WEdnesday morning ...hot,sweltering even at nine am...humid,it is that which gets to you, the early morning climb, always, for 20 minutes or so, straight up...past the boys loading water from the ditch pipe into huge plastic yellow containers to strap onto bikes and ride, and walk and drag up these hills and down dales. As i go by they practice their English, "goodmorning,howare you?" repeated from one to the next laughing hilariously as they experiment boldly with the unfamiliar sounds, or perhaps and more likely than that laughing hilariously at the strange white womanmakingher way past them, boldly again if Imustsay, and up the hill..otherthan my German friend Elke i am the only white making my way around these parts.r.Handeni is a land of red dirt, dried into hard mud like stone...its homes weaving up and down the valleys and mounds of pitched paths, tracks pitted with holes caused by torrential rain, four wheeled trucks, bicycles..its women wrapped in bright textiles fabric, carrying usually something, many things, on the top of their heads expertly: like pails of water, plastic pans of bananas, beans, huge bags of maize flower to make the beloved ugali each morning, each evening..often with a child attached by more fabric to their back, its feet sticking out from the front, its head bobbing along with the rythm of her walking...
the men...many engaged in this water carrying endeavour, gruelling...left mostly for the young ones...men working on construction of homes...driving vehicles, walking up and down...along with the women,children of all ages,chickens, goats and cows...the cackling and crawing of crows, chickens, roosters, mooing cows and bleating and braying goats, it is a lively scene..
Almost anything you might want on a frugal existance is sold in shops lined up on a few dirt streets, side by side...busy, people resting under shade trees often sitting on piles of huge bags of used clothing sent over from European countries or america....
Jambo...the universally accepted hello for anyone at any time of the day or night..Mambo used to teenagers and 20 somethings if you want to pretend you are cool, a slang for the former..and a barria a sambui...a more challenging greeting in the morning only followed by nzuri which means you feel great...I havemanaged to get through the latter, and on to the nzuri, andat that point i must seemas tho i know what iam saying..because it is responded usually by a torrent of information and words i am at a total loss for understanding...unfortunately for me...how wonderful it would be to understand languages when travelling,how much closer and more interesting would one's conversations and thoughts be....
I am blessed with working with ICA Tanzania Handeni..Eunice is extremely well educated, from a tribe near the Moishi district, speaking perfect English and able to translate for me almost simultaneously...

I am going to publish this blog and start anew one in case electricity dies out, i have been warned it could happen...