Letter from Kondoa 2006

Home 2007 2008 2009 NEW 2008 Pictures from Kondoa

The Culture of Kondoa Diocese Some Facts: - Kondoa is a district in central Tanzania of an area of 13,210sqkm - The district has a population of 429,824, the town a population of 20,000. - The majority of the population (73%) are Muslim, with an additional 5% being Christian and the others following Traditional Religions - There are many tribes coexisting peacefully in Kondoa. These include the Warangi, Wagogo, Wazigua, Wafyomi, Wanguu, Masai, Barbaig, Wasandawe and Waburungi
					Language The Lingua Franca of the area is Kiswahili, though the vast majority of the population speak their tribal language as their first language, using Kiswahili for shopping, learning, or communicating with anyone from another tribe. There are many people, particularly in the villages, who don’t speak Kiswahili. English is spoken by very few people- only those who’ve completed secondary school, and only well by those who’ve been to university. Government primary schools are Kiswahili medium, with Secondary schools being English medium. The wide use of Kiswahili Kiswahili being the Swahili translation of the word Swahili) has been given as a reason for the peace that exists between tribes- it has had a unifying effect. It is useful to know a spattering of the main tribal languages, particularly Kirangi, as it can lower prices charged in the market!
Weather There are 5 seasons. January to February is fairly hot and dry, March to April fairly hot and wet, May through to August is cool and dry, September to October is hot and dry, November to December being hot and wet. It is generally a lot cooler in the mornings and at night, and during this time it is very windy- even during the hot season it can be cold enough to need a jacket in the morning and a blanket at night. The afternoon gets very hot, and takes a long time to become cool again.
Landscape The area is very undeveloped, and so there are few houses, and those that do exist blend into the background; being made of mud bricks. There are no paved roads in the entire district. The ground is basically sand with dry grass. There are small thin trees which are covered in thorns, and then the huge Baobab trees which stand strong in places that other trees can’t survive in. The majority of the Diocese is rolling hills, with some parts being savannah. There are many varieties of colourful birds, loads of insects, snakes, monkeys and some larger animals, such as elephant and other wild animals- mainly spotted in the vast sparsely-populated areas between villages. Hunting has reduced their habitat as hunters set fire to large areas to clear it to be able to see better.
				Farming The population’s activities revolve around the farming year. Virtually everyone has a farm somewhere- even the local government officers have farms in the village they come from. The town is deserted in December for the planting of crops and then again in July for the harvesting- schools close for these months so the children can help out. Between December and June there is usually a shortage of food, unless the harvest was particularly plentiful; prices rise and the poorest are badly hit. The outlying villages are worse hit due to the costs of transporting any food they need to supplement what they managed to grow themselves.
Food The staple crop is maize, which is then made into ugali (flour and water made into a stiff blob) or uji (flour, sugar and water made into porridge). Chinese leaves or spinach cut finely with tomato and red onion is the staple vegetable dish. A tomato based sauce is served with everything. Peanuts and cashew nuts are common as are bananas and sweet potatoes. Meat available includes chicken, beef and goat, and various other animals/birds people get their hands on, though is very expensive and so rarely eaten. Eggs are also very expensive, and so even if a family keeps hens, the eggs are usually sold. Food is cooked in metal pots over a charcoal or wood fire. Food in Kondoa is a lot cheaper than in Dodoma, Arusha, Zanzibar, etc. This is probably due to the fact that most of the population are farmers or have farms and so more food is produced, and also most people are subsistence farmers and so don’t have to buy as much- so demand is lower. Also the population is poor, with very little cash, and so people won’t pay high prices.
Jobs Over 95% of the population are subsistence farmers. Other jobs include shop work, running the busses or minibuses, guard, cleaner, house-help, maid, teacher, doctor/nurse, secretarial e.g. working for the Government or aid organisations. Many of the people who work for such organisations are usually based in Dodoma and visit Kondoa for implementation meetings and research.
