It was a somewhat uneventful weekend here in Dar. That is, except for the excitement that occurred on Friday evening. I put this on here as a cautionary tale for all those coming to Dar es Salaam. Olaf’s blackberry was stolen on Friday evening as we were stuck in traffic. It’s amazing how fast these things can happen. Thankfully, no one was hurt but it is still shocking and scary. We were sitting in traffic around 7:00 p.m. coming back from the supermarket when it happened. I was driving since I’ve been trying to learn my way around and practice my driving (which is going really well- I’m getting the hang of it quite nicely and have become a suitably aggressive, yet defensive driver to mix well with the lack of rules here). Olaf was calling the boys to make sure everything was still on for movie night and since he’s used to driving he was holding his phone in his left hand (which is usually the inside hand but in this case is the window-side hand). As we’re stopped in traffic these kids come up asking for money to wash your windshield. This is fine but it happens every time you stop and they are super super aggressive (to the point where I had to close my window because I thought the kid might grab at me and he stood there with his face against the window until I was able to drive away). We had already given one kid money and actually had no more change so when this group came up we were trying to tell them no and they kept pushing and pushing and Olaf hung up the phone but was still holding it and some bigger kid/man ran past and took the phone right out of his hand. As this happened the kids were still asking for money and didn’t stop until we drove off.
Of course we couldn’t catch the guy and there’s not much you can do about it here. I’m sure the guy just saw an opportunity and took it and the kids weren’t involved but you wonder. As much as I feel for the orphans (and support those who are actually trying to earn their money with odd jobs such as window-washing) I don’t like the aggressive ones and it makes me so mad at the government that they don’t do more so that these kids don’t have to be out on the street and that I have to be afraid that I’m going to get grabbed at waiting at a traffic light. It’s definitely the underbelly of an otherwise wonderful nation. But it’s an underbelly everyone should be aware of which is why I include this cautionary tale in my blog.
Like I said, other than this unfortunate event, it was an otherwise calm weekend. We had a movie night on Friday in which we played Avatar from a projector onto a sheet. It was like I imagined it to be. The projector stayed around all weekend so yesterday we watched Red with Bruce Willis- to me that was more fun to watch! I highly recommend it, if only to see Dame Helen Mirren kick ass and take names.
As for work, I’m getting back into the grind working on the CDF brochure right now. If you saw their old one, you would understand why they need another, I’m just not sure I’m the right person for the job! But right now, I’m all they’ve got so here we go! Have a great week everyone J It’s nice to be back in Dar (but very very hot)!
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