Conversations with Barnabas #1

Welcome to Conversations with Barnabas Bear which I hope to make a regular feature in the blog rotation.  A couple of items up front, the conversation is fictional (hopefully that was obvious) but are pulled from some of my (Steve) conversations and observations during my time here in Tanzania.  The main purpose of these is to help everyone get to know the people in Tanzania a little bit better while having a little bit of fun.  I would love some feedback on these so I know if I should continue and if so what types of conversations Barnabas needs to be having.  The stories are told from Barnaba’s point of view and because of that they are in English though I try to reflect some of the problems with the English translation.

It is Saturday about midafternoon and Dad has decided it is time to go do some shopping in town.  Normally I love going into town for any reason and especially to eat.  Only it is very sunny and hot right now and I am sweating away my winter fat.  I just finished building it up during our trip back home where it really was winter.  Dad tried to explain this to me but I am not sure I have it right.  Since we are below the equator of the Earth were are in the southern hemisphere and that means when it is winter back home in South Carolina it is actually summer here.  What I know is it is hot all the time here just hotter during the dry season.  Right now is rainy season so the rains cool things down to about 80 degrees only it has not rained today and I think it is in the 90s.  We walk a lot here which I don’t mind since I am actually in the backpack looking out and Dad does all the walking.

From our hotel in Singida we walk about 15 minutes along one of the main roads to get to the main part of town.  Singida has two main roads and then several roads that connect those two which have most of the town’s shops.  We have just passed the welders who work in the dirt area beside the road and are about to pass the area where all the kids scream at dad their favorite English phrase “How you?”  He answers them but since they don’t know what the English words means they don’t understand his answer either.  They just scream it for as long as they can see him. 

Just as we pass their sight and then they stop screaming at him we come to the top of the hill on this road.  As we do there is a car pusher who is trying to stop his load as it starts down the hill.  In Tanzania there are a lot of different types of vehicles that use to roads.  There are big things like buses and trucks and then cars.  But there are also motorcycles and bicyclist and there are carts.  A cart is bigger than a wheelbarrow.  They have two wheels and then a box mounted on the axle with a large metal bar that extends out the front.  A person grabs the bar and pushes or pulls the cart around town.  They are used to carry everything from furniture to rocks to water to construction supplies.  Often they have several people who walk with them to help push heavy loads up hills or over concrete curbs or other obstacles.  Most of the people who push the carts are older very skinny men.  The problem is their load sometimes weighs so much that they don’t weigh enough to keep the bar end down.

Today as we top the hill this cart pusher is struggling because the cart has tipped back and lifted him off the ground but it is still rolling forward.  This happens a lot as they top the hills.  Normally they keep going until the back end drags enough to stop them but at this instant there is a large bus coming the other way passing another vehicle so he is in the lane with the cart.  As he struggles to get his cart under control it is listing off the shoulder and into the lane currently being occupied by the bus which is going way too fast in the middle of town.  Dad reaches over and grabs the side of the bar nearest to dirt path we are walking on and pulls the cart over to the shoulder and the dirt path while pulling it to a stop.   Most of the cart pushers weigh about 100 lbs so when dad adds his (he keeps deleting this part) lbs it is a lot easier to control the cart.

The cart pusher is drops to the ground as the cart has tilted all the way back lifting him completely in the air by several feet.  He turns to Dad and me and starts thanking him for his assistance.  Most Tanzanians are shocked when dad does stuff like this especially when he helps push start a dead vehicle, but dad figures he has to ask their help enough when his battery died on the truck that it is good to build up some good intentions.

Dad sets the backpack down so I can actually participate in the conversation.  I offer the man some water.  Dad introduces himself first, “Jina langu ni Stivi” (My name is Steve).  So I go next, “Jina langu ni Barnabas” and the man hands back the water saying “Asanta maji, jina langu ni Manuel” (Thank you for the water my name is Emanuel) they have a habit of not pronouncing the E  in Emanuel loud enough to be heard but they will expect to hear it if you say it back to them.

I looked in the cart and he has about 8 bags of cement and dad has told me those weigh a little more than 100 lbs each.  “Emanuel that is a heavy load not to have any help?” I ask.  To make a statement a question here you add the sound “je” to the statement.

“yes, my boy is sick today so he could not help me.  Normally the shopkeeper or purchaser would lend someone to help with a load this big but they were both busy.”  Emanuel answered.

“Ok, do you have much further?”

“No just down the trail on our left there.”

“Can we help you the rest of the way then?”

“Thank you but you don’t have to”

“We want to” I guess I should be honest I am going to be in the backpack not actually helping but still it seemed the right thing to do and Dad never minds.

“Ok but I need to rest first.”

“Hakuna Matatu. (no worries yes it really is a saying outside of the Lion King) So how many loads to carry in a day?”

“I am lucky if I get two loads a day with all the competition in town.”

“Wow not many.  Do you mind if I ask how you make per load?”

“Depends on how much I am carrying and how far.  This load came from the hardware market by Sarafina (a restaurant that is about 1.5 miles from where we are now).  Because there is so much it is a good fee of 5000 TSH ($2.50)”

“You said your son normally helps you, how is he?”

“He is 12 now.  Yes, he normally helps but he has malaria right now.”

“I am sorry about that.  Does he not go to school?”

“not now, I could not afford to send him last year so he was helping me.”

“But I thought Primary school did not have school fees, in fact I heard the new President did away with all Primary and Secondary school fees?”

“Yes but you still had to pay test fees and uniform fees and pay for the food and for supplies and sometimes for books but the school he goes to does not have books for the students only for the teachers.  You also had to make contributions to the teachers like send food for them.  Fortunately, our new President has done away with a lot of that.  We no longer have to contribute to the teacher’s food and we are not supposed to have to pay for tests anymore.  If all that is true, I can afford to send him when school starts back up in January.”

“Does he like school?”

“He likes it more than pushing the cart” Emanuel laughed.

“I guess so.  Do you have other children?”

“I had a daughter but she died of dysentery when she was 2.”

“I am very sorry to hear that.”

“Thank you”

“I need to get going if I want to get back to the shops in case someone else needs something carried today.  I could get lucky and have three loads today.”

With that he lifted himself up on the bar and started rocking back and forth to attempt to get the load to shift forward so he could start rolling it again.  Dad said he would have to help from the front since the load was so heavy they could cantilever it (ask your parents because if I ask him he will actually tell me all about it in detail and possibly draw a diagram).  He reached up and grabbed the bar and jumped up while holding it to put his weight on the bar and it shifted forward.  Once it was down Emanuel was able to hold so Dad went to the back and pushed.  It was only about 800 feet to the where it needed to be dropped off and the folks there unloaded the cart and paid Emanuel.  I think they even gave him a tip but Dad bought him a bottle of water just in case.