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Friday Aug 03, 2007

The flame of independance

well, its now only a month before I fly back to good old blighty,  All's going well in village. I now teach standard 5,6 and 7 on Mondays and Thursdays on my own. while my partner teaches the secondary school...seemed stupid that we were both working every single day. weekends we teach the community, and we are currently working on organizing a community festival, which could be interesting, as we have about 2 weeks to arrange food, stage, sound system, performances, a football match, video show, etc etc, but this entry isn't about my everyday life. its more to tell you all what happened in my village last Monday. 

Tanzania is aprox 7 times the size of the england, (you can thank my fellow volunteer Vicky for that fact...she can also regail you with population numbers and local wildlife facts...anyone would think she has too much time on her hands!) I live in a village called Ukumbi, which is approx 4 hours out of Iringa town, depending on the rain and road...and the engine staying in the bus! Iringa is between 9 and 10 hours from Dar es Salam, which houses the closest subway and kfc to me right now, therefore I'm officially in the middle of no-where!

the nearest settlement to Ukumbi is Pomern.

We are sepparated from Pomern by 2 hours of hills about the same size as south downs, 5 streams but only 2 bridges, and lots of red dust. Monday morning I walked to school at 8am, after a cold bucket shower, and a chapati with tea. the teachers explained to me that lessons were canceled, because the flame of independence was coming through our village. So feeling completely ignorant, I followed the teachers down to the big river at the edge of our village and lined up with all the students and started trying to join in the clapping and stuff. I was told that the flame of independence travels the whole country once a year to remind everyone of their patriotic duty or similar.

After about half an hour a battered old 4*4 with 2 loud speakers strapped to the top rolled in and out hopped a few women in grey suits, who were obviously there to inspire in us all national pride. After lots of singing and clapping, and traditional dancing, a pick up turned up. They stopped dead in the middle of us all, and i was just wondering what they were going to do, when a 8 man brass band with dust masks and an odd panda effect from the sunglasses v's dust war that exsists in our area, appear in the back and strike up a tune!!

They were followed by a good 10-15 other 4*4's, one with a torch like the Olympic flame. there was a short speech, that only about 10 people could hear, and then lots of handshaking, before they all vanished into the distance, being guarded from behind by a truck full of soldiers announcing presumably their departure, with a ww2 air raid siren!...(maybe its in built in my blood, coz when i heard it i almost hit the deck before i realized where I was.) We all dispersed and went for lunch before lessons in the afternoon.

Slightly random story I know, but as they all pulled off it hit me that this torch of independence was traveling the whole country...every single village! its a huge task,and the people doing it all seemed determined and happy to work hard for their shared goal. It made me think about all the obstacles I face currently in village...most are less physical than mountains, rivers and dust in your trombone, but it made me realise that anything is possible with enough effort, and it is possible to show women that they don't have to do everything their husband says, especially if it harms them, and to show school students that there are bonuses to abstaining from sex...

anything is possible with enough time and energy...even a brass band in the middle of africa!

Posted by Emily ( 2:13 PM )
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