Batik, Cheka and Cultural Differences

Yesterday CCS had a few batik makers come visit the home base and show us how batik prints are created...then we got to create our very own! It's a fairly involved process with layers of dye on fabric, wax, drying, more dye, more wax, more drying, etc. They took us several hours to complete, but each of us went away with our very own batik print that we created from scratch! Here is my finished product (not bad, eh?):
Since I've picked up a very tiny Swahili vocabulary, I've noticed that they often use one word for multiple meanings. For example, the word CHEKA. We asked Catherine, the teacher at TAFCOM Children's Center, how to say "smile!" in Swahili and she said "cheka!" Because most of the kids here aren't familiar with cameras, they usually look at you with a blank stare or in fear when you try to take their picture (unless, of course, you run into an experienced, sly youngster who poses and then asks you for money!). We wanted to see some smiles, but every time Erin or I say cheka to the kids, they crack up laughing and act like little monkeys. I learned today that cheka also means LAUGH!

Just getting around from place to place here is such a challenge - the daladalas are crowded and dangerous, personal vehicles are far beyond the means of most people, and the roads/infrastructure are incredibly poor. If a family rents a small room to live in, they don't have land where they are able to plant crops or graze animals for food. In a typical household the father has to work and support the family, so the mama has to make her way to town to go to the market (if she's lucky enough to have the money) and lug the 'groceries' back home to feed the family. Just a simple trip to the market can take up most of a day due to long distances and the hassles of the roads and transportation.

And during the time that the parents are working, children are usually left alone at home (or in school if they are lucky). It's amazing how many young children I see wandering around alone here - sometimes holding machetes or scythes! Children as young as 18 months old are left alone to occupy themselves, or under the very loose supervision of an elderly grandparent or neighbor. A few of the volunteers took a coffee farm tour on the day that Shari and I hiked Mt Kilimanjaro. Apparently when they arrived at the coffee farmer's house, a five year old boy was in charge of watching his 3 younger sibilings, with no adult to be found. The five year old started the fire for them to roast their coffee beans over!

Today I'm feeling quite homesick. Not sure why, just wishing I was home again. I know it will pass and I'm definitely enjoying my time here, but it's hard to face the poverty and disease that we see every day in Tanzania.