I gave my word that I would respect the request: Tell people about the good things, not the bad.
I will keep my word, but not everything was good and to be balanced, I have to mention some of the bad, although there are some things I will leave out.
Some of the negatives that touched me could happen anywhere in the world, so do not necessarily reflect on Tanzania, although they did happen there.
I had broken a tooth and 'was sent' to Nairobi, Kenya to have it repaired, which involved an overnight stay - oh Mama Mbembe wanted me to go there and return the same day, but that was beyond reasonable.
As I crossed a busy road, a young lad ran past me and swiped the cat from my head - the one with Tasmanian Devil on it. He ran off down the road and I sprinted after him [without thinking and leaving Mags on her own]! There was a line of cars, stopped for some reason and one of those saw that I was chasing the guy, opened the door, hitting him, almost knocking him off his feet! I was catching up on him and he ran across the road close to where four or five men were standing. 'Catch the thief!' I called, and they caught him and were about to beat him up - I clenched my fist to give him a swipe, but reason took hold and the guy handed me the cap. I think they let the guy go, but I had not realised that I was a spectacle for the many onlookers who clapped as I headed back to Mags. With all that attention, I had to control my breathing so I did not look puffed! But the danger was, where was that guy leading to? And leaving Mags on her own! This was Nairobi!
It is common for people to cover valuable items such as radios or television sets with pretty doilies and I first thought it was to keep dust off the. Rather it is to keep prying eyes off them!
Joshia built a modest little house and he had a small, cassette radio sitting on a table. In the middle of the night there was a loud bang, his door was bashed in with a large rock/boulder [called a 'fatuma'] and the radio was taken before Joshia could get out of his bed! Quite obviously someone knew exactly where the radio was, meaning that the robber was someone who had been to the house.
Closing the door after the horse had bolted, we gave him the money to buy a iron-grill door.
But if you show off valuable things, you have to be very cautious.
The fruit ladies will poke their head in your car and look into your wallet if you open it. To them, seeing a few notes all at once is a lot of money and they will talk about it , making you a target!
It is unwise to flash money around or gold watches or cellphones.
I took advantage of doing some work in Arusha while the Landrover was being repaired by Marangu [they just called him that because he came from there] out on the Dodoma road - not quite as far as the African Heritage complex. Someone phoned [cellphone] while I was in Arusha. I had plenty of time, so I decided to walk - saving a few shillings - though usually I hired a taxi or caught a Daladala. From about Shopright the road passes through petty industry and market areas that serve poorer urban areas. Some way along the path I followed I felt a severe slap on both my shoulders simultaneously and at the same time someone made a grab at my cellphone! He missed his grip, the phone in its pouch falling to the ground and I elbowed them both away and they ran off behind me so I did not see them. I replace my phone at the front of my trousers, rather that the side where it had been - but I always checked, it was not visible, so they had followed me from town! I decided to catch a Daladala, even though it too far to pick up the car. Just walking along keeping my eye out for a passing Daladala. This time I was held in a bear hug from behind, while the other searched for the phone. The old trick is to raise your arms and drop to your knees, and I did, slipping from his grasp, but with my arms up there I could not defend the phone! The young men ran past me and up a dingy alley. A couple of women at a vege stall saw what had happened, and it was over too fast for them to react, but they shook their heads in warning for me not to follow them - and I agreed with them. Of course if you want to claim on your insurance, you need a police report! At the police station there was a big African man who also had his phone stolen. He had in his shirt pocket and the same thing happened to him - slapped on the shoulders from behind and the other from the front pushed in the chest and and simply lifted the phone from his pocket. These guys were mobile!
An event occurred that caused me to call on the Agency field rep, Mama Mbembe, on a Sunday afternoon. She had moved to a secure house just opposite the Ilboru Safari Lodge and the large, two metre high metal gate was closed but not locked, so in I went.
There was a scurry inside when I knocked on the door and when Mama Mbembe opened the door, her body language said to me that she was none too happy to see me! Sitting in her lounge room was an African man, drinking beer. I knew this guy, Remin, it was he who Mama Mbembe used to have the vehicles repaired, She had taken the business from Muktah who had been doing a very good job. We vols complained about Remin because the work he had dome on the vehicles was unsatisfactory and we and all witnessed conversations like this:
Mama Mbembe: How much for the repairs on the car?
Remin: 80 000 shillings will be enough.
