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!!

Spoilt Rotten

When some MAF colleagues went to Dar es Salaam last week, where there are real, large supermarkets and access to many more goods than here in Dodoma, I asked them to buy some cat food for Moshi.

I now have a year's supply of aptly named "Cat Food": no more slaving over a hot stove for me or Jane, to concoct strange meals for Moshi with tiny little fish from the market.

Life seems so easy when the cat can eat tinned food!!

Moshi is one very spoilt cat- enough food here to fill her growing tummy- although if my suspicions serve me right, food is not the only reason for Moshi's growing tummy. I won't be surprised if we have a few kittens joining the family in 3 months time... There are no vets in Dodoma to help our little cat in that particular area!

As for us, we have also been spoilt rotten this week when we received 3 parcels in the post!! Very exciting!! Not sure who was more excited- Esther and Ben, or their Mum!

Church

Here in Dodoma, we often attend the short English service at the cathedral on Sunday mornings, with the advantage of being able to understand what is going on around us! The service is sandwiched between 2 Kiswahili services, which are very well attended and full of vibrant music, with everyone decked out in their smart Sunday best.

The congregation exit one of the Kiswahili services:

Inside the church, colourful wall hangings behind the altar denote the different festivals of the church calendar and are eye-arresting with their bright colours and ribbons:

However, this Sunday, since we were out of town, we decided to attend the village church in the village of Mlanga, next to the Theological College where our Guesthouse was situated. The service was all in Swahili, so we knew we would have to concentrate hard and that the children may grow a little restless, without understanding what was being said around them. But we stayed as long as we could, leaving some time before the end of the service when Ben piped up, nice and loudly, after almost an hour and a half, "Can I go home now Mummy? MUMMY! Let's go hoooome! HOME!! I want to go home!!"

The service was still in progress as we left Mlanga Anglican church:

We had a lovely morning. There were 2 choirs leading the music, their rich and effortless singing raising the wooden rafters under the tin roof. Like the cathedral, there was a large cloth backdrop behind the altar. The cloth was a vibrant green, with a large white cross in the centre. It made a striking contrast with the lively, colourful clothes worn by choir members: bright pinks, purple, one lady in an orange kanga, reds, blues, yellows and different shades of green. As the singers danced to the music with gentle, fluid movements, we sat on our back wooden pew and enjoyed their wonderful music. We joined in with the clapping to show our appreciation, but sadly could not join in with fellow congregation members with their very African ululating...

After the announcements, it was time for us to stand, in true Tanzanian style, to introduce ourselves as "wageni"- or strangers/guests. Andrew did a great job, introducing us all in Swahili and we were given a warm and friendly welcome.

However, we could not use Swahili to participate in the service when it came to the prayer time, creed or hymns, since this was a village church where oral tradition is still strong, and people join in because they have learnt the words by memory. There was no projector to beam the words up for us all to follow- and hymn books are owned by congregation members, rather than being handed out to be borrowed for the service like we are used to in England.

Other differences I have noticed in Tanzanian churches we have visited since we arrived in the country is that Tanzanian children are often so contained and manage to sit so quietly through even long services! This is a huge cultural difference- and for me, as a mother of 2 energetic little ones, it is very noticeable!

There are also cultural mistakes that I have made a couple of times, including this morning: namely, walking into church and sitting on the right-hand side, only to suddenly become aware that I am sitting on the side which is mostly men, whereas women and children tend to sit on the left. The other "faux pas" I made today was to enter the church without my Bible. Most Tanzanians I have seen carefully carry their Bibles to church and I felt bad for forgetting mine. Linguistically, it would also have been useful, so that I could at least follow the readings, as the pastor kindly noted our white faces at the back of his church today and translated the Bible references into English for us, so that we could keep up with reading the passage in our home language. I was embarrassed at my negligence, but have made a mental note for our next Swahili service that we attend...

A Weekend Away

We have just returned from a family weekend away. We drove the hour and a half to stay at a self-catering Guesthouse above, situated at the Theological College of St Philip's, Kongwa: a well used venue for MAF staff to have a short break away from compound life.

