Some thoughts /observations as I go out walking in the early morning.
Water: The other early morning people are mostly looking for water. Women from the outlying areas are coming in to try to find a tap that has water. Young boys are on their bicycles with four or five buckets tied to them, going for water for which they’ll be paid.
Fuel: Women are going to the hills in the distance to look for firewood to bring back. Some will use it for their own cooking and some will be sold. Men come walking (trotting) with charcoal that they’ve made, carried in two sacks with a pole over their shoulders. This will be sold to one of the many people who still use charcoal for cooking.
School: Children start to leave their houses on their way to school as I return from my morning walk (about 6.45). The children are of all sizes but what impresses me are the little ones, first graders or kindergarteners, who are walking all by themselves. I met one such little girl this morning, going to first grade, all dressed neatly and cleanly in her uniform (skirt much too long for her but I suppose “she’ll grow into it”) on her way to a school which is about two miles away. What a beautiful smile she had on her face. I’m grateful that these children are safe enough to do this. There are many children walking along the side of a very busy main road as I go to school in the mornings and I’m happy that just recently the traffic police have begun to appear at the place where they need to cross the road. At least they’ll be able to do that safely as the trucks and buses roar by on their way to Dar es Salaam in the morning.
Agriculture: The clouds are beginning to form in the sky these days and smell of burning fields is in the air which means that folks are beginning to prepare for the next planting season. And this morning I saw a fellow on his way out to some field, a hoe in one hand and a panga (machete) in the other. Let’s hope and pray that the rains are good this year.
