Traffic

Dear Government of Tanzania,

I have been travelling quite a few kilometres on my motorbike over the last few months and I would like to support the development of your country with my experience on the Tanzanian roads. I would like to advise you to introduce a theory exam for everyone. This will probably contribute to the safety on the National Roads. I do know that you guys are extremely busy and do appreciate your lunch and tea breaks more than anything else, so I’ve taken the time to write a draft exam. The answers all come from practical situations and I assume they, therefore, are at least close to the way it is supposed to work, or not, or do you not know either?

Q	You are a bus driver and you enter a village situated along the main road, what do you do?
A	You do not worry about the safety of all people walking and cycling along the road and continue driving with a speed of around 100 km/hr and act as if the speed bumps do not exist.
Q	You are a passenger on the bus mentioned above; you have a back seat in the bus and hear the front wheels going over the speed bump. What do you do?
A	You hold on to your chair, pray and hope that your head won’t hit the ceiling too hard this time.
Q	You are a taxi driver getting to a T-junction and you see 2 women with around five 20 kilo bags of rice waiting for transport. What do you do?
A	You hit the break, not minding the passengers in the back, and get to a stop exactly in the middle of the road joining the main road. You load the bags of rice while blocking the road for other traffic.
Q	You are a bus driver of a small minibus used for local transport. Seven children of around 4 years old are waiting for transport (without parents of course); your bus is full already. What do you do?
A	You stop, your assistant lifts 5 of the children and pushes them in urging them to sit on the laps of other passengers; when people in the back start complaining about the lack of space you let the other 2 kids stand between the front seat and the front window just so that when you have to make an emergency stop these kids will definitely fly through the window.
Q	You are riding a pikipiki, going up a steep hill and are about to pass an old man pushing his bicycle with 50 kilos of bananas up hill. What do you do?
A	You blow your horn at maximum volume, push the poor man off the road and continue your journey as usual.
Q	You are riding your pikipiki; just before a curve you see a truck coming from the opposite direction. What do you do?
A	You hit the brakes, make your way into the gutter because you are pretty sure that the truck will cut the curve (and yes it does!).
Q	You are a Tanzanian man and see a White Woman failing to start her pikipiki. What do you do?
A	You rush to help. You tell the woman to put the bike in neutral (yes), turn the key (really?), and kick hard (I did). Then you push the woman off the bike and try yourself. When you fail (as well), you blame the bike and walk away.
Q	The same thing happens the next day. What do you do?
A	Well, the same. You complain and say that woman should not ride a motorbike and then you blame the bike (without apologizing of course).
Q	(this question is just for foreigners in your country) You are a white woman, experiencing at least 1 of these things every time you hit traffic. What do you do?
A	You try not to forget that you are the visitor to this system. Writing it down definitely helps and even makes you laugh about it all. And yes, every time you get home safely, you thank God!

 

 

Beliefs

So far I have managed to stay away from discussions about religion and beliefs. Although religion is very important in Tanzania, it is not a topic that is being discussed as much as in Ghana. Every now and then I find myself in a conversation where people ask me which church I visit, but an answer in the lines of ‘I practise my religion but do not go to church and that is what most people in my country do’, is often enough. Yes it sometimes causes faces of unbelief or disappointment and sometimes even results in the question whether I believe that is good, but it does not result in endless conversations like it sometimes did in Ghana. Around 45% of the people in Tanzania is Christian and there are countless different church congregations that all preach from the same Bible. Another 45% of the people are Muslims and probably have a same diversity of schools and mosques. Apart from that there are different traditional beliefs and other religions like Hinduism and Sikh.

One of the huge churches in a village where people have nothing ;-(

One of the colleagues who recently joined our organisation, Johannes, is a Jehova’s witness and he practises his belief with heart, soul AND mouth. Today’s discussion started with an invitation from a befriended Priest to attend a church service on the 1^st of January at 7am (My God!) in which the recently born son of a befriended couple will be baptised. Johannes thereupon asks my friend why he involves himself in baptising babies, whereas the Bible states that people should only be baptised if they are old enough to make the choice themselves. He adds that this action of the priest is WRONG! ‘Babies are also the son of God and the parents want the Child to be honoured with the blessing of the Lord’, is not the explanation Johannes wants to hear. ‘That is wrong’, again is the reaction. The priest invites Johannes to explain why, whereupon a whole teaching on bible verses, stories of apostles and other argumentations follows. ‘Even Jesus was only baptised when he was an adult, so......... ‘. ‘I studied 7 years to become a priest’, ‘that is wrong...’, and all other arguments between the two follow. After about 10 minutes listening I can no longer hold my breath. Especially the ‘that is wrong’ argument is a bit too much for me. I have followed the discussion with much interest and nobody asked for my opinion (why would they), but..... I jump in asking if I could add 4 questions to their discussion. I explain that I would love the two to give me the answers to these questions that have kept me busy thinking and weighing for many years:

1.       Is belief not about what people belief themselves and strengthens them in life?

2.       If you would compare different stories in the Bible, would you not find many contradictions?

3.       How can the Bible then be the Truth, also knowing that it was written down and translated many times by people who had their own opinions and interpretations of that Truth?

4.       And how can people then be able to say that things are ‘right’ or ‘wrong’?

What follows is silence only.

And in the mean time the Muslims and Christians in Zanzibar and Dar es Salaam fight a tough battle today, Al Qaida thinks to do well ‘in name of Allah’, Protestants and Catholics fight their own fight,  and so on and so on. Who, please tell me who, can come up with the right answers and the one and only Truth?