Repairing the bathroom; a village expedition; the wars of the ants

Saturday 18th July Sunny with a very cold wind: we wore sweaters in the morning! Breakfast was bread, bananas + cold chicken, Michael said it was like a feast day! We talked re family trees + our different naming systems which are a bit tricky to get used to!
Afterwards it was time to repair the old bafu: Umoja (unity) & Fun! We first made strips of bark from two types of branches, Michael was splitting them in half, I was peeling off the bark. Ibrahim was helping too - he's one of Regina's sons and lives with bibi, he's probably about 10 years old. Bruce was indoors, not sure what he was doing.
Once we had quite a pile of kamba, we helped Michael repair the frame. Ibrahim and I held new branches in place whilst Michael tied them to the vertical frame with kamba. Piece by piece, old bundles of grass were replaced by new, Ibrahim binding this time. As he decided we needed stronger ties for the frame, Michael went to cut branches off an oil palm, using the midribs. They look nice, having pale green stripes on darker green. I was sent to talk with bibi, until some of the girls turned up to help prepare mchicha (spinach) - then I went back with the camera to check building progress and found that Bruce was now helping.
More kamba was needed, so I had to learn to split the branches exactly down the middle, a lot harder than it sounds, and one variety was quite tricky! The men extended the frame on one side of door to better conceal the occupant on windy days – there’s a kanga curtain in the doorway only.
Once they'd finished, I helped Michael remove the stones from the inside (because of scorpions), which we replaced after sweeping out the bafu.
After a good lunch just after 2 of beef/mchicha/ugali & bananas, Michael and I spent the next two hours chatting whilst Bruce rested: African affairs, NZ visas, leadership & aid corruption, his need of a wife. He estimates that only 10% aid gets to the people who need it, so countries are unwilling to help.
Once Bruce came back outside, we went for a walk around the 6-acre shamba, to see the boundaries. It must take hours to prepare for planting in December when the rainy season starts. The place where babu, Michael’s mother & aunt are buried was pointed out. The family also has another shamba for maize & a third for rice, just across the road.
Martha (M. Lucia's oldest daughter)was busy pounding rice in a large painted wooden mortar to remove the husks, so that bibi could cook it for tea once the chaff/dirt was removed. Maria (her sister), Ibrahim and Editha (Mama Joyce’s eldest daughter who also lives with bibi) just stood around while bibi went off to get water - I was a bit annoyed, because Editha & Ibrahim are supposed to help her with chores when they’re not at school.
After bathing, we went for a walk into the village to visit Michael’s pastor Jonas Kulwa, greeting a group of people sitting on a mat outside a house on the way, some of whom were more relatives! We followed one of them, a very friendly lady, to a nearby house which had a small shop in the front room. We were very surprised as Michael had said nothing about going shopping! The reason was to buy us all jandals for bathing as we’d been borrowing other people’s, but we also added a few other essentials for our stay: soap, laundry powder, a biro, matches, some sweets for little Michael, + toilet paper. After briefly visiting the pastor’s, we returned to bibi’s for tea.
It was exciting when Mama Joyce and her other daughter (another Maria!) arrived from Igunga after tea. She’s a seamstress, probably unmarried as she uses her maiden name Kikumbo, but said the girls’ father is in Moshi. As Mama Lucia came round with her four girls, the living room was very crowded! She told us to give her our washing in the morning, she knew we hadn't had time to do any just yet. I was a bit reluctant as it would be a Sunday!
We were sent off to get ready for bed, but it was hard to get to sleep as everyone was talking just through the wall and there are no ceilings. Every time someone went outside or came back indoors, the door would squeak and bang. Eventually it got quiet and I started going to sleep at last.
However, I didn't manage it - bibi & Mama Joyce started talking again, a lamp was lit, I could hear the twig broom sweeping, and even heard a fire being lit outside! Quite mystifying + terribly annoying; my eyes & head were so sore from being awake for so long. I knew bibi wasn't senile, she'd seemed perfectly sane the day before, so I started to think perhaps she was an insomniac, & was worried about the house being clean for Sunday! I was shocked when she woke up Michael, it seemed most unfair! Once everything quietened down again, I DID get to sleep.
Suddenly I woke up again, Bruce was fidgeting around in bed, exclaiming “Yuk”! I thought his rash had come back as we’d had beans for tea! However, he switched on the torch and said there were ants swarming everywhere, even in the bed biting his legs – they soon found me too. Not having my glasses handy, I was pretty helpless and could only see dark swathes roiling on the floor and had no idea where the ants were in the bed. Fortunately Bruce managed to stretch across the room to get them so we stood on the bed stomping up & down, brushing our legs.