Water The entire town’s water supply is provided by a natural hot spring. Some houses have water supply through a tap, so some of the water from the spring is filtered and pumped round to houses. Most people, however, take buckets to either the spring outlet or the channels that wind their way around the town that the excess water goes into, and fill the buckets and either carry it on their heads, on a lorry or on a cart. Most evenings and nights there is no water available through the taps as the water tanks run out, and frequently there is no water for a couple of days, or longer, if repairs are being done, or the Water Board has not paid it’s electricity bills! A few of the villages have natural springs as well (noticeable by the sudden appearance of greenery, or wells installed by Aid Agencies. However most people go to streams or rivers to collect their water. Most of the rivers have dried out, even during the rainy seasons, however the people have found that if the dig deep enough into a river bed and wait, water will appear. Water supplies, even in large villages, can be 10km away- and of course getting water is a woman’s job!
					Communication There is one post office, in the town centre and 2 other sub-post ofifices, for the entire district; so for some people the nearest post office is 100km away. The way the Diocese gets letters around is by dalladalla (minibuses piled high with people and goods) - a letter is given to the driver who will then ensure that the letter is dropped off in the village en-route. This method is surprisingly reliable! Some villages have a PoBox in the town so a person from the village, if coming into town, can take the key and get the mail for the entire village. People don’t tend to have telephone lines in their houses, but they do have mobiles. Service in the town and major villages is good, but in the smaller villages is non-existent. In villages, where people don’t have electricity, there is usually a shop with a generator where you can take your phone to be charged. The Diocese has four radios in the deaneries, and one at head office. This is for communication with the Area Deans. The radios in the villages are bike-powered- one way to keep your vicars fit! Each Dean has a set time for communication each day.
Electricity Supply The town was connected to the National Supply in 1999. Within the town many houses have an electricity supply, and it seems that Tenesco is very lax about cutting houses off due to non-payment of bills. Within most of the villages however there is no access to the national grid. Usually one person, either the Village Chairman or Head Teacher, will have access to a generator. Lighting is provided by kerosene lamps. Recently the Government has started a ‘power-sharing’ policy, whereby a place is without power for 12 hours every other day, though this hasn’t affected Kondoa yet. There are very frequent power cuts, however, throughout the day.
Dress Men tend to dress very conservatively- trousers and shirt, though no tie, with smart shoes. There are a few tribes who wear there traditional dress, even in town, such as the Masai. For working on the farm, or for special occasions, however, people will wear there traditional dress. For men this generally involves a sheet of cloth wrapped round their chests with a belt and a pair of shorts underneath. Women, except those who work in offices, tend to wear traditional dress all the time. This involves wearing 2 kangas, one for the top half, either wrapped round like a towel, or wrapped over the shoulders (or head for a Muslim), and the second wrapped round the waist like a sarong. Clothing is very colourful, and it doesn’t matter if the colours completely clash! Otherwise they wear kitenge, which is a tyoe of cloth which is then taken to a tailor to be made into an outfit. Trousers are very rarely worn in town, and never in a village. Jewellery worn includes necklaces, bracelets (number depending on age and/or status), and anklets. Some tribes also wear head dresses, especially for special occasions. Holes in ears are very common, as are man-made gaps between teeth (which teeth depends on the tribe).
Rights of Passage Birth, Coming of Age, Marriage and Death are the main Rights of Passage for the tribes in Kondoa. (Though some tribes have very complicated age structures, leading to many ceremonies during a person’s life.) According to some people I have spoken to, the birth of a daughter is a time for mourning! Some girls are even left to die, but there are still 1% more women than men in the District as a whole. Due to a high infant mortality rate ceremonies aren’t generally done at this time- other than a naming ceremony if the family is religious. The family also celebrate if the mother is still alive after the birth- many women still die during child birth. Coming-of-age ceremonies are, though, very important. Often held between the age of 8 and 14. After this ceremony the child is allowed to marry, or given in marriage. The coming of age ceremony for a girl is younger than that for a boy. These ceremonies often involve circumcision, and an initiation stunt- such as killing a wild animal, as well as the usual singing and dancing. FGM is still heavily practiced in Kondoa despite heavy lobbying in other districts. A group will be initiated together. After this they will then be able to do certain jobs and wear certain clothes that they weren’t allowed before. Marriage is very important, and often polygamous. The marriages are usually arranged or determined by the man and the woman’s family- the woman has little say in the matter. The husband is usually a lot older than the woman- especially if she is not the first wife (some men are old enough to be their wife’s grandfather), and there are no restrictions on how old a person has to be before marriage; sometimes a girl is married before she reaches puberty. A dowry has to be arranged, that the husband pays to the bride’s family; often cows and goats, though increasingly cash. The younger a woman the higher the dowry. The dowry can cause a problem for many women as it means that no matter what happens she can’t return to her parents- or the dowry will be demanded to be returned- even if she is suffering from domestic abuse, which is depressingly common here.
