In Africa IX

IX

Woodcarvers, Woodworkers

Everyone has seen and many people own the amazing carvings from Africa, especially those from the coal black, dense, heavy wood, ebony. Here in Tanzania, the prices for these magnificent pieces of art are very reasonable and always negotiable. I have often wondered whom these artists are that carve these pieces. There are many of them. We spend time looking through the numerous small shops stretching along the highway Sam Nujoma Road in the Mwenge area of Dar es Salaam.

Wood carving shop. Carvings larger than life

Carvings of Maasi

The best I can tell, there are three levels of people in the Mwenge Woodcarvers Market; the people who own the shops, the woodcarvers and the “brokers” for lack of a better term. It is the brokers who usually make the initial contact with potential customers. As Mzungus, arriving as we usually do on a slow Sunday afternoon, we are assured of getting a lot of attention from those selling the wares. The brokers try to determine what we are looking for and then direct us to appropriate shops. They stay with us as we stop along the long line of small narrow shops. They know the process, or at least they freely quote prices. We have learned that if we speak to the owner of the shop, the starting price is usually much lower. Maintaining this discrepancy is obviously how the brokers make their money.

Young "broker"

Maasi Village carving

It is the shop owners who have the relationship with the carvers. It is hard to tell if the carvings are consigned to the shop owners by the carvers or purchased or possibly some combination or even a different arrangement. Regardless we are always greeted at each shop with the familiar “karibu – welcome.”

Karibu

The most interesting of all the players at the woodcarver’s market are the carvers themselves. They have impressive talent and yet are at the very bottom of the marketing scheme. One of the brokers took us out the back door of a shop to the area behind, where the carvers work. Their tools are basic; chisels and something to use as a hammer. No benches, clamps or vices. Hands and feet hold the wood while it is transformed into lions, elephants, people, crocodiles, buffalo, and whatever you or they can imagine. The work areas are under overhangs and metal shed roofs off the backs of the shops. Sometimes they simply work in the open. Small fires heat food for the carvers, tended by a few women. The carvers are all men.

Apprentice with "monkey chain"

Woodcarvers. Large work in progress

It is an absolute wonderment to watch these men work. Apprentices begin with smaller pieces; clubs, inter-linking hanging monkeys, etc. The more accomplished carvers sometimes spend months on carvings that stand eight or more feet and are extremely intricate. Life size statures of people mainly Maasi; some even larger than life. A popular carving is what is often referred to as the family tree. It is basically a piece of wood – a log sometimes that is carved into numerous people all connected from bottom to top, inside and out and around the circumference of the wood. Larger diameter pieces have several dimensions. There are people on the inside as well as the outside, and they all rise to the length of the wood several people high. One unfinished but phenomenal piece we saw behind the shops took six months to get to the point where it was when we observed it. It stands eight feet tall and has a diameter increasing from bottom to top of three to four feet. The carving starts in the center of the log and works out to the outside layer. Thee “family tree” type of carvings depict life in the villages and show people doing many different daily chores.

This family tree took six months so far

Even more fascinating than the carvings, was what we saw in a common gathering area under a corrugated tin roof. There was a chalkboard at one end of the area. It had words written on it. At the top was “English” below, quite obviously, was an English lesson – which itself was not precise English. It was impressive that they were taking time to teach the carvers some basic English skills to assist them in their work and future work. Some carvers ultimately own a shop or become “brokers.” English skills are essential to success in that event.

Carver's common area

They learn English

Carvers will sell direct to customers. Customers, however, seldom see the carvers. We were fortunate. If you do buy from the carvers, you receive the very best price. Even if you do not buy and just want to take a picture of this fascinating cultural artifact, a small gratuity is expected and, in our case, gladly offered. 

There are other woodworkers in and around Dar es Salaam. Some work in shops, usually owned by foreigners, making dhow furniture. Dhow furniture is furniture made from old dhow boats. The wormholes, natural curves, and rustic look of the weathered dhow wood have a popular if not irresistible appeal. We don’t own one, but shelves made from the bow of an old dhow are the most popular form of dhow furniture. We have a chaise lounge and a swing made from dhow wood. They are interesting to look at and functional to lounge on.

