Marangu

Last Wednesday I headed out to visit a town on the slopes of Kilimanjaro, Marangu, where the head guide and many of the porters that I did the climb up Kilimanaro with live. It's a beautiful place, lush and green, unlike Sadala and Moshi, where there hasn't been enough rain, so it's very dry, and the corn is not growing well. It was fun to see them, some of them remember me, but others don't (which is very understandable!) but for me it was funny to see them in thier homes, and meet their families. I was surprised to see they all live within a few hundred meters from each other! I kne they were from the same village, but many of them are actually from the same family. So I've realized that a typical house in Marango is like this : you have a building where you sleep, an outdoor toilet, and cattle in the backyard for food. It's like that from the nicest to to the smallest house. Supermarkets are pretty much non-existent; people find it wierd that I get my milk from a box!

On Friday I returned to Moshi, and bumped into Rosmin in town which was nice, and then we headed back into Sadala together after having lunch. (By the way, a nice lunch for 2 : 2 full plates with rice, chicken or meat, veggies, and something to drink = 6500 Tsh, so under 5 bucks!). And then we headed back home and had a quiet evening. I was pretty tired, so headed into bed early. Yesterday, was a busy day. From what I gathered, Saturday is for cleaning up and doing chores. First they cleaned up a bit (I wasn't allowed to participate!), and then we went to cut some grass for the cattle. We packed them up in packages and carried them back home on our heads, people from the village would just stare at me as I walked by, so I enjoyed greeting them in Swahili as they looked on! Then I did some laundry, again with everyone watching me, and we went back to the market to get some fruit and vegetables, including unripe bananas, which we peeled when we got home. It's funny because they always get a kid to fetch me a chair wherever I am, but this time I said no and just sat on the ground and they thought that was the funniest thing! At dinner I even gave my place to one of the kids, which absolutely shocked one of the older ones!!! It was pretty funny, I thought.

I would say, though, that the highlight of my day was taking out a couple of books and looking at them with the children. They have such a thirst for knowledge, they loved it. The second I took out the book, they were all gathered around me, asking me questions, and wanting to know more. They love going to school, and talk about what they'll be when they grow up, which I think is great. Even the older ones were interested in hearing about polar bears (from a 1991 World magazine - thatnks Joe and Joan!), but I've decided I have to read the articles first, but I don't know all that much about polar bears!!!