Mama Mbembe: Oh that's too cheap, here's 120 000!
You just don't do this sort of thing - especially not field reps!
It was obvious to me that the pair though they had been compromised! On the following Monday, I had to take the Toyota to Remin for a grease, oil change and new filters.
That afternoon, I drove straight back to Makumira and did not use the vehicle again.
The next morning I set off to head out into the villages but there was a ditch to bounce over beside the big Cathode tree at the gate of Makumira Secondary School. The bounce popped the tie-rod from the wheel, thus causing me to lose all steering on the vehicle. If that had happened when I was going along the Moshi - Arusha road, I would probably be dead! There is a hole on the threaded end of the tie-rod to fit a split pin to make sure the nut does not come off! This was too much of a coincidence for me!
The outcome was that the gate into Mama Mbembe's house was to locked at all times and nobody was allowed to enter unless summoned! We all recieved notice in writing.
From time to time gangs set themselves up and maraud totally indiscriminately and often quite violently. During these times it is not safe to travel at night as your vehicle can be taken from you. Some are armed with firearms while others have pangas - machetes. They have even been known to dress up as traffic police, and when you stop for them, you are robbed. Because the police had no transport, they would flag you down and ask for a ride to town, Tengeru, or Usa River . If I recognised them, I would give a lift, but if I didn't, I would just say it was Agency policy not to give lifts to uniformed people. A gang even attacked a well respected Lodge just out of Usa River and robbed all the guests! The guards cannot win because usually they are unarmed, or maybe with a punga or even a bow and arrow. Then the first person arrested if there is a robbery is the guard! During an attack, most people will keep their heads down, trying to be inconspicuous but during a spate of attacks in our area the village authorities made it mandatory to call out a distress call - ooo wee ooo wee - to alert village men to come and help. I bought three of those battery operated bike horns that have many alarm sounds and kept one for us and gave the others to our near neighbors.
There was a gang going around the Meru villages during the night - they were 'concerned' because too many 'outsiders' were 'fouling' Meru women. They knocked on the door and asked to inspect the man's penis. If he had not been circumcised, they would do the job there and then!
A German friend who was a Pastor lived with his wife and young daughter at Nkoaranga, further up the mountain from us. This guy had done a lot in the community, with DME and elsewhere but that did not protect him!
Volunteers with the Agency brought little from New Zealand because the unaccompanied luggage allowance was only 25kg but other we able to bring in container loads. My friend from Germany even brought a grand piano with him.
He had two Labrador dogs and at least two night guards, but the dogs were drugged and the guards dealt with and a gang of thugs entered my friend's compound!
They made several threats and said they would be pleased to see the blood of the white woman.
A traumatic experience for them all and the thugs left after taken what they wanted plus one thousand US dollars that was in the house. It is always best if that sort of cash is not in the home - it puts pressure on the rest of the expat community.
My friend discussed with me about the possibility of keeping some sort of a firearm in the house.
I advised against it because even an expert might get two shots away but sooner or later they would wrestle the firearm away and then what happens? They would use it against you!
Then a similar thing for Mama Kuku, she has done a lot of good within the community raising funds for different projects including schools.
While she lives close to the main road, on the rim of Lake Duluti is remote and since the death of her husband she lives alone save for guards and household staff. However she has been a successful business woman, so has a measure of wealth.
Thugs have been to her house twice, robbing what they could and the second time, beating her up quite severely.
There is some spooky stuff that also goes on, most usually targeted at local people, but not necessarily so.
There are potions available, even from market like Tengeru, that can be mind altering, or perhaps kill. These potions mainly rely on the belief of the people who use them but some are herbal.
It is generally believed that dried crocodile bile or brain is a deadly poison, causing excruciating death over a long period for which there is no antidote. I did not experience any of this but it was widely talked about and I was told that anyone killing a crocodile made a public spectacle/display of burying the bile and brain to avoid accusations of using for 'bad things'.
Some of the 'herbal remedies' probably contain Datura, which grows in many parts of the tropics, and Datura causes hallucinations and all sorts of other conditions that may last for some time. I suspect there are other plants available that are semi poison.