			Once the dowry is agreed the engagement is announced. The typical pre-wedding parties involve a ‘kitchen party’ (strictly women only- singing, dancing, speeches, graphic descriptions of conception and child birth, and eating), a send-off (a party marking the woman leaving her home village to go to live in her husband’s- speeches, singing, dancing and eating all compered by a cheesy MC) and the marriage (in the husband’s village- usually a religious ceremony; either Christian or Muslim- with singing, dancing and eating for about 5 days in villages- very expensive!). Funerals tend to be a loud affair, with much weeping and wailing followed by a huge party. The body is always transported back to the home village, and the whole village is involved in the funeral- which can last a long time, and the period of mourning even longer. Often, if a man has died, the widow is then given to a brother of his.
Social Structures There are very strict social structures, mainly based on age, which helps keep things running smoothly in a country that, although it has a law and police officers, is pretty much a free-for-all (there is very little crime here- that which does exist is generally domestic, which the police don’t touch with a barge pole!) Generally the oldest man in the village has the most status, and he is followed, in order of age, by the other men above the age of maturity. The men are then followed, usually, by the women, from oldest to youngest, and then the children at the bottom. Depending on the age of a person you greet them differently. Having said that, an old person is as likely to get a seat on a bus as the next person if they haven’t booked it in advance.
Religion As mentioned previously, the main religion is Islam, with the second being Traditional Religion, and Christianity making up only 5% of the population. Most of the celebrations that occur throughout the year are religious celebrations (the other 3 being political). People define themselves by their tribe and their religion, though relationships between Christians and Muslims are generally very good: Christians go out of their way to be considerate during Ramadan, and everyone celebrates all festivals together. Muslim women, when out of the house, keep themselves covered up, and an increasing number are wearing the burkas. However, in the villages, the practicality of wearing traditional clothes for farming and housework often overrides the religious element, and they just keep their hair covered. Having said that women tend to group together, and the men group together further away if the women aren’t fully covered for practical reasons.
		Transport There are no paved roads in the whole of Kondoa Diocese and so the roads are mud tracks, of varying states of repair, and absolutely horrendous during heavy rains, becoming frequently impassable. There is a selection of transport methods you can chose from: cars, 4x4s, pick-up trucks, busses, dalla-dalla, donkey, bike, or foot. Very few people own cars or 4x4s (the only people who own cars are taxi drivers and they only do town rides- you need a 4x4 to drive out of town) so for travelling long distances between villages the usual method of choice is dalla-dalla (minibuses packed full of people and goods; on the roof as well!) or pick-up truck (if a driver of a pick-up truck is going the way you want you can clamber on top of the load- for a fee). For travelling to Dodoma or Arusha you go by bus (travelling at an average 35km/hr) that is also packed with people and stops at every village along the way. If a person owns a bike, it is not unusual for them to travel huge distances on it- staying over night in villages along the way (having a network of people you can call on throughout the District is a huge advantage- because also busses frequently break down and it can be many hours before they set off again). Donkeys and bikes are used for carrying loads, especially water and grain, whilst the people walk on foot. Foot is the method of choice/ necessity for women- collecting water, carrying veg to the market or walking to the farm. Or they can hitch a lift on the back of their husband’s bike- if he’ll let her!
A Woman’s work is never done… Collecting water, farming, raising children, cooking, cleaning, arranging events, running a business, husbands running off to other cities… all in a day’s work for a woman! Kondoan communities are run by women; they do all the work in the home to keep their family going, and making sure that all their needs are provided for. Due to the farming season, many people only work for 4 months a year, so for the rest of the year women are breaking their backs keeping the family going whilst men sit around (and this is not a feminist exaggeration) playing Bao (a board game- will bring one back with me to teach you) all day, or drinking pombe (local beer), and usually both!
Bye Bye Beth Article Bethany Lewis from St Paul’s Church is going to Tanzania to work with Bishop Yohana of Kondoa as Diocesan Education Advisor. Allowing for Tanzania’s famous time-keeping (!) Beth should leave on 25^th May. Kondoa is a very poor area of Tanzania (the 16^th poorest country in the world), frequently suffering from drought or hit by torrential downpours that flood the crops. Beth has an 18 month project teaching in a primary school, training teachers, assisting in developing new teaching methods and looking into the viability of setting up a secondary school and adult education and vocational training centres. The Church currently runs the primary school. Most parents are unable to afford even state primary education, and fewer still can afford the state run secondary school or the travel to get to it.
