Naming of Things.

In Tanzania, the naming of things is an art form. And therein lies the joy of a Tanzanian road trip.

We started a list of dala-dala (minibus), bajaj and truck names a while back and on our recent road trip out west we passed the time with a renewed interest in on-the-road entertainment in the form bus and truck names.

Some of the names could be better classified as allegiance pronouncements which center largely around religion and football and tend to be quite straightforward: Manchester United, Barcelona, Islam, Jesus, and many variations therein.

Philosophical naming conventions can make you look and think twice, or at times elucidate a very fundamentally different worldview in this part of the world: Born to Suffer, God is SO good, !2nd chance!, no gain without pains. 

And other names can just be downright hilarious, if not, perplexing: bankito, Grace & Vincent, Blue Horse, goodfellaz, Uprising, Allocation, Don't Panic: Message Sent, Double 'D', Mr. Promise, The Expendable's Full Respect, The Top Judge, Coaster for All of the Nations, AMBUSH, Doctor Bush, Castaway, Liver Pool, King Perfect, Black People, Logistika, Power (of) God, Bananaland, V.I.P. Class, B. Positive (wait, is that a blood type allegiance or a philosophical pronouncement?!).

Incidentally, this is something that Sarah Markes captures well in her Dar street level sketches. And her new book certainly did not disappoint! In fact, we have become not only proud owners of her new book, but also of two original street level sketches capturing the hilarity of naming of transportation modes.

Reverse Reverse Culture Shock.

On our two recent trips home, I have become painfully aware of my Tanzanian weight gain. Visits to dressing rooms in stores have precipitated quasi panic attacks followed by copious alcohol consumption to ease the pain (which of course foils the longer term weight loss aims...alas, its a vicious cycle).

Our very weight conscious world and obsession with body image stands in direct contrast to the value people place on weight gain here - to carry a few extra pounds is to be healthy (and wealthy). A few weeks ago, our houseboy left his first wife and quickly thereafter found a new wife. He shared this news with great excitement, saying, "the new one is really fat, just like you!" um, gee, thanks. But this was a sincere compliment as far as he was concerned.

Fair enough, different strokes for different folks. But the worst part is that I seem to have gained weight in ALL the wrong places - as evidenced by how clothing is displayed to customers in local shops.

Does anyone remember when stair masters fell out of favor in the US because of wide spread fears of "shelf butt"? Well, I can certify that this is a part of the world where shelf butt is sexy. There ain't nothing sexy about a thick wasted woman here (ho hum). This place brings on a whole new meaning to the saying "Baby Got Back."

Helpful Moving Advice.

This warning label helped to ensure a consequence-free move.

Overheard at the Coffee Shop.

I am stupider for having heard this conversation between Girl #1 and Girl #2, and you too will be stupider for reading it - consider yourself forewarned.

Girl #1: you are SUCH a good wriiiiiiter.
Girl #2: [uncomfortably loud laughter] I just reaaaaalllly like a gooood story.
Girl #1: I mean, you should write a book.
Girl #2: I like looking at the blogs that are out there, there are just so many good stories, and pictures. I mean everybody loves pictures.
Girl #2: We should team up and write a book. Not that I think I could get published or anything. But thats how people get discovered - blogs!
Girl #1: I know a girl who is a writer.
Girl #2: What does she write about?
Girl #1: Its just amazing. and stuff.
Girl #2: I want to be a writer. It just takes so MUCH time. I dont know. It just takes so much time to do what you want to do and to do it well. It just needs to happen in an organic way, rather than being the center of my life.

[Both suddenly look busy, sip coffee (sugar and milk free) twirl their hair to fill the awkward silence.]

Girl #2: I mean, you dont even have to go to school for this stuff, you just have to have passion.
Girl #1: yea, passion...
Girl #2: I mean you dont even have to write anything, you know, like the Sartorialist guy, he is really famous and stuff, and he doesnt even write that much, you dont even have to write much, its just like street style, with a creative license. you could be famous.

note to self: need. to. get. out. of here.

---
Photo Credit:
http://lanaloustyle.blogspot.com/

Once Upon a Time...

Someone had a dream.

To turn this:

 and this:

and this:

Into this:

and this:

and this:

and this:

As if the use of scrap metal to construct adorable home design objects is not inspiring enough, it turns out that the welders and artisans behind these works are actually a group of adult polio victims who arrive to work mostly via this mode of transport:

For more information about this workshop of wonders head here. To see their gallery or to make any last minute holiday shopping requests, head here. We are happy to support this great cause and would be happy to carry home any desired objects to friends and family back home, just drop us a line!

Culture Shock in Ukraine.

