Haraka Haraka Haina Baraka (Hurry Hurry will not bring Blessings)

The title of this blog is an Tanzanian saying that our Swahili teacher taught us this week. The Tanzanians have many sayings and they are very important learning tools. They are so important, saying are printed amongst the designs on women's kanga's. The kanga is a piece of cloth worn around the waist as a skirt. Most of the female SPW volunteers have gotten into wearing kangas and kitanges in the past week. Kitanages come in two pieces and can me worn around the waist as a skirt and around the shoulders as a sort of shawl. Many women buy the kitange material and have it tailored into a two piece outfit. A couple of the volunteers and I bought some kitange material and our first full outfits will be ready tomorrow. I can't wait! I just hope I can pull it off. My African Mama in my home stay looks so regal in her kitanges I not sure I could pull off the same look. But I'll try any way. The worst I can look is ridcuolous and then is nothing new considering I where gym shoes and skirts almost every day here because I don't want to get my feet all muddy in sandals. Haha. I'm staying in a very nice home with an absolutely gorgeous view of the mountains from the backyard. There are many things that are similar to my American home in my Tanzanian home but there are a few differences. First they have a house maid. Her name is Mary and she incredibly nice and welcoming. She cooks and cleans for the whole family. She is probably about 17. She went to primary school and speaks fluent Swahili as well as Hehe (pronounced heyhey), the tribal language of the Hehe people who are indigenous to the Irigina region. Her English is not so good but she is helping me learn Swahili and I help her learn English. She is the best cook and she has been very accommodating to my vegetarians ways. I really lucked out in the food department. According to other volunteers their families serve very gamy chicken and fish that still has eyes! I get a lovely mixture of rice and beans or peas and a fresh tomato, cucumber, onion and green pepper salad. The family loves to offer me what they see as strange and exotic drinks including Red Bull and Bavarian Apple Cider but my favorite thing to drink is the fresh pineapple juice. The pineapples here are amazing! The freshest most juicy fruit you can imagine. But with the pricks also come the downsides. I've gotten used to taking cold bucket baths in the morning. They aren't as bad as they sound though. It's kind of like going for a swim in the morning. I come out the bathroom completely refreshed and awake and ready to start the day.

It's very rainy here now but it's not like Midwestern rain where it's cloudy all day. Today we had a massive terencheal downpour and our teacher had to run outside to close his car windows. He came back absolutely soaked. But after 15 minutes the sun was back out and it was beautiful again. I washed my clothes in a bucket in the backyard with my African Mama and Mary on Sunday. It was hard work! The clothes get really heavy. No wonder tiny little Mary has some serious arm muscles. Mary doesn't have to do all the washing though. Mama helps. Today is Tuesday and my clothes are still damp because it rains so much and the clothes have to come in at night. Next time I will know better and only wash a little at a time.

The bugs here are gigantic, like something out of Jurassic Park. I was bucket bathing in the bathroom one morning and this black spider the size of a quarter came crawling out from behind the pumas stone. I thought to myself you have two choices you can go running out screaming (my usual reaction to spiders) or you can deal with it. So I sucked it up and squashed the thing with my sandal. There was a poisonous millipede in the hallway the other day crawling toward my bedroom door. According to my 11 year-old African sister they are more dangerous than scorpions. She insisted that I not kill it in the house so I used a sledge hammer that was there because of the construction going on at the house and nudged it outside and then squashed it. On Sunday Yvonne, the 11-year-old, and her two cousins where watching cartoons in the living room and this enormous hornet looking thing came flying in. It had a least a two inch wing span and a stinger I could see from 10 feet away. I was petrified but the kids didn't seem to mind. Then Yvonne said "Oh yeah that thing is really poisonous." I spent the next 15 minutes hiding under a pillow trying to build up the nerve to get the Raid from off the kitchen counter and spray the monster. I was so afraid this was some kind of super bug that would just get angry and come after me after I sprayed it. I eventually summoned the courage and sprayed it and it died rather quickly but it was a rough 15 minutes to say the least. I think all this bug stuff is just training for village life. I'm sure I've only seen the tip of the iceberg when it comes to creepy crawlers. The 17-year-old niece that lives with us killed a snake in the backyard one night as she was coming home from work. I don't know if it was poisonous but it looked like it was headed for the backdoor of the house and any snake in the house is a terrifying snake!

One last thing, there are a lot of NGOs working in Iringa and a lot of westerners here. I see new wazungu (white people) everyday. We found this amazing cafe run by a British NGO called Nemea Cafe (Grace Cafe). All the employees are disabled people. They have a craft shop where they make the most beautiful scarfs, jewelry, notebooks and hand woven bags I've ever seen. All the waitstaff in the cafe are deaf, you write down what you want to order and the menu has a guide to saying please and thank you in Swahili sign language. The food is amazing, the best tea and coffee cake. You can also go in and volunteer to help make jewelry with the locals. The cafe hosts international volunteers as well. They have started a program to collect empty water bottles to recycle and bring fresh water into the villages as well as a solar panel project. Profits from the crafts go to help pay for the medical expenses of the disabled workers. It's this incredible place that uses the talent of people that many African communities cast away and the ingenuity of young people to create this amazing place where there is opportunity for growth and strenthening of the community. It's basically my dream cafe. Haha. It's so inspiring to see projects like this one thriving. I hope I can make even a fracture of the difference Nemea cafe has made when I'm in village. More to come later. Please email of comment. I want to know how things are in your world. Talk to you soon.

Amanda