A few life lessons from the Tanzanians

Hello!

Michael and I are very fortunate and appreciative to have been born in such a developed country as the U.S.A. We were given the opportunity of further education (along with massive debt) as well as the opportunity to live and work in another country through the Peace Corps. Our awareness of this is one of the reasons we joined the PC; so we could take the knowledge we have gained as Americans and teach it to the Tanzanian students. But, what we have noticed is that the Tanzanians have some valuable life skills that most Americans do not have… and there are many sociological reasons for this. Sure, Michael and I are able to teach them complex ideas such as the number of electron orbitals correlated with a specific element, or the synapse mechanism through which neurons communicate, but here are a few lessons on resource management that Tanzanians follow (and many Americans don’t) that are vital for a sustainable world :

• Recycle: By this, I do not mean take your plastics and cans to the nearby recycling center. Over 80% of Americans claim to do this anyway. But what I mean is too improvise and re-use. Here, when we go to anywhere and buy a coffee or a soda, we always receive the coffee in a glass mug and the soda in a good old fashioned glass soda bottle. The soda you can either: drink it there and leave the bottle, or if you take it home, the worker will not let you buy another later until you bring the bottle back. The restaurant saves all the empty bottles, and cannot get new soda shipments unless they swap the old for new. With the exception of nice restaurants, back home I can honestly say that (other than rootbeer) I have never received a soda that was not in a cardboard cup or plastic bottle. These containers then get thrown in the recycling bin at my house, but the trash in many others. The glass bottles were just one example. The other is how often Tanzanians improvise. We have come across many neat things such as curtains made of bottle caps, shoes made out of tires, to the ‘Khonga’ which is a cheap, square, and often beautiful, piece of cloth that women use as clothes, baby carriers, hot pads, mops, practically anything.

• Limited Waste: From my first point, you can expect that here very little is thrown away. Back in my apartment with my lovely roommates, we threw out a whole bag of trash about every other day. Here, Michael and I have used the same small grocery bag for our trash in the last month (it still is not full). Paper towels are none-existent here and a waste of money back home (sorry Dad!).  Our food is completely made from scratch so there are no cereal boxes or pre-packaged dinner boxes to throw away. After making dinner, we only have vegetable peels which can be composted. No food packaging, no junk mail and circulars, and no plastic anything (other than water bottles which we don’t buy)! AWESOME for us and the earth!

• Water Management:  Wow. I do not even know where to begin with the difference in water consumption. Granted, the vast majority of African families do not have running water to waste but the way they conserve their water is amazing. Even the richest of Tanzanians we have come across have never seen a dish washer, let alone a clothes washer. Everything is done by hand and with the minimum amount of water. And they definitely wear their clothes until they’re physically dirty and do not wear them once and throw them in the dirty clothes pile. Furthermore, we shower using a bucket of water and a cup. We use the cup to pour water over our bodies, and this is no more than about 3 liters for one bathing. We do not have gallons of water coming out of a shower head each minute we wash.  I am not saying that when I return home I will not get a nice hot shower, but I will definitely remember the difference and never stay longer than 5 minutes and turn the water off  (not leave it running) while I am waiting for the hair conditioner to do its job or if I’m shaving my legs. There is no excuse for a whole country of 307,000,000 to all have continuously running water in their daily showers while half of the world’s population has to make the daily decision of whether they will bathe, drink, or wash their clothes with their water rations.

• Energy Conservation: This is probably the most important and beneficial skill we could learn from the Tanzanians. I will admit my dependency to my car back in the states. I would drive to places I could probably walk too and definitely ride my bike. Practically everyone in Tanzania takes a bus when going between major cities and rides their bike or walks to the local market when they need food. Something else I didn’t think about until I was here is the difference in common appliances. Teachers, here, are decently paid in comparison to the rest of the population and have a fairly easy time finding a job. Their housing is considered middle class and luxurious. That said, Michael and I (who are teachers) do not own a fridge, a microwave, clothes dryer, or any other energy gobbling device. Basically, dry your clothes outside and not in a dryer, or ride your bike to work, or take a bus more often, don’t let the shower run just to make sure you have hot water. Simple things add up. Tanzania does not have to wage a war against other countries to maintain their energy wasting lifestyles, so why does the U.S.? These are all things we know are good for the world but for some (like myself) it takes witnessing the conservation of another culture to learn the lesson.

My main goal with this blog is not to say Americans are wasteful and stupid and Tanzanians got it down. As a matter of fact, Tanzanians are conservative with these resources because they have no choice. They can’t afford to live any other way; they do not do it to save the world and our future generations. However, Americans have the availability to waste and the education to know its consequences, but many still do. I had to actually live within another society to fully understand these differences and I know I will carry these lessons back with me when I return (if I return). I hope this may convince small changes in your daily lives or to install appreciation at the very least. I have learned a lot, and one of the Peace Corps missions is for its volunteers to teach their fellow Americans about the culture and lifestyles they have experienced. So here is some of my take. . . I am sure more is too come.  We love and miss you all. Happy Holidays!