for later on, the cousins lounged around outside or helped bibi cook, so I spent a little time playing soccer with Michael mdogo.  It was quite fun and eventually Bruce joined in too.  We were glad to have some ugali + chicken mchuzi after a while, very welcome!
Mama Lucia came back to take us to her house to bathe and to put on clean clothes – ours were filthy after the dusty trip!  I got worried when she told me she wanted me to dress in two kangas (a rectangle of cotton) afterwards like the local women do!  They don't seem to like to change into their clean clothes in the bafu, I don't know why!
I don't mind wearing a kanga as a skirt with a T-shirt on top; it was wearing just a piece of cloth on top that bothered me, it leaves your shoulders and half your back bare!  Being so pale I felt a bit like a beacon, and the bafu was between their house and the neighbours'!  I was glad no-one was outside, but felt really embarrassed to see Michael looking at me from the sofa as I dashed past to reach the safety of the bedroom! 
After bathing, we returned to bibi’s, but Michael stayed behind. He soon appeared with a small procession of cousins bearing a bedstead, mattress, mosquito net & bedding.  We went inside when it got too cold, but as everyone seemed so busy, I didn't want to bother them about trying to find our sweaters.  Instead we sat all alone in the gloomy sitting room, which was lit only by a candle, until all was ready – then we had peanuts + Fanta before going off to bed.

Off to Arusha

Thursday July 16th We were up at 7 and went outside to wait for Michael as usual, then Ntarula came out, hearing us talking, and told us Michael had already gone to Rosa's, so we went together to look for him. He was outside cleaning his teeth!
At breakfast, we were joined by another of the Mzee’s brothers, Saidi’s father, who’d come down the mountain for the day.
We went to the bus stand around 9, Michael had wanted to leave earlier, Rosa wanted us to delay! We were to take Michael mdogo with us too (pictured with mama + Bruce)!!
It seemed a long wait before we left in a battered old landrover. First Michael had to bargain over the price: the driver wanted to charge for little Michael, although small children normally travel free as they sit on a lap. It's always a bit nerve-wracking waiting, they keep on tooting the horn like they’re ready to go, then drive away to make a circuit of the village to try to find more passengers before returning to the bus stand. Our luggage stayed up on top without being tied on for ages, but once it was fastened, it was REALLY time to go.
We drove off the road into part of the village criss-crossing a drain + squeezing between trees to pick up a passenger from his house. Back on the ‘main road’ – a dirt track wide enough for 2 vehicles - we stopped to hoist a motorcycle onto the roof, it almost didn’t make it! We ended up with several people on the roof + hanging off the back door!
We'd been told Same was only 1/2 hour away, but we Took 1 ½ hours! It was a very rough road, the countryside a mixture of lush, wetter areas & dry thornbush-covered land. Little Michael was very proud to be coming with us, not at all concerned to be away from home, but he soon thought we’d already arrived!
Once in Same, we travelled down the dusty streets to gingerly cross a drain on wooden boards to arrive outside a mechanic’s workshop to drop off the motorbike. It took a bit of manoeuvring to reverse the Land Rover back onto the street, there was no room to turn round!
It took a while to find a bus with enough spare seats going to Arusha at the bus stand. We'd decided to stop there for the night instead of Moshi, to be able to visit Michael’s sister Evelina. We bought some bananas, biscuits, juice & water while we waited. Bruce + both Michaels sat in the back seat, but I had to sit by a rather sulky lady + young baby. It was nice to have tar-seal roads, although shortly after reaching a large town at noon, the bus broke down, just 28 kms from Moshi - a broken tie-rod.
Many got off the bus or stood up during the 25 minutes it took to fix it. Unfortunately my neighbour spilt juice on my seat, and I started to wonder if it was ‘accidentally on purpose!’ as she didn’t even want me to sit on the edge of the seat.
I was very pleased to be able to change seats after Moshi, where a lot of people disembarked, and Michael even came over to sit next to me and chatted the rest of the way to Arusha!
I was very impressed by Moshi, it's very clean & beautiful – the only part of Tanzania to have anti-litter laws! This region is lush & green, there are lots of good crops & trees, very unlike many other parts we passed through.
We arrived in Arusha about 3.30, and Michael left us with the bags + little M to buy tickets to Nzega + find a taxi to take us to a guest house. We then went to a nearby ATM, as we didn't have enough cash for both the tickets + a guest house. The glass cubicle was guarded by an armed man sitting inside a small room with a roll-up door. As the taxi was waiting, I only briefly checked the money, and later on found the last 3 notes were only 5,000 Tsh each instead of 10,000!