Lounge from old dhow boats. 

We have also purchased items from vendors who set up alongside the busier roads. Interestingly, n these roadside open-air markets, the price drops as you walk from the very roadside back into lesser-visited parts of the market. We found the builder of some small folding tables tucked behind the vendors and down in a depression between the roadside and a wall. We got the best price from him and he finished the second of two tables we purchased from him while we waited.

Dhow swing on right. folding table on left
(neighbors' heavy dhow chairs in back)

Some woodworkers have more permanent facilities. There is a small sign on the ground leaning against a wall in a narrow unmarked alley on our street advertising a woodworker. Curious, we stopped and walked the few hundred feet to the non-descript shop. They were building beds; headboards, sideboards, and footboards. The craftsmanship was excellent. There were some saws, but virtually all of the work was done with hand tools. The owner showed us pictures of his prior work, including kitchen cabinets, tables, chairs and beds. He will build to order whatever you need.

Woodworker's shop near our house

Bed headboard in progress

Bed footboard

Watching the woodcarvers and woodworkers is a refreshing yet troubling step back in time. Skills we have nearly lost to the electronic/mechanical age seem to thrive here. In Western cultures we cannot afford the cost for the labor needed to produce these products. Here, that cost is negligible.



Until Next Connection,
Dan

In Africa VIII

VIII

Ngalawa Races; Street Vendors

Tanzania is the first country in the history of water sports to have a ngalawa (dhow) competitive race using International Sailing Federation (ISAF) rules and regulations. According to Wikipedia, ngalawa is a traditional, double-outrigger canoe of the Swahili people living in Zanzibar and the Tanzanian coast. It is usually 5-6 meters long and has two outriggers, a centrally-placed mast (often inclining slightly towards the prow) and a single triangular sail. Many of these boats sail from the beach in front of our house. The fishermen use them.

Ngalawas ready for the race

Skippers meeting pre-race

The race took place on a beach a few hundred yards down from our house. This was the first time we had actually ventured out the gate onto the beach and through the fishing village that exists outside our wall. The village is a cluster of a few shelters built from whatever has been available. The main focus of the people there is the sea, their boats, and fishing. Small fires heat water and cook food. Lines strung between the few trees on the beach dry clothes. The path takes a winding route along the narrow strip of sand which these traditional people occupy. Finding ourselves amidst the shelters themselves, we opted to abandon the path and continue along the waterline on the beach. Ducking under lines holding beached vessels to the shore and wading around others we were soon at the site of the event.

Walking our beach

crew steadying the boat

putting on his ridder and striking a pose

The ngalawas lined the shore facing out to the bay minded by crew who would occasionally have to re-secure them to the sand ahead of the advancing tide. There were twenty or so. The skippers were gathered in a group variously engaged in skippers meetings with race officials to confirm the racecourse and rules, and otherwise waiting for the race to begin. The race included official sponsors who provided new sails for each entrant and tee shirts for the captains and crew; the former in blue and the latter yellow. Each entrant was given a small stipend to help them prepare for the race and cash prizes would be awarded to the first three official finishers.

The skippers

Putting the rudder on. It won't be long now!

Introducing the skippers

We spoke to the Norwegian couple who organized the race. They said that they felt that the culture of the fishermen of Tanzania was being lost because people were actually unaware of its existence. The dhows are prominent all along the coastline, but the true essence of the fishermen’s lives is not so readily apparent. We have the village stretching from our house to the fish market down the shore. We watch daily what they do and how they live. The publicity from the race, they felt, would bring attention to the lives of the fishermen, the richness and historical significance of their culture, and to the problems they face today trying to sustain that traditional way of life.

Last minute preparations

The skippers wait for the horn

The Dar es Salaam Yacht Club, across the bay from the race start, provided marks, committee and umpire boats for the race. The Tanzanian Minister for Information, Culture and Sports made some opening remarks. The Captains were then each introduced after which they joined their crews. As the horn sounded, the boats were pushed off beach and into the water; the race began.

