African Mama

This morning we interviewed the community. We had a local guide and translator who helped us to communicate with the people that we stopped to talk to. Our guide this time was very friendly and he looked about 13 but he was 18. After our interviews when we were walking back he took out his phone and started playing a Lil' Wayne song. We talked about music and jammed as we walked back to camp. Then one of our cars drove by so we all crammed in. There were four of us in the back seat and the driver as well as two guides in the front seat. I kept relaxing as we went over bumps so that I was squishing the people next to me. It was very fun.

Before lunch I went to the tailor and picked up the clothes I had ordered. My pants and shirt were ready. They are great. The pants are blue with yellow birds (chickens?) and eggs. The shirt is green with a paisley-type pattern. It's prettier than paisley but I don't really know how to describe it... The pants are pajamas. I am SOOOO excited to have pajama pants with pockets: do you realize how hard that is to find in the US? The shirt is a kind of dressy shirt with a collar and elbow length sleeves. I was so excited about my clothes that I just kept them on as I walked back to camp.

On the way back to camp I stopped at Yohanna's house. Yohanna's wife had a baby the day that the session one students left. She and the baby just got home from the hospital a day or two ago. When we asked Yohanna what the baby's name was he said Black Mzungu (black white person) and he said that he was going to get her a camera and sunglasses so that she could be a mzungu. It was hilarious. Then we asked him what her name really is and he said "Leslie the Great." I thought he was kidding about that too but today when I asked his wife the baby's name she told me it is Leslie. One of the students last session was named Leslie and she told him if he had a girl he had to name her Leslie and, unless this is an extremely elaborate joke on the students, he really did as she asked.

The primary school children were on lunch break so there were a bunch of them walking down the road. A lot of them ran up to me, said hi, shook my hand, asked me how I was and what my name was. I answered them, reciprocated their questions and told them I would see them later. One group of girls started running with their arms spread for hugs when they saw me. I gave them all hugs and they showed me the lip gloss that they all had on. One of them pulled the lip gloss out of her pocket and wanted to put it on me. I leaned down and she did my lips for me. The girls loved that :D

When I got to lunch I told the staff "I am African today." Cecelia told me that if I took some charcoal and painted my face then maybe I could be African. I laughed and said "Oh yea, I'll need a head scarf to cover my hair too." Gasper, one of the Tanzanian students, told me that I looked like an African mama.