Watercooler Witchcraft

I have a few minutes before I am going to head home for the night and prepare myself for what I hope to be a fun night of food, drinks and friends.

But first I thought it would be important to share what I learned this morning from the catch up meeting. Apparently there is a water witch around these parts. Yesterday, without detection someone slit open the water cooler bottle and then dropped in some plants. Not any plants. Plants that are not known to be consumed by humans BUT are known within witch craft circles for casting spells on people. Or so Hilda translated for me after the meeting was over. The result of this Tanzanian Witch craft: No one gets cold water! Man am I thirsty. At least the others can stuck their cups under the tap. by the time the boiled water is cool enough for me to drink I could have walked home to my fridge and back...not that I"m complaining :)

Interesting story number two: As a social work intern part of my learning plan is to develop the 9 social work competencies (i think that's the right word, sorry if its not). One of the tasks I need to demonstrate is my ability to conduct proper closure. For example, when i start a support group I outline how many weeks we will be meeting and then remind the group prior to the last meeting so they are prepared to say good bye and move on. Well, in all my preparations for closure along the way what I wasn't prepared for was my own closure.
Yesterday two of the boys at the centre came over to tell me today they would be going home. Home? I tried to smile. That's good right? They both said yes, that is good. I asked if this was permanent. No, they would both be returning in January after the holidays. Gulp. Hmmmm. Ok so they are going and won't be back until after I leave. Wow. I have to say good bye now?? I made sure they would both be around today to say good-bye and hope to see them on my way home. I guess I learned my lesson on closure.

But wait. there's more! There has been this super cute boy running around the centre the past few days. His name is Sharoon. I think he must be around 3 years old. One of the members of my group brought him over to talk to me, and after he was over his mzungu fear we played some makeshift paddy-cake. So I asked the boy who the cutie belonged to. "he's mine". If I was sitting on a chair, I would have fallen off. This 17 year old is telling me the cutie pie is his? well I never got a different story so I guess I have to assume he was telling the truth. And to be honest, I think he would be a good dad, although I think he would be a good teenager too!

So now I am going to pack up my things and head home. Lyn's son who is visiting from Canada would like to see some nightlife here and I somehow rounded up a few locals and volunteers to check out a restaurant and then find a place to go dancing. There may be some stories that come out of this!