Iringa

In Iringa, I lived for a month in a local family where I could experience a unique cultural exchange.

We were about eight people at home. Casto, the father of the family, Modesta, his wife, their two little boys (Bless of 3 years and Heri of 4 months), but also the mother, a cousin and two cousins of Casto. It's a big family, and at dinner time, it was always the big fun. I felt at home there from the beginning. They were very welcoming to me. I was part of the family, so much so that Blessy called me aunt Lucia! Soooo cute.

Their cuisine was delicious, and every evening I had the chance to taste new wonders. Rice, ugali, chapati, sweet potatoes (from the garden), cabbage, peas, beans, avocados, and more... Always cooked with coconut, I love it! When I had time, I also cooked them good French meals. A good ratatouille to find the flavors of Provence, a mashed potatoes accompanied by courgettes and scrambled eggs, and what they always demand me: pancakes!

They were really curious and interested about my culture, and very happy and proud to share theirs with me. This is, so far, my best experience of integration and cultural exchange. Even if we don't necessarily have the same ideas or the same ways of doing things, at the end, the most important thing is to enjoy together sharing, helping each other and being open-minded.

I found this project through Workaway. Casto is the coordinator of a private secondary school, as well as an NGO that fights for better access to education for girls. In exchange for housing, I helped with both projects. While I was there, there wasn't much for the NGO to do, given that the girls were on school holidays. So I participated in high school.

It is a remedial school for those who have failed to go to government school. It then gives access to the university. Students are 18 on average. Within a month, I had the opportunity to connect and interact with many of them.

Most of my time, I spent with the other teachers, who are now my good friends. I had a lot of fun with them. Besides, they were always at ease with me. We often went to play pool and enjoy some good beers.

Casto also grows potatoes, and I participated with great enthusiasm in the harvesting of these. I was with a team of guys, and it was very strange for them to see a white woman, in addition to a woman, working the land. I am proud to have been able to dismantle this cliché!

Three-day harvest. It was intense, sometimes hard, but the good mood was always there. The last day, after loading the truck, we went back to the warehouse, sitting on the bags of potatoes, with our hair in the wind!

During that month in Iringa, I really felt like I was living there. Even though I went on safari there (which I will tell you about in the next post), I was not really in "travel" mode anymore. Routine, habits and comfort had settled in. I had time to make friends there, including Innocent, a young man of my age, with whom I was able to discover the atmosphere of bars in Iringa.

On my last night, I was also lucky enough to be invited to the wedding of Palaiga, one of the school's teachers. I had a set made out of African fabric specially for the event. It was a big and beautiful wedding, with many decorations, everyone very well dressed, and of course, a lot of music and dance! It was a perfect opportunity to discover more Tanzanian culture.