Just in case you were wondering...

Tanzania isn’t exactly a hotspot for Irish Pubs, but hey, I did hear a nice little tribute to Irish culture on The Voice of America Special English on the radio. They gave a lovely little history of Mother Jones and Bing Crosby. Not exactly green beer, but at least I’m remembering my roots somehow.
On to other reflections: for instance, how they manage to cut the grass without lawn mowers around here. I was pondering this as the rainy season progressed and the grass started getting ridic on the soccer field in front of my house. It was up to my knees and I was getting soaked every time I had to walk up to buy some candles or kerosene. I was thinking maybe the cows that like to hang out in the field would take care of it, but I noticed that even with all that they were eating, they weren’t even making a dent. Then the students came back to school from the winter break and I was enlightened. Everyday before the students go home from school, the teachers send them out to a different section of the field with machetes and the students go to it. And that’s the way its done. Try to imagine that happening in America. Let’s just envision giving a bunch of 12 year old boys machetes…
Other things you may wonder about: like how do all these kids wake up on time to get to school without alarm clocks, or even watches for that matter. Well, spend one night at my house and you’ll wake up to the answer. Every morning at about 6AM someone goes up to clang on the big circular piece of metal that is the school bell for about 2 full minutes to wake up everyone in the village. Then there’s another bell about an hour later to let everyone know its time to start heading towards school. Then at 7:45 every morning, just in case you haven’t made it there yet, all of the students stand outside and sing Mungu Ibariki (the National Anthem) with drum accompaniments. So there you go, that’s how its done.
Sasa Unajua (Now you know.)