The road to Kongwa:

The Guesthouse (right-hand half of the first floor):

Kongwa is a lovely, peaceful place situated in the hills where we went for short "hikes", enjoying the fresh air:

Although we really liked our walks, I find that I am not yet so relaxed taking an impromptu hike in Tanzania, as little niggles prey on my mind, like the worry of crossing paths with a snake or scorpion and physical niggles of briers, barbed grasses, ticks and thorns prey on my skin! There is also the need to always remember to carry lots of water in the heat of the African sun.

On Saturday, I was really pleased to meet up with a Tanzanian lady called Flora, who I met and had tea with during my visit to Tanzania in 2002, together with the St Michael's team I was travelling with! Her husband Phanuel now lectures at the college in Kongwa, but was away this weekend. Now that we have renewed contact, we hope to meet up again soon.

In the afternoon, a large party was taking place in a nearby room on the college campus, where a family were giving an extravagant "send-off" for a young couple set to get married and move the 7-hour road journey away to Dar es Salaam. In Tanzanian culture, this pre-party to the actual wedding party is a huge celebration and attended by a wide circle of family and friends. The college campus was a lively place for the afternoon, with some wonderful music and some very lively drumming sessions, singing and announcements. It was interesting to hear it all and to see the large number of people coming and going in their smart dresses and suits.

We did have a small adventure at 2:30am on Friday night, when a large CRASH and smashing of glass woke Andrew and I. Andrew set out to investigate whilst I hid under the duvet (it is lovely and cool in the Kongwa, so I really appreciated being able to comfortably sleep under my English duvet in this cooler season!). Peering into the kitchen, Andrew found the cause of the frightening noise: it seems that little furry "friends" had found my glass jar of peanut butter! In their excitement, they had knocked it onto the concrete floor to get their rodent noses into the sticky, nutty butter. A clean up job was required, gallantly carried out by Andrew. I was galvanised into action by the unwelcome possibility of teeth marks in all my food packets, veg and fruit, so I got up to pack all the food away into my cooler bag /sealed boxes, before retiring back to bed -until Ben wandered through at the slightly more civil hour of 6:40am...

Today, it was time to leave- so off we go, leaving the hills of Kongwa behind. It was a lovely, family weekend -but next time I shall leave my peanut butter at home!

School Holidays...Our Morning Events...

Today I thought I'd record our morning, to give a bit of an idea about life on the MAF compound during the school holidays, with both Esther and Ben at home...

6am- Andrew's alarm goes off. He gets up to prepare for his flight to Arusha and then Haydom hospital in northern Tanzania.
6:10- Andrew informs that he needs a white T-shirt to wear under his pilot shirt, but unfortunately I have not ironed his T-shirts yet: since they were hung outside, we have to iron them before they can be worn, in case any nasty mango flies have laid their lavae in the material (which could then burrow under our skin- yuk!). I drag myself out of bed with the reluctant offer of ironing his T-shirt (hoping that he would actually iron it himself!!), but happily he finds an ironed one in his pre-packed overnight pilot's bag. However, I still need to make his packed lunch, so I stagger, bleary-eyed, to the kitchen and start on lunch preparations and toasting some toast for his breakfast.
6:50- Andrew leaves and goes over to the MAF hangar to pre-flight the plane for his 7:30 meeting time with the passengers.

By 7am, Ben and Esther are both up. Ben requires help in the form of changing his rather nasty night-time nappy and then getting dressed for the day. Esther meanwhile wakes up with a panic-stricken look, as she has a sore tummy (these things happen fairly often out here) and she needs to rush to the toilet. 3 toilet visits later (assisted by Mum) and Esther is finally ready to get dressed.
I go out to the back of the house to put the 1st load of washing on and am greeted by a very hungry Moshi, who accusingly wails at me until I take notice and go outside to feed her with her smelly fish breakfast.
7:55- I hear the 1st "Hodi" (Swahili gretting) being called to me at the front door. Fortunately, I am now dressed and able to open the door to greet Amos, who works as our neighbour's gardener and has come to collect their shed key, as our neighbours are currently away on holiday. My first Swahili exchange of the day takes place.
8:05- we hear Andrew taking off and his noisy plane flies over our house on his way up north.
I am just getting Esther + Ben to swallow their malaria pills with a cup of water each.
Finally, after 2 hours of being up, I can think about breakfast! However, the milk lad is late with our milk today and so there is no milk for cereal and toast will be the order of the day. I am gratfeul for my English toaster, which we brought with us, but realise that the bread is running low and I must make some more today.
As I spoon some milk powder into my tea, an argument erupts between Esther and Ben. [Esther is intent on playing Doctors, but Ben objects to being the patient. All is resolved when I suggest a placid teddy bear as the sick invalid, rather than a hungry little brother!]