Mbise told me: Many men in the Meru area will avoid marrying a woman from Akeri because women from that village like to dominate their husbands and will use potions if they are unsuccessful in that dominance. A man owned a small village shop, it was humble and sold mainly grocery items and it was good small business. He married a woman from Akeri and soon she wanted to make changes to the shop and to handle the money, but the man did not want those changes. The woman went to Tengeru and bought a potion 'to make her husband mpole - slower.' She was told to put half a teaspoon of the stuff in his tea, but she decided to us a full teaspoon. The effect was that the man lost all enthusiasm and desire and became very slow. The woman gained the control that she wanted, but it turned out that she was no good at business and the shop failed leaving them both as paupers.
We had a man who used to come to us to find work so that he could fund his cannabis addiction. Even though he was an addict, I found that he could actually be trusted and he always did a good job. But because of his addiction he was poor and lived in poor conditions and I helped him with clothes and shoes from time to time.
This guy had done well at school and had a good job with General Tyre - he showed me the papers to prove it. His brother - according to many local people - had become jealous of him, so bought a potion to make him the way he is today.
I have no way of verifying this, but it is the way things are.
This jealousy thing is quite rife: We met the niece of Big E who was a very good student, and a vibrant, vivacious young woman who was popular with her teachers. She was sent to Karatu to a secondary school where again she was very popular in the school. But somebody, probably out of jealously, gave her a potion and reduced to to a mpole - slow person, who just sat staring into space. Some say that this was the work of a jini.
The jini are evil spirits, goblins and many misfortunes are put down to them. And there are mchawi - these are witches or sorcerers and these people create misfortunes.
At Mbise's home village, he took me to a school where the door was smashed in and some 60 desks were damaged.
A young man loaned an older man (who turned out to be an mchawi) some money and after some time, the younger man asked for the money to be returned. The older man did not like the younger fellow's tone and told him bad things would befall his family.
The young man's sister was cutting fodder for the family cow and cut her finger - she died a short time after. A brother died in a rockfall at the Tanzanite mines. The family house cow died suddenly.
Then the mchawi was seen naked up a tree (which for some reason these people do) and the village people captured him and he confessed to being involved in the death of the girl, the brother and the cow as well as twenty four deaths! They locked him in the school classroom while the elders sent for the police at Usa River.
The village youth were not prepared to wait for the police and smashed the door down. The mchawi tried to hide in the rafters but he was stoned and died there in the classroom.
None of this should be confused with people who practice traditional medicine. From these people, generally there is no malice and many of their cures do work and to comment on these people is outside my experience.
I will keep my word, but not everything was good and to be balanced, I have to mention some of the bad, although there are some things I will leave out.
Some of the negatives that touched me could happen anywhere in the world, so do not necessarily reflect on Tanzania, although they did happen there.
I had broken a tooth and 'was sent' to Nairobi, Kenya to have it repaired, which involved an overnight stay - oh Mama Mbembe wanted me to go there and return the same day, but that was beyond reasonable.
As I crossed a busy road, a young lad ran past me and swiped the cat from my head - the one with Tasmanian Devil on it. He ran off down the road and I sprinted after him [without thinking and leaving Mags on her own]! There was a line of cars, stopped for some reason and one of those saw that I was chasing the guy, opened the door, hitting him, almost knocking him off his feet! I was catching up on him and he ran across the road close to where four or five men were standing. 'Catch the thief!' I called, and they caught him and were about to beat him up - I clenched my fist to give him a swipe, but reason took hold and the guy handed me the cap. I think they let the guy go, but I had not realised that I was a spectacle for the many onlookers who clapped as I headed back to Mags. With all that attention, I had to control my breathing so I did not look puffed! But the danger was, where was that guy leading to? And leaving Mags on her own! This was Nairobi!
It is common for people to cover valuable items such as radios or television sets with pretty doilies and I first thought it was to keep dust off the. Rather it is to keep prying eyes off them!
Joshia built a modest little house and he had a small, cassette radio sitting on a table. In the middle of the night there was a loud bang, his door was bashed in with a large rock/boulder [called a 'fatuma'] and the radio was taken before Joshia could get out of his bed! Quite obviously someone knew exactly where the radio was, meaning that the robber was someone who had been to the house.
Closing the door after the horse had bolted, we gave him the money to buy a iron-grill door.
But if you show off valuable things, you have to be very cautious.
The fruit ladies will poke their head in your car and look into your wallet if you open it. To them, seeing a few notes all at once is a lot of money and they will talk about it , making you a target!
It is unwise to flash money around or gold watches or cellphones.
