Dear Couchsurfing Host,
How are you!
It’s almost a month since I arrived
Tanzania. I am so glad I could stay at your place to learn and experience more
about your culture. I have a lot of reflections regarding the world and lives
since then. It is my first time ever to visit Africa, the real Africa which
belongs to the Black. People’s common perceptions of Africa are poverty,
hunger, wars, backward, and of course nature and wildlife. I always believe
everything has many sides. To me, because I don’t know, I wanted to visit here
by my own feet, see this place by my own eyes, and listen to your stories by my
own heart.
I always believe things are not only black
and white, right or wrong that simple and straightforward. I saw a lot from
your lives, and I also hope my visit brings you a bit of inspirations and
reflections. I want to tell you how things in Tanzania hit my values, hope we
can share our views to increase exchange and growth of our lives.
When the flight landed at DAR airport, when
I went through the immigration successfully, when I passed the crowds and
arrived at the immigration hall with my luggage, I was glad you came to me
immediately. You decided not to go to work and came all the way to pick me up.
You said, to avoid the crowd and jam on the bus, you arrived early, you waited
3 hours at the airport just to meet me. You saw me with big and small bags, and
insisted to help me to carry one. Luckily with you around, I didn’t get lost in
the whole new country. We crossed the road, reached a bus stop and waited there
for our bus home. I was so curious about your country, I saw people in colorful
clothes, small shops with different telecom company signboards, and dusty
roads. These were my first impressions of Tanzania. Finally, we spent 3 hours,
changed 2 buses and got jam on the road, and reached your home at the outskirt
of the city.
Your neighbors greeted you when they saw
you. The kids were playing around, a boy was kicking a ball made of an inflated
plastic bag, women were washing dishes and clothes in front of the houses, old
people were sitting outside chitchatting. I said, I haven’t seen this for long,
every family seemed to be so close, taking care of each other. My region is
different, everyone lives in high-rise buildings, everything is about security,
every home is secured by thick doors and locks. We don’t even know who our
neighbors are, even when we meet and we greet there is nothing else to talk
about.
I told you, I chose couchsurfing than
guesthouse as I prefer cultural exchange. There is a well in front of your
house, you said everyday you take water there for drinking and cleaning purpose.
You drink directly without boiling it first. I said, in India I tried drinking well
water directly too, and I didn’t get sick. However, as I just arrived your
country, I worried my body wasn’t adjusted yet and I would rather be careful.
Then I started doing an experiment. I looked carefully with my eyes, smelled
carefully with my nose, made sure there were not any sediments or weird smell.
I tried a little bit, the taste was normal and so I drank the whole glass. I
joked, if I didn’t fall sick the next day then I can continue drinking well
water in Tanzania. You know you are very fortunate because you can drink directly
from the well, it means your water hasn’t been contaminated yet. You know in my
region there is no well water available for direct drinking. We need to buy
water from the Mainland, after repeated distillations and sterilizations then
it reaches people’s home. However, we still need to re-distillate and boil
before drinking. In comparison, your water is more natural and healthy.
You said, to welcome my arrival you would
get a living rooster for me. I thought you were joking, but you really brought
one back after a while. You even joked that I should be in charge of killing,
so I answered I rather not eating it. Staying at your place you treated me like
a VIP, served me chicken, beef, fish, seafood, every meal was always well
prepared. I said, I don’t want to be a guest, treat me like a family member and
let me help you with the housework. You refused, you said I am the guest and it
is your hospitality tradition. I said, Chinese does the same to our guests too,
and I am not staying only for a few days, I am staying for a long period. So I
used my limited cooking knowledge to cook you some Chinese dishes. Chinese
fries, tomatoes and eggs, steamed fish, Coca-cola Chicken, and sweet potato
dessert soup. I could only make these and I was not sure if you were telling
the truth or not, you always said my dishes tasted good. To thank you for your
hospitality, I wrote you some Chinese words to decorate your home and shop too.
You probably didn’t know, my Chinese handwriting was very ugly.
