Night life

view from behind my new temporary house

Another encounter with a bat is the last straw. ‘Slightly’ in panic I put some clothes on and run outside to ask the neighbours for help. Suddenly I am happy with the bar next door where a couple of men are conversing loudly while having another shot of their local gin and disturbing my night rest. At this somehow unpleasant hour of 1 o’clock at night on a simple Wednesday, the average Tanzanian already has been asleep for a couple of hours. The visitors of the bar next door don’t seem to plan their (and my) night rest yet. At the moment that I escape my room, I am grateful for that. My biggest challenge is to express my urge in Kiswahili. However, the visits of friends of the bat earlier these weeks, somehow help me. I have looked up the words for ‘bat’ and ‘afraid’ in the dictionary to tell there was a bat in my room and I was scared. The only thing I have to do know is change the past tense in the present tense. So, with a lot of embarrassment and hesitation, while shaking all over, I manage to tell the men that there is a bat in my room. The answer is something in the lines of: ‘then kill it’. And that is just my problem. 1. I don’t dare to go back in the house and 2. I wouldn’t know how to kill the bloody animal. In another attempt I am able to tell them that this white woman just doesn’t know what to do anymore. Finally 2 men stand up, laughing out loud, and walk into the house. They observe the situation and one of them leaves the house to come back with some leaves of a banana tree. With my last courage I run inside, stick some breakable stuff under my arms and run back outside. Good thinking! Like 2 drunk men that are not really in control of their movements (which is probably right considering the time they’ve spent drinking their gins next to my bedroom window), the guys run around the room with their leaves and, not long after that, leave the place with the leftovers of the bat. ‘Sleep well’ is their final greeting. They celebrate their victory with more gins and laughs while I am trying to get back in control of myself.

The next morning, I strap one of my suitcases on the back of my motorbike and drive to the house of another VSO volunteer. I tried to live in a zoo but have to acknowledge I can’t do it. The combination of rats, bats, noise and continuously people staring through my windows is just too much for me. So, the next evening, I am in a more comfortable bed in a more comfortable house in a quiet environment. Boing, boing, beng, beng..... While I am wondering what this noise is, it disappears slowly and I can enjoy the silence in and around the house again. I think of my first exploration of the environment and house and the lovely view of Lake Victoria. Another half an hour later more noise... An elephant? No, they don’t live in this region. Another big animal? No, crocodiles don’t make this noise and hippos don’t climb a hill. And bats don’t make this noise, is what I know from recent experiences. I decide to explore the cause of this noise and it doesn’t take long to find out. Julius, the security guard of the house is the cause of this noise. Julius is a 28 year old Masaii who looks after our safety. When my Kiswahili gets better I need to ask him why he walks around like an elephant at night. During the day I am often surprised to find him standing next to me while I haven’t heard him coming, while at night he walks around as if he wants to scare all the wild animals in the wild park 600 kilometres away where he comes from. At least, I can go back to bed now and get some extra hours of sleep to make up for the last weeks.