Day 8: The Onion

Today was my last full day in Tanzania. Perhaps it is the case that we can never truly understand another culture, especially one which has such essential differences to one’s own; but to me Tanzanian culture is like an onion. You peel back one piece of skin and feel a rush of knowledge before you realise that there is another, and then another layer. On the one hand there is a fierce traditionalism, coupled often with religion and strong moral values and boundaries; on the other a young Tanzanian culture which embraces sometimes more western values such as clubbing. Are they in conflict with each other or just different threads of the same cloth? 

One of the CASEC members of staff, Huruma is getting married this week. His brother explained to me that as well as the wedding ceremony there is a ‘send off’ ceremony for the Bride, and (which greatly excites me) a ‘kitchen party’, which is attended only by women who bring kitchen gifts and offer advice on how to be a good wife. (I wonder if John Lewis do lists for this?) 

Sometimes projects are like that onion – there are many layers to them. One aspect of our girls’ education project is to work with communities to build dormitories, and train teachers as Matrons/Patrons who can supervise them to ensure the girls are safe. Pendo, a young, feisty, twenty-something woman working at CASEC believes they are much more than that,

“The project touches everywhere, including girls’ health and psychology. The matron or patrons we train… They are so important. I always talk to girls in the field. They had infections, not sexual infections but urinary tract infections because they did not know how to look after themselves or because of the clothes they wore. They were so scared. 

It is a big condition over here but they had no one to go and talk to, even the teachers isolated themselves. At one school there was only a Head Mistress and no other female teachers, the girls cannot go and talk about that with their head! The girls didn’t know that they had the right to talk to a teacher about things like this. Even the teachers didn’t know they could be more than teachers and have different roles. The chance of talking to someone freely was a big thing.” 

Sometimes, when you live in a world where it is so easy to access information through the click of a mouse we forget what it is like not to know. Now, even schools who are not building dormitories are requesting that CASEC organise the training of matrons and patrons for them, seeing that they improve the school infrastructure and benefit their students. Says Pendo: “It’s not about dormitories, about rights; it’s about who we are.” 

You only have to speak to Pendo to see how passionately she feels about these issues. In a predominately male sector she holds her own despite her youth. Like that onion she too has layers. In fact, she was runner up in Miss Tanzania a few weeks ago which has given her some status – she has been highlighted as a role model for girls in meetings with District Education Officers. Today, I asked her jokingly whether she’d thought about entering politics. She laughed, “From what I see, politicians stand up and lie. I couldn’t do that – I need to be with the girls.”

I leave CASEC thinking that there lies the power in the work we do together. We are all with those girls.

Sadly, here ends my Tanzanian journey, I can only recommend that you come and have your own - in the immortal words, I will be back, 
Thanks for joining me.Asante sana. Kwaheri.