Traffic Jam – Shopping in Kasulu–Thurs. May 2nd
Shaw and I started the day by attending the English Language Holy Communion service at the Bible College, while Bill represented our little team at the Diocesan Morning Devotions. After breakfast we had our annual “official” meeting with the Bishop, where we got an brief update on the diocese and traded prayer needs.
A DWT driver brought us down to the Bible College where there was just a little work to be done today. There were a few things that Bill wanted to check out and he wanted to do some training with some of the College personnel here. He also planned to do a video tour of the Bible College to post on You-tube. Shaw is continuing to meet with teachers to orient them to the on-line training.
While Bill started his training, I had some shopping I wanted to do, so I tapped his wallet (mine is a little light from paying for the extra weight for the flight to Kigoma) and grabbed Shaw, who also wanted to do some shopping. I am not yet completely comfortable walking all around Kasulu Market by myself. Shops here are TINY. They are little 8’ x 10’ or so, little cubbies really, with doors that open across the width of the shop. Most often there is a counter across the entire front of the shop and you tell the shopkeeper what part of his our stock you are interested in.
Our first stop was a little Christian Book Shop that has opened up a little more than a block from the Bible College. I was interested in finding a book of children’s Bible Stories in Swahili. There is a class going on here for the third year students’ wives. One of the wives is illiterate and it has been arranged for her to have a private tutor to teach her how to read. I wanted her to have a book to aspire to read. She also has many children and I hope that she will read to her children from the book. While Shaw continued to browse around the shop, I went back to the Bible College where she was working with her tutor to give her the book. She has no English and her tutor has very little. It took a little while to get them to understand that the book was for her. The tutor kept saying “she doesn’t know how to read” and I kept saying “You are teaching her. She WILL be able to read. This is for when she can read.” It is very unusual for the average rural Tanzanian to have books in their homes. Maybe this will start to change this, in one home at least.
I went back to the Bible Store and Shaw and I started off to find my friend Olivia’s shop. She sells ketangas. Her husband, Daudi had driven us by there a few days ago, but I had never walked there. We turned the corner to go toward the Main Street and found…
KASULU TRAFFIC JAM – an entire herd of goats came down the middle of the street!
After the goats passed us by, we proceeded up the side street, across the main road and into the market area. It took us two tries to find the shop but we did eventually. Olivia gave us stools to sit on and we visited for a few minutes, which is the normal Tanzanian way to do business. Shaw wanted a ketanga to bring home to use as table clothes but didn’t know which he should chose, so he asked Olivia to show him which ketanga represented Kusulu culture most to her. It took a little while to get the idea across, but once she did she was quick so select a lovely and colorful ketanga for Shaw.
I wanted a ketanga that would coordinate with the ketangas I bought the other day for my family room. I asked to see three and picked one that I think will coordinate nicely with the other fabric. I plan to use this fabric to recover the front of my rocking chair cushions and use the other fabric for the backside of the cushions and window treatments.
As usual, my customs declaration from Tanzania will read “fabrics and arts and crafts”!