A Fish Tale

Generally whenever I try something new here, be it digging a garden bed, washing my clothes or adding salt to a dish, I get fired. My host family would take the knife from me if I tried to cut cabbage, or the jam-making instructor would snatch the spoon from my hands (who knew that stirring was a talent? Apparently I don’t have it). Finally I tried something that didn’t get me fired yesterday... and I’m taking it as a sign of my fate. I think I’m destined to be a fisherman (fisherperson?) in Tanzania.

Obviously the adventure was a spectacle: definitely the first time anyone in my village has seen a mzungu waist-deep in the water, covered in muck, grabbing at fish and wearing pants. Net-fishing in stocked ponds is a far cry from the idyllic image that the word “fishing” conjures of waiting patiently on the river for a bite, beer in hand, but it was one of the most fun things I have done at site. There are three fishponds in my village, the largest of which is about 6 meters by 6 meters. It took about 9 people every time we dragged the pond. Some held the net to the bottom of the pond, and others walked along the edge holding the poles at the end of the net. The excitement began as we all lifted together to see whether we’d gotten any fish. Then there was chaos as fish flew through the air: small ones were chucked into a holding pond, larger ones into a bucket for dinner. Frogs unwittingly caught in the net jumped to freedom, crabs scuttled away, some of the largest beetles I’ve seen (easily as big as the mid-sized fish) dazedly made their way back to the pond. It's tough and dirty work, and one of the fishermen kept saying "Its nothing like raising chickens!" over and over. I nearly gave the chairman of the fish group a heart attack by trying to hand him a frog instead of a fish—he has no problem with fish, but he acted like the frog was a handful of raw sewage. If only frog-legs were a delicacy here, the group could have been rich. It was a learning experience; we chalked up a poor harvest to the fact that we hadn’t let out enough of the water to keep the fish from hiding in holes on the edges. We got enough fish for dinner though (I fried mine up with butter and spices), and it was delicious!