Day Two

[ Note: Because I can only access the Internet infrequently, I've been writing entries on the laptop while I can with the intention of posting them when I got Internet access. The Internet has been hooked up in my room, but it's still difficult to get a connection. Nevertheless, I should be able to post a little more frequently now. So, these are backposts, if you will. ]

Day Two:

I woke up around 6:15 this morning to the sound of a rooster. May (the Sabets’ young daughter) had already warned me about it, so it didn’t seem too out of place. I dismantled the mosquito net, and I was surprised to find that there were in fact several mosquitoes clinging to it. Because the Sabets are fasting, I went downstairs to join them for breakfast before the sun rose. We had some kind of African bread that’s like a tortilla and rolled up inside of them fresh avocado, hummus, tomatoes, cucumber, and meat. We also had fresh squeezed passion fruit/mango juice. I’ve tried to set aside my fear of vegetables (although only the cucumbers would have been “offensive” this morning) so that I don’t seem rude or disrespectful. Or starve. Luckily the Sabets are fairly wealthy (by the standards here, and probably in the West, too), and they are very generous, so there’s usually some kind of meat on the table. But thanks to the drought and ensuing famine, most of the rest of the city probably doesn’t have any.

I hate to keep talking about something so mundane as the food, but it was truly delicious. Everything is fresh and organic! Last night at dinner, I shared some fruit with Dr. Sabet, and it was probably the best I’ve ever had in my life. The mangoes and pineapple were sooo sweet, and the grapefruit had that perfect balance of sweetness and sourness so that it didn’t need any sugar at all. Their cook is a little shy because her English isn’t very good, but other than that she’s very nice. I think I may try to get her to teach me a little Kiswahili.

Yesterday, I was picked up from the airport by Shabbani, the Secretary of the NSA. He took me to the Bahá’í National Center, and I met the employees there, as well as some of the other staff members who live inside the little compound. They have a little Bahá’í nursery school next to the Centre with about 25 kids, mostly non-Bahá’ís, attending classes there. Unfortunately, most of the people inside the Centre couldn’t do any work because the government rations electricity during the day, which means the computers, the Internet, and everything else electronic is down until night. They’re still consulting about how best to get around that problem. Thankfully, the Sabets have a generator which can power the whole house during the time the electricity is rationed, so I can do work from here or charge my laptop and do work at the Centre. I’ll actually be working for the National Teaching Committee instead of the National Spiritual Assembly, and Dr. Sabet is a member of the NTC so I think that will work out well in terms of coordination. The only down side is that he travels quite a bit. He leaves for Botswana on Monday! To me it seems kind of exciting to have a job in which you travel so extensively, but I imagine it’s gotten pretty run-of-the-mill for him now.

While I was at the BNC, I also met Sandra, a lady who lives upstairs, and an Auxiliary Board Member. I can’t remember her name right now; it was Persian. Unfortunately, non-Western names haven’t started to stick just yet. They gave me water and allowed me to rest and wait until one of the Sabets’ drivers, Fatma, could come and pick me up. We also picked up their daughter, May, who is not only a handful but I suspect will indeed keep me busy as reported.

Fatma brought us back to the Sabet compound, which is truly a compound. Everything here is behind a high wall with a gate. Most of the more affluent families (and it doesn’t take all that much to be affluent) have security at their gate, as well as a few servants in their home for at least part of the day. It all may seem somewhat alarming, but in truth it’s just the way things are. I haven’t felt that my safety has been threatened, yet, and I doubt that it ever will be while I’m here. I was a little uncomfortable at first with having other people wait on me, even in a limited capacity, but the reality is that I’ll just have to get used to it. It’s the way the economy and society works, and it’s not my responsible to roll in here and try to introduce American-style democracy, society, and civilization. I could make a political joke right now, but I won’t. =)

I spent most of the afternoon napping and resting. Dr. Sabet was home because the generator at his office was broken, so I got to speak with him briefly about what the NTC would like me to do. My first responsibility will be to get their filing system in order. As near as I can tell, most of their documents are at the National Centre in boxes. Just like everything else! It’s an organizational nightmare, but they just don’t have the staff to take care of everything. I imagine that their current work is being hindered by the electricity rationing because not all the members of the NTC live in Dar. I was a little surprised to learn that I’d be working for the NTC instead of the NSA, but it’s just as well. As long as I’m doing some good then I’ll be happy. Depending on how things go and the amount of work there is to be done, Dr. Sabet said the NTC would discuss “loaning” me to other offices.

In the evening, we went to a teaching meeting/devotional/presentation on the Bahá’í Faith at the University of Dar es Salaam. Originally, one of the Bahá’ís from off-campus was supposed to give a talk on prayer and meditation inside one of the common rooms in the dorms. But suddenly the Administration denied the Bahá’í students use of the room. They’re still investigating it, but it seems that the decision may have been motivated by only the word “Bahá’í.” Anyway, there are about 8 Bahá’í students on campus, which seemed fantastic to me. They’re part of one of the intensive programmes of growth (IPG) being launched here because Dar is an “A” Cluster. For two weeks, they’re supposed to hold devotional meetings in their dorm rooms and invite their friends and classmates to them. I’m not sure what happens after that, though. There was also prayer and consultation about the IPG and the situation on campus about being denied use of the room. It seems that there’s no registered Bahá’í club, which at times can frustrate their purposes. I was surprised that they were allowed to meet in an auxiliary room! At UALR you have to be a registered group or know somebody unless you want to pay out the ying-yang for a nice room.

