Tanzania Print Workshops 2012: Men

Rashidi fixing the hydraulic pump on Seppo's Land Rover

It is in the countryside again where you meet people who have time as the pace of life is so much slower than the city. I had a few memorable encounters with men, in particular one young guy who had a Fuji film lab somewhere on the road to Kondoa and his pictures you can see in an earlier blog entry here.

Women seem to always be busy in Tanzania - carrying, cooking, collecting water and looking after their babies and the children just seem to buzz around the village playing and getting up to the things that children do. The young girls and boys who are big enough carry water from the springs as part of their chores. The men however seem to live a different life - at least they seem to be on holiday whenever I pass by, and they sit in the shade of their houses while domestic work goes on around them. Not all men are like that of course and Daniel from Mneia near Kondoa works hard with Seppo on his projects and does so with amazing quiet efficiency.

Tosha at the Arusha Masai Cafe

Michael at the Arusha masai Cafe

Of the people in these photographs one of my favorites is Juma also from the village of Mneia - an older man who suddenly spoke to me in very fluent English and with a clarity of mind that too me by surprise. At 70 he is wiry and fit - a farmer in that area and probably one of the elders in the village contributing to local politics and the management of the community. He made me laugh with his comments and agreed for me to take his picture providing he could get a copy. 'Yes of course' I agreed with enthusiasm. 'Will you really send me a picture' he asked. 'I hope you don't have to ask me that question' I answered. (Must do it today so that Seppo can take it to him when he next travels to Kondoa in a few weeks.)