Lessons from the Boys of Mbamba Bay

After getting a couple of weeks of actual work under our belts, it seemed about time for a vacation…Actually the other young volunteers in Hanga were taking one, and we graciously accepted their offer to join. Thus, we literally just returned from Mbamba Bay (the Tanzanian side of Lake Nyasa aka Lake Malawi). We had been told it was gorgeous there, and it turns out that people were right. In exciting news, I did get some sweet pictures. In less exciting news, none of you will see said pictures until my internet situation changes.
(First of all, for the Great American Influence:
I saw a Brian Griese Denver Broncos jersey, but that was a little out of place relative to these next three. I spotted a Charles Barkley Suns jersey, a Detlef Schrempf jersey, and a Jason Kidd jersey from the first time he was on the Mavericks! That’s on its way to becoming a pretty good 1990’s starting 5 with Griese as the waterboy.)
It was great to have a weekend to just see the beautiful sites of this wonderful country and to get away from the monastery (although we did go with two monks to make life easier) and to have a little time where we could just hang out as young adults (aka kids are great, but we needed a break from them)…Or did we?!
Again, the views were spectacular, and swimming felt great in the midst of this scorching hot time, but ironically, it was the children of Mbamba Bay that really made the trip what it was. Of course, Mike and I went on a pretty great mini-hike up some rocks today and got to a point where we could see the beautiful lake to the left and right of us and saw an 18 inch lizard and bunches of monkeys in close proximity on our way back. But again, these sites had nothing on the ridiculousness of these kids. Without further ado, the following are the tales of the lessons we learned from the young boys we met at the two beaches we went to this weekend.
Lesson 1: Those who can kind of do, attempt to teach and end up learning from the people they tried to teach.
The first day at the beach kids slowly started gathering near us, especially as we started tossing a Frisbee. Naturally, we encouraged them to join. Even though they were probably ranging from about 4 to 10, some of them could really throw. All of a sudden, when the Frisbee craze was kind of dying out, I saw a kid make a half-hearted attempted at a handstand. Perfect! This is my chance! We had already greeted them and asked their names, so further Swahili conversation was out of the question, but we could still talk through silliness. If you are thinking the handstand attempt specifically was perfect because of my math class antics…you are incorrect, although that does mean you’ve been reading carefully, so thanks! Actually, headstand competitions are a staple during our annual Cooper Crew camping gathering at the beach. I often get pretty dominated in said competition, but I have been studying the form of one Jake Kappel, and I was confident that I could teach these kids how to do a good headstand/at least make a fool of myself and get them to do the same.
So, I hopped to it, knelt down, put my head and hands in the sand, put my knees on my elbows, and straightened my legs into the air for a solid two seconds before flopping over into the water! By the time I got the water out of my eyes, there were three kids doing headstands as stiff as a board. Clearly, they were showing me how it was done. In honor of the Cooper Crew, we had a contest, and I lasted for about 2 seconds (I was pleased). One kid lasted like 12 seconds. What happened next was one of those “this can’t be real life” moments. The third and final member of this contest was a kid no older than four that kind of looked like he still had some baby fat (honestly, he looked like a toddle Ice Cube). He assumed headstand position and held it, and held it, and held it. We were counting in Swahili, and we got to the point where they switched for English for me because the numbers were too high! When he got to a minute I put the Frisbee on his perfectly flat feet and he started laughing and fell. The kid lasted a minute! Oh yeah, and he was naked! A lot of the kids took off their clothes to go swimming, so this wasn’t relatively out of the ordinary. However, as he neared a minute, it hit me that I could now say I’ve seen a naked Tanzanian boy do a headstand for a minute, and that’s just crazy!
Lesson 2: Don’t rock the boat.
As our first day at the beach neared an end, our new young friends wanted to thank us for playing with them, teaching them to throw a Frisbee, and getting worked at headstands, so they offered us some boat rides. When I say boat, I mean hollowed out log with sticks as paddles. Yep, that happened. My hips were too wide to fit into this log (too much rice!), so I balanced my bottom on the two sides…for a while. Then I proceeded to tip the boat. They kind of laughed, but then I realized how much trouble I caused them. They don’t have a fancy system to get the water out of the boat. They tip it up, and then they move it side to side as water slowly splashes out. Luckily, it turns out the Frisbee is a great scooper, and they had the boat ready for a much more successful round two in no time. Again, just a generally ridiculous experience.
Lesson 3: How to eat an unripe mango.
I love mangoes! Mangoes are all over this country! The only problem is that we are still a month or two away from mango season. That didn’t stop the kids at our second beach. They munched on mangoes throughout the day, so Mike and I finally approached with our own mini-mangoes from the tree and asked if they’d show how they eat them.
Step 1: Hit the tip against a rock.
Step 2: Bite off and spit out tip.
Step 3: Find a good stick that has spoon and knife-like qualities, and dig out the pit as best you can.
Step 4: Wash the partially hollowed mango in the lake (you know, the lake where people swim, wash themselves, wash their clothes, and relieve themselves).
Step 5: Break the mango in half.
Step 6: Use your stick to scoop out the salvageable and incredibly bitter bits of mango that do exist and enjoy!
It may not have been the most sanitary, but it was a good taste of what’s to come, it was a great skill to learn, and, as usual, the kids got a good laugh out of the deal.
Lesson 4: As usual, be thankful!
This whole experience has given me countless reasons to be thankful every single day so far. Some of the things I’m thankful for relate to how lucky I am to have this experience, and some of them related to how lucky I have been to have grown up where I did and been surrounded by the wonderful people I have been. The lessons and sites of this weekend were both ridiculous and beautiful, and it all reminded me, once again, to be thankful for the present moment and the life I have. Many of these kids looked like they don’t necessarily eat much more than these mangoes on a given day, and I couldn’t help but wonder where they go at night, what they do eat, what they’ll do when they grow up, and who they have that cares for them. I am so blessed to have so many wonderful people in my life, and I just can’t stop thinking about how lucky I am for that.
Anyway, I hope this goofy/suddenly somewhat sentimental blog has, if nothing else, prepared you for mango season!