by Josephat Hema from Tanzania

Are you ready? Yes, it is 365!

It has been a very long time ever since I wrote a thing for the blog (which is my home) and so I have come up with these stories to cover up. So without further ado, let me dive in with you;

“Stay with your Uncle for a while”

A minibus (a common means of public transport) commonly called Daladala in Tanzania makes a stop. I wasone of the passengers in it; chilling with my earphones listening to some Afrobeats. A hurrying woman enters; she carries a little child. As she looks for an empty seat she puts the baby on my laps. She gives me the „Carry-your-little-brother“ eyes and she speaks to the Child,

“Stay with your Uncle for a while”. I carry the baby till the woman sits comfortably and takes him back with showers of gratitudes and smiles. I’m just one month back in Tanzania and I see this as a reverse cultural shock. I remember the proverb that says “It takes a whole village to raise a child”. Is it still relevant?

I imagine a woman in Germany handling her child to a stranger in a train. Oh then I stop Imagining.

“You don’t talk like us; you don’t look like us”

I know I will soon start to work in a Hospital for the internship and so I decided to visit my grandparents in a village in Singida, Central Tanzania. I come from a Nyaturu Tribe which characteristically has lighter skinned, tall and slim men and I am the opposite as I look more like my Mother who comes from the other Tribe. And since I didn’t grow in my native area so I don’t speak well the Tribal language and my Swahili accent is flat. I hear one man telling me “You don’t look like us; the Nyaturu. Neither do you talk like us”. I smile and remember the same stereotype I faced in Secondary School when people were identifying each other by Tribes mainly through physical looks, ability to speak the Tribal language and their Swahili Accent and I was always the odd man out.

“Staying home is not for you”

I start working in a Hospital when the first large wave of Covid-19 strikes Tanzania. People are encouraged to minimize the unnecessary movements and I’m scared. I wish to stay home but since I work in the Pharmacy department of the Hospital, Staying Home isn’t for me.

“The Scholarship”

I win a Weltwaerts Scholarship that covers Tuition fees only to do Master’s studies in “Social Transformation: Politics, Philosophy and Economics” at Karlsruhe Hochschule International University at Karlsruhe City in Germany. The descriptions of the Master’s program are very interesting despite my background Education in Pharmacy. I feel so excited for a possibility to see Germany again.

„Dear Brown”

I finish the Internship. One year sounds so small but yes I am done. I remember the book I started writing last year on my return to Tanzania. It was a book that would summarize my volunteering service but also document the events following Covid-19 craze. I finish writing it and publish online with this link https://payhip.com/b/0ZWl . Hoping that it will help me to fundraise a little money for my Master’s studies preparations. Thinking of publishing more of my unfinished works.

Booom!

My 365 stories are over!

Yeah, it is just a very short summary of what that has been happening around the 365 days of a year. It has been a very interesting ride and I can’t wait to see what is ahead. Thanks for reading me. I will write again. Till next time.

I miss you all.