I have found our Sanawari house on Google Earth and it reminded me that being a suburb of Arusha, it was a noisy place; especially when you compare it to home in rural North Otago, New Zealand.
This is a picture of our house (or the section we lived in) the blue wall center left is the doorway. The widow by the vehicle is our bedroom window, and though it is hard to see there is a little veranda with a cane sofa, just to the left of the vehicle.One night at about 11:00 pm we were woken by the loud ranting of a drunk man. It sounded awfully close, and he kept repeating the phrase 'Sema kweli' which means ' Is that true?' or 'Are you saying the truth?' or 'Really?'.
This means he would be having a conversation with himself! And actually he was very close, he was sitting on the cane sofa, on the veranda!
Well my first reaction was to chase him away, but Mags counselled me that it may not be safe and that the guy might be a friend of Big E's!
This, I could tell was not a beer-drunk fellow, he had be on something somewhat stronger! Probably the illegal brew piwa - made from bananas and with the ability to rot your boots and remove your eyebrows!
How Mama B did not hear him, I do not know, for her head was just below the window hidden by those bushes to the left of our door!
There was no way we could sleep with this noise going on - I guess out bloodstream was filled with Adrenalin! So I spent my time spying on him through the louvred windows.
Even though I was angry with this man there was mirth too. I feared that he would fall into the hole by the washbasin outlet, but he didn't.
He would walk - stumble around in the semi-dark (we did have a night light at the door) - all the time calling out 'Sema kweli!' in a tone that sounded like he was disgusted with something or other.
He fell off the sofa - more than once; he fell over that rail in front of the veranda, onto the flower bed flat on his back with his feet in the air! He cased the wandering dogs away - more than once. He walked into the Maruti (vehicle) more than once, each time waving his finger at if as if to admonish it - I could not her what he said.
Through the night, I threatened to remove him, but was always vetoed by Mags!
At first light - around 6:00 am I had had quite enough of the 'Sema kweli', and the guy had begun to time as he sat on the sofa. I opened the door and he gave me the respectful greeting, 'Shikamoo mzee.'
'Marahaba.' I replied as I reached for his shirt collar assisting him to his feet. He came along like a dog on a leash.
Out on the road, I asked him which direction was his home and he indicated. I pushed in the general direction with the sole of my foot, and he was gone! But the legend lived on, for I had not noticed the audience, and I suspect they approved of what I had done.
Mama B had not heard anything! Even when I sent the guy on his way! But more of the story emerged later.
This guy had wandered into the yard at about 9:00pm, very drunk so Baraka and Heri caught him and pushed him under the bougainvillea hedge, think he would sleep off his condition and for sure he would be stuck there until morning. Then they forgot about him!
We found his hat, and recognised it as belonging to the man who slaughters the cattle on the concrete slab on the Sanawari Road. Later he would always give me a wry smile, but he never bothered us again.
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