I am just home to the land of hot showers, espresso, clean water, and hot showers. To be honest, I would return to my village in a heartbeat. If you would like to sponsor $7000 for my travel and accommodations, kindly let me know. Otherwise I will be grant searching.
The first thing I can say is that cognitively you can understand the notion of poverty. To see it in real life, however, is another thing entirely. In fact, I’m having a few issues with my ideas of corporal punishment. For me, it used to be sexy play. Then there was the day when I saw a 3 year old girl misbehave in a typical way and her teacher twisted her cheek as a punishment. But the girl didn’t cry or react and it was perhaps in this way that I related. As a result, her teacher close fisted punched her in the face leaving her with a bloody nose. I watched late students take a switch to the back of their palm for being 3 minutes late to class.
As bad as this could be, I also had to realize that a beating at the school was the least of their problems. Starvation is a major problem. I saw tiny watoto (babies) with large distended bellies and navels the size of a spigot-a clear sign of parasites and malnutrition. How do you help them all? How do you solve the problems of the world?
At the same time, how do I reconcile my own feelings? An NGO I worked with was thrilled that I would go to secondary schools to talk about HIV/AIDS, relationships, and sexuality. The leader was a local native and loaded me with condoms to distribute to the students who internationally think a condom demo on a banana is hilarious and are afraid to go buy condoms from a store. The average age of intercourse there is 12. In America it is 17. The students loved the presentation. I spent an hour later answering questions and handing out my email for any follow questions.
Then I had to meet with the headmaster. This is where the story is supposed to get sexy, right? A spanking or a caning for teaching the sordid subject if sex to secondary students whose ages range from 15-23 (primary students are taught really basic English, much the way I learned to count to 10 in Spanish and say, ”Hola! Me llama Maggie Mayhem. Soy de Los Estados Unidos.”) Secondary students are taught entirely in English and the dropout rate is astronomical. Imagine leaning chemistry or physics in a language you barely understand. At aby rate, despite the encouragement of my boss I had severely violated a taboo. I was sent to the headmaster’s office. As he screamed at me in English and Swahili I realized that if I were his wife, his student, or his daughter (all of which I am of the appropriate age for Tanzania) that he would have beaten the crap out of me. I could see he was on the verge of it. His fists were bound. It was my mzungu status that saved me, For the first time, I was afraid.
When you think of corporal punishment in a fetish context it is an 18+ age school girl. It isn’t a 2-3 year old child. It isn’t a wife. It isn’t a daughter. I have enough fetish knowledge to know the pain of a switch on the palm. I know the pain of a beating. I know the vital need for aftercare. All of this leaves me with unresolved questions about what my life means.
But not all was bad! I realized that I didn’t need many of the things I brought. Some other volunteers left things behind as well. One girl was so tiny her pants fit a young boy thrilled to wear some camo pants. I had purchased a brand new set of socks for my trip that I never used. What was the point of bringing home my soap, my shampoo, my razors, my shirts, or my sneakers? I had also purchased a coscto sized container or bandages of all sizes, neosporin, 3 bottles of Pepto, and a ton a multivitamins. I could get all of these things in the US so I left them behind. As it is, I want to send more, but there is a lot of government corruption and these items are stolen. Then only way to be sure they reach the people who need them is to give it to them in person. I repeat, if you have cash on hand and want to send me back with backpacks for school children , clothes, or medicine please let me know.
I also got to visit a crocodile farm. For anyone who has ever purchased crocodile shoes or purses, this is where they come from. They are bred in captivity for these purposes. I saw about 200 in concrete cage like things. They ever had trees for the birds that clean crocodile teeth for the meat. If you feel bad, think about where you get your leather. It comes from a farm where cows are raised for their leather. At least these guys aren’t hunted in the wild and they lead a good life.
And I was the only one brave enough to hold a baby croc. That’s because I’m hardcore like that.
The life of a rasta is the punk rock of Tanzania. They are school dropouts who make art for a living. Some of these guys dyed their chicks blue so that they would not be confused with others.
The Indian Ocean is warm and has a huge fishing industry. I ate a lot of fish while I was there, although I sent a private thank you to the priests who gave me the blessing of St. Blaise, the patron saint of throat ailments (choking) because of all the tiny bones. This is a picture of an old Dhow which used to make the trek out to Zanzibar which can just barely be seen on the horizon. Some tourists try to use them, but they tend to die. They aren’t too reliable.
Oh, and we had fun at the bars. With a beer costing maybe $0.70 it was easy to get drunk. This is me with a local Rasta dancing. I got a nice tan everywhere but my legs. Muslim regulations require that everything above the knees be covered. I look a little misplaced.
Expect more from me about the sexuality of the culture I lived in. I’m still on Tanzania time and here it is 4:00AM. I always write.
Wow, what a GREAT story. Definitely looking forward to part. I've been a fan for a while, but you're reaching a new level here, Maggie.I'm telling people to come here and read this. See my comment post here: http://chross.blogt.ch/forum/read.php?2,1035,2930#msg-2930I notice your server is slow. Must be because of the massive traffic this post is generating
Thank you for such a wonderful post. It was very insightful and hopefully more people will read this to find out what's going on over there. Take care, Kara XO
Maggie, what a wonderful post, you are quite something.Excellent work you are doing, sometimes we forget.I suspect that things will improve when woman can control their own sexuality.I love the interview as I have said on Zille's blog.Warm hugs,Paul.
I'm so glad you're home safe (despite having to leave for reasons)!I missed your blog while you were away
Maggie,This post would make a great entry in Nicholas Kristof's latest contest. He's a columnist and writer for the NY Times and often writes on developing world issues. He had a great series a while back in which he wrote about buying the freedom of a couple of SE Asian sex slaves and setting them up in stable situations in home villages and how that went. Here's the link to his contest. Good luck! You may need to open a free account to access the site: http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/19/drumrollnow-the-half-the-sky-contest/
hi mags[your new nickname from me if you don't mind]great post. my internet service has been wonky at best] and i sent a rather too long message yesterday somewhere into the ether.if i had $7,000 you would be on your way. alas no one with the capacity to use money has any.try and get in touch tho, i have an idea for a grant for you. see if you can find my earlier message.that's it for nowddon
To Karl, Kara and Jessica, Paul, Kay (my love), and Dan-Thanks for the kind words (and Karl, for your excellent advice). This is what makes it possible for me to keep taking these trips. I actually left out some of the really gruesome details that I'll be sharing later. Thanks for all of your kind words. My readers rock!
Welcome back. I'd love to hear more about your trip. Do write more about it, please.
You are truly cute and sexy, but that's just the icing on a very brave, smart, liberated, empowered, dedicated, genuine, and generous cookie with a rich flavor of vitality.You are simply amazing, and I don't doubt that you will do much good in this world.
I just surfed into your blog tonight, and have been entranced. Congrats on your awesome self.The pictures in this post are where you look the most beautiful.
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