Travel

Culture shock in Tanzania?

Last but not least in the #WhileIwasaway series comes what I enjoyed the most. NEW CULTURE! AIESEC Global Volunteer is a cross-cultural experience for youth who want to gain personal development and leave an impact on the world. There's nothing quite like being in a brand new country, living and volunteering with people from all around. I can really attest to that.

Although Tanzania is just our next door neighbor, there are elements of new culture I experienced while there. Perhaps the different vocabulary; apparently the word ‘stima’ that Kenyans use to mean electricity doesn’t exist in Kiswahili. Its ‘umeme’ guys! But catch a Kenyan saying ‘Umeme umepotea.’  Haha! Rarely so.

Another thing that was new is the greeting culture. People greet each other courteously on the streets, whether or not they know each other. I’m told the same happens in Coastal Kenya but that was definitely new for the Nairobi-bred me. There’s one particular lady who lived a few houses away from us& sold chapati at her verandah every morning. I had no problem greeting her at first occurrence each day, but she insisted that we should greet her each time we passed by her home. Shikamoo more than 5 times a day? To the same person? That was new! But I finally got the hang of it with time since “When in Rome, do as the Romans do.”

AIESEC Mzumbe organized a Global Village event where we could all showcase our culture. It was an amazing experience!

Learning about Taiwan from Jason, Maggie and Tony was lovely too. First, the English names I have been using to refer to them are just nicknames. Can you imagine? They give themselves these names to avoid the trouble of having to make others pronounce their Chinese names; though I challenged myself to calling them by those names over time and finally got it! And yes, I say Chinese because the languages spoken in Taiwan are both Chinese and the native Taiwanese language (which is mostly spoken by the older generation.) In the hiking video here, Jason taught me the Chinese word for waterfall pu - 瀑 - pù...which was very funny because that word means something quite different in Kiswahili!

If you are wondering where Taiwan is, it is a small island right next to China. Its capital city is Taipei. And guys, I finally got to learn how to tell Asians apart! Haha, well, to a certain degree. They told me of the cultural differences between Japanese, Chinese, Taiwanese and Koreans. Not only by their looks, but also by how they write out their language. Trust me, it’s similar but it’s not all the same!

Remember how I said here that we had taught them how to sing in Kiswahili? Well, I learnt how to sing a Taiwanese welcome song as well. Don’t laugh, it was among my first tries.

Closer home, Serge from Rwanda taught me some Kinyarwanda. I don’t know why I had always assumed that all of Rwanda is French speaking until he told me that they have Anglophone and Francophone regions. I also realized that Kinyarwanda is somewhat similar to Kiswahili; perhaps due to the similar Bantu roots.

So you now how in Kenya if someone calls you "Wee nani" it sounds so rude? Apparently, in Rwanda, it's the total opposite. Serge would call me "Wee Joy Muli" with good intentions, but up until he explained that it is a respectful way of referring to someone in his country, I thought he was being rude! Haha...

Mozambique! Did you know that they speak Portuguese? 'Te amor Senor'. That means 'I love you my Lord.' Sounds amazing huh? Leila was my partner when it came to composing songs as I had narrated here. We had lyrics in Chagana (one of the native Mozambican languages), English, Kiswahili and Portuguese. International music… don’ mess!

Let me tell you guys something random about me. I support Manchester United Football club. “Okay, Joy. How is that even related to what we’re talking about in Mozambique?" Well, remember Christiano Ronaldo? Hehe! I liked how he played (ahem) and that’s kinda how I became a ManU fan. So honestly, he’s the one person that comes to mind whenever I think of Portugal. Random huh? (shout out to the real football fans unlike myself; my brothers and close friends like KB. ) But let me challenge you since you’re probably out there judging me. How many former Portuguese colonies can you name? Mozambique…Angola…are you blank? Haha! At least I'm not alone. So don't judge me with my Mozambique-Portugal -football correlation. 

(Fun fact- there are only 10 countries in the world that have  Portuguese as their official language; Brazil, Mozambique, Angola, Portugal, Guinea-Bissau, East Timor, Equatorial Guinea, Macau, Cape Verde, and São Tomé and Príncipe.)

Anyway, another thing I admired about Tanzanians was their unity. Despite having so many tribes, they identify themselves by what region they come from. Each time I asked, “Where are you from?” I’d get answers like “I’m from Mwanza…From Moshi…From Iringa”. Rarely did they go by their tribes. Not that they don’t ascribe to a particular tribe, but it isn’t a huge point of differentiation, conflict or a matter to lord over others. This I admire, and hope for the same to happen back home one day. I also got to know tad bits about Ghana, Nigeria, Poland...there was such great cultural diversity within the AIESEC community!

(Photo credits to Maggie, Dennis Damian &Isaac)

There you have it. That’s it for the #WhileIwasaway series.  Hope you enjoyed it and learnt a thing or two from my narration about this journey that God purposely set out for me. 