You taught me how to speak Swahili, other
than “Jambo” and “Karibu”, another one I learnt from you was “po le po le”, you
said it is the way Africans do things, do everything slowly. I loved it so much
because I do everything slowly since young, eat slowly, walk slowly, talk
slowly, think slowly, learn slowly, and now travel slowly. However the
personality has made me feel I was so different from the others. When I was a
kid my mom always said how could eat so slowly, like an old woman. In school I always
didn’t figure out what the teachers were saying and then they would have
started the next chapter. You said, when you work with Westerners they always prefer
“now”, while locals prefer “later”. Yes in my region, everything is about speed
and efficiency. I think “later” is actually a good concept, as my patience is
getting worse too.
One day, you took out 2 packs of instant
noodles. You said they were made in Indonesia and are getting popular here.
They taste so good and only take a short while to cook. You asked if I have
ever tried. I said of course, they are so delicious and easy to cook, I loved
them so much when I was a kid. However, I don’t eat them anymore because their
ingredients are very unhealthy. Deeply fried and stabilizers added, with unknown
alphabets and numbers ingredients on the MSG pack too. There was a news from
the foreign country someone died after eating instant noodle continuously for a
week. There was also an experiment in Taiwan the noodle couldn’t be digested at
all even after eating for 6 hours.
We walked around in a small village, I saw
a woman carrying a small bottle to buy cooking oil. The staff poured in it from
a big jar. I said it is so environmental friendly as it extends every plastic
bottles’ life. You said the shop normally buy big jar of cooking oil, and the
village people normally don’t need such a big jar at home and they also don’t
have extra money to buy extra food.
We arrived a family run shop, a woman was
making homemade bun for selling. After talking for a while she took one and
wrapped it in newspaper and gave it to me for free. I recalled the scene when I
was a kid. Everytime at home when my dad put the food on the newspaper
directly, I shouted to him it was not hygienic, and I would not eat the food
which touched the newspaper. I even “taught” my dad to use paper towel instead
of newspaper, as I believed the ink would contaminate the food. Now I felt I
was so naive. People from the big city used the so-called sterilized paper
towels, paper bags, plastic bags to carry the food. Does it mean the food is
then safe and hygienic for eating? Many reports showed that the bacteria levels
of the sterilized things are over the standard level, and even have chemicals
left behind. Wouldn’t they also make the food unhygienic after touching?
I told you, I like the street food a lot
because they are freshly made and tasted great. In my region, everything needs
license to proof they are safe and hygienic. No shops is allowed to sell food
without license. Many food are made in the factory and pre-packed. You said
there was a supermarket closed down recently because things were too expensive.
I said it was a good news. In my region, it is the other way around,
supermarkets are everywhere, small shops can’t compete with the big companies
with low prices and ending up closing down.
I asked you if there were any big
franchises with free wifi in the downtown. You said there are still not too many
people using internet. The majority is still using the old type of mobile phones
as it is luxurious to use smart phone. People normally top up the pre-paid card
for data use and that’s why no place provided free wifi. I said, it is a good
thing too. It is not good to use internet too much either. In my region,
everywhere has free wifi and everyone is looking at their phones only, seems
like they would disconnect from the world if they don’t get online. Some
teenagers even got internet addictions nowadays.
You told me, the first fast food shop just
opened in the capital 2 years back. The idea of fast food is still very new and
people feel it is a luxurious place with nice decorations and air con. It is
true too as the fast food price is not cheap either. I said, I don’t visit fast
food restaurants anymore because the food are very unhealthy with high calories,
high salt and high sugar. In my region there are too many fast food restaurants
and many kids are obese now. Another thing is they encourage the use of disposable
utensils which waste too many resources and create too much rubbish.
We came to a market, I saw there were
plastic bags everywhere on the floor. You bought eggs, bread and vegetables
with different plastic bags. I said let’s not use plastic bags because I have
shopping bags. You laughed and you said they were free of charge. If the
plastic bags become useless after bringing home, if they would only be thrown
to the bins, why create rubbish? In my region we don’t encourage the use of
plastic bags anymore, we found out the harm they cause to the environment and many
shops even charge extra for each plastic bag used.
