We visited Africa...

...this morning. 'Real' Africa that is. Sarah, who will be our house lady when we move to our new house, needed to take two boxes of stuff from the house we will move into, to her own house. As she has only a bike, we offered to bring the boxes in our car. [The prospect of owning a car is, to most Tanzanians, about as realistic as us owning our own jet].

In many ways she is very 'fortunate' compared to many of her compatriots - she has a 'good' job, her own house, and a tap outside her house.

However:

* on the money she will earn from us, she supports (at least) herself; her mother; her two children; her sister's two children; and another girl of three who doesn't appear to be related, but who's parents can't afford to look after her. On top of this she 'employs' her own house lady (for a pittance a month) who herself has four children to support. Neither she or her houselady have husbands. (She also 'supports' a cat, a pregnant dog, and five chickens).
* Of her mother's five children, she is the only one living. Of the remainder, one brother died in infancy; one brother was murdered while living in Dar Es Salaam; one sister died of HIV and the other died of typhoid.
* Her house has no electricity, only one window (although she hasn't been able to afford glass yet) and no doors.

It helps put things in perspective, especially when you realise that is doing relatively OK for herself, compared to many other people. It makes you appreciate things you never even noticed before, like paint on the walls, and a covering on the floor; a kitchen which has something in it other than a small charcoal fire; a toilet (that you can sit on, and flush).

It also helps remove all our guilt (as mentioned in previous posts) about feeling 'colonial' and employing a house lady. Firstly, without us the whole extended family would have no means of support, and secondly, just about everyone in Tanzania has house help. Even those who can't afford to pay someone have relatives who help out.

The mind boggles a bit at the 'differentness' of the world she (and millions of others) live in. It is even stranger when we are living pretty much a Western lifestyle a couple of kilometres up the road.

It was a good experience though, and helps us to appreciate Sarah even more. Despite all this 'hardship' she is a lovely lady, and always has a smile on her face. It is good to be able to see how she lives, and makes us glad to be in a position to be able to help.

This is why we came.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Despite the disappointing uptake of last week's quiz, for the stalwarts who had a go, the answers are as follows:

1. Kompyuta - Computer (no prizes for that one!)
2. Teksi - Taxi
3. Baiskeli - Bicycle
4. Gari - Car
5. Mzungu - European (or 'white person' - it's what they shout at you when you're at the market!)
6. Mungu - God
7. Alhamisi - Thursday
8. Hamsini - Fifty
9. Mbinguni - Heaven
10. Kwa sababu - Because

So there you go. I've got hundreds more like that if you're interested. I guess first prize goes to Mel and Ethan with 4/10 - go to the top of the class!