[Email - To: All - THE OPINIONS EXPRESSED IN THIS EMAIL AND THE PREVIOUS ONE SHOULD BE TAKEN WITH A PINCH OF SALT - I WAS VERY ANNOYED AT THE TIME OF WRITING AND AFTER THESE INCIDENTS GOT ALONG WITH VENDE MUCH BETTER]
So, Vende got back on Thursday, and almost immediately he started having a go at me for the apparent reduction in the contents of our YDC resources sack. The fact that it was already like that had completely escaped his attention, as had the fact that he had been lending the magazines out, and not me. So, slightly annoyed, I went to bed and then he lost his temper when I asked him not to light that candle right next to all my flammable property - small risk I know, but not worth it, I thought. Thence come the accusations that I'm treating him like a child, so now I go to sleep very annoyed.
Then, on Friday, Vende turned up to a lesson 25 minutes late and I wasn't too impressed - we're already miles behind, and the schoolkids are the only group (apart from a handful of young women) who actually show an active interest in our work. They were all asking if I was teaching their class today, when I arrived, so they obviously have some appreciation of our presence.
I was chatting to a teacher when waiting for him to arrive, so he turns rather cheekily to Vende when he finally showed up, and said, "Ooh, you let him down." Then he stood back with a big grin on his face and watched the fireworks explode. Vende immediately says it's my fault he was late because of the lack of planning, and then launches into more arguments about how I never cooperate in the planning and always do it by myself. He fails to acknowledge that I had already told him several times that morning that we had planned that lesson two weeks ago, and hadn't finished it yet, so could just continue with that, or that he never shows the slightest interest in planning anything, so I have to do it by myself.
Then come the random wild accusations such as: "You just want to make me look stupid so you can go and tell your friends and make me look bad." Er, no, he achieves that all by himself. It later became apparent that he was upset that I was talking to a teacher about him, and thought I was trying to make myself look good by showing him up (once again, something he achieved all by himself). So, it seems that he thinks that I'm trying to instigate some kind of popularity contest, and winnning by employing foul play.
So, after his declaration that he couldn't remain anywhere near me because he was too angry, it became obvious that the very next lesson wasn't going to happen either, and nor the one in the afternoon. And he wasn't the only one who was angry. I was furious. I was going to Mafinga for the fortnightly "monthly" meeting anyway, so I decided I could walk to Nundwe (only a couple of hours), and go to Mafinga with them, as it was still morning and so the afternoon wasn't going to be very pleasant.
I wondered if this was a bad move, and whether we needed to sort it out the same day, but in the end decided we weren't going to sort anything out. Particularly when Vende suggests that the best thing to do was to sort it our straight away, whilst still throwing random accusations, and using his old failsafe, "Why do you always argue? Me, I don't like to argue." This argument, of course, always being used when he is the only one prolonging the row. He also negated all previous declarations of, "I'm not a child," when he proclaimed that if I can walk to Nundwe, so he can too.
So, I went off towards Nundwe (without Vende), but met Getruda (of Vikula) and Emma (of Nundwe) at the junction. They were off to Vikula and, more importantly, they were the representatives of their respective groups who were going to the monthly meeting in Mafinga on Saturday, and so I ended up sleeping in Vikula. The Vikula and Ihalimba bus is also much better than the Nundwe bus, so I was rather pleased at the fact.
Upo early on Saturday to go to Mafinga, and when the bus passed through Ihalimba on the way, I wondered who might get on, and what they might say (this, of course, being a small Tanzanian village, where your business is everybody else's too). One of the teachers got on. Not the same one who witnessed the previous day's row with such evident delight, but the short stumpy one who only just started teaching at the school (names are still too much for me). He seemed in good spirits, and came and sat next to me, but there was no mention of the rumours that must by now have been racing at breakneck speed from house to house.
When we got to Mafinga (about 7:40) we headed straight for John's Corner Hotel, where the previous meeting had been, and had our standard 700 shilling breakfast of fried eggs, bread and tea, which for some reason (surely not inflation) cost us 1000 shillings on this particular occasion. But then nothing. No one had turned up yet, it was fast approaching 9am, and CNN International was going round and round and making me feel quite dizzy.
Then Getruda mentions casually that the last monthly meeting (which Vende went to) was somewhere else, and so maybe we ought to go looking for whichever SPW staff was surely prowling the streets of Mafinga in their shiny white NGO Land Cruiser. Just as we left however, Stuart (the Scot) and Elin (the Swede) from Ihowanza turn up at John's Corner, so now there's four of us. Oh, and look, here's Bahati and Agoropina too. Ah, hello Baraka and Boniface. Well, we'd all arrived, but still no sign of SPW staff.
It's only at this point (why it didn't occur earlier is a mystery) that Getruda decides to phone the office on here mobile and find out where they are. We're told to wait outside the hotel to be taken to where we're going, but they neglect to tell us that they haven't even left Iringa yet. So, one two hour wait later (including accompanying Stuart and Elin to their breakfast, and having a second one myself), the meetings finally get started. By now it's way past 11, and this month there have been a lot of activity money applications. So, I'm the second meeting, and I don't get started 'til 1pm, and then I wait for Elin and Stuart to come to Iringa with me, and they finally finish at 4pm. One chipsi mayai later, we're off to Iringa at about 5pm, finally getting there after half six. Then we find out that the Lutheran Centre is full of missionaries on some course or other, and Kilimanjaro Guest House is also full. That leaves us with one option. Ambassadors. A dump. But, as luck would have it, with one free twin room. They also have roomy beds, so Stuart and I could share while Elin had one bed all on her lonesome. For me, it's only fair. The last time I stayed there was the first time I was ill in Iringa, and I had a bed to myself while Min and Lauren shared, so it's swings and roundabouts, I suppose.
So, everything we intended to do remains undone, and I don't get any post because Jesca also forgot to bring that with her to the meeting. Oh joy. Quick decision time - will I be going back to Ihalimba the next morning - not on your life! Strangely, the same decision that everyone else came to.
So we're all still in Iringa, and loads remains undone because rather than do useful things, we elected to walk up to the big rock overlooking Iringa again. It was midday heat, so we couldn't possibly end such a walk without a nice cold beer and chicken and chips. Oh well, I've bought the rice, anyway.
We also met the big SPW Tanzania boss, Craig, last night. He was in Twisters with Ben (the boss of our programme). Not quite what I expected, but then I don't know what I expected of him, anyway, so that doesn't explain much. Definitely older looking than in the photos, anyway. I suspect all the photos on the wall of the office are several years old. Not that that's in the least bit relevant, of course.
Unfortunately, Min's very ill again. She's been staying with the missionaries we know in Iringa (very nice house, fed us chicken casserole when we were ill previously), and has something called something like Tropical Spree (the second word still escapes me). She's on about 16 pills a day, and if she doesn't build up the lining in her stomach she's not going to be able to keep anything down. Meant to go and see her today, but somehow we never got around to it, which is rather remiss of us. Will have to leave her a note tomorrow.
Oops, two minutes left...
bye bye
Phil :)
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