The guest house was nice, quite close to the bus stand in a very quiet street. We were glad to put on our sweaters before going by daladala to Eve's. The busy streets were lined with people selling wares, and we even saw 6 Europeans!
Once off the daladala, we walked along a narrow, raised dirt pavement alongside a deep drain, and stopped at a small shop to ask where Evelina was; Michael had expected to see her selling corn but she’d gone home early.
We went through a dirty alleyways, stepping over a smelly drain to enter a gate in a tall mud brick wall. Eve’s was the last on the left in a small alleyway between 2 buildings. 2 small boys, Joshua & David, came out from the opposite curtained doorway to greet us, then Mary (Evelina’s step-mother - Boniface has remarried) invited us into her small living room: a bed on the right, 2 sets of chairs with a low table in the middle (not much leg-room!) + a large wall unit on the left. A second curtained doorway leads into another room. It's typical rental accommodation: you rent 1-2 rooms in a house and share an outdoor kitchen, choo & bafu.
We sat on the chairs, Michael on the bed, listening to Mary. She’d just got over being sick for a month, firstly a lung infection then a painful stomach. Eve entered without greeting us properly, rather reluctantly sitting next to Michael, who eventually got her to greet us in English, even to answer a couple of questions + count to 100! She likes school & is in Standard 4.
She was sent back out with the 2 boys to buy soft drinks; Bruce had fun trying to take the tops off with no opener! Betty (Mary’s teenage daughter from another marriage) came in with the pastor’s eldest daughter who's 19 and has excellent English. Her mother came round with her youngest son Tito (6), inviting us over for a chai afterwards, although her husband was still at church.
Boniface turned up later on his bicycle, he’d had trouble getting back from work as the roads were so busy. He’s a salesman. He’s very nice but isn’t a Christian, unlike his wife.
We all went to the pastor’s for chai, and were told it was the first time they’d had such visitors, other Wazungu have refused to come! How rude!
I tried to take a photo of Eve, her father + the rest, but the battery went flat & the spare one was in the guest house! That was sad, our only opportunity.
Both families accompanied us out to the street, we caught a daladala with Boniface back to the guesthouse, then he left us at a nearby café where we ate chicken/chips for tea – yummy! Little Michael ate an omelette with his & whilst we were waiting, we played with a marble on the tabletop! But it escaped & got lost!!!
We went to bed about 9.40, arranging to meet at 5 the next day for another early bus.

Kisiwani

Monday 13th July What a sleepless night! The neighbouring bar played LOUD music all night. After checking the time at quarter to four, we decided not to try to get back to sleep, so had a shower and got up. It'd been hot, but we'd only had the fan on low so it wouldn’t make too much noise!!! Needn't have worried about that!
We went downstairs just after five, Michael turned up at half past, looking a little embarrassed to see us waiting! We took a taxi to the bus station due to safety reasons. There was tight security at the gate, only one person is allowed in at a time, & if you don’t have a ticket, you pay 200 Tsh. I guess it's to discourage touts, salesmen and pick-pockets.
After putting our packs under the bus, we climbed on – it was a long way up! It had three seats each side and seven across the back where we sat, Bruce in the middle stretching out his long legs! We started having a lovely chat about Michael’s favourite subjects: history & politics, his new room, etc. It was rather a shock when the ticket inspector came round and found some other people had the same seat numbers as us! He decided Bruce and I should move forward, but I was so disappointed, I felt like telling him we'd been apart for almost two years and were just starting to catch up! However, I decided not to cause a fuss! It seems seats are quite often double-booked; different agents selling them - although they each get a seating plan with their seat allocations on it. Some companies are sell tickets twice over just to get more money.
The bus set off very late, 7.45 a.m., but we didn’t know why! There seemed to be interminable discussions between the inspector and some of the passengers.
There were good roads as far as Korogwe, which we reached at noon, stopping for 1/2 hour. Not much further on, we turned off onto the A4, a dirt road. The landscape became very dry: baobabs/thorn trees, not much other vegetation. After a while, interesting mountains started to appear, rising sharply out of the flat plain. Some of the many rivers had water, but others were dry.
Closer to the mountains, there were lots of big trees, flowing rivers, but no grass. Late in the afternoon, we started to stop at every little village to drop people off, before coming to a final halt in Kiswani (‘on the island’) in the Same district at 4 p.m. There's no sea or lake there – but it’s like an island of flattish land surrounded by tall mountains! If you click on the map to enlarge it, you'll just make it out near the Kenyan border, half way between Moshi and Tanga.
