Mto ba Mba Village Tour

Fresh water spigot for the neighborhood

 The next day began with a tour of Mto ba Mba (Mosquito River) village just down the hill from the Lodge. We weren’t sure what to expect from another tour, and this was one of the best. We learned more about life in Tanzania than any of us expected. We began at the tour office where the guide told us about the more than 120 tribes that make up this village. (Village is really a misnomer as the total population is over 20,000 and growing.) The tribes come from all over Tanzania and even from neighboring countries as people have left to escape the violence that at times seems endemic to Africa. Today, the villagers are more apt to marry someone from a tribe not their own.

Tanzania has had a peaceful existence since independence. Julius Nyerere, the first president, emphasized the need for Africans to learn to live together which meant thinking of themselves as Tanzanians, more than members of their particular tribe. Unfortunately, most African countries have not been able to do this leading to periodic violent outbreaks and one tribe rebels against the dominance of another.

Apartments under construction

 For me, this lesson was first presented when visiting a social studies class in Ghana in 1998. As the students learned about the different religions followed within the country, they were told the reason they needed to learn this was so they would understand the beliefs of the others who were living in the same country. The educators saw this as part of what they needed to do as educators and the text books supported these ideas.

Housing develops as more money is available

Kenya seems to have finally learned the lesson, but still faces some residual intertribal animosity from previous times. Other nations in the area are still a long way from such understanding.

Rice kernals

During the tour our guide Amon took us from one tribe to another highlighting what each contributed to the culture of the village. But first we visited the rice fields. These small fields are all worked without machinery. Some of the fields were surrounded with flags to scare off the birds. They help but are not totally successful. A few of the fields had a rope fence that could be shaken to scare off the birds. They work better, but require human effort.

From there we visited a carving studio of the Makonda tribe from Mozambique. They came here to escape the violence of the Mozambique Civil War. The men do the carving while the women weave and make pottery. The showpiece here was a five-foot carving with 120 different human beings representing each of the village tribes. We did not ask a price on this item, but I saw a larger one later with a $20,000 price tag. The skill to produce a work like this is incredible. We purchased some wall hangings made by the women. They use different colored banana leaves from the more than 30 species of banana to create pictures of different African scenes. Shellac covers the completed works.

While walking to our next stop, Amon talked about house construction. Basic starter houses are made of mud-covered sticks. They are not built for permanence. As they earn more money, they will build a house using cheap bricks on a foundation. As more money is earned, they will build a permanent home out of long-lasting bricks. These brick homes require skilled labor. Families will buy bricks as they can afford them and stockpile them until they have enough to build their house. Often, they will build the foundation a year or two before they can afford the bricks and skilled labor to finish the job. Amon also showed us an apartment building. Several apartments surrounded a courtyard with the water spigot. One of the apartments was used for cooking. The latrine was separate.

We stopped for some banana beer at an outdoor covered bar made by the Chagra tribe from the foothills of Kilimanjaro. Ground millet is fermented with bananas to create this brew. Served in a small pail, we had to blow away the bubbly goop on top to get at the beer. Jim and I enjoyed it. Marcia and Linda found it too bitter for their taste. The painting studio included people from several tribes. It is a studio in that those who come are trained in the painting techniques. Some of the work is done with a small spade. Others are completed using a more familiar brush. These paintings were the same as we had seen where we stopped for lunch on our trip from Ndutu to Kitela.

Making charcoal

Fish Farm

As we left the village we saw some goats and some cows raised in their small pens. We also passed a tilapia and catfish pond. No fish were visible through the green algae.

Before returning to the office and our vehicle we walked through the market. The only thing not available at this market were large appliances and vehicles. For those items villagers much travel to Arusha. Every kind of fruit and vegetable was available along with a wide variety of spices. Among the craft we saw several sewing shops where repairs could be made or villagers could purchase cloth and have it made into clothing.