Tanzanian Friendship

“Safari Nyumbani”

“The Journey Home”

My journey back from Zanzibar to Moshi looked something like this: ferry from 9-11:30am, daladala (small bus) from 12-1:30pm, basi (large bus) from 2pm-1am. Safari ndefu (long trip).

I don’t know if I would’ve made it home without the help and friendship of strangers:

While waiting in the ferry terminal, I meet a Zanzibari man. We continue our conversation while we board, he and convinces the ship officials to let me take my bag instead of essentially checking it. The bag has no ID tags because it is an old, empty sack of rice (seriously) that another stranger in Zanzibar found for me; I didn’t have any more room in my small backpack due to a larger gift that I had bought. In the economy class, I sit next to a mama, na mume na mtoto zake (a mother, and her husband and child). We talk for most of the ferry ride, and when we arrive in Dar es Salaam, she shows me the way to the daladala stand, waits half an hour with me for the right one, and then joins me for most of that bus ride. Ironically, jina lake ni Saada(her name is Saada), similar to the Kiswahili word for “help” (msaada). On that same daladala, I meet an accountant named Gabriel , who overhears me asking people in Swahili if they are going to the bus station. He says he can help me find a bus, and so yet another stranger keeps me company and helps me stay afloat. Thanks to him, I barely catch the last bus leaving for Moshi that day. He rides some of the way towards his workplace, and leaves after we exchange phone numbers and emails. After the bumpy and bone-jarring eleven hour ride home—which includes stopping to fix most of the tires—he texts me the next day to see if I’ve made it safely.

Now here’s a story that I think sums up Tanzanian views towards friendship:

The next day, ninakula chakula ya mchana (I am eating lunch) with a man named Johnny from the new non-profit project I’m involved in. Johnny introduces me to friend, but then has to take a phone call. His friend, Jerry, and I are talking in Swahili. After five minutes I ask, kind of redundantly (because my conversation skills aren’t the greatest yet in this language), “So Johnny ni rafiki yako?” (Johnny is your friend, huh?)

He answers me back with: “Ndiyo, na wewe ni rafiki yangu pia” (Yes, and you are my friend too).

Boom. Light bulb! I realize his words describe the Tanzanian culture of friendship perfectly!