Geof-frica

An interesting conversation

After tea time one day, my student Catherine asked me about my tattoos. She had asked previously in class, but at that time all she wanted to know was if they hurt (yes). This time, she wanted to know if I was worried about what God thought. I hesitated, which she took to mean that I didn’t believe in God (I’ve mentioned how smart these girls are, right?). Then she asked, “So you are a pagan?” I immediately responded, “No,” but thought about it and corrected myself, “Well, yeah, kinda.”

Seeing as it was a Catholic school, I was a little hesitant to state my beliefs completely. A lot of different religious groups claim persecution, but I would argue that no group of people is more persecuted than atheists. However, I never felt that way during my short stay in Tanzania, and I doubt most people would have really cared. The simple fact is, I’ve never been one to wear my beliefs on my sleeve, but I’ve never really been one to hide my beliefs either. I definitely wasn’t going to lie to her, so I was upfront. I told her I was born and raised Catholic but that I no longer identified with any religion. As I assumed, she didn’t judge me. She wasn’t even that surprised (maybe I give off an atheist vibe?). The girls at Bigwa are Catholic, but most have no interest in becoming a nun or being involved in the church in any fashion other than attending mass. But they are definitely affected by Catholic beliefs and teachings, and I think Catherine was a little excited at the prospect of not being so controlled by ideology.

I told her that I don’t believe in God, but if one exists, I highly doubt he/she would be concerned about tattoos. I said I think God would be more concerned with how I treat others. Then I mentioned that many cultures consider tattoos to be sacred, and for most people, they mean something very important. She was intrigued and I was happy to have had the opportunity to voice my beliefs. I was getting a little asphyxiated by all the Church stuff around me.

A few months after I got home, Catherine sent me a picture of her new tattoo.

:-) 

Random thoughts and pictures

I’m getting towards the end.

As I look at my remaining journal notes and pictures, a sense of sadness washes over me. Unlike the actual end of my trip, when I was sad to leave but excited to come home, there is no excitement now. I enjoyed writing about this trip so much because it was like reliving it every time I posted. That’s why it’s taken almost a year to blog about a 14 day trip: I never wanted the experience to end. Blogging about it was a way to keep it going, and now that I’m almost at the end of writing about it, it feels like it’s really coming to a close. And I don’t like it. 

So I guess I’ll have to do a similar trip soon to recapture the magic. The problem is, it will be a different magic. Okay, that’s not really a problem, but it is the truth. I’m sure I will enjoy whatever trip I take, and there will be plenty more amazing experiences to have and amazing people to meet, but this chapter has closed and there’s no reliving it.

Damn that’s sad. 

We can’t live in the past, but we always take our past experiences with us into the future, and I’m grateful that I will always have this experience with me as I continue on my journey through life.

Plus I have a bunch of awesome new friends! It’s even more awesome because we all shared the experience so it makes the memories more vivid, more real.

And I have great pictures! Always an excellent way of capturing and reliving the moments of our past. Here are some I haven’t posted yet (I don’t think).

Campus cows.

Campus monkey

Wall monkey

Campus computer lab (with some of those awesome friends I mentioned!).

Birthday cake for Sister Margaret, who celebrated her 75th (!!!!) birthday during our trip.

Cloudy skies over Uruguru Mountain

More clouds and trees

A lizard in the bathroom.

Bigwa’s fish pond. I must say, I was not exactly craving fish after seeing this.

Clouds.

Yup, more clouds!

Uruguru.

Uruguru, and the road leading to downtown Morogoro

Me!

Kids! My friend Waynetta took this (and the next two) pics. 

Well, only a few posts left I suppose…

Student Performance - Exorcise the Demons!

After the feast, we went back to our hostel. I tried to take a nap, but Catherine was around and insisted on playing, so that’s what happened instead.

In the late afternoon, we went to a farewell celebration put on by the students. First, a large group sang and danced for us (I have some video I will put up next).

Next, they put on an outrageous play. It involved the devil and an exorcism. The moral was to worship the one true god, but all I got from it was the devil character smacking down the preacher character. It was pretty wild, and all the girls had a blast putting it on and/or watching it. 

After the performance, we all sang the Tanzanian  national anthem. The students danced some more, then pulled us all in with them. We sang and danced and took pictures for a while.

Read More

Last full day in Tanzania. And kittens!

After we came back from the orphanage, the nuns and staff at Bigwa threw us a party/feast at the nuns’ house.

When we got there, they were still preparing the food, so we waited in the living room. Most of us were a little bit tired…

…so those who could find a spot on the couch took a nap. I was a tad late and didn’t find a good resting spot, so I went outside to play with the nuns’ kittens. It was a good trade-off…

When dinner was prepared, we all went to the dining room. A few of the Bigwa staff talked to us before we ate. They were all very thankful for having us there. One guy (I think he was the head of the school, although he might have been the priest; it’s possible that he was both) told us that saying “Thanks” means that you are asking for something more. That being said, he said “thanks” and told us he’d love if we could stay for a year. I only wish I could have…kind of. I definitely wish the trip was longer, but I was starting to miss home, especially my friends, my lizard, and my ipod. I think that if I had planned and mentally prepared for a year long trip, then I would have loved to stay. But we all appreciated the gesture and thanked them for their wonderful hospitality.

Then, all of the nuns and staff entered the room, singing and dancing in a kind of conga line. While doing this, they gave each one of us a beautiful wrap/sari. It was very touching. And it was hilarious watching the nuns, including the American nuns, dancing and singing.

Then we ate. It was an absolute feast. We had the best pieces of chicken yet on the trip, little beef pockets, pork bites, rice, watermelon, cookies and soda. It was a great way to end the trip.

Peter and I. He was a really great guy. He worked at the school, but nobody seemed to know his actual job, besides being impossibly happy all the time. He was the guy who blessed us with the phrase “enjoy your moment” early in our trip, a phrase that now adorns my leg.

Pictures of Bigwa students

Most of these are my friend Waynetta’s pictures, but they’re so good and they bring back so many fond memories I wanted to share.

To start, here are a few pics of Catherine the Great, our lovable village mascot…

And now a bunch of random pictures of awesome people, mostly Bigwa students and some girls from Unitas, the village next to Bigwa where we stayed…