An Unpleasant Experience

September 18, 2008 8:14 PM


After raving about how incredibly friendly and welcoming everyone is in Moshi, I had my first not so warm fuzzy experience. My fairly unremarkable Wednesday had started to pick up, I left work early because the internet was down and I didn't really have much to do so I thought I would take advantage of the extra daylight and walk to town. On my way home to drop off my computer I ran into Steven who said that if I wanted he would pick me up at the YMCA in the morning to go to the fostering training. Score! Ezekiel was also in the car and said he lives nearby my new place, good for hanging out, awesome! I kept walking and sure enough, who is parked at the end of my driveway? Jerome and Simon happened to be driving and saw me walking so they pulled over. Turned out they were headed to town too and offered me a ride. Ok I asked if I could jump in after dumping my computer. They had no problem with that so I jumped in.

Side note: Jerome is the senior social worker at Mkombozi, Simon is the sports/mobile school social worker, Ezekiel (aka Buffalo) is an assistant social worker, and Steven is the social worker I am working with on the fostering program at Mkombozi….

It was nice to have a ride to town for once and not worry about being hot and sweaty before even arriving to my destination. We chatted a bit on the way about what we do in our spare time. Simon and Jerome said they sometimes go to town and hang out at what us Canadians call a BBQ. I can't remember the word they used but it was long, complicated, and did not make me think of eating or drinking. Jerome said that he would be up for taking me into town sometime to hang out, if that was ok with me. Very ok with me, one less night spent wondering what everyone else in this town does after dark!

This is where it gets a big negative. Perhaps I was on a bit of a high after leaving my fellow social workers, but when I was leaving the bank I ran into one of the local 'kids' who is always in town when I am there and recognizes me. He came right over and shook my hand, asked how I was doing etc etc. I told him I had just come to town to get food from the supermarket. He said that he could help me find one (I already knew about 5 by this point, but he didn't seem to care) then I could come look in his store. Every time I had run into this kid he wanted me to look in his store. Look, he would say, you don’t need to buy anything, just come look. So finally this was about the 4th or 5th time I had run into him, I thought, ok why not just look?

So he takes me to this little tiny supermarket, that I actually didn't know about because they don’t really carry anything I needed. I grabbed a couple things that seemed to be fair prices and paid. The kid was waiting for me the whole time. He grabbed my hand (why does everyone like hand holding here? Or better question, why don’t I like holding hands with strangers?) and he led me to his store.

I had actually passed by his store many times before because it is right behind the internet café I like. Immediately I was disappointed. Everything in the shop yelled "tourist souvenir" which is fine, but I decided long ago that I would not buy any souvenirs before at least November because there is no reason for me to be stock piling things and spending money before I know how much I can spend and before I know what is out there and for what good prices.

So I walked in to this small shop and looked around. I turned to the kid and told him it was a very nice shop, but I was not interested in buying anything. He was very persistent, look around, he said, there must be something. Nope. There was nothing. Then he started the "show". We have had a very slow day today and have no money, he shared while his 'sister' sitting on a chair reading a magazine and watching a music video in the corner. I looked again. There were some mugs that were very souvenir-y but since I just moved into a house without many items in the kitchen I asked how much for one of those. "35" was his answer.

Generally when I have been shopping in Tanzania when someone says 35 that means 3500 shillings. I thought that wasn't a bad deal so I asked how much for 2. Two mugs were going to cost me 65 he said. Still thinking shillings I said ok and pulled out a 500 shilling note while searching for another note to cover the rest. He just stared at me. Then said, no I said 65. I said yes, 6500 right? No he wanted $65 US. Wow. Ok well that was not going to happen. I actually laughed when he said that.

You want $65 for 2 mugs? I explained to him that $65 for two mugs was way too high and there was no way I could ever afford that (or want to afford that, maybe for my wedding china but lets not go there right now). He tried to talk me into buying just one mug for $35. I am seriously laughing as I write this.

I told him that I am a student and volunteer in his country and I could not survive if I spend $35 on mugs. I then explained that I would be happy to return to his store at a later date but that day I wasn't buying anything so we were both wasting our time.