The race begins

Smooth start for most

The boats themselves are made from logs. They often have the appearance of being totally unseaworthy, but optimism exudes from the names and markings brightly painted on the weathered hulls. They move through the water swiftly and the captains and crew are skilled sailors. The fleet remained in a tight formation through the first turn at the first mark. Then, as in most yacht races, the sails separated across the skyline like opening a fan, as the speed of the hulls and skills of the crews were tested in time honored fashion.

Close quarters at the start

Rounding the first mark

There was a winner, and a second and third place; but the first and second to finish, both well regarded and skilled sailors who beached their craft to the cheers of a large crowd, were both disqualified for having missed marks during the race. At the awards ceremony, a detailed explanation of the rules and their importance was given to the crowd before the winners were announced. By all accounts, the people were pleased that rules were in fact followed. Some speculate that because too often in Tanzania, rules are broken or not enforced based on things political or financial, the adherence to them in this new venture was actually appreciated.

The race

As they sailed past our house in the evening after the race, even from our vantage on our rooftop terrace, the pride of the sailors could be seen on the faces and in the demeanor of the crews as they sailed past. They knew that even though they are poor fishermen who risk their lives each day to eke out a living, they had earned the respect of every spectator at the event that day.

Sail-by after the race

Merely eking out a living is something that the vast majority of Tanzanians do. Small wages for hard work is the norm. Whether it is the drivers, the maids, or the street vendors, earning a living wage is difficult.

Selling coconuts for the milk 

The street vendors are all over the streets of the city center, some with tables set along the sidewalks, others standing or walking about. The sellers of gum, single cigarettes and mints all have the same distinctive way they hold and click the coins together in the palm of their free hand as they walk the streets of the city. Of all the vendors, I am most fascinated by those who ply the daily traffic jams. In the true sense of making good fortune out of someone else’s bad fortune, the vendors in the traffic jams provide a means of buying anything and everything that is sold in stores without having to make the trip. It is easy to sit and brood while caught in a traffic jam for a half an hour or more. Brooding does not help the traffic move, nor, does it seem, do the traffic police trying to manage it all. Better to shop.

 

Peanuts in the shell

Fruit

I have purchased fruit, floor mats for the car, electrified tennis rackets to zap mosquitos and other items while sitting in the car waiting to move. Newspapers, magazines, CDs, DVDs, DC power cords, hats, shoes, clothes, candy, ice cream, fruit, coconuts, water, soda, belts, car floor mats, the requisite red triangle and fire extinguisher for the car, car jacks, tables, pictures, cashew nuts, potato chips, toys, maps of Tanzania, virtually anything you may need is available from a vendor in the traffic jam; and the prices are negotiable as well. No need to worry if the traffic moves in the middle of a transaction, the vendor will catch you up as soon as the car stops again.

Triangles, jacks, things for the car

Phone chargers for the car

DVDs

Picture

Clothes hangers

Toys

Treats

Potato chips

The beggars are there too. There are, the ones with deformities, most, easily corrected with surgery unavailable to them, the ones who cannot walk but have been given the three wheeled tricycles propelled by hand power, and of course, the women with babies. The street here presents the best and worst of humankind; human ingenuity at its best as vendors make a living selling; and human neglect where those who have been cast off as useless are relegated to begging for their survival. Social Darwinism is now in place in this former Socialist state. One last thought about the traffic jams. I follow the route that the Prime Minister takes daily to and from his work. As the sirens screech, the cars pull over, and the motorcade carrying the Prime Minister to his home passes undaunted. The contrasts here are extreme.

Until Next Connection,
Dan

In Africa VII

VII

Zanzibar

There are many names of places that ring with an exotic tone and the places themselves are veiled with an exotic  mystique  in far away lands; Casablanca, Katmandu, Shanghai, Marrakesh, and the list goes on. My childhood mind’s eye imagined me traveling on wooden ships or hiking with Sherpas, to see the wonders that world has to offer. As an adult, I have still not seen them all, but, although we traveled by high-speed catamaran ferry rather than a wooden ship or sailing dhow, we managed to visit Zanzibar.

