This previous weekend was quite an interesting one. On Friday we went to do a village showing of Nipe Jibu, and it was straight up fantastic. A man named Majanta is a staff member here at Pamoja, and it was at his village that we were doing the showing. So Friday afternoon, we packed up the truck with seven wazungu (white people/ foreigners) and two Tanzanians (who both work at Pamoja) and set out to show the movie. So Jacob was driving, and Majanta was sitting behind him, giving directions to the village. According to Majanta, it takes a very long time to get to said village, which is fair enough, considering him and Wilfredi walk home on weekends, and it takes them about two hours. Anyways, we go through the college road, and reach Old Moshi road, where Majanta had previously said “Turn left on Old Moshi Road”. So Jacob goes to turn left and Majanta starts yelling “No no no, go right, go right!” This of course, triggers a good natured argument over left being left, and you said to turn left, and don’t you know that direction is your RIGHT?! All the while, I’m in the very back seat with Lis and Wilfredi, and we’re crackin’ up pretty hard. So the next few turns happen with nothing particularly terrible happening, until we’re out on the very back roads, relying on directions, and Majanta stops paying attention. More good-natured yelling ensues, and we’re back on track, with the directions having turned into rather detailed instructions on how to not hit that tree, and watch out for the rocks, and be careful Jacob, those cows don’t like vehicles! We get to a point, for one of the final turns to get to the village, when Majanta goes, “Okay, you see that white cow? That one right there? Turn right at the cow.” So now our landmark for getting out of this place is a mobile animal. I’m not likin’ that so much. “Don’t forget to turn left at the cow, or we’ll be sooo lost coming home.” But yeah, no worries. Wilfredi came back with us, so it was all good. And he was quite a bit better at giving directions than Majanta.
For the actual showing of Nipe Jibu, we set everything up in their cinderblock church. Some ladies from the church (It might’ve been the pastor’s wife, I dunno) had made us supper, which was sooo nice of them. We don’t always realize how much work it takes to cook out in Maasailand, with everything being done over the fire, and nothing being prepackaged. So much prep work has to be done, with the wood gathering, chicken butchering, water collecting, fire starting, water boiling, and THEN the food cooking, for every single meal. It’s completely time consuming, and the fact that food was ready for us about an hour after we arrived meant that they had been working on it for a while already, so it could be eaten immediately. We had rice (I will never know how they make perfect rice over a campfire, let me tell you. It’s AMAZING) and they made a chicken and sauce dish, which was deliiiiicious!
Back to the movie! In the end, about 170 people crammed themselves in and around this tiny little building, with about three people to every window, looking in from outside, and a considerable amount of people standing in the aisle because there was nowhere to sit. Definitely a successful event!!
As for the rest of my weekend... Little Jacob’s birthday party was on Saturday, so Davin and I hustled around helping get stuff ready for that, and went into hiding almost immediately after the mothers began arriving with their 4-year olds in tow. But yeah, there was cake. So I didn’t mind too much. We had a barbecue afterwards, and the power went out, so Kirsty, Davin and I went stargazing on the trampoline (Which totally reminded me of doing the same thing during summer!) And as most of you know, I learned how to ride a motorbike on Sunday! YAY!! I’m still pretty pumped about that, and I can’t wait to go riding again. So there you have it. Instead of seeing how terrible I am at typing this time, I decided to actually tell you some stuff that’s been happening. I figure you might appreciate it.. God bless!
