African musings
African villages that flash by in a blur of bright colour of yellow bananas and bright clothing and vibrant orange paintings for sale.
Long white arms among the black ones reaching out of the bus windows and instantly the crowd gathers at the white arms to sell you nuts, pineapples, oranges, wood carvings, corn, cakes and anything else that can fit through a bus window.
An African bus ride
12 hours next to a woman from Arusha and her 4 year old daughter called Happy, who at first would only make shy eye contact with me. Then after 2 hours i bought oranges from the bus window and she accepted half of one. After this she played happily with Nicci (my toy monkey) and for the rest of the journey she slept on my lap or sat on her mothers knee and would just reach out and put her tiny little black hand on my comparatively white arm as i was reading which would make me loose concentration on my book and look at her and smile which she would return. She would put her hand on my arm constantly throughout the journey - almost just to reassure herself i was still there and still liked her. She would leave her hand resting on my arm for hours.
Many goats and cows in Tanzania - the Masai still herding them in the fields and at the roadside. I saw one farmer resting at the roadside - an old man with bare feet, Masai are very tall and carry spears and are ornate with earrings and necklaces - especially in the high part of their ears and round their ankles. The man was wrapped in blankets at the side of the road watching his flock. As a bus approached he struggles to his feet and runs down into the field to avoid the inevitable dust cloud (or Tanzanian snow as its sometimes called) that follows the vehicle. He is an old man and he stumbles down the field coughing in the dust while the safari land rover thunders past at a furious rate and his heard is scattered.
thew bus that follows the safari land rover is full to bursting with people - which is the norm and the roof is laden with baskets, bags, cases and anything else u can imagine, all held down with strips of rubber cut from inner tubes they sell at the markets to the bus drivers and also to fishermen who use it for their nets.
Black children will wave at white people as waving is a very white thing to do. African people do not really wave as a parting or greeting gesture.
Dusty red road climbs from a village way up high into the hills and as our land rover puts into second gear and moves slowly up the hill we pass old men pushing bicycles and its hot and they are tired and their bicycles are loaded with huge amounts of stuff and they are often barefoot, as we pass them they smile and wave and shout Mambo
The African spirit.
African villages that flash by in a blur of bright colour of yellow bananas and bright clothing and vibrant orange paintings for sale.
Long white arms among the black ones reaching out of the bus windows and instantly the crowd gathers at the white arms to sell you nuts, pineapples, oranges, wood carvings, corn, cakes and anything else that can fit through a bus window.
An African bus ride
12 hours next to a woman from Arusha and her 4 year old daughter called Happy, who at first would only make shy eye contact with me. Then after 2 hours i bought oranges from the bus window and she accepted half of one. After this she played happily with Nicci (my toy monkey) and for the rest of the journey she slept on my lap or sat on her mothers knee and would just reach out and put her tiny little black hand on my comparatively white arm as i was reading which would make me loose concentration on my book and look at her and smile which she would return. She would put her hand on my arm constantly throughout the journey - almost just to reassure herself i was still there and still liked her. She would leave her hand resting on my arm for hours.
Many goats and cows in Tanzania - the Masai still herding them in the fields and at the roadside. I saw one farmer resting at the roadside - an old man with bare feet, Masai are very tall and carry spears and are ornate with earrings and necklaces - especially in the high part of their ears and round their ankles. The man was wrapped in blankets at the side of the road watching his flock. As a bus approached he struggles to his feet and runs down into the field to avoid the inevitable dust cloud (or Tanzanian snow as its sometimes called) that follows the vehicle. He is an old man and he stumbles down the field coughing in the dust while the safari land rover thunders past at a furious rate and his heard is scattered.
thew bus that follows the safari land rover is full to bursting with people - which is the norm and the roof is laden with baskets, bags, cases and anything else u can imagine, all held down with strips of rubber cut from inner tubes they sell at the markets to the bus drivers and also to fishermen who use it for their nets.
Black children will wave at white people as waving is a very white thing to do. African people do not really wave as a parting or greeting gesture.
Dusty red road climbs from a village way up high into the hills and as our land rover puts into second gear and moves slowly up the hill we pass old men pushing bicycles and its hot and they are tired and their bicycles are loaded with huge amounts of stuff and they are often barefoot, as we pass them they smile and wave and shout Mambo
The African spirit.
posted by Amy | 4:59 AM
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