At home, I noticed the way you deal with
rubbish was to throw away at the river. I saw there were rubbish along the
whole river dumped by the villagers who live nearby. You said, it is the dry
season now so the rubbish got stuck there. When the rain comes, the river will
bring the rubbish to the sea. I responded with an “orr” sound because I knew
the problem was not from you or the villagers. May be it was the government who
didn’t do a good job in collecting trash. However, in my region, even though
there is trash collection, the result of the rubbish is also the same. The only
difference is we don’t see their existence everywhere. May be they are sent to
the dumping area, the fire incinerator, or somewhere in the sea, only we don’t see
them. Burning pollutes the air, burying creates toxins which contaminate the
underground water and the sea lives. The long term consequence of rubbish is
the same for you and me.
I really don’t know if there is only one formula
in development. In your eyes big cities may be meaning fast forward and
advance, everyone in your country wants to leave poverty behind. But I also want
to share with you, what you are owning now are also very invaluable to people
like me who grew up in the cities. When developing economically please also
treasure your beautiful resources, the well water you can drink directly,
caring neighbors you can trust heartfully, and the sacred nature and the
wildlife. I really don’t want to see all your invaluable resources became like
my region, the animals extinct one by one, and only high rise buildings, isolated
neighbors and pollutions left.
Thank you again for letting me be a part of
your family, my beloved Tanzanian family.
Cheers,
Odia
27/09/2014
P.S. The contents were my experiences and
inspirations in the past one month in Tanzania, of course I had more than one
host family. I was only combining all the stories into one! Haha~~