Michael called out, “Kuna wadudu?” (Are there insects?) “Ndiyo, siafu, mahali pote hata kitandani!”(Yes, safari ants everywhere, even in the bed!) He came in to see, saying we’d better go outside for a bit. We eagerly agreed, gingerly reaching out for our jandals, stepping onto them brushing off the ants & squashing as many as possible, stamping all the time! Bruce managed to grab a shirt, I had only a nightie on and didn't have time to rummage in my bag! I was glad it was dark, and dear Bruce lent me his shirt when I started feeling cold.
Bibi started sweeping ants outside with a twig broom dipped in kerosene/ashes, into a fire that was lit for the purpose. Michael lit bundles of grass, sizzling up the rest on the floor. Soon we were allowed back to bed - but we saw more hiding under/in it. So the process was repeated, we even had to do it a third time as no-one had checked under our bags!
By now it was 6 a.m., only a brief last attempt to get some sleep. Bruce seemed OK, but after I got bitten another 3 times by an ant that had escaped, I got dressed & dozed in the sitting room until everyone got up to make breakfast half an hour later! Talk of being worn out! We found out that the first attack had been at 2 a.m.!

A day in Kiswani

Tuesday July 14th It was hot today!  We went outside at 7.30 to wait for Michael, sitting on top step watching the passers-by, mainly children going to school.  When I heard Michael’s door open, I went inside to let him know where we were and received a lovely warm greeting.  We went to mama's for chai & bread after being told to sit in the porch in the early morning sunshine to get our Vitamin D!  While Michael went off to fetch water from the nearby stream, we sat outside with Rosa, who told us a little more about the family, and Michael's sickness last year.
Michael's grandparents, Michael and Maria Kikumbo, (bibi and babu) had lived with their seven daughters (Maria, Joyce, Lucia, Regina, Rebekah, Rosa and Upendo) in Tazengwa (Nzega-Tabora region). Only five are left now: Michael’s mother Maria died in 2000, and Rebekah died of snake bite last year, aged 33. She was still at bibi's, having never married, due to being mentally handicapped and epileptic. 
Rosa moved away ten years ago when she got married, Regina lives in Singida, Joyce in Igunga, the other two are still in Nzega. 
Last April, just one week after starting his English course in Moshi, Michael was taken to hospital.  After a day there, he was transferred to the large Christian hospital, KCMC, where he had a hernia operation.  When he phoned his aunt, she was SO upset to hear his quavering voice saying, “Mama, I’m so weak” – this really upset me too!  She went by bus to Moshi to try to find him, it took all day!  It’s a very large hospital, over 1,000 patients, with many wings & floors, and is built into a hill with entrances on at least two floors, which caused confusion when people tried to give her directions.  She was just about to give up & go home when she decided to try just once more time – success at last!  Michael was SO pleased to see a relative, although the director of his school had been looking after him. Over there you need people to bring you food and to wash your clothes, hospitals don't do this as a rule, although they found out that KCMC will provide some services for a fee. As it wasn’t too expensive, they made use of this.  He was there for two weeks, then spent a month at Rosa’s before being well enough to return to Moshi to start his course all over again.
One of her husband’s first wife’s sons (aged in his 30's) had died when Michael was in hospital, and is buried in the nearby public graveyard. Rebekah also died about this time, so it was a very difficult month for the family.
Michael returned, saying we could do our laundry. He and Bruce started washing outside, I washed our undies inside throwing the dirty water down the choo. I was pleasantly surprised to be told I could hang them outside, as usually you put them in your bedroom, it's offensive to air them in public! The guys were still busy soaping up when I went back outside to hang mine on a clothes line near the cattle pens. I was slightly embarrassed but also amused to see that Michael was washing all my clothes, not Bruce’s!  When I joined in, we formed a production line – Michael sudsing, Bruce doing the 1st rinse, myself the other two!  We had fun measuring our hands against each others’- Michael’s are just slightly larger than mine, but Bruce’s are much larger than both! Michael refused our help with his washing as he only had a few to do. 
Whilst lunch was being prepared, we sat outside chatting about the political systems of Tanzania & NZ – challenging talking re proportional representation in Kiswahili!  At once stage I completely lost my train of thought, it took a while to find where I'd got to again! Very embarrassing!