Soli deo Gloria.

by Mueni Muli

Making new, international friends

I’m one person who believes that I never meet new people by accident. Everyone who crosses my path, does so for a reason. Makini was the only friend I knew when I went to Mzumbe but he wasn’t the only one I left with. I loved the fact that we were all from different backgrounds, which made it so much more interesting. The house was always filled with energy of some sort; from teaching each other how to dance and sing cultural songs, to having deep conversations about life (apparently some day we were talking about marriage and I dozed off on the living room couch. They say {to be confirmed} that I was still contributing to the convo while asleep. Goodness me! I don’t even usually sleep talk….so it’s my word against theirs. Haha! )

As life has it, we had our share of ups and downs. But conflicts were resolved and happy moments celebrated. I’ve picked the most memorable of those to share. So here it goes.

1. Cooking-

''Sharing food with another human being is an intimate act that should not be indulged in lightly! '' M.F.K.Fisher sure wasn’t wrong about that. The kitchen is where we all met to make mandazi, cake, bubble tea, muthokoi and Mozambican badjia together. Boy wasn’t it fun!Making Chinese stir fry for lunch

Did you notice our makeshift rolling pin? I bet you didn't, so watch it again and see the solution oriented people we were right there! Oh yeah! Lift your hands in the air! Like you don't care! (I just wanted to rhyme! Hehe!)

2. Milk thief scenario-

Speaking of food…I love milk. So for the first few days, I was sad because the only milk we could find was store-bought milk that was so expensive! Thank God we eventually were directed to a nearby homestead where they sold it quite cheaply. This was yet another task that we did together; each with his/her own bottle, walking the path together to go buy milk. One unfortunate day, we had bought milk and I offered to boil it for everyone, so that it wouldn't go bad quickly. I did so & poured the milk back into each person's designated and marked milk bottle. Lo and behold! A few hours later, Serge wanted to drink his milk but found most of it gone. In fact, he only found a quarter liter left! Yet he had bought 1 entire litre. Who had stolen the milk? Watch the video Maggie, our media correspondent on the ground made, to find out!

 

3. Church-

It was so lovely going to church and experiencing the fellowship there. The service was filled with lovely song and dance!

4. Entertainment :Dancing, singing, watching movies-

As I’ve said the house was constantly booming music. From Taiwanese songs (to which we sung along despite not knowing how to pronounce the words right) to learning how to move our waists gracefully in Mozambican dance. Moving to the beat together was definitely a favorite pastime. Leila and I actually bonded so much through composing songs with a guitar we'd borrowed (I know how to play only 5 chords, but those sufficed!). We were even able to teach Maggie, Jason and Tony a song in Kiswahili! They did a perfectly good job at it btw!

 

5. Accident-

This was the lowlight of the entire trip. Jason was hit by a motorcycle on his way back home from lunch at the university. You can imagine the horror on my face as he was brought in unconscious&profusely bleeding, to the emergency room at the health centre. I hope I never have to see someone I know brought into the hospital I'm at in such a state. Especially because he lost his memory temporarily. It hit me most when he asked me what my name was as we rode with him in the ambulance. 

For an entire week, we stood by him until he got full recovery. Dr. Lillian was great help through this process. She cared for him even as he was admitted at the Regional hospital. And didn’t I also see great solidarity from the guys amongst us. Makini, Tony and Michael slept with Jason at the hospital and took great care of him. Serge then became Jason’s personal bodyguard anywhere they went together. As ladies, we ensured he ate well and took him for dressing too. Eventually, God did make it all work for good.

“Every new friend is a new adventure…the start of more memories.”

~ Patrick Lindsay

More sweet memories...

Here is what I was telling you guys about us dancing!

Plus these pictures are worth a thousand words!

Now that's enough photos lest this post becomes a photo album! See you tomorrow for some exciting things I learnt from my international friends! ;) 

by Mueni Muli

All work and no play...

All work and no play makes Jill a dull girl. In my previous posts, I’ve pretty much narrated my professional experience while there but I wore the tourist cap too! We would work till around 2pm at the hospital, so we had the rest of the afternoon to ourselves, as well as the weekends.

What better ways to have fun than explore the outdoors. This trip helped me confirm my love for nature. I’d definitely prefer a date in the wild than wining and dining at restaurants. Though there’s a place for those too. Hehe! :)

Mzumbe University (remember I’d gone for an AIESEC student exchange so that was the university the project was affiliated to) is beautiful. Most students there don’t like the fact that it’s in the rural areas but I kept saying that they are so lucky to have the mountains as their backyard!

Kilimahewa is the picnic site within the university compounds that overlooks Uluguru mountains. It felt so surreal. Having a picnic over the sunset was our favorite past-time, as we shared stories and learnt about each other’s culture, especially food. Gervas, a caring friend from AIESEC Mzumbe, brought Sharifu for us. The only way I can describe it is that it looks like a giant samosa. We had some chips mayai that day as well. Delish!

At some point, Jason was describing how they cook and eat chicken testicles in Taiwan! I was half bewildered and half bursting out in laughter at the description! :) 

Picnics were for the dainty days though. Some days we went for the hard stuff. Hiking up Uluguru mountains wasn’t a joke. Here, I’ll let the photos by Maggie and the video that Po Yen (Jason) put together do the talking.  

https://youtu.be/GtCQ-YUen6E

Can't wait for tomorrow's post as I'll be sharing some very personal lessons I learnt during this journey. Soli deo gloria! #WhileIwasAway #42daysinTanzania

by Mueni Muli