Two weeks in Moshi Town

The Wonders of Living in Moshi Town

The weeks have moved quickly carrying with them reminders that you can never imagine or plan what exactly the next experience will be. My week began uneventfully at KIWAKKUKI with me thinking that I would have many meetings & adventures. Each were carefully planned out. I even assigned times for each activity. I had worked on editing projects for KIWAKKUKI all weekend, and felt ready for the beginning of the week. My projects would need only a few minutes to tie up, I had until March to really complete them anyway; thus, they would be perfect by the time they were submitted.

Crises began right away. The donors requested the reports more than month early. And that meant this week. There was a training in which several of the key people were participating that I did not know about, and one report needed to include a slide presentation for the second week in February site visit. At least one report had to sit on the burner, and of course this one was the best prepared. At least, we laugh through the stress and even Lui (head of orphans) did a little fashion show



At home things, things were fun. Pauli (our gardener) had constructed a shade garden for lettuce in a sunny spot. (Forget that all the vegetables which love sun had been planted in the shade and are not producing.) But, This is Tanzania!





The next adventure was even better. The day began with the little RAV4 back gate lock breaking, and, though Pauli and Patrick (next door gardener) worked and worked to get the lock up, no dice. They used picture hanging wire to pull the gate shut and now, with a grim belief that I would not get to KIWAKKUKI any time soon, I slowly drove towards KCMC, to make my way to the Toyota dealer. Only a short drive and nearly at KCMC, the back door flings open, the picture wire broken. What to do? JB very busy with the first site visitors, and no way to leave the car by the side of the road because of the lock.
One very nice thing about the length of time we have lived in Moshi, and an extremely nice thing about Tanzanians is that they are always willing to help if they can and we have made many friends. When one of them, Mukesh drove by, he stopped and promised to help with the problem immediately. He put proper wire on the gate, I drove home and waited for him to finish with his appointment at the clinic. He later fixed the car, cleaned the car, did a full service and brought the car home! Viola. I was beginning to think that my worries were over, and the damage to my purse very small compared to what it would have been at the Toyota dealership.

I had the important appointment of going downtown to pick up the sewing fundi (tailor) and bring him back to hang beautiful new curtains in the bedroom. In downtown Moshi, I carefully parked the car so that it wasn’t sticking too far out. But didn’t notice that one corner of one tire was touching the cement side of the road. The fundi and I returned to the car three minutes later and wow- there was a boot with nails locking the right front wheel. The inch of tire, the cause. A new rule in Moshi (a town rule, not a country rule) is that if there is a cement easement on the road your car cannot touch it. When I protested that at least 4 other cars parked in front of my little old car where parked directly on the concrete and had no lock, the boys in charge said, “O mama, but they have given us some small shillings/or maybe even paid the fine, so we took the boot off.” I becoming very Kali (hot/sharp) and red in the face stated the obvious, “Well, they didn’t seem to feel any need to move their cars to correct the illegal parking and yet they have no boot.” “O mama, don’t worry, you can just pay us some small amount (which amounted to about $50) and we will take the boot off.” At this point I had unlocked the car and two of the boys climbed in saying, “we will just go to a private place and we can exchange these small gifts.” I was so mad I thought I would have a stroke. The fundi meanwhile, was looking at me and I appealed to him for help. He talked to them, nearly physically got them out of the car (and he is not a big man) and arranged for me to pay a bribe of 10,000 Tsh, a fraction of what they had asked for. With that done we left town. Ali was actually stunned that the whole event took place but he said, “you know many people believe that all mzungus are rich & they watch for them. You were easy prey for them.” We had a very pleasant conversation after that. Because he knew that we lived in a simple house and knew what we did, he was rather quiet, but he said later that he was very sorry for what had happened and he hoped that it didn’t make me hate Moshi. Of course not!
The day was done. The car was fixed, the boot was off, I had paid my first bribe, and I had a set of lovely curtains to show. I might have thought that the adventures of the week were over.

Not hardly. Two days later, one of John’s dreams came true. He had wanted a tractor to plow one part of our garden so that he could plant sweet corn before the rains. Our friend Greg arranged for the tractor and after hours of waiting, round the bend it came. A tractor at the doctor’s compound. Everyone was laughing, but everyone was loving it. It is a wonderful thing to be able to provide such fun to so many people, and as well to have a beautifully dug garden spot.


Annie & Thomas
Now we come to the end of the week. Last night, one of our leading doctor's Annie (commonly known as "Dr. Annie" had a dessert party at her house and a group of friends gathered. On display was Annie's little boy Thomas, truly a miracle boy, and Elizabeth's baby Iris. (Dr. Eliza) what a joy to see these little ones growing up in loving homes.
Iris and Grandpa John
Iris, Uncle Charles, Colette & Elizabeth
The Happy Family
Elizabeth & Iris

A big shopping day is planned for tomorrow, appointments all set for next week (all of course will change for this is Tanzania), Kili is shining every day and new adventures are in the air. What more can you need?