	Bethany has been teaching in special units in Folkestone for the past two years, following college in London where she studied Development Economics at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), and Canterbury where she gained her teaching qualification. Beth came back to the Parish for the weekend when Bishop Yohana was visiting St Peter’s and staying with Graham & Marilyn and a few weeks later to do a Swahili service in Bredhurst School. And then some e-mails flew around the globe and the Bishop invited her to join him in Kondoa. Beth’s work is being sponsored by some members of the Parish but other contributions to the education work in Kondoa are welcome. We suggest these are given via the Diocesan Link so as to gain the benefit of Gift Aid relief. Please speak to your Church Treasurer for details of how to do this.
June 2006 Using the Internet costs £45/hour here in Kondoa.  This means I haven't been able to access my hotmail account since arriving so apologies to those expecting a reply.  I am very quickly losing my ginger hair - yellow is the new orange- fortunately there are no blonde girl jokes here!  I was really silly at the weekend- it was a nice day so I thought I'd spend the morning cleaning the patio and washing my clothes at the standpipe.  Within an hour I was as red as a lobster- really not good in a culture where people slap you on the back and punch your arm frequently during conversations- ouch!!! The views from my house are spectacular- savanna surrounded by hills and mountains in bright colours, the earth in the villages is terracotta or bright red and so that is the colour of the mud-brick houses.  I've found that taking a shortcut through the almost-dried-out river is a good way to meet people (everyone congregates there to wash their clothes- and it was a route I found after getting lost on the way to church - getting lost is the only way to really get to know a town!) but it's not good for cleanliness. If you know what type of spider is bright orange/blue, please tell me. And is it more or less of a danger than the spider that jumps? There are a family of Germans who live near me, the only other white people for 100 miles, but they're leaving in two weeks (they've been living here for 9 years to learn the Rangi language and translate the bible into it) so I'll be the only white person left!
Most people assume I have a husband and children in England (it is quite common here for husband and wife to live apart).  Given my age and the fact I've finished education for over a year, I am expected to be married and reproducing by now, so I'm very out-of-step with the culture. Fortunately the Bishop is my guardian whilst here in Kondoa, and any man who wishes to make advances towards a woman has to first ask the guardian- I don't think many men would be willing to ask permission from the Bishop so I'm safe!  My housemate moved in yesterday. She was going to live in the outbuilding (yes, I have an out-building!) but I'm getting quite lonely in that house on my own so I asked her to live with me.  We get on really well speaking broken English-Swahili (me teaching her English, her teaching me Swahili) and she's just under a month younger than me. My Swahili has improved dramatically and I can now understand pretty much everything said, and I'm able to respond (though avoiding the words I don't know can lead to needing to use 5 sentences instead of 1- but people are very patient!)  Also I think the Tanzanians are like the French- the more Swahili I use the more English they use! Work is coming along just fine- I've met Government officials and they are very supportive, but as there's so many things to do working out the priorities are a nightmare.  But I've thrown myself into the work which seems to have surprised the Bishop- for example he told me he'd been thinking about setting up an Internet Cafe for the past year- using a satellite link.  Within an hour I'd put together a business plan and grant bid to send out to development agencies- not the speed things are generally done in Tanzania but he seemed genuinely grateful.  But I'll have to be careful not to tread on anyone's toes. Hope you are all well, Beth. X
	July 2006 Hope all are well, I had suspected malaria Thursday-Saturday!  That was fun!  I had fever, headache, muscle aches, so I assumed it was the flu- everyone else was trying to get me to go to hospital, but I couldn't be bothered!  Anyway, I'm absolutely fine now, so either it wasn't malaria or doxycycline actually works.  I'll pop into the clinic in Dodoma when I next go so that I can get my blood tested for it, and then get rid of the parasites if I need to.  (Don't worry- I really am fine!) I'm going for my Tanzanian Driving License once I've had a few lessons so I should have it by Christmas (it just involves going to the police station in Dodoma and driving around- sounds easy enough!)