I took advantage of doing some work in Arusha while the Landrover was being repaired by Marangu [they just called him that because he came from there] out on the Dodoma road - not quite as far as the African Heritage complex. Someone phoned [cellphone] while I was in Arusha. I had plenty of time, so I decided to walk - saving a few shillings - though usually I hired a taxi or caught a Daladala. From about Shopright the road passes through petty industry and market areas that serve poorer urban areas. Some way along the path I followed I felt a severe slap on both my shoulders simultaneously and at the same time someone made a grab at my cellphone! He missed his grip, the phone in its pouch falling to the ground and I elbowed them both away and they ran off behind me so I did not see them. I replace my phone at the front of my trousers, rather that the side where it had been - but I always checked, it was not visible, so they had followed me from town! I decided to catch a Daladala, even though it too far to pick up the car. Just walking along keeping my eye out for a passing Daladala. This time I was held in a bear hug from behind, while the other searched for the phone. The old trick is to raise your arms and drop to your knees, and I did, slipping from his grasp, but with my arms up there I could not defend the phone! The young men ran past me and up a dingy alley. A couple of women at a vege stall saw what had happened, and it was over too fast for them to react, but they shook their heads in warning for me not to follow them - and I agreed with them. Of course if you want to claim on your insurance, you need a police report! At the police station there was a big African man who also had his phone stolen. He had in his shirt pocket and the same thing happened to him - slapped on the shoulders from behind and the other from the front pushed in the chest and and simply lifted the phone from his pocket. These guys were mobile!
An event occurred that caused me to call on the Agency field rep, Mama Mbembe, on a Sunday afternoon. She had moved to a secure house just opposite the Ilboru Safari Lodge and the large, two metre high metal gate was closed but not locked, so in I went.
There was a scurry inside when I knocked on the door and when Mama Mbembe opened the door, her body language said to me that she was none too happy to see me! Sitting in her lounge room was an African man, drinking beer. I knew this guy, Remin, it was he who Mama Mbembe used to have the vehicles repaired, She had taken the business from Muktah who had been doing a very good job. We vols complained about Remin because the work he had dome on the vehicles was unsatisfactory and we and all witnessed conversations like this:
Mama Mbembe: How much for the repairs on the car?
Remin: 80 000 shillings will be enough.
Mama Mbembe: Oh that's too cheap, here's 120 000!
You just don't do this sort of thing - especially not field reps!
It was obvious to me that the pair though they had been compromised! On the following Monday, I had to take the Toyota to Remin for a grease, oil change and new filters.
That afternoon, I drove straight back to Makumira and did not use the vehicle again.
The next morning I set off to head out into the villages but there was a ditch to bounce over beside the big Cathode tree at the gate of Makumira Secondary School. The bounce popped the tie-rod from the wheel, thus causing me to lose all steering on the vehicle. If that had happened when I was going along the Moshi - Arusha road, I would probably be dead! There is a hole on the threaded end of the tie-rod to fit a split pin to make sure the nut does not come off! This was too much of a coincidence for me!The outcome was that the gate into Mama Mbembe's house was to locked at all times and nobody was allowed to enter unless summoned! We all recieved notice in writing.
From time to time gangs set themselves up and maraud totally indiscriminately and often quite violently. During these times it is not safe to travel at night as your vehicle can be taken from you. Some are armed with firearms while others have pangas - machetes. They have even been known to dress up as traffic police, and when you stop for them, you are robbed. Because the police had no transport, they would flag you down and ask for a ride to town, Tengeru, or Usa River . If I recognised them, I would give a lift, but if I didn't, I would just say it was Agency policy not to give lifts to uniformed people. A gang even attacked a well respected Lodge just out of Usa River and robbed all the guests! The guards cannot win because usually they are unarmed, or maybe with a punga or even a bow and arrow. Then the first person arrested if there is a robbery is the guard! During an attack, most people will keep their heads down, trying to be inconspicuous but during a spate of attacks in our area the village authorities made it mandatory to call out a distress call - ooo wee ooo wee - to alert village men to come and help. I bought three of those battery operated bike horns that have many alarm sounds and kept one for us and gave the others to our near neighbors.
There was a gang going around the Meru villages during the night - they were 'concerned' because too many 'outsiders' were 'fouling' Meru women. They knocked on the door and asked to inspect the man's penis. If he had not been circumcised, they would do the job there and then!
A German friend who was a Pastor lived with his wife and young daughter at Nkoaranga, further up the mountain from us. This guy had done a lot in the community, with DME and elsewhere but that did not protect him!
