Rodent

After leaving the Udzungwa Mountains, we headed for a remote fishing village on the Ruaha River. On the way, we stopped in a town called Ifakara to get lunch and visit the market. Jason made me promise put this story up on the blog. He thinks my Mom will like it.
We stopped for lunch at a place called Fast Food and I had to use the bathroom. So I got the key, went around the back of the building (the one next door, to be precise) and successfully found the bathroom. At this point in the story you should be aware that many, probably most of the bathrooms here have squat toilets rather than the Western sit down kind. Often the squat toilets don't flush so there is a faucet or bucket of water and a scoop to be used for flushing purposes.

Now, back to the story. I successfully found the bathroom, but there was a problem. Well, maybe not a problem, but a situation: There was a small, wet rodent in the toilet trying to climb its way out. The sides were the usual porcelain, however, and way too slippery for the rodent to be successful. This was not good. I have philosophical problems going to the bathroom on a living creature and furthermore I was not about to squat over something that could potentially bite me if it did manage to get out.
For a minute or two I thought that maybe I didn't really have to go to the bathroom and started to leave, but I did have to go. At this point I had the door to the bathroom open and was looking quizically toward the toilet trying to figure out what to do and attracting the attention of a couple of the local men. It was then that I had my flash of brillance! (Okay, finally realized the obvious, but that doesn't sound as good.) I got the flushing scoop, scooped the critter out, and let him go just outside the restroom. This accomplished two things: I was able to finally use the bathroom and I provided that local men with a good story of the crazy mzungu (white person) who scooped a rat out of a toilet. When I left the restroom a couple minutes later, the critter was gone, hopefully to a happier place.

Itete

After lunch, we got on a ferry, crossed the Ruaha river and reached the turnoff for the fishing village. Problem was, the road was waste deep in water. For some odd reason and despite the fact that we were in a land rover, Woody didn't want to go down the road given this situation. So, there was a quick change in plans. Instead of going to the fishing village, we were going to try to find a mission in a village called Itete and stay there for the night. This was by no means a sure thing, however, since it had been a few years since Woody had been there and was only pretty sure that he knew the way. I have to admit though, that I was somewhat disappointed. I had really been looking forward to visiting the fishing village and going on a canoe safari. I did like the idea of heading off for the unknow, but I wasn't too sure about going to stay at a mission. There was nothing else to be done, however, and off we went.
Since I haven't been to the fishing village and can't compare, it is impossible for me to say that we were lucky the road was flooded, however I would be very surprised if the fishing village were better. Woody remembered the way there with no problems and as we pulled into the mission to park I knew that we would be having a good time. Jason and I just looked at each other, nodded and the decision to stay there for the night was made. (If we had wanted we could have stayed at the camp for an environmental research project 6km away.)
What to say about Itete? The mission was beautiful, but that is not the magic of Itete. What is so special about Itete is how warm, friendly, and welcoming the people are and it was apparent right away. Itete is also the "real" Africa, whatever that is. Its not that the cities and the game parks are not real or not African, but Itete is completely unaffected by tourism. We were only the 2nd group of tourists to go there and the previous group had gone about three and a half years earlier.
We were immediately welcomed and offered drinks by the Father. He showed us into the mission and where we would be staying. After our brief tour the Father took us for a short walk through the village, ending at the local bar where he bought us drinks. We stayed at there for quite some time to give the cook at the mission a chance to prepare dinner. At the bar I learned that in the village it is taboo to catch fireflies. The people believe that the children will wander off following them and get lost. The Father also told us about the situation in the village. There had been a lot of disease outbreaks recently because they don't have clean water and the diesel they need to run the water pump is currently too expensive. The father explained that he hoped to be able to get solar power at the mission in order to power the pump and to provide electricity to the school and dispensary.
The way that this made me feel is hard to describe. It is one thing to hear on the news or to read in an article about places where there is no clean water, but it is quite another thing altogether to be sitting in a village where lack of clean water is reality, listening to someone explain all the problems that it is causing. As the father was explaining the situation I could see the gears turning in Jason's head trying to figure out a way to help. I was having similar thoughts myself... (Lots more on this later.)
After leaving the bar we went back to the mission where dinner was waiting for us. Much to our surprise they had pulled out all the stops for us and instead of having the chicken we had expected for dinner we were served warthog. Quite tasty.
According to our safari itinerary, we were supposed to head back to Mikumi Park the next day, however, the Father had offered to show us around the village and invited us to stay for another night. Jason and I both thought this was a great idea and Woody was, I think, even happier than we were to stay for the day even though it meant extending the safari.
The next morning Jason woke me up ridiculously early (Teresa, that means 6:30am) to the sound of the most beautiful, sweet, pure music I have ever heard... Mass was going on at the church and the sisters were singing. Many of you know how much I hate mornings, but just listening to the singing was well worth getting up for.
After breakfast the Father took us on a tour of the village. First he showed us the dispensary and the school at the mission. The school looked to be in good condition and the dispensary - they are definitely doing the best they can, but compared to the western standards that I am used to... We then drove out to the shambas (farms) where most of the people were since it had recently rained. We said hello to many of the people and I juggled for some of the kids. Most of the people we saw were hoeing their fields (rice was being grown) and at one of the plots Jason tried his hand at hoeing, giving the people there a story they will probably be telling for a long time.
After leaving the farms we drove out into the middle of nowhere. Literally. We had said we wanted to get off the beaten path and there wasn't even a path most of the way, let alone a beaten one. We were basically in a wide open field with occasional trees and long grass. What we saw was a lot of puku, cute antelope-ish creatures that are only found in the area Itete is in and in one other area. We hadn't been sure if we would see any puku, so it was a real treat to have seen about 70 of them, with the largest herd having over 50 individuals. Alas, we eventually got hungry and had to head back to the mission in order to eat.
After lunch, Jason and I went for a walk through the village. I did a lot of juggling with the kids like I had done a few days earlier. At one point one of the men was watching and I threw a beanbag to him. He was a good sport and threw it back to me like the kids were doing and the children seemed to think that this was just about the greatest thing ever.