Once breakfast is over, the milk lad arrives with another shout of "Hodi!", bringing our milk. I sieve it and boil it for the day. Then I need to refill the water bottle for the bathroom, bringing it to the kitchen to be filled from our water filter, so that we can brush our teeth with the clean water- using tap water would be unwise.
9am- the household jobs start in earnest; washing up, sweeping up toast crumbs, sieving the dry popcorn to rid it of weevils before I cook some for the children, making the dough for the bread with the help of my wonderful "Kenwood" mixer (it is well used out here!), hanging up washing, pouring the boiled milk into a clean jug to cool down for use later today... etc...

Took a quick moment to check the MAF "Hospitality Rota" on our email inbox and see that it is our turn to have a MAF guest here for lunch on Thursday- start to think ahead about what we could cook and am very pleased to note that Jane will be here on Thursday to help me in the home. Whilst visiting the computer briefly, I also send a quick Skype message to our Programme Manager re hosting the MAF staff meeting here tomorrow evening.
Meanwhile, Esther busies herself with drawing a very detailed picture on coloured paper to pin up in our nieghbour's home, to welcome them back from their holidays when they arrive home later today. Ben is outdoors and I go to open up the sandpit and then the shed for him, so that he can ride his "motorbike" up and down the garden, making loud engine noises as he whizzes along.
10am- Sabina arrives, to collect the house-key for our neighbours, as she is working in their home today to make their bread and get the home ready for their return. The Swahili is useful again!
At the same time, Esther's 2 little American school friends arrive, with their Mum, for a play morning together... and the fun starts...
The children play inside, then outside in the garden, then progress to taking turns on bikes riding up and down the MAF compound, then move over to the MAF playground... They are joined by various other MAF children at different points, while us 2 Mums follow them around, enjoying a good natter, a cuppa and some cake- a strange but actually very nice 'chocolate and beetroot' cake (!!!), from an on-line recipe I found to use up beetroot I bought last week from a visiting fruit and veg salesman. After buying the beetroot last Thursday, I realised that I don't actually know what to do with beetroot, so did some on-line investigation and came up with the bizarre but yummy cake recipe and decided to be adventurous and have a go!!
Out on the compound, we meet many other MAF staff, both Tanzanian and other nationalities, and also visitors staying here in the MAF guest-house. Conversations switch between Swahili and English as we meet and greet the many people coming and going.

The busy- and sociable- morning flies by and before long, it is time for friends to leave and for me to make lunch...

Dodoma- Capital City

Dodoma is on the smaller side compared to many other cities worldwide and also compared to Dar es Salaam here in Tanzania. It is situated in the geographical centre of Tanzania. Now, however, it has gained more recognition as the country's political centre, after being named as capital city in 1973. Since that time, Dodoma presides as the official capital city and the headquarters for ruling political party, CCM (Chama Cha Mapinduzi = Party of the Revolution).

To remind us of its political status, Dodoma hosts the national parliament and in addition, in the centre of the city, there is an open space where an impressive statue of Mwalimu ("Teacher") Julius Nyerere stands guard. Julius Kambarage Nyerere was the country's president from 1962 until 1985 and is seen as an undisputed influential leader within Tanzania, who gained great respect for his ideals of "ujamaa" (familyhood) and his stand in African politics.



Currently, Dodoma's role as political centre is very much in evidence, as the country prepares for its General Election in October this year. The ruling CCM party are busy this month with important meetings here in Dodoma and the publicity for their party is clear as we drive around town. Billboards promoting the ruling CCM party, with the political slogan of "More dedication, more energy, more work" (well, that's what I think the smaller lamp-post posters say with my current grasp of Swahili, which is far from advanced!!):

The city is busier and the roads are full of traffic, with these colourful posters on every lamp post in the main part of town and even posted on trees in some streets. Trips across town now take a little longer than normal and we sometimes get stopped at road junctions by the police, in order to let the politicians pass through town in their vehicles unhindered by other traffic. It is an interesting time to be in Tanzania's capital city.