Frivolocity

"...Since there is a tendency when you really begin to learn something about a thing not to want to write about it but rather to keep on learning about it always and at no time...will you be able to say; now I know all about this and will write about it..." Hemingway Death in the Afternoon

I know how to have a good time. I'm fairly confident that I know how to write about having a good time; add exotic details, illicit interest and reflect the hamna shida/ no worries tone that I've been riding on in this African existence.

I know scenery. I know the shades of the hillside opposite my terrace and how they melt from gold to blue with the setting sun; how the bamboo shoots stand like 7th grade growth spurts in a field of 6th grade rice paddies.

I have an idea of how to describe the generosit and inclusiveness of this communal society and how much their accecptance and welcome here trumps the culture shock and homesickness (though some days Mac & Cheese cravings put up a good fight).

I have no idea how to relay the feeling of livings in such a beautiful but impoverished place, accepting generosity from people have next to nothing. Not knowing the half of what life must be like for them and how they can keep smiling and laughing so loudly when their eyes are yellow from a days work in the sun and a nights cooking over a smokey pot of ugali. I can't describe how it feels to play with children whose dusty skin and sores attract flies...and notice that they don't seem to notice, that they don't complain when they miss a few days of school from Malaria weakness. And I can not grasp the magnitude of the challenges they face, they never complain; I can't find a place where I can dig my feet in and say, here I can help.

In my 2+ months here I can't report with accuracy the areas of serious intrest, but I can tell you that this country has grasped my heart in it's hand.

Now that I am at site, my beautiful Southern Highlands hilltop oasis, I have every morning to wake up thinking about how to fullfill my position here to its potential, every day to learn more about the people, their local language and problems, and every evening to sit in the peace of the evening, read, reflect, write, and maybe do a little yoga (you may think you'd loose weight in Africa, but the rice belly proves otherwise).

I can promise more anecdotes, scenery, and girl gone wild to come; I can also promise a break now and then from the frivolocity, and hopefully shed a little light on this side of the world.


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New Address:
Greta Scheibel
Peace Corps Volunteer
P.O Box 939
Njombe, Tanzania