Arusha, Monday, January 23, 2017

When we awoke on Monday morning, Ron and Colette were already gone—off to connect with Mary from church and go on a cloth buying spree.  It would never have occurred to me to ask Mary if she were a seamstress and if she would be willing to help me find some good African cloth and sew me a dress, but Colette has a way of connecting and finding out whatever she wants to know.  So, the two ladies went to Mary’s favorite cloth shop and bought beautiful waxes, each 6 yards long. Then, they returned to Mary’s house, where Colette had her measurements taken, and the new dress will be ready by Friday. Here I am in the same women’s group as Mary, and I have been a guest in her house several times, but I had no idea she might be willing to sew a dress for me.

After Ron and Colette returned to Kundayo, she told me all about their morning and how she had bargained with the Yemeni shop owner, and then she brought out her five pieces of cloth and told me to choose one for myself. They were all beautiful, but there was one I liked more than the others, so I chose it even though I worried it might be Colette’s favorite, too. None of the cloth I see today is as rich and gorgeous as the Java waxes we used to get in the Congo, but the prints are pretty and some are very reminiscent of old designs. Today the wax prints I see come from Nigeria, Tanzania, or even China, but no longer Java.

Later in the afternoon, Agape, a former staff person here at Kundayo—my favorite, in fact—came to visit me.  Maso left her go last August when he cut back staff because of lower bookings. I know better than to ask him why he let Agape go instead of Beatrice, but I personally think he made a mistake in doing so. Agape was by far the most mature and helpful staffer, and I am sad that she is now unemployed except for what jobs she can pick up plaiting hair. Agape is grateful that a friend has let her occupy a corner in her store so she has a set place for doing hair. So many good, competent people are having to piece together whatever they can for a livelihood.

The rest of the day was uneventful resting, reading, sending email, etc. For dinner, I heated up the eggplant stew I had made earlier and served that with rice and broccoli. Colette had returned not only with cloth but also with three enormous heads of broccoli and several purple avocados the size of small cabbages. For dessert we all enjoyed John’s signature fruit salad.