Rafiki au hapana?

My research experienced a bit of a glitch yesterday. I am on my second round of interviewing the same participants about their crops. Everyone has been excited to talk to me about their experiences with crop damage, but not yesterday. We visited the brother of one of our participants and he seemed to be completely friendly and welcoming, even greeting my ‘mtoto.’ But after I asked the first question, he began asking Rose questions very quickly in Swahili. Apparently, he is completely suspicious of my intentions and went as far as to explain that maybe Rose and I were spies for someone who wants to buy out the farmers of the village to expand the protected area for wildlife. Of course this seems completely ludicrous to us, but I should explain this man has not had any school and if you have been keeping up with my previous entries, I think you could see that there are many reasons to be suspicious of people in Tanzania. It does not bother me at all if people are uncomfortable with my research and choose to withdraw their participation in my study, but I was worried that he would infect my other participants with his suspicions. So, Rose and I had a meeting with the chairman of the village. I went through my entire interview process with him and he of course understood the value of my research. Then, the man showed up. The way things stand now is that the chairman is going to meet with the man today (without Rose or I present), and then the chairman will tell us if we should proceed or not. I have complete confidence that the chairman will be able to help the man understand my true intentions, but it has made me realize how valuable each and every participant is and how vulnerable my research is to gossip or suspicions!

Hospitali ya wanyama (aka my house!)

I wrote earlier about the pets here and boy, do I have an update. Its not good news really. First of all, Nyama, who has been my faithful companion and cuddle buddy at night, has grown an enormous belly which can only be explained by pregnancy considering presently we are experiencing a food shortage at my house. It is hard for me to get excited about this because the puppies at Rose’s house have been so much work. Its very expensive and difficult to get pet food here, so Rose always cooks for them- porridge and ugali. As for the puppies, they are a month old and are eating food so 5 out of 7 left Rose’s house to go to their new owners. The same day they were gone, one puppy showed up again later than night. It was quite injured and appeared out of it, but ate and played with the other remaining 2. The next morning, I arrived and was surprised to see 3 puppies and then I noticed how dirty the one was. On closer examination, the puppy had puncture wounds under its chin, on its head and on both sides of its neck. There was fluid under the skin which I am sure was breeding infection. We had to go to work giving interviews, so I carried the puppy with me and it slept the whole day in my arms. It was crawling with fleas which I am sure I now have, but it must have been exhausted because he was only awake for about 5 minute out of the day. After our visits in the village, I brought the puppy to my house and gave it a bath. It took about 2 hours and 4 buckets of water to get the puss, dirt, and ticks off the poor thing. I spent the afternoon grooming it as I would a baboon baby. There are still fleas, but not nearly as many and I was able to get the majority of the pus out from under his skin, but when someone pets him, it still makes a gushing sound. Kind of creepy actually. I am happy that I don’t see fleas jumping on me anymore! I am sure the villagers have added one more reason to their list of “why mazungus are weird.” I was carrying the puppy all day wrapped up in my scarf as the local women do for their babies.

And that is not the worst story. Our original dog, Mwemwe had “surgery” last Tuesday to stop his wandering (castration). I was not present for the event, but Rose who is always full of positive things to say told me it was a big problem for the “doctor.” I still have no clue how he accomplished this on a dog that was not put under, but I don’t think I even want to know. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself for paying for it! Anyway, now Mwemwe is in a very bad way. He walks around listlessly and can’t seem to hold his tongue in his mouth. He has a wincing posture with his spine curved upward and his tail between his legs. Its hard for me because I am the only mazungu here who could decide if he is suffering more than he should have to. Also, I have tried to ask if dogs are put to sleep here and I haven’t gotten a response. I am just wondering what happens when it gets bad enough that I can’t take his suffering anymore. Poor thing.

