Bagamoyo, da due anni casa mia qui in Tanzania, sono partito da qui alla fine di novembre per un periodo di lavoro e vacanza in Italia. Ci sono tornato qualche giorno ago, received very high temperatures, pleasing long as you're outdoors a bit 'less when you are indoors. Anyway, a nice change from -10 ° C of my Dolomites.
Here I found the warm equatorial Indian Ocean plate and the green palm trees but the warmth that I found more pleasure is to the people. Now, after two years, and a lack of knowledge is much more than a month was seen by many to whom I had not announced that I'd be gone for a while '. The simple greeting and asking each other how you're still requires several steps, at least 4-5 banter, a ritual of our style much more complex than dry and straightforward. Even those who did not never knew my parents ask me how are you asking about mutual friends and people who know that there are only hearsay. With simplicity, but with a smile, and sometimes open so the Tanzanians. The children within 300 meters from my house are echoed in my name repetition as a game that they enjoy, more than usual, more insistent than usual, until it turned the corner. I think it's the way they welcome me back, this strange white guy, the Mzungu, passing the time, greets them, sometimes we play a little 'and then goes away.
'm with Angel of Chieti, that will stop 10 days to visit projects CVM and know a little 'more reality Tanzania. Together, we are discovering Bagamoyo, he for the first time, I after a period of absence. Some walk under the scorching sun, a walk on the beach, casual encounters, smiles and laughter to the small things that I take for granted after two years but who are not for those in his first visit to Tanzania.
walk the sunny streets, it's noon and the sun is at the peak continuous ocean breeze makes it bearable. Boys and girls come from a madrassa (an Islamic religious school where he studies the Koran, usually attended by Muslim children on Sundays), we put his shoes on, running, shouting, joking. A child, in order to attract the attention of two girls, an impromptu ballet before them, I do not think this is what he just learned to Koranic school. The girls turn away in small groups, all with white veil, blue or light blue, the kids with their hats pulled down in round head, white too, others have the whole white dress, a tunic reaching to the feet, which gives them a tone as adults in miniature.
walk and keep my hand in front of a house in the neighborhood. They built a temporary roof to provide shade for many people these days have visited the house. From 4 days in constant bustle of people coming to bring their condolences to the family of a woman aged 40, nurse. Most of the relatives living in regions far away so We took a couple of days to arrive and so the vigil lasted for a few days. The causes of death, as happens very often, are not clear, some say a disease that has affected the gut, some AIDS. I keep an attitude set back, I ask many questions and not port their condolences to the family.
50 meters, in a tiny hut of one meter for two, built with wooden planks nailed badly, a woman selling tomatoes, from afar, draw me. I think the evening I cook a good pasta with tomato sauce, chili and a nice grated Grana Padano cheese brought from Italy. I go up and the lady stood up slowly and it seems grudgingly, I realize that with his two children 3-4 years old was having lunch sitting on the floor under the counter, allombra roof of woven coconut leaves. I notice that the tomatoes are half rotten, but now there are and have nothing to sell, it would seem rude to change your mind and go, chooses good control and I buy a little 'more so that they can compensate for any differences that I do. It has no plastic bags and pieces of paper that used to wrap solitamwnte picclle amount of vegetables they sell, are not large enough to wrap 12 tomatoes. Luckily I have a bag with me where I put things bought before, and she gave it to him with his hands smeared ugali (white polenta) pours us the 12 tomatoes, some of which covered with small traces of ugali that will be home with me. Obviously I do not do many stories it makes me laugh but the thought of what would happen if a seller of my country, intent to eat polenta behind the counter, he had made to serve a client without first washing your hands. Again, this is Africa! This is the first time that I buy tomatoes from the lady but I'll come back, beyond the quality of tomatoes and hygiene of service is the stand closer to home and small-need to support these great efforts to improve their economic conditions, especially when to do so are your neighbors!
back here, I spent an early evening con i vicini di casa, aggiornandoci su quello che è successo nel mese di assenza. Tornato dal lavoro, sono entrato in casa ho preso il pacchettino con alcuni regali per i miei vicini e mi sono avviato, nel buio delle 8 di sera, verso la lampada a gasolio che odorosamente illumina la loro bancarella coperta da foglie di cocco intrecciate. Ho trovato mamma, papà e una delle figlie sdraiati a dormire per terra, dormivano sulla tipica stuoia che funge da letto quando fa troppo caldo per dormire in casa. Al mio arrivo si sono svegliati e nella luce soffusa ci siamo messi a guardare alcune foto mandate loro da un ex-volontaria del CVM. La novità ha richiamato l’attenzione delle altre due bambine di casa che sono arrivate, accompagnate da altre due. Ci siamo ritrovati in 8-by-step photos, funny faces and try to guess when and where they were taken. A month ago, I left this family consists of 5 persons, mom, dad (with slight physical disability) and 3 daughters. I found mom and dad made up 5 daughters, meanwhile, two were adopted as orphans of mother and father away, their mother died the day after Christmas. The girls are 4 and 5 years and now have two more mouths to feed with a small stand that sells only bananas, biscuits, cigarettes, peanuts, detergent bags and a few other basic necessities. The girls are all between 2 and 12 and older, will begin the school year, where costs are much higher than for primary school. Maybe my eyes will be affected by the sad news that I just got but I noticed a hint of sadness in the eyes of two little girls who have recently lost their mother. I perceived signs of concern on the face of their "new mom" (which would be their aunt). I did not do a lot of questions, I felt stuck, small, without words, the impact was still being strong in the eyes where I was a few days before. In Italy, on Christmas Day, surrounded by food, lights, new clothes, electronics, health, ostentatious wealth, political and media madness and rampant consumerism proudly despite the crisis. Will they, alone or comes with a little help from time to time, maybe they will make a bit 'harder, I will continue to go to see them and exchange a few simple joke, for little return every so often is good. These people will never end in newspapers or history books, but to see them go forward with a smile, day after day makes you think, teaches and makes you feel very small, very small. Again, this is Africa, this is Bagamoyo.
Stefano Battain (CR Tanzania)
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