The last section of road was SO bumpy that the person in front of me nearly hit his head on the padded piece housing the seat lights/ventilator! I think there were sore bottoms all round!
We were met by a few folk who helped us with our bags. After crossing back over the bridge the bus had driven over, we went up a small dirt road to a house surrounded by a big hedge which we entered through a large gap: Mama Rosa’s.
Mama Rosa is the sixth of Michael’s grandmother’s seven daughters, and she is only five years older than him (33) – but her husband, a doctor, is called ‘the mzee’ (old man) as he’s 62! Unfortunately he was away in Mbeya, attending to a family matter. They have two boys, Frank (Standard 4), and Michael mdogo (little Michael to distinguish him from ‘our’ Michael!) who’s repeating S1 – he started school the year before, but has only just turned six: usually they start at 7 in Tanzania. There are 7 standards (Kenya has 8) in primary school. Only about 10% of Tanzanian children ever get to secondary school, although the government is trying very hard to make more schools available. There are two primary schools, a kindergarten (chekechea) and a secondary school in Kiswani.
The house has an open-plan lounge/dining room, two bedrooms (the main one has a bucket-flushed European toilet!) and a traditional choo off the lounge that leads into a large storeroom. We were amused to see an electric stove being used to store pots and pans in the dining room! The cooking is done over an open fire outside in a small lean-to jiko (kitchen).
Pic: lounge/dining room showing the low table where we ate. As it only sat four, the others ate at a big table near the back door behind the sofa.
After our things were put in the boys’ room, we bathed in mama’s ensuite using a jug of water. We had black spicy tea at 5.30 - yummy, and the bread & oranges that Michael had bought on the way. It was our first food: we'd left too early to eat breakfast, and we only had enough change to buy water on the way.
Some visitors came to greet us: a young man, Ntarula, who’s from Kigoma but is studying Form Three here, and a young lady called Francisca, recently married, also from Kigoma. Her husband turned up later.
When Michael tried to switch on the TV, he got a small shock & the power went off - the fuses didn't blow so that was a bit scary!
We went for a nice walk with Michael 'round the block' after inspecting the section around the house, which is surrounded by hedges on three sides, and tall trees near a stream on the fourth. It was sad to see so much bare soil where there are normally plants – the drought has been bad here too. Michael was surprised to see that the banana palms had died since February.
Then Rosa took us to see the family's guest house, it was their former home. It isn't far away, and has a small mill on one side and Rosa’s pharmacy on the right. The front door is up several tall concrete steps leading into a lounge containing a sofa, with 1-2 bedrooms on each side. Half the wall between it & the next room, which also has 1-2 bedrooms on each side has been removed. There is also a small kitchen annex at the back leading to outside. Each bedroom has a bed, mosquito net + ‘self-container’: a small room with squat toilet on a small platform, a tap that doesn’t work (you use a bucket!), an open space for washing with a hole in the wall to drain out the water.
The small two-room pharmacy only had a few stock medicines & bandages. Michael told Rosa about Bruce’s rash, which had reappeared on Sunday, so she had a little look, and was sure it'd just go away again. We hadn’t been sure whether it was a staph rash or caused by poorly-prepared beans - but it wasn’t terribly itchy & TCP seemed to calm it down. Some of the wheals were a whole inch across!
They also own a restaurant + bar behind the guest house: the outdoor tables stand under a thatched roof under huge trees; the bar/servery are in a little kiosk on a raised concrete area with more tables. She sells fried pork + soft drinks as there are no girls to serve in the bar.
We returned to Rosa’s for a nice dinner at 8.30: meat mchuzi (stew) and rice, followed by pieces of banana and oranges, before returning to the guest house to be given a couple of rooms there.
It was a bit noisy for a while, there were lots of people outside talking & laughing (in the bar?) till late. I woke up far too early, so spent some time thinking and praying about Michael & our children, thanking God for the opportunity to see them all this year. I was sad that we'd missed 8 hours of conversation on the bus by having to sit apart!!!
It was impossible to get back to sleep once it was five: the mosques started up, the bus honked its horn, the first trucks roared away, roosters began to crow & people talked outside as they started off their day!