I've realised how arrogant we English speakers are- in all the Guide Books it comments that Tananians say "I say" at inappropriate times.  That is true, but I was looking up a word in a dictionary and by it was the word "aisee", pronounced "I say" which is an exclamation of surprise...  and it has been used for years, before English speakers turned up, so we can't claim credit for that! I managed to cook a cake a last week, but it was disgusting (there's nowhere that sells butter or marge in the entire town so I had to use blue band- never again!). Don't think anything else is happening- there are a few British people coming over the next few months so I'll be able to practice my English, and act as host.  The harvest is happening at the moment so that's good to see- everyone in the fields, perhaps I should harvest my maize now- though they don't look like they would have yielded anything.  It's also freezing- but by October it will be well over 30c all the time so I shouldn't complain.  It was a national holiday on Friday (Saba Saba, 7/7- Peasants' day) and the next is on 8/8 (nane nane- farmers day), they indicate the middle and end of the harvest season. Work is trundling along with not much happening, but it means I have more time for visiting people which is good.  Hope England is well, and that the disappointment from the World Cup isn't too much for everyone to bear! Bethx
August 2006 Hi people Can you believe it's been over 2 months since I came out here?  Every week seems to go so quickly!  I'm going to Dodoma tomorrow- by myself- so we'll see whether my Swahili abilities managed to get me the right seat on the bus! I've been rather busy the past week making preparations for the visitors from Rocester Diocese who came on Thursday (exactly 2 months since I arrived in Kondoa so we had a little celebration involving soda and card games- I know how to enjoy life!)  I was officially asked to be their helpers whilst they were here- which involved accompanying them on all the trips and translating for them (and making sure they didn't get fleeced in the shops!)
They have completely ruined any chance of me getting married out here as Chris, who is a vicar, did a sermon on instructions for husbands and wives (started off with the whole submission thing- made the men happy- then got onto the whole love thing- women became very happy and many of the men looked rather offended) so now the men here know how I want to be treated (and also Chris and Damon cooked me and Fareda a meal on Saturday evening- completely against all customs!)   But I have to say I was rather impressed with myself.  I had to buy curtains, and I went by myself, so I had to buy the correct amount of material, go to a tailor, explain how I wanted them made, discuss prices, then go and buy the wire and hooks- all in Swahili!  And they actually turned out as I wanted them!  Though the material did have Mickey and Minnie Mouse on them- it was that or bright orange and pink flowers- I think I chose wisely! Another group are coming out at the end of next week, the day after my Birthday, so I've put in a request for them to bring out milky jelly babies and cheese&onion crisps!  I'm trying to arrange a traditional English Birthday party to introduce everyone here to English customs (though I may do a children's style party rather than a drunken brawl) so I'll be making myself a cake and arranging party games! The Bishop and I have now finalised my dowry so it's TSh10million (about 4500), 10 goats and 10 cows.  Either he's very good with sarcasm and was sarcastic himself, or he actually believed me when I suggested 1million- which he said was too low!  But he has also informed me that for the next 2 years if I get engaged the dowry is to be given to the Church- so I'm preparing for the introductions! I've managed to go to yet another wedding party- this one was only for women though, and I am only an aquaintance so I didn't have to get up and dance in front of anyone by myself- only as a group- slightly less humiliating!  I've found a kanga (African cloth used as a wrap or skirt) with the jules rimmet(?) and footballs on it so I've got to get me one of those- it looks great!  Will be a definite must for wearing during the 2010 World Cup which will be held on African soil (3 pounds here for 2, but I bet they will sell for tenner each in England- perhaps I should bulk-buy now). I've now visited many schools and am working at setting up links with schools in England (the visitors from Rochester brought details of schools that want to be linked so I'm going to arrange those).  I'm also developing an English class, because currently the nearest one is in Dodoma and so costs loads and takes people away from their jobs for a month, so I'll make it an evening class and hold it in the seminar hall at the bible college.  Currently it will be for the members and workers of the church, then I hope to broaden the scope when I'm more confident in my Swahili. The main issue I have in terms of projects is that in Kondoa you can see loads of abandoned and half-finished buildings and projects that have been set up by Aid organisations, but when the organisations left the projects were left or became unsustainable without continous funding- I don't want my legacy here to be an empty abandoned building!  So sustainability will be my key word! I think that's about it.  Thankyou for the stuff you sent over- greatly appreciated!  Speak soon! Bethx