Everyone has been polite and courteous thus far, and most of them are curious about me and where I’m from. I’ve been surprised at the number of people that know about Arkansas and Little Rock. I half expected that no one would know anything about it, but some people even know about the Central High crisis in 1957! And for those that don’t know, all I have to do is mention it’s where Bill Clinton is from and then it clicks for them. He is very well respected here, “a great man,” and they have no problem mentioning his infidelity. One man said that such a thing would be a source of pride for an African man because the society is still very much alpha-male oriented. Maybe that’s why it’s easier for them to overlook such a thing, and also because of everything he’s done to help the people here.

A last note about the electricity and the United States. I can tell that I’m in for a long road of getting frustration with the things I see. I’ve been warned about it several times, but despite how many times people tell me or I read it, I still find myself getting upset at my own country for not doing more to raise the standard of living here. For instance, the electricity rationing is because the primary source of power here is hydroelectric. While it’s clean and efficient, it’s not entirely feasible for a region prone to drought. While we’re spending $500 billion on defense issue, people here don’t have electricity for half the day. Why we can’t spare a few million dollars to build another type of power plant and train individuals to operate it is beyond me! We often say, “What can we do to help?”, but if you come and put your feet on the ground, you can find half a dozen areas which could use improvement before ever leaving the airport. And yet, it’s the way of life here. Am I trying to transpose my Western values and way of life here, or simply thinking of a way to help them live better? Quite a dilemma.

It’s suddenly occurred to me how much I use the Internet and how much my work and life revolve around it. Mrs. Sabet is cleaning out the bookcase. She said she wanted to relax and be lazy today, so when I asked her about it she said she didn’t know how! I’ve found that I’m becoming increasingly the same way. I don’t always want to run a triathlon or something, but it can be quite difficult to just sit around doing nothing. I tried reading one of the many books in the house, but I felt like that was a waste of my time here. Granted it’s only the second day, but I did come to serve. And I’m sure I’ll regret this paragraph a month from now. I was going to start work on a website for the Bahá’í community of Tanzania but it’s hard work without the Internet.

A hellacious storm blew in a few hours ago, and it’s been raining steadily for more than 2 hours. I thought the house was going to topple over the wind was blowing so hard! I can’t hear the sounds of the city outside, so I don’t know if everything’s stopped because of the rain or I just can’t hear because of the rain. No matter. I’m just enjoying the wind and smell of rain blowing through the house and the sound of the birds outside in the 10 million varieties of palm tree in Tanzania. The weather has turned very pleasant for the moment, but I doubt it will last all day. But I’m glad to see that’s there’s such a sustained rain while we have it because I know they must need it very badly. It’s a wonder that everything around here stays so green!

I just came back from the BNC and shopping with Dr. Sabet. At the BNC, we took a look at the files of the NTC which I’m supposed to begin organizing on Monday. It wasn’t quite the task I thought it would be. There’s a file cabinet drawer and a box full of stuff, but that’s it. I should have it done in a few days, a week at the most. The only problem will be determining what to throw away and what to keep because a good sized chunk of the material is in Kiswahili. According to Dr. Sabet, I should be able to determine what the stuff is after learning 10-20 key words. He also said he expected a “clever” guy like me to figure it out and be speaking Kiswahili in 2 months. I laughed. A lot. At least with Romance languages I could use my Latin background and common sense to figure things out, but I tried applying that here and quickly found that it doesn’t work. Luckily they use the Arabic alphabet like us, so at least I don’t have to learn a whole new alphabet. Right now I know two words of Kiswahili: Jambo=Hello (from a foreigner) and Asanti =Thank you. I think I spelled the last one wrong. It’s kind of difficult learning Kiswahili from people with Persian accents. =)

On the way to the BNC, Dr. Sabet explained that I would have to “figure out” how to use public transportation to get from his house to the Bahá’í National Center. I guess from the look on my face he gathered I wasn’t about to “figure out” anything about the Tanzanian public transportation system, so he explained. We drove the route that the bus would take, and he pointed out the bus stops. I’ll have to walk some distance from the house to get the bus stop, maybe something like half a mile and then another half a mile when I arrive at the bus stop closest to the BNC. It’s not too complicated, I don’t think, but I think I’ll have a little problem the first day because most of the stuff still looks the same to me. Unfortunately, the road nearest the BNC is very poor. Because of the rain today, I couldn’t even see a way to walk down the street without jumping in three or four puddles full of God only knows what. This going to work business will be quite trying for me, I think. Not only am I not used to walking, but when I do walk it’s on straight, well-paved roads and pathways.

On my right pinky I have 11 little rash looking things. Seven of them are in a clump near the base of my finger and the other four trail up the finger. I wonder if it’s a symptom of something? I’m probably so worried about getting a disease that my mind is actually playing physical tricks on me!

After visiting the BNC, we went grocery shopping. At first we went to the African version of a Western super market. It’s basically the same on the inside with the same types of things, except it’s African, so useless aesthetics go straight out the window. A can of extra virgin olive oil (and when I say “can,” think of a gas can) was $40! I don’t normally buy extra virgin olive oil, but that seemed quite extreme. I haven’t been able to figure out the economy here, yet. Some things are dirt cheap, but others are extraordinarily expensive. For instance, after we left the super market we went to one of the little shack things that constitute most of the stores around here and bought probably 10 bags full of fruits and vegetables for $10 after spending I don’t even want to know how much for the rest of the food at the super market. I guess now that I think about it the difference is that raw goods are relatively inexpensive but because they’re a developing country with (I imagine) little manufacturing, they don’t refine and process the goods, which means they must be imported. And everyone knows imported is just another word for outrageously expensive.