Liz's meat bucket: an essential item in my Dodoma kitchen!

I often miss the convenience of shopping in the UK. Take, for example, the purchase of a piece of meat. In England, I'd pop over to the butcher to choose a clean piece of ready-prepared meat, from a wide selection, or pick up some clean, fresh, packaged meat at the supermarket.

Here in Dodoma, we wait until someone is killing an animal and then order vast quantities of raw meat straight off the pig or cow, which will then be frozen to ensure we have a good supply to last us. The animal won't actually be killed until every bit of its body has been spoken for and payment guaranteed, so the delivery date can vary.

There is also the option to go to one of the small local butcher shops in town, but so far on my visits, the butcher had run out of beef or pork fillets. The lack of fridges is also something to get used to, as meat hangs free-style around the small room.

If I were braver, I could arrange a visit to the meat market to pick out the meat I'd like, but it takes some expertise to select the good cuts -and a strong stomach to not be put off by the blood and gore and smells of freshly slaughtered beasts! So I leave this task to a kind Tanzanian lady, Elizabeti, who offers to buy meat for the less resilient of us westerners!

So when Elizabeti is going to the meat market, she comes and tells us, I put in my orders for fillet or chopped up pieces of beef or pork (or goat, if I wanted- but I've not been brave enough yet!!) and I give her my meat bucket to return the fresh meat to me once she has purchased it.

The meat returns:

Then I like to check that all is clean and hygienic, so I rinse all the meat with Milton, just to make sure, while washing out the rather blood-swilling bucket- I might get a little carried away sometimes with the use of soapy fairy liquid, trying to make sure everything is super-clean after all that raw meat!!

Then I rinse off the swimming-pool odour of Milton and chop the meat into handy freezer-bag size portions, with some moral support from Ben (who is NOT snacking here on raw meat!! I think it was a piece of apple!!):

Finally, the meat is ready for the freezer! Apparently, freezing pork for 3 months is a good way to kill off any worms, so the pork goes in for a good long while before I will defrost it for cooking.

This all takes a little longer than I was used to! My meal planning also has to be a lot more organised, as any meat dishes must first take into account the time to defrost the piece of meat I will need...

Dustbins and Dust

On Tuesday mornings in Lancashire, England, Ben used to love watching the dustbin lorry come past, with flashing lights, lots of beeping and revving of engines, collecting all the rubbish and later the recycling materials.

Here in Tanzania, there are no such things as wheelie bins, recycling boxes or lorries to collect all the rubbish. Instead , rubbish is burnt in little pits dug into the ground. Not very environmentally friendly, perhaps, but the rubbish has to go somewhere.

We collect out rubbish in a tight-lidded plastic bin and when it is full, it is taken down to the nearest rubbish pit, which is situated in the car park of our MAF compound.

Little helpers lend a hand with transporting the rubbish:

Our MAF rubbish pit smoulders away, disposing of the day's unwanted goods:

Whilst on the subject of the environment, we are really noticing the dryness of Dodoma. This is the first time we have ever lived anywhere so dry and dusty. Rain has not fallen here since March/ early April (I can't even remember!) and is not expected again until November. At MAF, we are fortunate to have a local water tank and so far, there are no water shortages:

However, as we cycle into town, the dust and sand is piling up. It gets harder to cycle through the patches of thick dust off the tarred roads. Out of town, the river beds are as dry as bones:

The dominant colour in Dodoma is a dusty browny-grey, as dust settles on the roads, the buildings, and pathways and as many trees become wintry in their appearance with few leaves to be seen. Meanwhile, inside my home, the surfaces seem forever dusty, despite my best efforts with a wet cloth and Jane's help in polishing the wooden tables!

A touch of British culture in Tanzania...

Last week, a little piece of British culture made its way into my living room here on the MAF Dodoma compound...

To celebrate my first birthday in Tanzania, I thought that it might be nice to bring something traditional from England to our multi-national community here- and decided an English Afternoon Tea was just the thing for the ladies here! Seeing as Andrew was away for the 2 nights either side of my birthday, flying medical staff for a hospital in the north of the country, I invited ladies only to come and celebrate with me (while all the energetic children were sent outside to play and eat popcorn!). We got together on the Thursday afternoon, representing 6 nationalities between us.
To be true to the old English Afternoon Tea traditions, I made cucumber sandwiches to accompany home-made scones, with strawberry jam I found in the local "duka" (the label on the jar says 65% sugar, so not much room for fruit, but at least it looked like strawberry jam!) and I whipped up a packet of "Dream Topping" (from my English container supplies) to stand in as cream.
We had tea and biscuits as well and a loaf of Tea-Bread from an old Lake District recipe my Mum had given me.

