So as usual I asked a lot of questions and wrote everything down. I felt like an interviewer when speaking to the chief but I was curious. (The chief BTW is the litte man in the picture below the group one) His name is Pamphil B. Shayo, Chief Karikacho Village, the chief gets voted in by the members of the several political parties that live in Moshi area. There are 18 parties that have 2900 people - he is the chief to all. His primary job is as arbitrator, if there is a dispute in the town they go to him to resolve it (it is easy to see why, he is very unassuming and seems laid back yet wise). He has been chief for 2 periods, each period is 5 years long and the limit is 5 periods. For 3 weeks before the election he campaigns by holding meetings in the village where he says that he says ' remember what I did for you here?' :). He also helps with development changes and theifs ( kinda of like a detective is someone accuses another).
side note: The word for theif is mwizi and since theives aren't held in prison fairly if you ever yell mwizi! if someone has stolen something from you, you (as a foreigner) will be sorry b/c the community may chase him, catch him and beat him to death in front of you. Before it wasn't like this we were told.
He showed us how they make banana beer - boiling the bananas then setting them out to dry/ferment for 5 days then put in clear water for 2 days where they are strained and sold as beer.
While in the village we went to a disabled woman's house who had a mentally ill child. I lady unrelated to her was chopping wood for her. This is how Tanzanians are. Tanzanians do not loan money, for them if a community member needs food, or money and clothing they just give it to them and they don't expect it be ever returned. They know now that mzungus think differently but people might try to cheat you by not showing up after you've 'lent' them something.
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