Authentic African Experience

As promised (hoped) here are a few thoughts from Matt's parents about their recent visit. We hope it helps give a slightly different light on life here.

How do you know when you have had an authentic African experience? Is it when you ease your aching limbs from the ‘crazy bus’ after 13 hours of hard driving? Is it when you have eaten your fill on beef and eggs and rice and bread, and still paid less than £1 for the meal? Is it when you realise that getting £200 from a cash machine in notes worth £2.50 each will give your wallet indigestion? Perhaps it is when you share the joy of family reunion 4,500 miles from home! Or driving for 2 solid hours on dirt roads past banana plantations to emerge at a crystal blue lake into which plunge mountains clad in virgin forest. Or then again it could be when you go shopping for a 2-day trip and have to visit 6 outlets to fill a short list.

There are so many things about a trip to Mbeya that are different – some of them are welcome, some are a bit alarming, all of them come together to result in that authenticity many tourists will miss. Meeting work colleagues and going on a language area trip demonstrated the impact of the work being done, with so much more to do. There are children everywhere, most immaculately dressed on their way to or from school, an increasing number with lives blighted by HIV, or simply abandoned. There is freedom to work there in a manner that is just not possible in the UK. A brief glimpse into a street children project and an orphanage revealed the need and the hope.

There are no street lights, and frequent power cuts, and clear skies, so there are zillions of stars to enjoy. You can sleep near the ocean in rooms designed with natural air conditioning (that’s right, no glass), or high in the mountains where hot water bottles and thick duvets are welcome. You become aware that there is an underlying spiritual awareness everywhere. Churches are full and alive, with choirs who really have rhythm, yet witch-doctoring still has a hold on people. Tanzania seems to be a country striving to do the right thing, to improve itself, to make the most of its limited resources. When you have so little your priorities are different.

Back to that authentic African experience. Is it when you experience warmth and hospitality in the home of those who have almost nothing? Or buy pineapple from a roadside vendor, at a price that both parties are happy with, and find that it is the best you have ever eaten? Surely it is the bone jarring roads, giving you that ‘African massage’ glow? Maybe it is when you go on safari to a remote park and get close enough to hear lions breathe, or walk beside a lake filled with hippo and crocodile. There is no single answer, but we do know that it is simply amazing. Thank you Matt and Liz!

Simon and Lynda Wisbey