Taxi journey's and greetings

29th March, 2008

I have talked lots about the Dala Dala rides (and every journey has its story!) but let me tell you about the taxi drives home, about Deo, Mathew, Tito and Dula, and the life on the side of the roads at night.

Part of the information pack we were given on arrival as volunteers here was a sim card for our phones and a list of useful numbers. Joey had gathered together some known taxi drivers who knew where our place was, who spoke some English and who were trustworthy. He also managed to fix a price for the journey – or so he thought!

We only seem to use taxi’s now only coming home from town, or if we are going out in the evening from Milestone House. Deo tends to be our favourite – he is a huge bulk of a guy. Big in voice, gesture and build and with a lovely laugh – a very loud one. You hear his taxi coming before he arrives because the music is blaring out, and he is usually greeting people with load comments from his open window. He seems to know everyone in Mwanza and is always yelling out of his window, waving or tooting his personally stylised horn. Despite his bulk, he is obviously a really gentle giant and is a caring chap. He carries shopping into the car and out of it etc.

As far as the charging goes, Deo is the most expensive. He and Donald have a running discussion about the price of oil. Of course when the price goes up, so does the cab fare, well his anyway. The taxi’s mainly run on fumes – like the Dala Dala’s. They only fill up, and by fill up I mean put in a litre or two at a time, when they need it and nearly always roll into the garage on empty. The charge started to be Tsh 5,000 (£2.50) one way either to or from town. The others still charge that because that is what they agreed with Joey – but Deo now charges Tsh 7,000. However, he is really reliable and you do feel safe with him.

When we need a taxi, and quite often it’s me calling him from the shop (U Turn – Spar like store) Donald does a lot more walking. I call him and sometimes the phone rings out and he then phones back on another phone. I tell him where I am and where I want to go – occasionally via the bank as all transactions here are by cash – and he says “ OK – nakuja!” (OK – I am coming!) Invariably he isn’t – coming that is, as we have heard him say that often. Usually when he is taking us out of town to home – so nakuja is a very flexible term. However, he does come and if he can’t come soon he does tell us.

He drives, like all drivers here, with one hand permanently on the horn. This is particularly useful at night. I believe there are quite a few deaths on the roads, especially at night, as there are loads of people out and about in the dark. Don’t forget that it gets dark here at 7ish. Life is lived very much outside here – I think I have already mentioned that the huts/houses seem to be used for shelter and sleeping only – most stuff, cooking/washing/etc, is carried out outside the home. Once it gets dark, most people are either at home or on their way home. There is the food to buy for the evening meal, I assume most food is cooked fresh (ie little fresh food is stored as there is probably no electricity and therefore no fridge etc). A lot of road side stalls appear in twilight – literally roadside, actually on the curb, with little candles or paraffin lights illuminating the (possibly) one product that that person is selling. There are women, and sometimes children, fanning small charcoal burners that are cooking maize or cassava (don’t know what that translates to – sorry, buts it’s a root which is bbq’d and served with a chilli sauce) – much healthier than crisps and nuts! Lots of activity going on, people milling around, either buying, selling or just walking home. As long as it isn’t raining (and we are in the rainy season at the moment!) the bustle continues till late on. When it does get later, you have the occasional (very occasional) drunk guy staggering on the road – but that really doesn’t happen too often, however, there are always, always people walking. Black guys wearing dark clothing probably and no torches, or road lights – and so driving at night is somewhat scary (in as much as you could run someone down very easily!) hence the use of the horn.

So drives home at night are really interesting.

It is now Saturday, (Donald’s birthday) and we are going off for the day with Jen and Joey to an island in the Lake to stay there overnight. There is a new resort there being run by friends of theirs from Mwanza. It is still being built, but I believe, there are two/three bungalows there, it is eco friendly (ie no electricity – so what’s new!!!), we have to get there by boat – obvious I suppose as it is an island, but romantic eh, and I understand that it is known for its fishing, so Donald and Joey can do the man thing and go to catch our meal! I will let you know more on our return.

Talking of no electricity – well we do have electricity at the moment, but have had no water since Thursday!! Luckily it is the rainy season, and so the water buts are regularly full, and we have been out a bit in the evenings. Jen went to Arusha on Tuesday for a conference, and so on Thursday we asked Joey if he wanted to come to have a meal with us. I had been shopping and a chicken was to be cooked. Texted him to ask, and he said he would love to – then our electricity went off and so did the water. Texted him again to ask if he was sure as we were powerless and waterless, he came anyway, and we had a lovely candlelight meal – luckily we do cook by gas. A two ring burner – which is actually very good if not restricted in as much as you can only heat two pans at a time, but then I only have four pans and a wok. But hey I am adaptable, and it seems to work OK. So it is Saturday and still no water – so we are eco friendly too all of a sudden.

I know that Donald has already mentioned the greetings thing here, but thought I would put my two pence worth in too. Greetings take time, each one has its own response, and there are many different ones. Ones used casually, like Hu Jambo have the response of Si Jambo, Ham Jambo (How are you - plural) has the response Hatu Jambo (we are fine), Hodi (used on entering a house) always gets the reply Karibo (you are welcome) or Kariboni (plural). It is very prescriptive. There is one used to us often which is a greeting given by younger people to older ones, a respectful greeting – it is Shikamoo (I hold your feet! – I only just learnt that that is what it means) – and the response to that is Marahaba (I am delighted). Then there are the good mornings, loads of those, and they usually start with habari za (how are you) asubui, leo, mchama (this morning, today, this afternoon etc) and so it goes on. The response to these is usually Mzuri Sana (fine thank you). All of this is very important to get right – it doesn’t help when I freeze (still) sometimes on hearing a particular greeting, as I know I have to get the correct response and there are so many to chose from – but only one is correct! I often get a smile from who ever I am greeting, and I know that I have it wrong, but she tried sort of thing.

So greetings take time, along with this is the hand shaking. It is the two way hand shaking, ie shaking hands then changing position to hold thumb and back again. The hand holding goes on for as long as you are still greeting – so it can be quite prolonged. It is, as I said, very formal, prescriptive and predictive – as long as you get the right response for the initial query!

However the farewells seem, by comparison, to be very short and often not at all. Eh is a word/sound used a lot here – and although Kwa Heri means Goodbye, eh is often the last thing you hear as someone leaves, and that’s it – I will leave you with that thought and catch up again later on our return from our Island break.

Love to all
J