親愛的沙發主人：
你好！
來到坦桑尼亞將近一個月時間，有幸借宿在你的家中，讓我有機會更快更深入體驗了解你的文化，讓我對世界對生命有更多的反思。這是我生平第一次踏上非洲的土地，那真真正正屬於黑人種族的非洲。人們對非洲的普遍認知都是貧窮、饑餓、戰亂、落後，當然還有大草原和野生動物。我相信凡事都有許多不同層面，於我而言，就是因為不認識，所以才更希望有機會用雙腳去踏足這片土地，用雙眼去看這個地方，用心靈去聆聽你的故事。
從來相信，世上有許多許多的事情，並不是只有黑和白、對與錯那麼簡單直接。我在你的生活看見了許多，也同樣希望，我的來訪也給你帶來了一點點啟發和體會。我希望能告訴你坦桑尼亞的種種對我生命的衝擊，希望大家能互相分享看法，增加生命的交流與成長。
當航班抵達坦桑尼亞首都機場，當我成功過關入境，當我提著行李越過人流來到接機大堂，感恩你立即走上前來跟我相認。你決定當天不上班遠道而來機場接待我，你說，為了避免巴士擠逼塞車，你還提早了抵達，在機場足足呆等了三個小時。你看見我大包小包的，還堅持幫忙提取行李，幸好有你，我才不至於在一個全新的國度迷失。我們越過馬路，來到一個公車站一起等巴士回家。我對你的國家充滿好奇，穿著色彩繽紛衣裳的人們、掛著電訊公司品牌的小店，還有，沙塵滾滾的馬路，這是我對坦桑尼亞的第一印象。最後，我們足足用了三個小時，換了兩程巴士，塞了很久的車，終於抵達你那位於市區郊外的家。
鄰居看見你的經過都寒暄幾句，村內小孩子圍在一起玩耍，有男孩子更拿著一個吹脹了的塑膠袋當足球踢，有婦女在門外洗碗洗衣服，有老人坐在屋子外空地乘涼，大家有說有笑的。我說，很久沒有看見這種畫面了，每家每戶的鄰里關係密切，互相照應。我們地區可不一樣了，大家都住在高樓大廈，甚麼都說要保安，每人家中都大門深鎖，連鄰居姓甚名誰也不知道，就算碰面打招呼後其實也再
沒有別的話題了。
我跟你說，我旅行選擇借宿而不住旅店，最重要的原因是文化交流，我希望能體驗你們的生活習慣。你家中旁邊就有一口井，你說每天都在井中提水作煮食洗滌之用，你們都是直接飲用井水，也沒有煮沸的習慣的。我說，在印度我也試過直接飲用井水，肚子也沒有不舒服。不過，今次剛剛來到你的國家，我怕身子還沒有適應，所以我還是會很小心飲食。然後，我像化驗井水一樣，用眼睛看用鼻子嗅，確保井水沒有沉澱物和異味。我淺嚐了一點點，味道好像也沒有怪味便放心喝下一整杯。我還笑說，若果明天都沒有肚子痛我便可以繼續在坦桑尼亞飲用井水了。其實，你們很幸福，可以直接提取井水享用，那代表你的國家地下水還沒有受污染。我的地區卻不行了，已經沒有井水可以直接飲用了，淡水都必須向大陸購買，經過重重的過濾和消毒才來到人們的家中，然後，大家還要把水再過濾再煮沸才放心享用，相比之下，你的水真的天然健康多了。
你說，為了歡迎我的到來，會為我買一頭活雞回來。我以為你只是說笑，想不到一會兒後你真的提著一隻活雞回來，還笑說我要自己殺雞，我只好回答那我寧願不吃了。在你家借宿，你對我如上賓一樣，每餐大魚大肉的，又雞又牛又魚又海鮮，常常早午晚三餐為我準備好。我說，我不想當客人，請把我當家裏人，讓我做點家頭細務好嗎？你卻說不行，因為我是客人，這是你的待客之道。我說，華人對於賓客也是如此的，不過，我可不是只待三數天，我是逗留一段長時間啊！於是，我用有限的烹調技術嘗試給你煮中菜，土豆絲蕃茄蛋蒸魚可樂雞蕃薯糖水，我只會弄這些，不知真的假的，每次你總說好吃。為了報答你的好客熱情款待，我又給你寫揮春佈置家居和商店，可能你不知道，其實我的中文字寫得很爛很醜的。
你教我怎麼說非洲語，除了「你好」和「歡迎」之外，另一句我在你身上學會的口頭禪便是「慢慢來」，你說這是你們非洲人的處事習慣，凡事慢慢來！我超級喜歡的，從小到大我就是一個甚麼都愛慢慢來的人。慢慢吃飯、慢慢走路、慢慢說話、慢慢思考、慢慢學習，現正慢慢旅行！可是這種性格，卻令我覺得自己和別人格格不入，小時候我媽就常說我吃飯怎麼可以可麼慢，像個老太婆一樣！在學校學習我常常還沒有弄明白老師在說甚麼就已經跳到下一章節了。你說，你和西方人共事，最明顯的分別就是他們總要求「現在」，但本地人卻習慣「稍後」啊！真的，在我的地區，甚麼事情都講求快速和效率，也許，稍後也是一個不錯的概念，因為我也發覺自己的耐性越來越差了。
