Taita
Hello from Taita!
After a long, six hour mutatu ride, we arrived in the mountains today around 5pm and met our homestay families. For the next week and a half, I’ll be living with Rosemary and her family - her mother, her brother, her sister-in-law, her daughter, and her sisters.
I’ll try and post photos as I get them (and as my cell connection allows), but, in the mean time, I’ll try and describe this strange living situation to you. The family lives in a average sized home, with a kitchen, a living room, and several bedrooms. They sit around the TV and chat, playing and laughing with the baby while the news plays in the background. Neighbors cycle in and out, greeting me and the rest of the family, and then go about their business. Mobile phones buzz as calls and texts ring in. The girls listen to Usher and Alicia Keys while they get ready for bed.
Oh, I guess that doesn’t sound very strange at all…
I like to laugh at others when they assume stereotypes are reality, but today, the tables were turned on me. I’ll admit it - all this time, I’d been expecting my rural homestay to be set in some sort of mud hut, my family running around in tribal dress while dancing at a fire. Because, so often, that’s the Western image of rural Africa, right? It’s an image that belongs in the past.
This family is about as normal and modern as you can get. Sure, they have some cows and chickens in the backyard, but that’s because this is a farming community. Head to rural Tennessee and show me something radically different.
There is a reason for stereotypes. There are some parts of Africa that are very depressed, very unstable, vert traditional, or all three. But not all parts of Africa are like that. Most get along pretty much the same as you or me. It’s good to have that kind of perspective.
Tomorrow, we’ll continue our study of Swahili and begin working on a library in town. I’ll post again soon!
