Daily routine with the Ngungats

I typically stay with Mr. Elias’ family from Sunday to Thursday night, and stay in town with the other volunteers Friday and Saturday nights.

I’ve never a routine so well defined in my life. Here’s a description of my typical day:

7:30am Wake up naturally with biological clock, although I’m using the alarm on my phone as a backup

7:33am Brush my teeth while watching the kids do their work. Each has clearly defined responsibilities. The boys take care of the cows; the youngest daughter sweeps the compound with a branch. The middle daughter hoses down my toilet every day; they clean the bowl but also the walls, the floors etc. Sparkling clean for me to soil!7:40am Breakfast: Usually an omelet or more recently French toast, after I mentioned having them in town one morning. A side of fruits, a couple of toasts, and a cup of chai (tea), which I don’t particularly enjoy but feel bad about turning down since it has significant social meaning here.

8:00am Get ready for my work day, down a tall glass of water, slap on my safari hat and I’m ready to go!

8:15am Start the work day, either by working on Mr. Elias’ computer or visiting families to help them with their businesses. I spent all of this week going to town with participating mothers to purchase the supplies to get their operations going. More about this in the next post

12:30pm Lunch. I usually have lunch at the Sahara Café, a very plain restaurant owned by one of the board members of the trust. The most expensive item on the menu, the “mixed grill”, is 1000TSH, or around U$1. It’s not a tourist place, and I usually get into very interesting discussions with the locals, if their English permits

1:15pm Back to work

5:30pm Call it a day, walk around the village or go for a bike ride to prepare for Kili

6:45pm Bucket shower time. The first one was quite painful, but I rapidly adjusted and now consider myself an able bucket shower operator.

7:00pm Study Spanish, read Lords of Poverty, or play with the children. Very little oral communication, but playing is playing in any language!

8:00pm Dinner with Mr. Elias, the others have dinner in the outdoor kitchen. I still haven’t figured out why, but I will try to tactfully ask this week Dinner is almost always the same thing: white rice, brown sauce with traces of beef, “greens” which resemble spinach, and chapatti, the Tanzanian version of a pita bread. I am occasionally served French fries, or chips for the Europeans… And for dessert: a barbecued corn on a cob with a nice platter of fruits normally including bananas and oranges. (by the way, half of the food comes from the field behind the house, and the other half from fields in surrounding villages. Most is organically grown and is extremely fresh!)

9:00pm Political discussions with Mr. Elias, Mama Rose joins the table and has her dinner. It appears she eats last and eats whatever is left over

9:45pm Lights out, a little reading in my sleeping bag and rapidly dozing off…