Mzungu Maasai

Well! What a year last week was!! Literally about ten minutes after publishing last week’s blog, the internet was shut off for the entire country. The government was holding national elections and wanted to “preserve the integrity” of them. Um…sure. That’s what we will call it. I’m not gonna post what was really going on, but let’s just call it “preventative measures” that didn’t really work out so well for them. Google “Tanzanian National Election” and you can read the stories that have made their way out to print. Suffice it to say, I was locked inside my apartment complex for five days. My friend and manager, Langoi, was able to contact me through my guard’s phone daily just to check in and make sure I was okay (I was). On Sunday, he and his wife were able to venture out and pick me up for a “quick trip” to the market and lunch. Then back to “purgatory”. The election “results” were announced on Monday evening, and the internet was turned back on although you need to use a VPN in order to actually use it (which is fine…you should use one anyway). I was finally able to send and receive messages from my family and friends. What was so strange is that I had one friend whose texts were able to come through every single day. He and I play “Wordle” together daily and send our results to each other. Sadly, my 238 day streak was broken with this internet shutdown, and that, perhaps, is the real tragedy in all of this.

Here are some things I learned during my week of enforced solitude: 1. Make sure you like yourself and are okay with being alone when you travel solo. Thankfully, I do and I am. I spent almost thirty-years in a marriage where I was alone a lot of the time (even when he was there, I was still alone), and I have spent five years post-divorce living alone. I have communicated with God a lot during these times, and I am so thankful to have a God that I can pray to and Bible verses memorized (thank you to my Southern Baptist upbringing!) that I can pull out and mediate upon during times of trial. 2. Surround yourself with good people. My friend, Langoi, truly is a hero. He goes above and beyond to make sure I feel comfortable every day. Even though I have been traveling here for ten years, and five years by myself, I still don’t speak Swahilli “salama sana” (very well). I am trying and know a lot of words, but it is the grammar that trips me up which is ironic because I was a grammar teacher for almost twenty years. My friend, Michael, the one who was able to text me every day, kept my spirits up by just continuing to check on me and be normal. Once internet was restored, I had so many messages waiting for me from friends and family who were very concerned over my absence and “ghosting”. Side note: by Sunday I did start to wonder why no one was checking on me since I hadn’t posted anything since Wednesday! It was so weird that MB was the only one whose texts were able to get through. The internet is still a giant mystery to me. And 3. Perhaps most important of all, make sure you have apps downloaded on your phone that you can use without Wi-Fi because I had no books to read except one that I have already read and a half of one that I found on the rooftop deck. I read the half in about two hours and now I need to know if she ever finished her walk across Africa or not. I had about three apps of games I could play without internet, and I have gotten really good at Mahjong as a result.

Life seems to be slowly returning to normal. I was able to go to the bank, market, and store yesterday (all with Langoi; I don’t venture out without an escort). There is still a military presence in the village, but it didn’t seem as pronounced as it was on Sunday. I am giving it until Friday before I head out to the school to check on the kids and staff. Today is their first day back in a week anyway. It’s better to let them settle back in before disrupting their routine (IYKYK). This week’s pictures will be a variety of snaps I took during my daily trip to the rooftop deck to get some fresh air. “Mpaka wakati ujao”…until next time…