Superwomen Askaris

Maybe I should explain the title first: Askari means night watchmen or soldier or ranger here. (One of the super cool things about Swahili is that there are far less words so every Swahili word means multiple things) Every night, I have an askari at the house to watch for poachers, thieves, and probably mostly the orphan elephant mentioned in a previous entry. Well, I am particularly fond of one askari (they rotate every week because some stations on the ranch are worse than others). His name is Ally and he is always happy. I had no clue that he knew any English, but earlier this week when he arrived and wanted to ask for the radio he announced, “Superman in the house!” I laughed, and laughed, and laughed. So now, I call him Superman. When he says, “Habari Bekah,” I reply, “Habari Superman!” (Habari is ‘How is’ or ‘What news’)

So now, on with the story… Last night I thought I would experience the grief of the farmers participating in my study. Rose, the project employee, has been sleeping near her field of corn at night because there has been a lot of bush pig damage and during the night not too long ago, one of these ugly beasts entered her field and left footprints. She has been awfully tired during the interviews and always seems to want to come back early. Instead of getting frustrated by this, I thought if I was in a similar situation perhaps I wouldn’t feel like I needed to get more work done. On Sundays, Rose does not work and therefore I go to the waterhole to search for elephants. It is usually a relaxing day for me as I bring my MP3 player and a book and just chill. If there are elephants, the adrenaline rushing through my body is enough to conquer any feeling of sleepiness. So, why not put myself in Rose’s shoes for a night? After all, the villagers have been telling me that if I want to study crop damage, I should work at night when the crops are damaged! Rose came to my house around 6:30 last night and we feasted on beans and rice. We needed a nice heavy meal to keep us warm for the duration of our askari shift. Around 10:00, we were on our way to her garden with blankets and thermoses full of chai. I must remind you that already this was 1.5 hours past my normal bedtime (I rise and set with the sun here). Rose thought we could take a short cut and not far into our journey, we stopped because there was a crunching sound and no light from people. Rose demanded “torchi kubwa!” (big flashlight!). I quickly got my magnificent Mag-lite out of my backpack to discover the source of the crunching. There were 6 elephants feasting on some tomatoes. I kind of was tempted to stay and observe them but then we heard crunching on the other side of the path. Sure enough, there were 4 more elephants and all of them were facing our path. At this point, I decided it was safer to bail on my initial curiosity and we scurried back the way we came to take the long way around!

When we arrived at Rose’s garden, I was pleasantly surprised to see a shelter built for us with a fire already glowing. Rose explained that her brother-in-law had built it for us because the wind was so bad. How thoughtful! As we began our shift, it was easy to pass the time with stories of that day (see surrounding entries!). I admit I experience a heightened sense of hearing thinking that the rustle of the corn stalks may be an intruder waiting for us to pounce. Luckily, it was mostly the notorious wind and we actually didn’t see any bushpigs. At one point we heard a fellow askari (watchmen) laughing and enjoying somebody’s company from quite far away. I thought we should compete so I let out a loud “WA-HA-HA-HA,” which got Rose started and then once we settled down we could hear the reply from a distant field. Soon all the askaris were joining in our cheerful chorus. I began yelling to the elephants in broken Swahili, “Leave our crops alone! They aren’t ripe yet- they aren’t sweet at all.” Of course, it made Rose laugh all the more which is always a good thing. I wasn’t sure if it was because my Swahili was so bad or if she was just happy, but nonetheless, we were enjoying ourselves and she was happy not to be there alone. The next field over, apparently the owner has forced her dog to be the askari and we were accompanied the entire night by the whining and crying of the poor soul. After we quieted down, I began to take in the whole experience. There was no moon until early morning and of course, the stars were magnificent. It was one of those moments where suddenly you realize how small you are. Around 12:30, Rose’s brother-in-law stopped by. He was just arriving at his field which was the next one over. Rose quickly handed over the magnificent Mag-lite and explained that we didn’t have to fight sleep any longer. So, I didn’t and before I knew it, it was 4:30 and I woke up to see a quarter moon illuminating our little shelter. I walked the field a few times, drank some chai, stoked the fire, peed a few times and was really enjoying that Rose was soundly sleeping (selfishly, I was thinking of how efficient we could be!). Around 6:15, one of Rose’s friends stopped by. He woke Rose up and we chatted for about an hour and then the shift was over. The beasts weren’t active in Rose’s garden but it didn’t take long for us to hear about who had experienced what problems that night. Even though the people passing by really thought it was a hoot that I was a mazungu askari, I feel bonded to the people that I am studying here now that I have been in Rose’s shoes.