We have landed in Ukraine, apparently land of fast internet. Oh the joy! As if the return to quick internet connections is not shocking enough, I have found myself thoroughly surprised a couple of times over past few days.

On our way into the city from the airport, we were pulled over the by the police. A routine check it appeared. The officer asks for all requisite paperwork. When Andrei's cousin fails to produce the written insurance policy (despite the insurance card and proof of existing insurance), he offers the police officer a bribe to get the process over with quickly. The officer denies the bribe and insists on issuing an actual ticket. And we wait in the car, for a very long time. Where in the world are we?!?!

The next day we walked through the neighborhood where Andrei grew up as a child, it was fun to take in all the sights and to be in a city with 2000 years of history and accordingly tourist attractions. I kept doing a double take at all the moms pushing around fancy baby prams.

You can imagine my "shock" coming from a world where this is more of the norm:

But I guess the "shockingly" cold weather and the existence of sidewalks provide a formative opening for such cumbersome baby gear.

Via Chicago.

In my nostalgic dreams anyway...

Dream with me and Wilco here.

--

Photo Credit: Andrei Sinioukov

Fleeting Childhood Bliss.

From discovery to abandon.

Swahili Fashion week.

The annual Swahili Fashion Week in Dar es Salaam was last week's highlight.

Now in its 3rd year, Swahili Fashion Week has been deemed East Africa's most sought after fashion and lifestyle platform. Swahili Fashion Week was founded by Mustafa Hassanali in 2008 as a much needed platform for designers across the Swahili speaking world to showcase their creativity and talent.

The chief aim of Swahili Fashion Week is to promote and assist in the growth of East African fashion and textile industries, demonstrating that fashion is indeed a business - as well as a creative expression - and that it can bring economic opportunities to individuals and nations as a whole. Towards that end, USAID East Africa Competitiveness and Trade Expansion Program (COMPETE) is a proud sponsor of Swahili Fashion Week. Under the global campaign banner of Origin Africa, COMPETE seeks to raise awareness about Africa as a preferred sourcing destination for textiles and apparel. In addition, COMPETE provides technical assistance to African firms and governments to enhance their competitiveness in global markets and help African businesses take advantage of trade opportunities available under the African Growth and Opportunity Act with the aim of expanding export opportunities and promoting increased interregional trade.

As proof of USAID's pioneering leadership in the fashion industry, the USAID/Tanzania Mission Director assumed front row seats at this not to be missed event.

Byeeee!

I just finished a pro-bono, year long contract with CARE International in Tanzania, and this was my parting gift.

Sing for Joy. Download for free here.

Inspired Fashion.

I have spoken in the past about the importance of the kanga and the kitenge cloths as a centerpiece of Tanzanian dress. One of my favorite pasttimes here continues to be digging through piles and piles of kangas or kitenges in local markets and finding new and inspiring designs, patterns, and sayings. it provides a nice afternoon distraction.

While strong on cultural interest in these traditional cloths, I find that I am short on inspiration to actually do anything useful with them, and as a result, I have piles and piles of kangas and kitenges sitting in my closet not being put to any productive use. As a marked contrast to my own creative design limitations, I am highly impressed with those that can create fashions suitable for Western audiences out of something so basic and traditional. One recent example proved blog-worthy.

Under the brand name, Ole Africa!, a friend of mine has worked in collaboration with a local tailor to create a custom clothing line from kangas and kitenges. The result is wildly impressive.

For more information head here. To place your custom order ahead of the holidays contact her: oleafricadress@gmail.com.

Condom Vending Machine.

So practical.

---

Photo Credit: Andrei Sinioukov

Dream Machine.

This one is for you. You know who you are.

Listen and download here.
Cant get enough, look here.
I cant either.

Thoughts on Homosexuality.

While polygamy is considered "normal" here and is even sanctioned by Tanzanian law, homosexuality is decidedly not. In Tanzania, sexual acts between men are illegal, carrying a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison. Sexual acts between women are not mentioned in the Penal Code of the Tanzanian mainland. However, in 2004, Zanzibar, which is a semi-autonomous island which is part of Tanzania's territory, enacted a law criminalizing female homosexual acts as well, punishable by the same prison term length that men face for homosexual acts in Zanzibar - a maximum of five years. While these laws are "on the books," these laws are rarely enforced, Amnesty International reports that no arrests have been made due to homosexuality in Tanzania or Zanzibar since 2004.

