Let me preface this blog with the fact that I know I am swearing and there is swearing involved...hope no one takes offense.
While hiking on Sunday, I had an interesting conversation with Pearl. She had recently seen a movie called Gracie. (this movie was left behind by my Christian friend) The movie is about a girl whose brother dies. She tries to replace him on the soccer team. She has to work and train very hard and eventually wins the game etc. She struggles a lot to get to this point. At one part of the movie she is having a conversation with her mother and her mother basically tells her that "women have to, at some point, take a bite of a big shit sandwich" that it is part of our inequality etc. Gracie was discouraged by her mother's attitude and vowed to prove her wrong.
Pearl asked me if my mom had made me take a bite of a "shit sandwich". I know she doesn't know what shit is and doubt she grasped the metphorical aspect of this comment. But it did lead to a great conversation about how "no, I was raised pretty equally to my brothers and always encouraged to compete". I told her under no circumstances would she ever be made to take a bite from me...hopefully not from other influences in her life. I told her I was raising my daughters to be humans....in a global world and to understand that we can all be equal and should be compensated as such. May have gone over my 5 year olds head...but she was trudging through the mud nodding...listening...
When I reflected on this later...I realized I have to vote for Hillary. I have to vote for her for no other reason than to have a woman in power, for that to exist in my girls lifetime. Of course I LOVE Barack...loving African men....but I never want my girls to take a bite of the shit sandwich.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Waterfalls and Banana Beer
Today Nell and Pearl and I and three other friends went for an amazing hike up to a glorious huge waterfall. The day began with a slippery drive (me driving) up towards Kili to a village called Uru. It was lightly raining which made getting up there in my sedan type car a bit of a feat. Then we fond some local kids to take us into the area where the falls are...
I need to first tell you what a typical Sunday is like in a village like this. Sundays start with church in the villagers Sunday finest and end in a drunken stumble home. Pretty hilarious....so while we were hiking in, many people were just leaving their services...in heels and nice shoes in the sloppy mud. These people use leaves as their umbrellas. The Banana trees are so huge that one leaf can provide shelter for two or three people. This sight alone....the bright bright green mixed with the bright colors of the church clothes was a sight to absorb....the people greeted us happily. As is the norm...Nell and Pearl are the center of attention. People stop them...want to look at them....talk to them...they are mini rockstars here. By the time we were hiking out hours later, the entire village had consumed a lot of banana beer. Even the old "mamas" were wasted....it's pretty funny to see these people stumbling down the path. Add to this spectacle the HUGE snail Nell was carrying on a banana leaf and you have a sight to behold. the villagers were essentially falling down laughing (drunk) at the sight of this Mzungu (oh so very white one) carrying a snail. what they didn't know is that she named it Gary...ala Sponge Bob. I didn't mention that Nell did the entire hike barefooted...very much like every other Tanzanian kid we saw...that child is made to be outdoors! Pearl in the meantime was charming everyone by picking up a few Chagga phrases and greeting the parties as we descended...she spent most of the day on someones shoulders...mainly mine. They were both such a pleasure to take on this adventure and always add to everyone elses humor. Neither complained being in the mud and rain....they loved the mud squishing through their toes...being free etc.
Great great day!!!!
Peace,
Sarah
I need to first tell you what a typical Sunday is like in a village like this. Sundays start with church in the villagers Sunday finest and end in a drunken stumble home. Pretty hilarious....so while we were hiking in, many people were just leaving their services...in heels and nice shoes in the sloppy mud. These people use leaves as their umbrellas. The Banana trees are so huge that one leaf can provide shelter for two or three people. This sight alone....the bright bright green mixed with the bright colors of the church clothes was a sight to absorb....the people greeted us happily. As is the norm...Nell and Pearl are the center of attention. People stop them...want to look at them....talk to them...they are mini rockstars here. By the time we were hiking out hours later, the entire village had consumed a lot of banana beer. Even the old "mamas" were wasted....it's pretty funny to see these people stumbling down the path. Add to this spectacle the HUGE snail Nell was carrying on a banana leaf and you have a sight to behold. the villagers were essentially falling down laughing (drunk) at the sight of this Mzungu (oh so very white one) carrying a snail. what they didn't know is that she named it Gary...ala Sponge Bob. I didn't mention that Nell did the entire hike barefooted...very much like every other Tanzanian kid we saw...that child is made to be outdoors! Pearl in the meantime was charming everyone by picking up a few Chagga phrases and greeting the parties as we descended...she spent most of the day on someones shoulders...mainly mine. They were both such a pleasure to take on this adventure and always add to everyone elses humor. Neither complained being in the mud and rain....they loved the mud squishing through their toes...being free etc.
Great great day!!!!
Peace,
Sarah
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