I watched a black, a Kenyan-American, take the oath of office to be president, on a 17-inch TV in the corner of a bar in my neighborhood of Sanawari. Maybe it’s fitting, that in this place just beyond the edge of the realm of the English-speaking world, I experience this moment this way. They turned the volume way up, and I strained to hear through the TV’s distortion those words, “I, Barack Hussein Obama…” that I thought impossible two years ago.
To help you make sense of it, he seems to confuse the English “husband and wife” for “brother and sister”. And when he talks about vocha, he means airtime for the cell phone.
I know I should have ended the conversation early, but my curiosity got the best of me. I hope this cat ain’t strapped.
I was waiting for my fundi in a motorcycle shop when I started talking with this guy, who is an electrician. He was a nice guy who said Tanzania is better than America right now only because we don’t have to endure such cold.
“You must have many volcanoes in America,” he told me.
“Huh?” I asked.
“Don’t you know where cold comes from?” he asked me.
Let me explain it the way he explained to me: “I’ve been to the top of Kilimanjaro. Have you ever climbed it? It’s very cold! I went all the way to the top, then down into the crater. Down there it smelled like sulfur and there was a little vent at the bottom that was blowing air straight up; “pshwooooo.” That air, though, wasn’t hot like lava. It was very cold wind that you could see going up.
“Now that wind blows from there over to Oldonyo Sambu, past there and to Ngorongoro. Have you ever been to Ngorongoro? That place is cold! The wind from inside Kilimanjaro is carried up into the atmosphere, and then down somewhere around Oldonyo Sambu village, and then across the valley and over to Ngorongoro.
“Volcanoes like Mt Kilimanjaro are the source of coldness on earth. The air inside the volcano doesn’t make its immediate surroundings cold, but areas far away.”
I explained seasonal winds. He agreed that there are seasons in America, but told me it is because of increased volcanic activity during certain months of the year. I didn’t argue.
Now you know where cold comes from.
***Coriander steak (steki giligilani)***
This is meat that makes me happy. We fry it at home usually, but sometimes we marinate it at home and take it to the bar for grilling. Note: If coriander leaves aren’t available, parsley is the closest substitute.
Marinade:
• 1 bundle of coriander leaves (about a handful) minced or pureed or pounded almost into paste (giligilani)
• 2 tbsp salt (chumvi)
• 3 tbsp tandoor masala
• 2 tsp ground black pepper (pilipili manga)
• 1 tbsp honey (asali)
• juice of 1/2 small lime (ndimu)
• 1/3 clove of pounded fresh garlic (kitunguu saumu)
• 2 green peppers (pilipili hoho), cut into strips
• 1/3 cup butter or oil (mafuta)
Prep for meat:
• Start with 1/2 kilo boneless steak. Chop into 1/4-inch- to 1/2-inch-thick pieces.
• Mix meat pieces into marinade and let it sit for a while. At least 1/2 hour.
• Fry the meat in a big saucepan. Add a couple of chopped carrots.
• When it’s almost done, mix in a little ketchup (maybe 2 tpsb) to give it sugar and color.
• Serve with jeera rice (when you cook the rice, add lots of jeera to make it sweet).
*Alternatively, you could grill a steak, like 10 oz., soaked in that same marinade.
***Honey lime tea (Maji yenye asali na ndimu)***
Okay, it’s not really tea. But I like it when I have a cough. It’s just relaxing for the throat and it’s easy.
• Pour 1 mug of boiling water (maji yameyochemshwa)
• Add to it 3 tbsp of honey (asali)
• Add a pinch of salt (chumvi)
• And squeeze into that the juice of 1 small lime (ndimu ndogo moja)
• Mix it, sit naked under a warm blanket, and sip until you fall asleep cozy happy.
***Stomach cleaner (dawa la tumboni)***
This is local medicine to clean your stomach when you have pains or problems. It’s very bitter, to the point that you might vomit if you’re not used to bitter things. But it’s good medicine. You can take it once or twice daily until you’re healthy.
Method without boiling:
• Peel the skin off of 5 or 6 big leaves of aloe vera (kisimaleo). Throw the peels away.
• Soak the leaves in a pot with 1 1/2 cups of water. Let it sit 12 to 18 hours.
• After the time has passed, pour the water into a mug and drink it.
Method by boiling:
• Slice longways 5 or 6 leaves of aloe vera. Try to expose as much surface of the leaves’ inner tissue as possible.
• Soak the leaves in 1 1/2 cups of water. Let it sit 12 to 18 hours.
• After the time has passed, boil the pot. Then pour the water in a mug, let it cool a bit, brace yourself, and drink.
***Daudi fried chicken***
Greasy and unhealthy, but it’s sooo nice.
Prepare the batter:
• 2 cups wheat flour (unga wa ngano)
• 1/4 cup black pepper (pilipili manga)
• 1/2 cup curry powder
• 2 tbsp salt (chumvi)
• 1 1/2 tbsp ginger powder (tangawizi)
Fry it:
• Cut your chicken (kuku) into pieces and roll them around in the batter. Make sure they get a lot of the batter to stick to them.
• Deep-fry them.
• After they’ve been floating for a couple of minutes, they’re ready to eat.
***Tea (chai)***
Kama kawaidi (just like normal), for two.
• In a saucepan, bring 2 1/2 mugs of milk to boil.
• A little before it’s boiling add some tea leaves, 1 thumb of grated ginger, and 3 tbsp sugar (to taste). Cardamom is nice, too.
• Sieve out the sediment when you pour it in to the mugs.
“I believe in equality for everyone. Except reporters and photographers.”
— Mohandas Gandhi
“I choose to feel good about myself. That way I am more open to learning. If people give me negative feedback or critcize something I do, I don’t interpret what they are saying as meaning that I am a bad person. The belief that I can control my own self-esteem permits me to listen to and hear their feedback in a non-defensive way – looking to see if there’s something I can learn.”
“love in the face of hate”
I miss blonde Oreos – the cookies.
Holy holy
Two-minute flv slideshow from Moiparo, just outside Arusha. Full-size at lenana.net/moiparo.
