2007.07.14: July 14, 2007: Headlines: COS - Tanzania: Blogs - Tanzania: Personal Web Site: Tanzania Peace Corps Volunteer Tait writes: Not only did I say goodbye to an entire village that I loved deeply and that loved me back ten-fold, but I also had to say goodbye to the person I was in that village
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2007.07.14: July 14, 2007: Headlines: COS - Tanzania: Blogs - Tanzania: Personal Web Site: Tanzania Peace Corps Volunteer Tait writes: Not only did I say goodbye to an entire village that I loved deeply and that loved me back ten-fold, but I also had to say goodbye to the person I was in that village
Tanzania Peace Corps Volunteer Tait writes: Not only did I say goodbye to an entire village that I loved deeply and that loved me back ten-fold, but I also had to say goodbye to the person I was in that village
"Will I ever have the opportunity to be that person, to have that role again? Will I ever be able to live at the same level with people in a small, rural village in the 5th poorest country in the world, as I did in Manga, Tanzania? Being “Furaha,” being a village health teacher who had to bike 20 km for mere groceries, being the only white person for miles and feeling one with the Wabena people of the Southern Highlands, is a role I have embraced and cherished and will never forget “mpaka milele” (until eternity). That role, that life, will be left in Manga, but will live on in my memory."
Tanzania Peace Corps Volunteer Tait writes: Not only did I say goodbye to an entire village that I loved deeply and that loved me back ten-fold, but I also had to say goodbye to the person I was in that village
Tumaini (Hope)
[Excerpt]
Caption: A photo of the village of Maurui in the Southern Highlands of Tanzania about 50 km from Manga where Peace Corps Volunteer Tait lived for two years. Photo: rogiro Flickr Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0
“Go to the people – live with them, learn from them, love them. Start with what they know. Build with what they have. But the best leaders, when the work is done, the task accomplished, the people will say, ‘we have done this ourselves.’”
-Lao Tsu (700 BC)
Goodbyes in my village were - in a word - bittersweet. It was heart-wrenching to close the door on my life in Manga, my simple, beautiful life without water and electricity, without all those things I thought I needed (like fruit, for starters), surrounded by the most sincerely loving people I may ever come across katika maisha yangu.
Not only did I say goodbye to an entire village that I loved deeply and that loved me back ten-fold, but I also had to say goodbye to the person I was in that village. Will I ever have the opportunity to be that person, to have that role again? Will I ever be able to live at the same level with people in a small, rural village in the 5th poorest country in the world, as I did in Manga, Tanzania? Being “Furaha,” being a village health teacher who had to bike 20 km for mere groceries, being the only white person for miles and feeling one with the Wabena people of the Southern Highlands, is a role I have embraced and cherished and will never forget “mpaka milele” (until eternity). That role, that life, will be left in Manga, but will live on in my memory.
My fondest kumbukumbu (memory) during the week of goodbyes occurred at my official village goodbye party when my favorite bibi (grandmother) 'Kowzin' processed forward to the head table (pictured above) where I was sitting underneath our flag unfurled (sweetly hung upside down-perhaps I could've been a better ambassador from the USA, eti?) whilst a herd of my mama's group accompanied her, singing about upendo (love) in Kibena. Holding a basket she wove, packed full of lemons and avocados, she reminisced about the love I showed her and the villagers of Manga...and about my love for her lemon and avocado tree, the lone fruit trees in the village (prior to our avocado planting). Every time I biked by her house, she would call me in, insisting I take a bag full home. I would climb her tree while she hit the fruits down with a bamboo pole (a much more effective method, I soon discovered). These are the moments that are simply unforgettable, forever singed in my mind, my heart. Her song meant the world to me. She concluded with the most perfect Swahili proverb: "Mountains do not meet, but people do."
Now, I must move on; I must change and adapt…again. I feel like my 20s have consisted of just this – changing, packing and unpacking. Strangely enough, it’s a process I enjoy and thrive in, somehow. I like playing the “chameleon,” as my Counterpart Kaduma dubbed me. I like to be challenged and to be forced to conform to life in different environments with people of various backgrounds. If there is no challenge, I find myself restless, wanting more, looking for things to be difficult in a way, as sick as that may sound.
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When this story was posted in August 2007, this was on the front page of PCOL:
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Story Source: Personal Web Site
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