He didn't give up. A necklace? A bracelet? Earrings? I was thankfully wearing none of these and told him I don’t wear jewellery and don’t have money to be buying gifts right now, but maybe in a month or so I could come back. Persistent little bugger grabs a bunch of necklaces and starts shoving them in my face. By this point I was getting irritated, I needed to be home before dark and was losing precious day light time.

I told him that I didn’t' want a necklace. He said he would give me 2 for 18,000. Anyone who has bought necklaces in a not so developed country probably knows that is ridiculous. And anyone who has ever made a necklace with 1 bead on a leather tie knows that is insane. I'm all about supporting the underdog, but the underdog was playing dirty.

I explained that because I came to town today to buy food I had only 8,000 to spend in town that day and had to get going. He said he would give me 2 for 15,000. I said no. He said 1 for 12,000 (I don't know if he knows math). I was really just intent on getting out of there the best way possible by this point and said I had 8,000 that was it and I had to go. He said ok, 2 for 10,000. I was about to shove him out of my way, seriously.

Ok fine, good deal for me. 1 necklace for 8,000. Maybe if I hadn't been to Africa before and spent many hours looking in shops in Cape Town and to the Green Point market I would have budged but I didn't need the necklace and 8,000 shillings for something I don’t need that I think I could buy for 2,000 somewhere else is just silly. Plus in my limited Swahili I heard his sister tell him that he could sell me one for 6,000. Sita not Nane!

So I left. I ducked around him and said, sorry but I am not interested I have to go. He followed me! He was trying to keep up, "you said you would pay 5,000 for one necklace, ok I will give you 5,000 for one necklace". True, I had mentioned back at the 18,000 mark that I thought they were probably worth 5,000 but that was before I realized he was not the nice kid from previous days.

I ran into a guy who recognized me as a Mkombozi volunteer down the lane. He was very nice and introduced himself, he is a good friend of one of the finance managers at the centre and wanted to welcome me. The kid is still trying to talk to me standing behind me. I was really hoping that this nice guy (Elson) would say something to the kid but no luck. So I told Elson it was nice to meet him, but unfortunately I had somewhere I had to be and said good bye. He was nice about it.

The crazy kid followed me! I probably walked a block and a half with this kid following me yelling at me because I said I would buy something and I didn't. Finally I stopped and told him that I didn't have any money and he was wasting his time by following me when he could be talking to someone who actually did have money and wanted to buy souvenirs. He said that I was not nice and that I shouldn't have said I was interested in buying a necklace if I didn’t want one. AND he said I did the same thing the last time I went in his shop.

I may have rolled my eyes. I had never GONE to his shop before. I told him that I was sorry but he had me confused with someone else. This didn't help. He said that I was not a nice person and that I did go there before and do the same thing. At this point I said I have to go and took off down the street walking fast.

I could feel my body tensing out of frustration. Usually when I pass people on the street and they smile and say 'mambo' I smile back and say Poa to their amusement. The mzungu can say a Swahili word! But after the experience with the kid I found it hard to keep smiling. I didn't want to look anyone in the eye, I just wanted to find a real supermarket, buy food and get home before dark.

I was convinced that this kid had not only ruined my day but single handedly changed my views of Moshi. I knew it wasn't fair, but up until that point I was convinced everyone was friendly and harmless. This one kid had made the world darker and scarier.

I went into Corina's supermarket and was able to find many things I needed and some I didn't really (a DVD with 20 movies on it, probably illegal, but I needed a pick me up and paid for it at the supermarket). Then started the long walk home. I happened to run into one of my other "regular" kids that tries to sell me stuff. This time Bob spotted me from down the street and decided to walk with me while I stumbled home with my grocery bags. He was so friendly. Super friendly. We chatted for about 5 or 10 minutes while I walked and he asked me if I was interested in looking at his paintings. I smiled and said I was really sorry but I just wanted to get my food home but maybe Kesho (tomorrow)? He said no problem, he understood, smiled and walked back to his friends. At this point I was prepared to buy 6 paintings from Bob because he had redeemed the street sellers of Moshi for me and might even look at his paintings next time I see him….If I am prepared to buy.

Moral of the story: One person and change your mood for the worse, but another person can make your day. Don't write off everyone because of one bad experience

Lesson learned: avoid that street kid.