Some monkeys started jumping and swinging through the trees towards the stream, the old male coming last - they were fun to watch but were very obscured by leaves & branches so I didn’t get the camera  – then one walked near our tree!  GRR!
Lunch was ugali, mchuzi + sukuma wiki – a kind of kale cut up very finely - followed by oranges. The topic was the drought in Kiswani – some people are eating uji once a day like the Maasai.  The rains started as usual so they planted maize; then the rains stopped and the maize withered up once it reached 1'.  Some people are getting food in the mountains, but it’s too far to take the cattle: they cut/carry from the bush.
After lunch, we talked politics again indoors, then outside under a tree we talked about the different foods grown in NZ & Tanzania.  One grown near Tazengwa has a leaf that elongates greatly if you roll it between your hands.  As there's only one rainy season down there (Dec-March), they have to preserve food well to last till the next one.  Sweet potatoes are cleaned and peeled, boiled, then sliced up very finely before being dried in the sunshine. They are stored in the dark in sacks.
Later on, we went for a walk, but couldn't use the stream-crossing near the house as some men were bathing there. Michael had suddenly turned back, saying we’d better go another way because some men were bathing and "I wasn’t used to it!"  Too true!  Crossing the stream higher up, we followed a track leading to the dirt road up the mountains - Michael mdogo’s school is up there, passing tall trees + bush. It was nice & green up the mountains, but the flats were dry.  Michael pointed out some of the more interesting types of tree including a kapok tree.  He used to collect the huge seed pods in Tazengwa when he was young, filling sacks with 10-20 kgs of down to get 200 Tsh; it takes a very long time and is very bad for the lungs.  Date, oil & coconut palms grow here, Bruce was very surprised to see coconuts away from the coast.
We didn’t manage to get high enough to get a good view of Kiswani, Bruce got puffed before we cleared the tree line. On the way back down, we took pics of and from the rice paddies.
We met little Michael & Frank on the way home, dragging an old tyre that they’d been playing with.  Michael wanted to hold Michael's hand, but annoyed him by dawdling, and ended up holding mine. I praised him for being so well-behaved, he gets told off so often as he tends to get into mischief, his hands are always busy! It was nice he was feeling friendly today, the day before he'd been so shy he wouldn't come close.
We went through the village to visit Michael mdogo’s aunt, then his grandfather – but he was out.  His grandmother was too sick to be visited.  I greeted some mamas plaiting hair, they wanted to do mine too! 
At the bridge, Bruce was pestered by an old beggar & a strange-looking lady who got annoyed because he wouldn’t answer her.  Just as well he didn’t understand, she wanted to go home with him or have him go to her place!
Outside the guesthouse, we greeted a young Maasai we’d seen the day before. Unfortunately it soon became apparent he was drunk and also sniffing something off his fingers!  He invited us to have a soda, so I went over to Michael, who was sitting on the steps watching, to tell him what was going on. He came over, stressing that we only drink soda, not beer.  He went off, saying he’d be back soon.  The miller came over, inviting us to his place - but we didn’t get a chance to go.  He showed us the dried cassava he was making into flour, I thought he was grinding stones!  In the mornings we would see schoolgirls dropping off small bags of grain or cassava. Some had bikes and would leave them in a rack there.
I was very glad when Michael said it was time to go to bathe & still no sign of our Maasai friend! 
We were met by a young girl near Rosa's, she went off with Michael & he came back carrying a ladder. The fundis had arrived to fix the electricity! It seemed rather late to be climbing up in the semi-dark - it was nearly 7 p.m. 
Michael went to the jiko to discuss something with Rosa, then came back to tell us the news - he was so surprised when I said I’d already understood, as they’d been speaking in Kisukuma not Kiswahili! No wonder I’d been a bit puzzled about some of the words!  It caused a lot of laughter!  They’d decided we should take some hot water over to the guesthouse to bathe as the water there would be too cold. They wanted us to be able to see what we were doing!
Well, our power went off just as I finished dressing in the bafu. Fortunately I was able to find the bed without tripping over. The lights soon came back on so Bruce was able to bathe without any problems at all. 
Michael was most concerned when he came back in case we’d been inconvenienced, then asked us to wait on the sofa. At 8.45 along came Michael & Rosa bearing pots of food + a large basket of plates.  But they’d forgotten water, a stool and a table!  It was very nice: rice, chicken, bananas & spinach; Michael loves rice & bananas!  We talked till Jeremia phoned at 10, we went to bed so Michael could ring him back.

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!