Nataka pipi "I want candy"

December 23rd, 2008

All of the kids ask me for candy when they see me now since I gave them tootsie rolls and dumdums from home.

E-mail is working today for the second time since I have been here and some friends wrote and said it snowed a foot in Seattle! I can’t even imagine snow right now. It is boiling HOT here. I tried to explain the concept of snow to the local kids in our neighborhood and we made snowflakes. Not sure they knew what I was talking about, but they liked the snow flakes…

Some of the other volunteers work at the orphanage. I get to work with the orphans at Amani club which is a special club for the kids with HIV, orphans etc. We decided we’d make name tags to learn the kids names, so we gave them each a blank name tag and a crayon. We were writing our names on the board to show them what to do. When we turned around and asked them to start writing their names, all of the crayons seemed to be missing…..I couldn’t figure out if they’d stolen the crayons which is definitely a problem with some of the kids, so I kept asking where the crayons were…Well, one child started smiling and kept saying pipi (pronounced peepee). His smile was blue! Then I realized there were green, orange, yellow, red smiles all around. Yes, all of the kids had eaten the crayons because they thought they were candy. Pipi is the word for candy here. No more name tags!

One more funny story, I just remembered. I was chatting with the guard and some of his friends this morning practicing my Swahili. I wanted to say, “I want to learn more Swahili.” Instead, I apparently said, “I want to shower in Swahili more.” The guys were cracking up. Kind of embarrassing, but less embarrassing than something else I accidentally said last week which was much worse.

An important lesson I have learned here is that when people say sure, why not or of course they do not necessarily mean sure, why not or of course. They just use these phrases for everything. So, when I asked if the bjage (3 wheeled taxi) was coming to pick me up for a home visit, Musa said, “of course!” Then, 30 minutes later, I asked, “are you certain the bjage is on it’s way?” His response, “Sure. Of course.” Finally, I asked in swahili, “did you call Asan?” (Asan is the bjage driver). Musa said, “No, I didn’t.”
Another lesson, if someone tells you that it takes 10 minutes to walk somehwere, what they really mean is at least two hours! One little girl, melulu wanted to take me to her house to meet her family. She said she lived ten minutes away. After 10 minutes, I asked, "how much further?" She said, "just past those mango trees." Well, surprise, surprise, no house past the mango trees. Then she said it was just past the coconut grove. Again, her house is nowhere in sight and I am completely lost at this point. Finally, after walking for an hour, we had to turn around....

The staff at the house and at UKUN have started calling me, “poa dada Melissa,” which I am taking as a compliment because it means, “cool sista”. Friends call each other dada (sister) and kaka (brother). The culture here is very affectionate and boys hold each other’s hands and so do girls walking down the street. However, it is not acceptable to show public displays of affection for someone of the opposite sex and homosexuality is completely taboo and not accepted here. Polygamy is commonly practiced here and I have gotten a few marriage proposals from strangers on the street which I have politely turned down. The first wife is known as, “First Mama.” Everyone here is religious. A couple of the volunteers are atheist or agnostic and explaining that concept is impossible, so they just say they are Christian or Muslim. Most people here on the coast are muslim.