Day 21 - Back to Bujora

Delphine took me back to Bujora to complete our tour. We saw the rest of the buildings and heard some interesting stories about the Kings and traditional healers. We then went further down the road to a Cultural Tourism Centre in the next village where we met with the Pastor who runs it. Since his plans were similar to what we had already explored with other centres, we suggested he look for activities that would involve the tourists participating more in cultural activities - such as wood carving. My remaining time is already spoken for but Delphine promised to return to see what he had to offer. He was grateful for any consideration and we stood in prayer so he could give thanks to God for our visit. (You cannot escape religion in this country.)
Below is a traditional Sukuma house, as seen at the Bujora Centre. Female children would sleep on one side in the corridor and males on the other. The parents would sleep in the room in the middle - and close their 'door' by layering sticks on top of each other. Interesting fact: at night a goat was tied to each entry way of the corridors to act as their alarm system. If hyenas or other wild animals came to attack, they would get the goat first - before the children. The father would hopefully wake up at the sound of a goat being killed and come out to save his children.

Above is Father Clement's gravesite. He was the French-Canadian who created this centre and brought Christianity to the area. Although Father Clement died and is actually buried in Canada - the people of Bujora wanted to honour him with this memorial to him. He was like a modern-day Jesuit priest, connecting traditional indigenous beliefs with the church.
On the way back to Igoma, I convinced Delphine to stop at nane-nane - the annual 'agricultural' fair held for 8 days. Unfortunately, today was the last day so the crowds were INSANE!!! It was much easier to see everything when I went with Timothy on Friday. Today left us both feeling very claustrophobic. We were trying to make our way through the crowds when I heard 'Carrie, Carrie' - which is how many people here pronounce my name. I turned and saw Harisi - one of the sponsored students I met yesterday at Agape Lodge. He is in Standard 7 and wants to be a doctor. We chatted for a bit. I guess he was able to spot me easily amongst the thousands of people, since I was the only mzungu around.
Because the traffic was so crazy, I had Delphine drop me off on the main road to avoid her having to cross it. I was able to walk to the Lodge myself. On the way I stopped to talk to an older gentleman who wanted to know where I was from and why was I visiting Tanzania. He was quite happy to hear I was from Canada and was very appreciative of all help that comes from our country. Go Canada!