Back to Nairobi

Saturday July 11th It was a somewhat cool night disturbed by hyenas, and was cloudy when we got up at 6.15, but cleared up later, and was very hot in Nairobi! After an early chai, there were lots more farewells. We left at quarter to 8 to walk to Ezekiel’s where we had some more chai before walking to the school. The taxi driver had refused to return to Luka’s, saying it was too far and too expensive – TOO TRUE! - but he wouldn’t drop his fee for the shorter trip – GRR! There were lots of passengers this time: us, John, Ezekiel + Joseph (one of the Enkiloriti teachers). Daniel accompanied us to the car to see us off.
It only took 40 minutes to get to Duka Moja this time. On this better road/track, it was possible to drive at 20 kph! Ezekiel farewelled us there, having business to attend to, but Joseph came all the way to Nairobi with us to get some exam papers for the school.
I had a private giggle in the taxi: the radio announcer was talking about various celebrities who were sharing a 'bath day'!!!!!
We reached Nairobi soon after 11, it was a good trip, but we were shocked at the condition of the cattle we passed, and of course the maize was in an even worse state.
At the internet, I still couldn’t access Xnet mail, but was pleased to have an email from my parents on Yahoo saying they’d successfully contacted Amex on our behalf. We changed some USD into Ksh to cover our last expenses in Kenya, also giving John his wedding present.
After a cheap lunch, and even cheaper public toilets (10 Ksh for two), we took a bus back to near Nicholas’ – but during the slow journey bin heavy traffic, it caught the edge of a matatu whilst on lane-changing manoeuvres. They just swerve from lane to lane without indicating or checking that the way is clear, it's amazing there aren't more collisions. Quite a kerfuffle ensued, each driver accusing the other of causing the damage, some of the passengers got involved too! I was praying it wouldn't become physical!
As our bus had ended up diagonally across 1 ½ lanes in a 3-lane carriageway, vehicles on our left had to veer onto the footpath to get past! Some of the passengers started to complain vociferously about the long delay, some even got off the bus and started walking to find another.
Eventually a police van passed us, without slowing down or showing any sign they’d observed the problem, but it must have stopped at the next roundabout & told one of those on point-duty to attend to it, as soon afterwards, a policeman was seen striding purposefully towards us. After a quick word to both drivers, both vehicles started up & drew into the nearby petrol station. Another brief discussion, then we were on our way again – don’t know if any money changed hands or not, couldn’t see.
When we reached our stop, Joseph accompanied our bags on a motorbike taxi back to the ‘shopping centre’ whilst we walked! Poor Bruce wrenched his back again stumbling on a stone. We were saddened to see a dead cow in a patch of grass on the way.
After backpacking our bags from the centre to Nicholas', arriving at about 2.30 to a quiet house, we were greeted by Elizabeth, Emily + the little ones. We wennt to bed to rest whilst John & Joseph returned to town to find the exam papers. We got up a couple of hours later when some children started playing noisily outside. After repacking our bags, we sat in the living room waiting for someone to turn up.
I walked round looking at all the pictures and calendars festooning the wall. One calendar (from a Pentecostal church) had ‘miraculous’ stories – one situation was frankly impossible: a woman gave birth after being pregnant for three years! Another one really made me laugh: “a woman conceived and gave birth to a boy after being in bareness for 4 years!”
After John & Joseph returned at 6.30, we were offered ‘cocoa chai’!!! John was very surprised to hear we hadn’t been offered anything earlier on - so were we! He told us Yasintha is also drinking cocoa instead of tea, they believe it’s bad for mother & baby. She’ll also have LOTS of uji, like the Wahaya in the Bukoba region – they get really fed up with it in the end!
John got Michael on the phone unexpectedly. He was so excited to hear me speak, his voice sprang up an octave, but we didn’t have much time for more than greetings, as John's phone ran out of credit. Michael didn’t ring back but we'd be meeting the next day anyway!
We talked about visiting the local pastor again, but again John was too tired. We watched the TV news & weather, surprised to see the maximum temperature was only 22 deg, it seemed much hotter! We spent the rest of the evening chatting with Nicholas, who'd come to Nairobi 17 years ago to be closer to good grazing. They are used to having the kiangazi (drought/dry season), but it’s the worst he’s known.
Our supper was very late, at ten, but was very delicious: cabbage (a vege at last!) + chapattis, followed by pieces of orange & banana – YUM! Poor Maurice had gone to sleep on a chair, but could only eat just a mouthful or two before slipping back into sleep again, nearly in his plate! It seems cruel to expect little kids (he's only 4!) to stay up so late, I don’t think they realise how much sleep they need.
We didn't get much of that, it was a VERY noisy night: barking dogs outside till early in the morning, then a rooster clapped its wings together & started to crow well before dawn!