Third day in class .... I'm a little 'tired because last night I woke up at 4:30 the voice of the Mujahideen from the megaphone that called the faithful at the mosque. In Bagamoyo not happen 'cause we live far away from mosques, but here it seems I will have to' get used to: the mosque and in fact 'in the heart and the voice echoes throughout the village five times a day.
's the third which I participate in training since I arrived in Tanzania and, finally, thanks to some small progress with the language I can understand a little' more, but especially talk to women and girls and go a little 'addition to the usual greetings. They are divided into four classes and I pass from one to another trying to memorize the faces and expressions, even if you can remember some names, rather difficult undertaking: Fatuma, Hadija, Sikudhani, Kwege, Rukia, ratification, Mwajabu, Zainabu, Aisha, NASM , Asthma, Juma ....
In addition to the two classes there are a multitude of women and children get lost looking at them for hours ... play, laugh, cry, and the lesson goes on as if nothing had happened, thanks to the great patience of the teachers. Some children come and go with ease, sometimes they fall and look for the mother crying, waiting for them unflinchingly continue to follow the lesson, regardless of the fact that their child is disturbing everyone. Other children are all one with his mother, still in her arms, back supported by a colored kanga, or attached to the breast, which up to two years and their main partner in life and gaming ... On the one hand here, according to Muslim tradition, if the mothers can breastfeed up to two years, on the other hand, since 'there are no pacifiers is the breast to perform the same function.
While so most women tend to cover as little as possible to show one's body, the other the time of breastfeeding and 'lived in an extremely natural in public and there is no' embarrassment stand for hours with the bare-breasted with il bimbo che poppa o che ci gioca. E riescono ad allattare con grande spontaneità nei modi più strani e particolari... i bimbi piu’ grandi per esempio si attaccano al seno della mamma stando in piedi, mentre lei intanto continua a scrivere o a parlare con l’insegnante. Altre mamme, sedute per terra appoggiate al muro allattano i bimbi a testa in su e nel frattempo cambiano loro il “ pannolino” ... eh gia’ il pannolino... il solito kanga, multi funzione, arrotolato e poi avvolto in un telo di plastica. Se da un lato il sistema non danneggia l’ambiente allo stesso tempo spesso le condizioni igieniche non sono le migliori. Raramente infatti le mamme hanno la possibilita’ di lavare i bambini tra un cambio e l’altro kanga is often wet and dried in the sun before being used again soon ....
Silvia Volpato
Volunteers in the Civil Service - Tanzania
Volunteers in the Civil Service - Tanzania
