My water project was approved and I need your help! Your donation is tax deductible and 100% of it goes to help provide clean water for the village. For a description see Nov. 24 blog entry.

The rains are here! So here's a quiz.
Which of these animals can be found on my farm?
a. chameleons
b. monkeys
c. cows
d. donkeys
e. frogs
f. crows in tuxedos
e. chickens
f. lions
e. drunk people

If you guessed all of them, you would be close. There are no lions, and I haven't seen any monkeys yet. People say that monkeys are around, though. The cows and donkeys are unwanted visitors; I have to chase them away so they don't devour my sprouting crops. Usually this is a result of a careless cattle rancher (a five-year-old with a stick who is supposed to keep the cows OFF other people's farms). The chickens, who belong to my neighbors, come along to eat up the bugs from the freshly-dug ground (the same phenomenon that happens right after a person has been buried). The crows in tuxedos may look elegant from afar with their white collars, but they are just as annoying as regular old crows. They sometimes carry off baby chicks. And I have to be very careful not to accidentally slice the frogs and chameleons with my hoe (I've come close many times). Finally, the drunk people often wander onto the farm to help me dig for a few minutes. Notably, there are also sober people who do this, but not quite as often.

My Water Project was Approved!! Your donation is tax deductible and 100% of it goes to help provide clean water for the village. For a description see Nov. 24 blog entry.
LEARN MORE/DONATE
I apologize to Canada. I have been told that online donations to the water project from Canada do not work. You have the option of writing a cheque to "Peace Corps Partnership", referring to Project #621-156, and mailing to:
Peace Corps Partnership Program
Paul D. Coverdell Peace Corps Headquarters
1111 20th Street NW
Washington, DC 20526

Time for another quiz: In the Southern Highlands, what can you look for to indicate whether you’ve stumbled upon a wedding or a funeral?

a. Enormous vats of food being cooked
b. Women wearing swathes of bright, patterned cloth (vitenge)
c. At least two people who look incredibly unhappy
d. Drum-dancing
e. There are several people with little notebooks collecting donations
f. People are laughing, joking and telling stories

And the answer is… b. If all the women are wearing vitenge, usually one wrapped around the waist and one covering the torso and/or head, it is most likely a funeral. These are normal-wear in the village, but especially important at funerals. At a wedding, people tend to wear skirts and shirts that have been sewn from these swathes of cloth.

At weddings, the two people who are obligated to look unhappy are the bride and groom, and in addition the bride’s family members are not supposed to be happy as their little girl is leaving the family.

At first, I thought it was disrespectful to be cheerful at a funeral. I soon found you should be solemn when inside the house where family members sit with the corpse, but outside it is normal to be social. A large portion of the village shows up to each funeral, therefore not all of them are terribly close relatives of the deceased.

In some parts, the Wahehe relatives shave their heads completely bald the day after the funeral. Then it is easy to tell who the bereaved are.

A particularly beautiful part of the culture is the drum-dancing. At funerals, they sometimes wear bells on their ankles and dance all night, singing songs about the deceased.