The Beauty of a place
Posted by Social Matters , Monday, May 2, 2011 1:54 AM
Last year I got an opportunity to work as a field assistant for a researcher from one of the universities abroad in Turkana, Kenya, I wasn’t excited. Unlike when I had received a scholarship to attend a field school in Tanzania that August, I suppose the only joy was that it was my first paying job in the field. Well, for Tanzania I was looking forward to the chance of being a foreigner, it was my first time outside Kenya, I relished the cultural experiences, and being an anthropologist I actually meant that. Tanzania did not disappoint, it was beautiful, I loved staying in a tent for six weeks, walking around the river bed alone, the one hour trek to a hill and then climbing it for another hour, getting to the top dead tired but one look at the scenery and it was breath taking. The terraces up the hill and the Stone circles that we excavated that were built around five hundred years ago, it was marvelous because I asked myself what were they thinking (the people that lived five hundred years ago), where did they go?. The evidence of their existence the potsherds, some beads, an iron arrow head and trying to decipher what it all meant.
Mountainside view
The dinners under the open sky each night for six weeks, as well breakfast it was amazing, the evening sky was serene in every sense of the word, romantic should be the word. Watching the sun rise was amazing, and Engaruka was not as hot as I expected it to be. Meeting people from different countries in the world was a phenomenon experience. The cultural diversity meant I added an Irish man, Welsh and two English men to the people that I knew. Amazingly I learnt in England your accent varies depending on where you are from. The Liverpool accent is very different from the London accent. The Yorkshire accent was the most interesting one, especially if you have read the ‘secret garden.’ The Tanzanian’s did not disappoint, I mean you ask for directions and they end up taking you to the place.
A lesson for Kenya would be in countries like Wales and Ireland, the languages Welsh and Irish have survived the test of time, meaning they are not about to be classified dead any time soon. Yet in Kenya we are busy, talking from an anthropological sense killing innocent languages. Most languages in Kenya are in danger of becoming extinct, and the fact that a good number of children living in urban areas cannot speak or understand their mother tongue.
The way to the archaeological site
An archeological trench dug by my colleagues.
In the photo below my colleague Steve works on a trench at the bottom of the terrace. On site it was work, off site it was great learning that Tanzanians’ rarely talk about politics even when it’s a month away to the general election.
In movies when people speak of going away to find themselves maybe they should go to such places, unlike the noisy Nairobi life it offers a serene environment, quiet and simply amazing.
Lastly I got to sample a national park in Tanzania, at first I was scared that it would be very expensive until I saw the notice: -
EAST AFRICANS: 1500 Tshs
Roughly around eighty three Kenya shillings, and the park was well maintained, and there were animals every where.
Most importantly I learnt the truth about the Tanzanian people, I stayed with around fifteen students from the University of Dares Salaam, and the secret to being united is not in hiding your ethnic identity. If you ask a Tanzanian what their ethnic group is the answer is never ‘Tanzanian’ they answer ‘Sukuma, Jita, Chagga,’ among others. Worth noting Tanzania has over a hundred and twenty ethnic groups. In every region just as in Kenya there is a specific ethnic group that lives there.
Back in 2008 I stayed with a Tanzanian family for a couple of days, later on they told us that they were like foreigners in that region since its predominantly Chagga and they were from the Haya ethnic group, both man and wife. But in Tanzania it did not matter where you are from you could won land anywhere in the country. The beauty of Tanzania is that they embraced diversity. Argument being Kenya is made up of forty two ethnic groups, our tribes as people call them don’t divide us, politics does.
The tents we stayed in.
The food was different, the hotel culture was different, a little bit slow for my usual Kenyan self but the food was amazingly different, tasty and cheap. Chapati is more of a breakfast meal and the warmth and hospitality of the people reminded me of the African Spirit.
The touts were definitely nicer and patient, but it had to come to an end, one month later in October 2010, I got a chance to be a field assistant in Turkana, Kenya, and my expectations were not the same. I was actually scared…