While that is encouraging news for some, or perhaps just further evidence of Tanzania's notoriously weak law enforcement and judicial systems, this hardly matters in terms of the active discrimination the homosexual community faces here. In Tanzania, gays and lesbians are violently persecuted, mistreated, hated, and ostracized. A World Bank-supported working paper entitled Sexual Minorities, Violence and AIDS in Africa reports that homosexuals in Tanzania run a high risk of experiencing violence and intolerance. In my office, well educated colleagues compared homosexuals to cockroaches, citing fear that homosexuality is "contagious" and that they actively seek to "convert" young boys into becoming homosexuals. In a training exercise in which we were asked to explore our own values as staff members before carrying highly sensitive sexual reproductive health messaging into communities, we were asked to take a stand of agreement or disagreement with the following statement by standing on one side of the room or the other, "Homosexuality can be normal." Two of us gathered on one side of the room, we just so happened to be the only two Westerners in the room, there were 14 people on the other side of the room, all Tanzanians. The conversation that ensued was divisive and loaded with emotion. There was no convincing one side or the other of the merits of each respective stance, but then again that was not necessarily the point of the exercise. In the end, I realize  certain sexual practices should be viewed within a culturally relative lens and state of mind, however I often find myself wondering when, if ever, is it ok to label certain modes of thinking as "wrong"? It can be emotionally taxing that I am expected to tacitly accept sexual practices my own value system and culture otherwise deem as "deviant" but at the same time accept extremely offensive claims about another form of sexual preference, dare I say, deviance.


---
References:

Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Tanzania: Treatment of homosexuals
by society and government authorities; recourse and protection available to
homosexuals who have been subject to ill treatment (2005 - January 2007)., 2
April 2007. TZA102434.E. Online. UNHCR Refworld, available at:
http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/refworld/rwmain?docid=469cd69a1a
[accessed 13 November 2007]

Thoughts on Polygamy.

A recent attention-grabbing headline in African news on CNN read, "Kenyan polygamist with 100 wives dies." According to the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation, Ancentus Akuku, known for marrying 100 wives and reportedly had over 160 children, died at the ripe age of 90"something". This notorious Kenyan man was nicknamed "Danger" because of his alleged charm and ability to woo women. His family was so large, he built a church and a school for them in the western town of Kisumu, and Akuku himself admitted that the size of his extended family made it impossible to keep track of them. Akuku married his first wife in 1939 and his last wife in 1992, and had reportedly divorced as many as 30 wives during this time.


Although polygamy was the norm in Kenya during Akuku's time, the article cites that this practice has died out over the years. To whatever extent that claim is true in Kenya, this practice decidedly persists in Tanzania. We have seem many, many examples of polygamous marriages during our time here. Not only does polygamy continue to happen on an informal basis, it is actually sanctioned by Tanzanian law. Upon registration, a marriage license must be filed according to one of three classifications: polygamous, potentially polygamous, or monogamous. Incidentally any declared status can be "converted" to polygamous or monogamous by joint declaration at any time. As it exists, polygamous relationships are permitted only with the consent of the first wife, in fact maintenance of the other wives becomes the first wife's duty in cases where the husband is incapacitated or otherwise unable to earn a living. Given that Islamic law allows for men to take up to four wives, it is presumed that all Muslim marriages are polygamous or potentially polygamous unless proved otherwise, and Christian marriages are the reverse. A man is only allowed to take a second or third or even fourth wife provided that he can "afford" to support them, therefore polygamy is often a defacto status symbol, indicating great wealth.


This past weekend we were hanging out in South Beach with a newfound friend, Shannon, otherwise known as The Kristen Replacement, and were greeted with swarming numbers of Pakistani naval officers on shore leave. They approached Andrei in a steadfast manner and invited him for a friendly chat by the poolside. He got up to join them alone. Shannon and I were more than content to continue drinking our beers by the bar. No no, they beckoned, everybody should come. By the poolside Andrei explained, these are both my wives - Wife #1 and Wife #2. This statement received barely scant notice and jovial conversation continued. Once their rudimentary English skills had run their course, they asked to take a group picture with us and then politely excused themselves for further exploration. As they walked away one man looked back and with a wink and nod of the head he remarked, "You are a very lucky man to have two wives."

And so it seems, sometimes the path of least resistance, in terms of explaining away circumstances, is the most amenable and easily understood mode of communication, especially when working across such varied and value laden cultural norms.

---

References:

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/africa/10/07/kenya.polygamist.100.wives/index.html?hpt=T2


http://www.law.emory.edu/ifl/legal/tanzania.htm

The Loss Felt Round the World.

The Kristen Replacement.

Paper Anniversary.

Andrei and I just celebrated our one year anniversary on September 11th. And what a year it has been. In commemoration of our paper anniversary, I share this song.

Happy Listening.

Current Obsession.

I am currently listening to Micah P. Hinson's My God, My God over and over.

Check out this song here. And then pre-order the entire album here. It will not disappoint.
Happy Listening.

Weekend Purchase.