Ferry Terminal Zanzibar

It is as exotic today as the place of my childhood imagination. The resorts on the beaches, mostly along the eastern coast on the Indian Ocean, pretty much resemble resorts in other parts of the world, but Stone Town In Zanzibar Town provides an untainted journey into the past. While catering to tourists, the place; the stone and stucco buildings, the narrow winding streets, the Arab and Indian influenced doors, are all as authentic and unchanged as they were one hundred years ago.

Street in Stone Town

Street in Stone Town. Expect a motor cycle to pass

Indian Door

Arab Door

Zanzibar is a semi-autonomous part of Tanzania, in East Africa. It is composed of the Zanzibar Archipelago in the Indian Ocean, 25–50 kilometers (16–31 mi) off the coast of the mainland. It consists of numerous small islands and two large ones: Unguia (the main island, referred to informally as Zanzibar), and Pemba. The capital of Zanzibar, located on the island of Unguja, is Zanzibar Town. Its historic center is known as Stone Town.

Stone Town Center Square where people gather to talk

Zanzibar's industries consist primarily of spices and tourism. In particular, the islands produce cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, and black pepper. For this reason, the islands, together with Tanzania's Mafia Island, are sometimes called the Spice Islands.

From roughly the middle of the first century AD, Persian, Arab and Indian traders began stopping and trading in Zanzibar. In the 1500s, the Portuguese controlled the archipelago and built the fort that still stands in Stone Town, but it was the British who defeated the Sultan of Oman in the shortest war in history – 40 minutes – in 1896, ending the reign of Middle Eastern rulers.

I had been to the island in October for a day-trip, but Sharon had never been and this was a weekend suitable for the occasion. As residents, the cost of the ferry, even in first-class, is nominal. The ferry takes one and a half to two hours to get from Dar es Salaam to Zanzibar. The closer point to the mainland is Bagamoyo, but no ferry or air service exists from that much smaller city. A flight, also reasonable but many times more than a ferry ticket, takes fifteen minutes. But the ferry is an interesting experience and comfortable. For those who have issue with the rolling, pitching and yawing on the return trip, plastic bags are provided free of charge.

 

The Ferry

First Class Seating 

The Ferry leaves from downtown Dar past the fish market with boats scattered along the beach in front, then out through the harbor entrance, weaving through the anchored ships past Bongoyo Island and on in a north-easterly direction to Zanzibar. The ferry arrives in the middle of Stone Town. The terminal is new. In fact construction of parts is still underway. My trip in October was met with chaos at the old terminal building in the middle of construction of the new. This arrival was much better.

Leaving Dar es Salaam. Passing the fish market.

Taxi drives meet and greet the off loaded passengers. Tour guides greet passengers, during earlier arrivals, some officially sanctioned with identification badges, others not; all soliciting work from the ferry passengers, particularly those easily identified as tourists; mzungus. We arrived on the last ferry and were close enough to walk to the hotel. The afternoon was already waning as we finally broke free from the melee at the terminal.

Arriving Zanzibar

The tide was in as we walked along the sea wall the short 600 meters to the hotel. Young boys took turns jumping off the wall, diving into the water below. At low tide there is no water below the wall. Boats are pulled onto the scant beach and others anchored out. Dhows, fishing boats with motors, some awaiting repair. With the ancient city as a backdrop, the scene demands painting or photographing. We accommodated with the latter.

Zanzibar Harbor

We stayed in a boutique hotel called Maru Maru in the heart of Stone Town. We were handed wet towels upon our arrival, a welcome offering anytime in this climate but especially after the ten-minute walk. Then came the cold pineapple juice. Our check-in seemed to be constantly interrupted by gestures of hospitality. From that point on, the hotel met the same high standard. The room was small but modern in all respects; the mosquito netting is a must here. The view from the rooftop Terrace may be equaled but not surpassed in Stone Town. The staff were all friendly, always greeting us with the customary “karibu (welcome).”

