A Material World

I need new curtains for our new house in Juba. Fortunately, our neighbour Margaret is very handy with her sewing machine and has kindly offered her expertise help.

Off  we went into town to see whether I could find suitable material. We were armed with a note book, full of my scribbled measurements and a tape measure to double-check the sizes of what we want. We aimed to take just one hour. But nothing ever takes "just one hour" in Dodoma! Rather, we spent all morning in and out of the stalls where material hangs from wooden beams, or is folded up neatly on shelves behind counters, or is rolled in large cylinders, ready to be cut off by the metre.

It was a fun morning. Dodoma has a wealth of materials for sale, sold across the town at various stalls, or from converted containers where you can wander in and browse. There are gorgeous colours, startling patterns and a whole array of material types, from polyester to cotton, thick cuts and thin, sparkly or plain.

Joel joined Margaret and I. He was very patient whilst we examined and measured and discussed what may be suitable to hang in the windows of our future home...

There was an extra bit of interest for Joel when we came across the following sight at the local SabaSaba market:

These rats made me feel quite ill- rats are among my least favourite creatures, along with snakes and scorpions! I have a deep-rooted dislike of rats! I asked the stall owner why he had these rats in the cage. He answered that he's going to eat them! I told him that I did not believe him, but he laughed merrily and replied that rats are very delicious, or sweet ("tamu sana") once cooked. So I asked him how he cooked them... I could hardly believe him when he said he roasts them! I walked away still not knowing if he was teasing, although house-lady Jane assures me that some local people do enjoy the odd snack of roasted rat... ugh!!! I'd rather eat a plateful of mud! I could not bear the idea! I even had a nightmare after this encounter, where rats were running all over my food and all over my kitchen!

Anyway, I was quickly distracted on the actual day when we found the material below at a nearby stall:

 I now have 3 sheets of this fun, boat-themed material ready to be made into curtains for Ben and Joel's room, once I can locate a suitable lining.

I also discovered the material below as a possible candidate for bedroom curtains, partly because the seller had several pieces of cloth in this pattern. Often, the seller only has one or two pieces of any one design, which is a challenge when you need several pieces to make sure all the windows in the room have the same curtains!

I haven't gone back to the "duka" (small shop) to buy this material yet, but if I don't see anything else that I like, it could soon be put through Margaret's sewing machine as she works her magic to help us out with our preparations for Juba. In the meantime, I will continue to haunt the world of material shops in  Dodoma in my quest for those perfect pieces of curtain-cloth...