A Different World?????

If our operatic society were putting on a concert then there would be weeks of rehearsals, and at least one run through before the performance – but nor so in Tanzania. As we wrote last week, having seen a video of their performance in our house, the Mamajus Kwaya asked if they could come again the next Saturday to have not one, but 9 more songs videoed.

Naively Malcolm thought this would just be a run through in the house similar to the previous time. Not so. These were highly choreographed productions using the features of our garden including the child’s climbing frame. The nine songs were completed one after the other without a pause, to a backing tape they had produced themselves a few weeks earlier. And all this without a run through in the garden. It was difficult for Malcolm to keep track of what was going on.

Now all he has to do is produce some DVD’s.

On Sunday we began the long journey via Dodoma and Dar es Salaam to Pretoria for a holiday with Malcolm’s sister, Helen and Partner Chris. She started work at the British Consulate about 3 months ago. Some things are familiar in Africa. The way that as we left the plane to walk the long corridors to find our baggage, at one point we passed a group of 6 staff idly chatting to walk down a corridor to meet other passengers coming towards us as the door at the end was locked so they assumed we’d gone the wrong way – but it was simply the staff had forgotten to unlock the door. This is Africa!

Pretoria in many ways is like England. The weather is temperate, as they move from spring to summer. The grass is green and the buildings are smart and European. However, we have been warned that it is not as safe here as in Europe or Tanzania with concerns about mugging. Helens house is in a gated compound with guards and electric fences. An automated finger print reader is used to allow people in or out – as neither of us are registered in effect we are locked in!!!!!
We went for a trip on a ‘Hop on, Hop off’ tour bus that passes some of the tourist’s spots in Pretoria. This was billed as having a ‘Professional Tour Guide’ to explain the history of Pretoria. Unfortunately the bus was 20 minutes late and there was no tour guide but simply western pop music. However, the ticket was only £5 so it was good value and we were almost the only customers. We visited the Parliament building and the monument celebrating the first Dutch trekkers who traveled by ox-wagon train into the interior of South Africa to found states such as the Transvaal and the Orange Free State.

Next week we plan a few days visiting battlefields near Ladysmith and Rourkes Drift before returning to Tanzania on Sunday.