A Mini Adventure

The other day, a group of us were in Arusha in order to pop to the Masaai market to pick up various pieces of tat for you relatives back home. A chap started talking to us, nothing unusual here, Tanzanian chaps often talk to you and 9 times out of 10 they say they are artists and you quickly move on. This chap was different. His name was Max and he wanted to practice his, already very good English. He dreams of being a safari guide and wants to work hard to get there. He took us to the market, haggled for us, then took us to a good local place for lunch and invited us to spend the afternoon with him. The boys had football coaching but Lisa was very keen to and I figured someone needed to escort her. So I did. He took us to his adult education college where he taught his English class. We were thrust to the front introduced ourselves then they practiced their english by asking us all manner of questions. They were really very sweet and lovely people and we both found it really quite cute I suppose. Then Max took us to his house. It was a small room just outside the city centre and we sat there for an hour or so listening to his stories. From being beaten by the police as a 15 year old after he tried to speak to the Prime Minister (we found out today he spent three months in hospital because of it) to his dreams for the rest of his life. It was moving as well as fun and we agreed to meet with him again today, he wanted us to meet his mother. So off we tottered on a dalla dalla way out of the city. We got off in a small village and walk for about 45minutes through the local area, with some people amazed at seeing a Mzungu (white man) in their area, not having seen it before. His mothers house was very basic and small but yet welcoming and cosy. He had a cow, a few chickens, a tiny kitten and a tiny puppy. On their land they grow bananas, coffee beans and avocados. His mother spoke no English but made us feel at home, feeding us a local dish and bringing us some bananas. It was amazing just to be out of the city and away from other Mzungus, all by chance and I am so pleased that we have now spent a couple of days with this great man. He asks nothing of us but to talk to him. Hopefully on Saturday we will have another mini-adventure to visit his grandmother. That's all for now folks. Love you Nick