I have tried to separate events from Sanawari and Makumira, but sometime there are connections and separation is not logical. But for the record our period at Sanawari was August 1995 to July 1997 and Makumira from July 1997 to September 2000 & from September 2002 to November 2004.
Day 392, 15 Sept. Something gross happened. As I sat the Maruti waiting for a meeting [this was in Arusha town] A lame man walked up to me with his hand out, begging. His leg was bandaged up but there was a long rip down it. Puss was oozing out of the bandage and he was in poor condition and filthy! I had my window down and was prepared to talk to him and probably give him some money. He raised his leg and scraped some puss from the bandage and held it under my nose! The stink revolted me and I wound up the window. He used the puss to write roughly on the window!
Again as I sat in the truck, a man came up begging. He looked fine to me so I asked him why he was begging for money, he was fit, had two hand so he could work. He just pointed to his feet and said nothing. They were stubs, knocked off through leprosy! I gave him some money and made a vow to always check before making judgments.
I was a nodding acquaintance with a woman in town who sold bananas at the gate of Mt Meru hospital. On Saturdays however she begged in town pretending to be blind!
For a time there was a woman in town who had a problem of some sort. She would pretend to be very busy doing something. She would walk purposefully in one direction then pretend to look at something or pick something up then walk purposefully in another direction. She seemed to do this all day - never asked for money, just did that.
There had been bandits on the road at night and for a time it was dangerous to venture out.
One night at about 9:00pm there was a gonging at the gate of our compound at Makumira and our night guard came to the door. An old guy had fallen off the footbridge that crosses the creek just below our house. Some, [that's his name] a secondary school teacher thought this guy had hit his head seriously and needed medical treatment. The guy was drunk, very drunk! I refused to take him, but Some and Mbise, our guard talked me around. I agreed on condition a member of the drunk guy's family accompany us because I did not want to get stuck with the old guy. or be up for payment. A young man was found.
Mbise came too and half way down our road the drunk crapped himself! But it was watery one and leaked on to the back seat of the truck! And in copious quantities by the smell.
At the small hospital at Kilala, run buy local Catholic sisters, the guy refused get out of the truck! I suppose embarrassed at his state or perhaps just drunken stubborness. No coaxing would get him to get out, so I gave him my stern voice and told him to go with the sisters and not be a nuisance - he complied.
After I had asked the sisters if they could control him and they had affirmed they could, I told the young man who was his son, that he was to accompany us back and he was to clean the car!
Well we arrived at the gate and the young fellow opened the door before we had completely stopped and ran off!
It became Some and Mbise's job to do the cleaning as they had encouraged me to take the guy, but Some was cunning enough to do little.
In the event the guy was not really hurt - just some bruising, but a few days later, he arrived at our door, this time sober and apologized - sincerely.
At least that was something, but I suspect Mbise had something to do with it as Mbise would.
I had just climbed back in the Toyota when a bedraggled man came up to the window, said nothing, but threw a pinch of white powder on to my lap. He had startled me but I noticed as he walked to the next car that he was wearing a woman's pink corset over the other clothes he was wearing. This made him look like something out of a circus!
I think the powder was salt, though I never tested it and I never saw the guy again!
There was a man often seen around Tengeru who wore many clothes. He was bulky with clothes and always recognizable. We never knew why he did this, rumour has it that the town's youth banded together and stripped him down to give him a bath! Afterward he slowly gained in size as he collected and wore more clothes.
Day 392, 15 Sept. Something gross happened. As I sat the Maruti waiting for a meeting [this was in Arusha town] A lame man walked up to me with his hand out, begging. His leg was bandaged up but there was a long rip down it. Puss was oozing out of the bandage and he was in poor condition and filthy! I had my window down and was prepared to talk to him and probably give him some money. He raised his leg and scraped some puss from the bandage and held it under my nose! The stink revolted me and I wound up the window. He used the puss to write roughly on the window!
Again as I sat in the truck, a man came up begging. He looked fine to me so I asked him why he was begging for money, he was fit, had two hand so he could work. He just pointed to his feet and said nothing. They were stubs, knocked off through leprosy! I gave him some money and made a vow to always check before making judgments.
I was a nodding acquaintance with a woman in town who sold bananas at the gate of Mt Meru hospital. On Saturdays however she begged in town pretending to be blind!
For a time there was a woman in town who had a problem of some sort. She would pretend to be very busy doing something. She would walk purposefully in one direction then pretend to look at something or pick something up then walk purposefully in another direction. She seemed to do this all day - never asked for money, just did that.
There had been bandits on the road at night and for a time it was dangerous to venture out.
One night at about 9:00pm there was a gonging at the gate of our compound at Makumira and our night guard came to the door. An old guy had fallen off the footbridge that crosses the creek just below our house. Some, [that's his name] a secondary school teacher thought this guy had hit his head seriously and needed medical treatment. The guy was drunk, very drunk! I refused to take him, but Some and Mbise, our guard talked me around. I agreed on condition a member of the drunk guy's family accompany us because I did not want to get stuck with the old guy. or be up for payment. A young man was found.
Mbise came too and half way down our road the drunk crapped himself! But it was watery one and leaked on to the back seat of the truck! And in copious quantities by the smell.
At the small hospital at Kilala, run buy local Catholic sisters, the guy refused get out of the truck! I suppose embarrassed at his state or perhaps just drunken stubborness. No coaxing would get him to get out, so I gave him my stern voice and told him to go with the sisters and not be a nuisance - he complied.
After I had asked the sisters if they could control him and they had affirmed they could, I told the young man who was his son, that he was to accompany us back and he was to clean the car!
Well we arrived at the gate and the young fellow opened the door before we had completely stopped and ran off!
It became Some and Mbise's job to do the cleaning as they had encouraged me to take the guy, but Some was cunning enough to do little.
In the event the guy was not really hurt - just some bruising, but a few days later, he arrived at our door, this time sober and apologized - sincerely.
At least that was something, but I suspect Mbise had something to do with it as Mbise would.
I had just climbed back in the Toyota when a bedraggled man came up to the window, said nothing, but threw a pinch of white powder on to my lap. He had startled me but I noticed as he walked to the next car that he was wearing a woman's pink corset over the other clothes he was wearing. This made him look like something out of a circus!
I think the powder was salt, though I never tested it and I never saw the guy again!
There was a man often seen around Tengeru who wore many clothes. He was bulky with clothes and always recognizable. We never knew why he did this, rumour has it that the town's youth banded together and stripped him down to give him a bath! Afterward he slowly gained in size as he collected and wore more clothes.
No comments:
Post a Comment