Goodbye Party Pictures

Tanzanian mamas know how to have a good time. Any excuse to dance is a good one...

especially when there are the village drummers. Their work fees are paid in ulanzi.
ulanzi-local brew.

Shake it, shake it, shake it...
And then I shook it and had a slight wardrobe malfunction.....but just kept on dancing.

Lots of lovely harmonizing.

It was freezing cold, luckily I kept getting wrapped in layers of khanga and other party paraphernalia.

Party face.

Mwenye Kiti "And these baskets are cozy's for you to put your pombe in." pombe-alcohol

Me "And there are two of them so i can double fist, awwww, ninyi!!!"
ninyi-you guys!!

This woman gave me a bag of raw wheat.

Mama "This is for dinner tonight." Me "There's not much meat on him, but thank you."

These were sort of backhanded avacados. "We present these avacados to Greta, who will be helping us to find a market in Dar as she's done with the honey". Me "what? who? market, me?"

Lots of baskets.

TAG church also gave me money. Sijui.

I'm not sure where they got this tail.

Basket of eggs.

This woman gave me a mia tano (about 50 cents)

Dada Emily, she also recited an original poem about my time in Ujindile. Sweet heart.

There was an original score.

These handmade baskets are special to the Iringa region. I wound up with about two dozen of them over the course of the party.

Christian gave an amazing speech about the importance of education, as opposed to material things, as a means of sustainable development, "that way, when the volunteer leaves the information remains". Christian, mwenye kiti, and I teared up.

Gonna miss those faces.The next generation: After the first two months of Peace Corps training in Tanga, TZ, these Peace Corps Trainees came down to Ujindile to "shadow" a volunteer (me). Amy, Kate, and Sativa are all health volunteers being inducted into Peace Corps TZ on August 18th. The after party, VIP section.

Winni.... more pictures and a video on the next blog...