Volunteers with the Agency brought little from New Zealand because the unaccompanied luggage allowance was only 25kg but other we able to bring in container loads. My friend from Germany even brought a grand piano with him.
He had two Labrador dogs and at least two night guards, but the dogs were drugged and the guards dealt with and a gang of thugs entered my friend's compound!
They made several threats and said they would be pleased to see the blood of the white woman.
A traumatic experience for them all and the thugs left after taken what they wanted plus one thousand US dollars that was in the house. It is always best if that sort of cash is not in the home - it puts pressure on the rest of the expat community.
My friend discussed with me about the possibility of keeping some sort of a firearm in the house.
I advised against it because even an expert might get two shots away but sooner or later they would wrestle the firearm away and then what happens? They would use it against you!
Then a similar thing for Mama Kuku, she has done a lot of good within the community raising funds for different projects including schools.
While she lives close to the main road, on the rim of Lake Duluti is remote and since the death of her husband she lives alone save for guards and household staff. However she has been a successful business woman, so has a measure of wealth.
Thugs have been to her house twice, robbing what they could and the second time, beating her up quite severely.
There is some spooky stuff that also goes on, most usually targeted at local people, but not necessarily so.
There are potions available, even from market like Tengeru, that can be mind altering, or perhaps kill. These potions mainly rely on the belief of the people who use them but some are herbal.
It is generally believed that dried crocodile bile or brain is a deadly poison, causing excruciating death over a long period for which there is no antidote. I did not experience any of this but it was widely talked about and I was told that anyone killing a crocodile made a public spectacle/display of burying the bile and brain to avoid accusations of using for 'bad things'.
Some of the 'herbal remedies' probably contain Datura, which grows in many parts of the tropics, and Datura causes hallucinations and all sorts of other conditions that may last for some time. I suspect there are other plants available that are semi poison.
Mbise told me: Many men in the Meru area will avoid marrying a woman from Akeri because women from that village like to dominate their husbands and will use potions if they are unsuccessful in that dominance. A man owned a small village shop, it was humble and sold mainly grocery items and it was good small business. He married a woman from Akeri and soon she wanted to make changes to the shop and to handle the money, but the man did not want those changes. The woman went to Tengeru and bought a potion 'to make her husband mpole - slower.' She was told to put half a teaspoon of the stuff in his tea, but she decided to us a full teaspoon. The effect was that the man lost all enthusiasm and desire and became very slow. The woman gained the control that she wanted, but it turned out that she was no good at business and the shop failed leaving them both as paupers.
We had a man who used to come to us to find work so that he could fund his cannabis addiction. Even though he was an addict, I found that he could actually be trusted and he always did a good job. But because of his addiction he was poor and lived in poor conditions and I helped him with clothes and shoes from time to time.
This guy had done well at school and had a good job with General Tyre - he showed me the papers to prove it. His brother - according to many local people - had become jealous of him, so bought a potion to make him the way he is today.
I have no way of verifying this, but it is the way things are.
This jealousy thing is quite rife: We met the niece of Big E who was a very good student, and a vibrant, vivacious young woman who was popular with her teachers. She was sent to Karatu to a secondary school where again she was very popular in the school. But somebody, probably out of jealously, gave her a potion and reduced to to a mpole - slow person, who just sat staring into space. Some say that this was the work of a jini.
The jini are evil spirits, goblins and many misfortunes are put down to them. And there are mchawi - these are witches or sorcerers and these people create misfortunes.
At Mbise's home village, he took me to a school where the door was smashed in and some 60 desks were damaged.
A young man loaned an older man (who turned out to be an mchawi) some money and after some time, the younger man asked for the money to be returned. The older man did not like the younger fellow's tone and told him bad things would befall his family.
The young man's sister was cutting fodder for the family cow and cut her finger - she died a short time after. A brother died in a rockfall at the Tanzanite mines. The family house cow died suddenly.
Then the mchawi was seen naked up a tree (which for some reason these people do) and the village people captured him and he confessed to being involved in the death of the girl, the brother and the cow as well as twenty four deaths! They locked him in the school classroom while the elders sent for the police at Usa River.
The village youth were not prepared to wait for the police and smashed the door down. The mchawi tried to hide in the rafters but he was stoned and died there in the classroom.
None of this should be confused with people who practice traditional medicine. From these people, generally there is no malice and many of their cures do work and to comment on these people is outside my experience.
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