Goodbye Suji Until Next Time.
By Maureen Mescall
Do I need to repeat again that I enjoyed my ten days in Suji? Well just to imprint on your mind I will say it again – I love being in Suji, the people, the children, the food, the air, the unhurried way of life and the marvellous scenery.
You may remember that we – Tanzanian Village Renewal sent four pallets of used school books from Ireland to Suji Malindi Secondary School at the end of July. They finally arrived at the port in Dar es Salaam at the end of September and they arrived here in Suji by truck on Sunday October 16th. I had asked some of the students to come in early to help to unload the truck and George and Abuhudi were at the school at 6a.m. The other students began to arrive soon afterwards. The truck arrived around 7.30a.m and was unloaded in less than an hour.
Dinah, Charlie, Mr. Nyanga, Peadar, Aaron were all working at speed and when the book on family planning appeared it caused great hilarity. I’m not quite sure how that particular book found its way in with the school books! By 1 p.m. following a break for breakfast on those lovely mandazis that Eneza made, all the books were in place on the shelves. I hope the school makes good use of them and that a capable person is put in charge so that the books will be available for many years to come for the students.
My work in Suji was now finished and it was time to return to Dar as I would fly home on October 19th. Peadar decided to come as far as Same with me as he wanted to make a film of the mini bus journey down the mountain and also get some footage of Same. We boarded the mini bus at 5a.m. it was dark and a little cold. We then started on our journey to collect the other passengers so we headed for the next village, Gonjanza. There were more people than usual on the bus this morning as it was the start of the new week and we were lucky that we were among the first to board so we had seats.
First things first in Same so we went to the Parrot Hotel for breakfast. I was looking forward to the hard boiled eggs, wrapped in mince meat and coated in a batter but alas they did not have them that day so we had the Samos’s instead. We were the only two white people in Same that morning so as we stood waiting for the Dar Express a man approached us and asked were we were bound for. Next thing I had my ticket (TZS 25,000 about €12.50) in my hand and was on a bus note “a bus” not the Dar Express which has a reasonable reputation - meaning it might get you to Dar without breaking down! There were several people trying to get on this bus but “my man of the tickets” pushed me forward before many of them and my bag had already disappeared inside. I was highly embarrassed by this and felt sorry for the other people but now realise that I had paid more for the fare than people who had boarded two hours before me and were also going to Dar! So money talks it seems!
Every seat was taken on the bus and we started off with great gusto and I thought to myself we will be there ahead of time. But…..two hours on the road and we stopped! It was boiling hot in the bus and the sweat was pouring off me. Luckily I had a large bottle of water with me. People began to get off and were very calm about the whole scenario while I was getting slightly irritated and voiced my opinion. Typical European! Another passenger said “This is Africa, this happens all the time”. I got out to investigate and could see a log of water underneath the bus – the radiator was leaking and somebody had walked along the road with a big plastic drum in search of water. The fact that there was a big drum on board made me realise that this was a regular occurrence! The water eventually arrived and the radiator was topped up and we took off again at speed, only to stop again in the next village. This time we had real mechanics who set to work and after three hours in the blazing sun we were on the road again.
Having left Same at 9a.m. we finally arrived in Dar at 6.15p.m - a journey that should take about five and a half hours. When Prof rang me to say that he would meet me at the station it was music to my ears. Normally I would get a taxi but the heat and exhaustion had finally overtaken me. I spent a lovely evening with Prof and Susan at their lovely home and it is always a pleasure to share a Heineken and chat with them and I look forward to the next time.