However, for me, the "icing on the cake" came when a fruit and veg seller turned up at our gate, selling, of all things, wonderful fresh strawberries! They are grown in the hilly and more rainy area of Morogoro- a 3 hour drive away. I was so excited to have fresh strawberries on my birthday! I bought 2 bowl-fulls and was able to decorate my cake with big, fat, juicy strawberries- how much more English could my Afternoon Tea be??

Time to cut the cake, with a bit of help from Ben... :-)

Buses, school and sickness...

Since Esther started in Reception class last Monday, she has settled in nicely. She is thrilled to climb aboard the 7:20 MAF school mini-bus to be driven in style to school (although maybe not always so glad to be woken at 6:30 each day!!).

MAF parents take turns on a rota to take/collect the children. I drive 3 times a week, to pick up Nursery/Reception children, who finish their day at 12pm. I had to overcome my fear of driving new vehicles! After a couple of lessons with a patient Andrew and Julie-Anne at MAF, I now feel fairly at ease driving the MAF mini-bus:

The children are always glad to board the bus, homeward bound for lunch, running enthusiastically (with the bleating of nearby goats to add an African flavour to their happy chatter):

On the back seat:

On the topic of school, Andrew's sister Claire has now arrived in Dodoma to take up her new post as Year 4 teacher at the junior section of Esther's school. It a relief that she is finally here, after an upsetting start to life in Tanzania...

All began as an idyllic holiday with her Aussie friend and travel companion, Keva, on Zanzibar; but then a nasty bout of what has since been diagnosed as amoebic dysentery meant that Claire was very ill for several days, involving an unpleasant night-visit to Stonetown hospital, plus time spent at a more reassuring clinic in Dar es Salaam. Her actual bus journey to Dodoma was delayed until she was well enough to travel.

Eventually, Claire accepted a lift in a car from an Italian priest. It seemed a better travel option than the hair-raisingly fast bus- at least the car could stop suddenly if Claire needed to! We expected her late Saturday afternoon in Dodoma.

There was no space in the car for Keva and the luggage. So Keva travelled alone on the bus, with all the luggage. We expected her late in the evening.

As it happened, Keva arrived safely for dinner on Saturday evening, with all the bags, but there was no sign of Claire... Adding adventure to calamity, Claire's journey was significantly interrupted by a rather dramatic puncture, just as the afternoon was coming to an end:

Claire spent at least 2 hours by the side of the road, right into the black of an African night, with lots of interest from the local villagers. They set up a vigil with Claire and her fellow car passengers after they broke down- even lighting a fire for them once night fell!

The puncture was finally repaired.... and Claire arrived at our Dodoma home in the wee small hours of Sunday morning!

Here is proof that she is finally- and safely- here, recovering from her illness, teaching at school -and pictured here settling into her new Dodoma home near to the school:

So, what DID we do in these holidays?

After 5 weeks of school holidays, Esther starts a new academic year tomorrow- and is VERY excited!! Not so sure about how I feel though, since I have to get her up and ready for the 7:20am daily departure for school!! It's an early start, but at least she finishes her school day at 12pm.

She has also thoroughly enjoyed her holidays, along with Ben. 5 weeks ago I was wondering how on earth we would fill every day without the laid-on entertainment available to us in England, or the beach we had so close in South Africa. However, I need not have worried. The weeks have flown by, packed with busy activities, fun and children everywhere, including 2 new little MAF friends who have delighted my children with their arrival on our MAF compound. Here are a few highlights to show you:

Taking scooters and Ben's little pedal-less bike to St John's University, where a friend is a lecturer, so that the children could speed around on one of the few paved pedestrian surfaces of Dodoma. A little unorthodox maybe, but the students didn't seem to mind and the children had great fun (and were worn out afterwards, sleeping like a dream that night!!)

Time for a quick juice and biscuits break...

A couple of walks around Dodoma's reservoir, with school friends and their mums, enjoying the views and the exercise (although the water level is shrinking as dry season persists):

A shopping trip into town for The Girls (and their mums!), to buy a kanga for Esther and a school bag for her little friend, rounded up with a trip to a local cafe for chai and a doughnut:

There was always trusty play-dough to fall back on, which was given to the children in a party bag after a 6th birthday party they attended last week (what a great idea for a party bag!!):

And there were a couple of informal picnics with school pals and their mums, just to get us all out into the fresh air... So all in all, a great 5 weeks for the children, a whirlwind for me, and all a bit baffling for Andrew, who said he couldn't keep up with it all and finds his MAF work schedule far more reassuring!!