Day #3 (1/20/2014): Near Endoro, Tanzania

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While yesterday was all about viewing wildlife, today was all about viewing the Tanzanian people and their culture. After breakfast at Endoro Lodge, we met our walking guide Steve for a morning hike through the area:

Steve is wearing the traditional colors of his tribe. We spent many hours walking along roads and trails through the local countryside, stopping to meet people, view their homes, and watch them work:

A typical Tanzania home is made of local red brick, with well-tended gardens (for both food an ornamentation) and a variety of animals. I didn't see anything that I would describe as squalor or abject poverty. People were, for the most part welcoming, although sometimes a bit shy.

I particularly enjoyed meeting local children. I would always ask before photographing them, and they acquiesced about half the time. This boy was returning from the local well. Most Tanzanians walk from 1 to a few kilometers to retrieve drinking water from a public tap. This job is usually relegated to the women and children.

About half way along our walk, we visited a local school. It serves children from kindergarten to 7th grade. The children walk up to 5 km each way to attend the school (think of that next time you are training with Couch to 5K!). They take an exam in 4th grade that they must pass (or be held back) and then an exam in 7th grade that determines whether they may continue to secondary school. Our first stop was the teachers' lounge:

We visited the 6th grade English class. They enthusiastically practiced their English with us. First, they sang us several songs, some of which we recognize (like the "Skinamarink" song). Then they introduced themselves and asked us questions about America (Did we have national parks? How did we travel to Tanzania? Why did we come to Tanzania? Do we have any pets?). We then spread through the class as the children practiced their readers with us:

After they sang us a goodbye song, we left the English class and joined the 7th grade dancing class beneath a large shady tree. They played drums, sang, and danced several songs for us, including an Africanized version of "We Are the World" (providing a weird life-imitating-art-imitating-life moment) and "Hakuna Matata" (imagine my shock upon discovering that Disney didn't make that up!). 

We ended our visit by meeting with the headmaster, who explained the needs of the school, and how it all works. We made a donation and continued on our way through the local villages. We passed many people performing manual labor (we saw no farm machines) including a local community brick oven:

We ended our walk at a local town, visiting the daily market (a combination farmers' market and flea market, with mostly used goods for sale):

All in all it was a wonderful day of interacting with the local Tanznian peoples and culture. On the whole, everyone was friendly and welcoming. There was a bit of the "scamming" that comes with being an American abroad (attempts to engage in fake conversation in order to ask for money or sell cheap goods), but it was mellow enough to be unobtrusive. We were followed by a "town drunk" for a while before our guide bribed him to go away! I came away feeling that the average Tanzanian lives a good, healthy life. It was nice to have a day that was all about the people in the midst of so many days that were all about the animals.

Thank you for reading! I'm sorry it took so long to upload this blog; the Internet situation is fairly miserable.  :-)  No telling when my next update may be!