Maru Maru in front of car

A courtyard in the Maru Maru

We were early enough to go to the rooftop Terrace for a complimentary cocktail and look around the town before dark. Because of its history of being under the rule of the Sultanate of Oman, Zanzibar is primarily Muslim; 97% by government records. There are about fifty mosques with only two churches and two Hindu temples in Stone Town. Still, the image the twin spires of the Catholic church beside the minaret of one of the mosques was symbolic of the religious acceptance that residents there profess. Recent sectarian violence in Zanzibar, and Tanzania generally, expose a more complex religious and cultural environment. Nonetheless, the view of the city from the Terrace was impressive. 

Sharon flanked by the spires of the Catholic Church and
 a minerete of a mosque

View from the Terrace

Full moon over the restaurant on the Terrace

When visiting in October, my colleague and I hired the official guide who assisted us through customs at the terminal. He was a good guy and very helpful. I took his number then and called Saturday morning of Sharon’s and my visit. Saleh was not available for a tour, but he brought a newer guide named Daud.  The tour is prescribed by the government; a measure of consistency for tourists. Key buildings are a part of the tour, the marketplace, Arab doors and Indian doors, the view from the Africa House balcony, Freddie Mercury’s house, the Obama Shop … yes, the Obama Shop. This is a small shop that has numerous photos of the American president very popular in this part of the world. Already a tour stop because of the car license plates on the wall, it now has gained distinction for the many pictures of Barack Obama and a sign designating it the “Obama Shop”.

Guy taking a picture of me taking a picture of him

Jack fruit

Spices

Horns in the meat market

Freddie Mercury's House

Obama Shop also famous for the car license plates

President Obama on the back wall of the shop.
The irony of the placement of the picture is that in Tanzania,
 the president's picture must hang in all business establishments;
 the Tanzanian president. 

Of interest to us, was the old slave market now the sight of the Anglican Church. Dr. David Livingstone, during his explorations in Africa in the 1870s became shocked and incensed by the salve trade. He inspired others, such as Bishop Edward Steere of Zanzibar, to work for the abolition of slavery in East Africa. Bishop Steere acquired the former slave market in Stone Town and built a church on the site. The whipping post is said to have been in the exact spot where the alter now stands. Steere himself is buried behind the alter and a wooden cross made from a tree which grows at the site of David Livingstone’s grave in Africa is near a side alter in the church.  Of all the sites, the Anglican Church and its history are well worth the time and small charge to visit.

Hindu Temple

Anglican Church Steeple and Minerete of a Mosque

Scale model of the Anglican Church which sits on
 the old slave market

Bishop Edward Steere lies here

Cross made from wood from a tree growing at
 David Livingstone's grave

Inside the Anglican Church

The very name of the country of Tanzania is a combination of the name of the former German East African country of Tanganyika and the archipelago of Zanzibar. Since independence from the British in 1964, the relationship between the mainland – Tanganyika – and the Islands of Zanzibar has been somewhat strained. Even today there is talk of an independent Zanzibar. The discovery of natural gas in the waters off both coasts may fuel some of this recent discontent, or perhaps the current re-writing of the Tanzanian constitution, more likely both. While we were in Zanzibar this most recent trip, all ears were glued to radios broadcasting debates among Zanzibar politicians concerning the future of the islands; one side promoting independence, the other in favor of unity. Our guide, Doud, favored the later, whereas his mentor Saleh favors independence. The new constitution maintains the unification of the two places but grants the archipelago more autonomy. Whereas the debate is of paramount importance in Zanzibar, it is little noticed here on the mainland.

Sunset from the Terrace at theMaru Maru

The developing world in which I work offers so many contrasts and enriching experiences. Usually the history of these places dates well before the founding of our own country, yet the governments are generally emerging and want guidance from our experience. Personally, I trade the greatly enriching experiences I receive for a small tidbit of knowledge of Western Democracy I can offer in return.

Until Next Connection,

Dan