有一天，你從食物櫃拿了兩包方便面出來，你說它們是印尼生產的，現在很流行，味道很棒又不用煮很久，數分鐘便能享用，你問我吃過沒有。我說，有啊，方便面味道很可口，烹調也很方便，我小時候超級愛吃的。但是，近年來我已經不再吃它了，因為它的成份很不健康，又油炸又穩定劑，還有那充滿各種英文字母和數字代碼成份的味精包，外國新聞便曾經報導有人連續吃方便面一星期然後死了，台灣也有實驗證實方便面吃下肚子後原來六個小時後還是不會消化的。
我們到小村落閒逛，看見有婦人帶著小瓶子去買食油，店員把食油從大瓶徐徐倒入小瓶，我說，這做法真環保啊，可以延長每個塑膠瓶子的壽命。你說，商店都採購大瓶裝的食油，但居民通常沒有需要買大瓶裝存放在家中，另一個原因，是因為人們手上沒有那麼多的餘錢去買過多的食糧。
然後，我們來到一間民居小店，看見婦人自己製作油炸小饅頭，閒聊一番後她更用報紙直接包起一個饅頭贈送給我吃，讓我回想起小時候的情景。每當在家中爸爸把食物直接放到報紙上面，我都會立即大叫那很不衛生，然後絕對不吃那觸碰過報紙的食物。我還會「教育」爸爸，下次可以用餐巾代替報紙嗎，因為油墨都會印到食物上面啊！現在回想起來都覺得自己很可笑，城市人用所謂的已消毒過的紙巾紙袋膠袋盛載食物是否就代表一定安全衛生呢？很多報告證實那些用品的細菌其實也超標的，還有殘留化學品，沾到食物後不同樣也是不衛生嗎？
我告訴你，我很喜歡這些民間小食的，因為它們即場製作新鮮好吃。在我的地區，甚麼東西都要申領牌照，沒有牌照的小店便不能出售食物。於是，為了證明食物是安全衛生，結果店舖只售賣預先包裝好的食品。你說近日首都有間超級市場倒閉了，因為東西太貴沒有人光顧。我說，這真是一個好消息啊！因為在我們地區，這是相反的事情，超級市場越開越多，小商店不及大財團競爭，貨物不夠低廉，越來越多小商戶倒閉結業了。
我問你，在首都市中心有沒有一些大型快餐連鎖店可以免費無線上網呢？你說，這裏還沒有很多人上網，大部分人還是用舊式手機，擁有智能電話已經很奢侈了。上網亦只會用電話卡增值，所以你們沒有地方提供免費無線上網的。我說，那也是一件好事啊，上太多網其實不太好，就像我的地區，到處都有無線上網，大家每一分每一秒都低頭看電話，好像不上網會和世界斷絕連繫一樣，有年青人更因此上網成癮呢！
你跟我說，第一家快餐連鎖店兩年前才在首都登陸，快餐的概念還很新穎，人們總覺得裝潢華麗有空調的地方都是很高尚的，而事實上快餐店的食品價格亦真的不是人人能夠負擔得起。我說，我現在都不光顧快餐店了，因為快餐其實很不健康，高熱量高鹽份高糖份，我們地區就是因為到處都是快餐店而很多小孩子癡肥了，還有就是即棄用品的觀念浪費太多資源製造太多垃圾了。
我們來到街市，看見地下四周都是破舊的塑膠袋，然後，你買雞蛋買面包買蔬菜各用上一個塑膠袋，我說，不如不要膠袋好嗎，我有購物袋。你笑了，你說那不要錢的。但是，既然拿回家後膠袋也是沒有其他用處，既然之後也是丟掉，為甚麼要製造垃圾呢？我們地區現在都主張不用膠袋了，因為知道了它對環境的禍害，很多商舖更會另外收取膠袋費用呢！
回到家中，我看見你處理垃圾的方法就是拿到河邊丟掉，我看到整條河流都是附近居民丟掉的垃圾，大包小包的。你說，現在是旱季，垃圾才會堆積在這裏，當雨季來臨時，河流都會把它們帶到大海裏去了。我「哦」了一聲作回應，因為我知道，問題不在你和村民身上。也許，是因為政府沒有做好垃圾收集工作，但我們地區，就算有垃圾收集，垃圾的下場其實不也是一樣嗎？只是眼不見為乾淨了，也許垃圾給送到了堆田區，也許是焚化爐，也許是海洋深處，只是我們看不見垃圾的下場罷了。但燃燒的灰燼污染空氣，埋藏在地底則分解有毒物質污染地下水源，甚至影響海洋生態，垃圾對我們的長遠影響其實都是一樣的。
我不知道，每一個地方的發展是不是都會經歷同一條方程式。也許，在你們眼中，大城市都等同於先進發展迅速，人們都希望國家能夠快快走出貧窮落後的面貌。但我亦想告訴你，你們現在擁有的對於大城市長大的我們來說同樣是非常難能可貴。在發展經濟的同時，希望你們也好好珍惜所有美好的資源，可直接飲用的井水、互相照應的鄰里關係，還有那稀有的大草原和野生動物。我不希望有一天，你們所擁有的珍貴資源，變成和我的地區一樣，野生動物一隻一隻絕種，最後只剩下高樓大廈、冷漠的鄰里關係和各式各樣的污染。
再次感謝你讓我成為家庭的一份子，我親愛的坦桑尼亞家人！
Odia上
26/09/2014
P.S. 文章內容是過去一個月在坦桑尼亞的體驗有感而發的，我的借宿家庭當然不只一戶啊，是把好幾個家庭的經歷合而為一的，呵呵！
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| Stonetown, Zanzibar, Tanzania - Sep 2014 |
