Some local culture







Our driver, Semmy, has been promising to take us to his village Korogwe for some time now. This was the weekend as the Rav 4 has just been fixed.

 

 

Kofia Image located at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
 

Semmy came dressed in his kanzu and kofia (traditional Tanzanian dress for Muslim men) and we set off. 

 

Getting out of Dar es Salaam was the usual nightmare - nzito trafiki!!  Ive been told the word is fulani but haven't found that anywhere in the translation books. 

 

A brief stop at the gareji for brake fluid and some interesting brake testing and we set off. Although we had already got a big bag of sweeties and a football for Semmy's son and a large plate of homemade choc chip cookies, our first stop was in Kibaha to purchase 10kg each of sugar, rice, maize and washing soap as a gift for Semmy's mother and some water for each of us - less than A$36 . We had a quick look around while there. Looking for a bargain? - shopping bonanza!!

 

I don't think many mzungus stop by as we were the subject of much interest. Fortunately Semmy was there to ensure everything was ok.

 

                The bodyguard







Dresses for real women







 



Something for everyone

 

 I love the butchery

 

Huge football fans 

 

If nothing else a telephone is very important

 

Pretty soon we arrived in Korogwe. The whole village seems to be Semmey's family.  He pointed out the various houses that members of the family live in, then the first stop was to greet his mother and sister.  It was all terribly formal. Stools were found and we were invited to sit.  Semmy's mother demonstrated her mat making prowess. A talent for which she is apparantly well reknown. Then ugali was put on the boil.   Ugali is a thick maize porridge also known as nzima, sembe, posho, sadza or pap depending on where in Africa you originate. Narelle who is game for most things tried her hand at stirring the ugali as it was thickening. Major fail compared with Semmy's sister.  But they assured her she'd get better at it with practice.

 

Family home

 

 

 Source of merriment

 

We hadn't realised the ugami was for us, but soon the mat was cleared and we were invited to sit and wash  our hands then eat up.  As well as ugami there was spinach, salty little fish (not the kapenta I recall) and chicken. I told the girls not to make a face and to make and effort to eat even if they didnt like it.  In fact it wasnt bad - my time spent with the houseman's family as a child perhaps.

 

Lunch with Semmy's mother

 

Close my eyes and hope it doesn't bite!

 

After lunch it was time to move on to the next group.  We met the uncles who are wood carvers that sell to the Wood Carvers Market in Dar es Salaam.  Narelle and Terri both purchased small bowls that were made for them by the time we were ready to leave. One uncle, aged 73, expressed an interest in Narelle - he had already had 2 wives (one still in the village, the other deceased)  and so it was explained that Narelle could have the small house as the second wife.  Magnificent offer but she said she'd have to discuss it with her parents first.

 

Next was the little mother who seemed to be minding the children and weaving mats.  Semmy said she was the village midwife but culturally could not tell her that we were midwives too as the men are not supposed to know about that as it is "secret women's business".

 



Mat weaving with little mother /village midwife (Semmy's aunt)

 

This child was in deperate need of a dentist

 

We had an entourage of children following us.  One little girl had really bad dental decay and a very snotty nose.  I don't think they see a dentist in the village at all.

 



A newer member of the village to meet

 

 Narelle in her element

 

On the way out we visited Semmy's in-laws.  There was a brand new baby in the house so the visit took some time.  The poor babies over here are incredibly overwrapped. I am so surporised they don't die of heat exhaustion.  On average they have a complete winter outfit on, including bonnet plus a couple of blankets when the temperature is in the 30s C.

 



Semmy's son

 

Finally we had to go back to the beginning to say our goodbyes and to collect the pawpaw, mango jackfruit we'd been given before heading back to Dar es Salaam.  We had intended to visit Bagamoyo this time as well but by the time we left it was far too late.  The traffic on the way back home was no better and daylight was starting to fade by the time we got in.

 

We were in no mood for cooking so after showering headed for Seacliff for some western food that was prepared by someone else.