This is Mt. Meru with the first light of the sunrise coming on it. I can only say the picture doesn't do it justice!

Tembo Mbaya...

This week I was again reminded of the real danger of elephants. Near the house of the manager of the ranch, a local was injured by an elephant. I never heard the complete story, just bits and pieces I was able to translate over the radio, but the new word I learned was “damu”à blood. Apparently it was a lone bull so he was probably in the aggressive state of musth. Perhaps coincidentally, the same day I heard the story over the radio (the incident occurred in the morning), I went to the waterhole and on my arrival there was a musth bull leaving the area. Most likely, it was the same elephant. I heard an update yesterday that the man is in the hospital but seems to be recovering well, thank God. There have been people killed by elephants in the area in the past three years, but this is the first occurrence of direct conflict since I have been here. It is another reminder that elephants are a major concern to the people here, not just something they have done research on, as we students have. I have repeatedly been reminded of this as we pass people cleaning up their fields the morning after elephants have come through. Normally greetings are always so positive but in these instances, the grief is apparent on the solemn faces of the villagers.

Cold in Tanzania?

At present, it is quite cold in this part of Tanzania. Everyday I wear all of the long-sleeve shirts that I brought and still the misty wind manages to chill me to the core. It must be because of our proximity to Kilimanjaro but the wind never gives us a break. Most days it is overcast, or if not, the clouds are moving so rapidly that half of the time you are in the center of a cloud’s shadow. The contrast between being in the sun and under a cloud is very stark and it is a joy to be suddenly immersed in the warmth of the sun.

Phase II

This next phase of my project is really going to be the meat of my data so it has been rather exciting to get going. I have really enjoyed the whole process of beginning with small talk and progressing to asking if they would be willing to help with my research. The participants continue to offer me produce from their crops or roasted corn or potatoes and almost always, chai. This week I drank my first cup of coffee as the hostess apologized and explained the abundance of coffee from the recent harvest. Of course, many Americans would probably not even call it coffee, as there was probably more sugar water than actual coffee particles. It was not bad but I for one prefer the Masai chai with fresh milk and the smoky aftertaste. Of course, Masai chai is served with the condition that at least one of your feet is touching livestock manure.

Photocopy...

Life has definitely gotten more interesting in the last week. One thing I have been dreading is returning to the city to print and make copies for the next phase of my project. I finally did it this week and who would have guessed it would be something to write about on my blog? I walked to the first village (about two hours) where there are no cyber-cafes or places to print. So, I got on a daladala to the next village. There were a few cyber cafes and photocopy places, but no power. One shop had a generator but they weren’t willing to turn it on for my “small job.” So, back on another daladala. I went to the next village. Even more photocopy places and internet cafes… but no power. At this point it was getting a bit late, but I also felt like I would be totally unsuccessful if I returned without what I came for. I loaded onto another daladala and found myself in Moshi. I was thankful that there was power in Moshi and quickly made my copies and jumped back on to get as far home as I could. I got through 2 stops and then it was very dark and I could not convince anyone to give me a lift on a pikipiki (motorbike). The road is dark and dangerous, and the night before there were trucks stopping traffic and robbing people. So, I found a hostel and slept waiting to return the next morning. It ended up not being a problem as I was back at my house at the time I would have been waking up. But, nonetheless, it was one more lesson to show that it is always best to be prepared for the unexpected.