The Prosper Connection and the Haven of Peace

Trip Start Jan 10, 2006
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Trip End Jun 02, 2006


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Thursday, April 6, 2006

The bus from Mbeya went through incredible mountain passes, enough maize, a nice national park (I saw giraffes, zebras, elephants, antelope, and a baboon from the bus), and, when we finally got down to the coastal lowlands, the most striking and mature edible forest landscape I've ever seen. The big trees - coconut, mango, avacado, guava, cashew - were huge, easily the biggest I've ever seen of these species. I'm sure these coconuts regularly kill and injure people and animals when they fall. They towered over papaya, banana, cassava, sugarcane, legumes, rice and vegetables. Homes and business were clustered or scattered about the fruity shade. I was reminded of the descriptions of pre-colonial Amerikan woodland, which had an open understory under giant nut trees and resembled a park landscape more than the dense regrowth that we think of as forest today. I felt like I was traveling along the Nile in ancient Egypt.

I wanted to get off the bus, but I didn't know how far we were from Dar es Salaam. As we approached the city, the fruit-and-people mosaic slowly became more urbanized. When I finally arrived, I was pleasantly unhassled by people looking for mzungu money. In fact, everyone seems very content around here, just peacefully minding their business. I called Prosper. He said he'd pick me up in 5 or 10. I watched the sun set.

It was just about a year ago that I met Noel in the Mars Music Superstore in north county. I was shopping for some d.j. equipment when we got to talking about reggae. It turned out that he was a Chagga brother from Dar es Salaam. I told him about my first trip to Tanzania and how I planned to visit the Chagga again very soon. He graciously gave me his cell number and offered me hospice with his family (they sounded wealthy) if and when I got to Tanzania. I called about him 6 months later when I was planning my itenerary for this trip. He invited me to his house in Florissant where we exchanged some music and tips on traveling into Afrika. He gave me the number of his brother, Prosper, in Dar es Salaam. I called Prosper before leaving and told him I wouldn't be there until April. His only instructions were to call him when I got there and to bring him some X-Box games.

And sure enough, Prosper picked me up. He took me to a restaurant on the beach and bought me fish and chips and tonic water. It had been a long time since I'd seen the Indian Ocean.

Prosper in the oldest of his brothers (Prosper, Noel , Raymond and Alan) and sister (Violet). He lived in St. Louis for 7 years until their mother died of a heart attack just about a year ago. He has a girlfriend and toddler son in St. Louis. His girlfriend won't believe him when he tells her what a nice time they would have living in Tanzania. Since he's the oldest and their mother has passed away, when Prosper marries, his wife will be the new matriarch of the family. He told his father that she was coming to visit and that she couldn't drive a stick, so his father bought an automatic for just for her. She never came.

I got to see the family photo albums. The best picture was of Prosper's great, great grandfather, who was living happily and climbing trees on the slopes of Kilimanjaro until he died recently at the ripe age of 125.

The fruit basket on their table always has bananas in it (bananas are the staple food of the Chagga), and they're the biggest bananas I've ever seen. I found a copy of Back to Eden (the classic herb guide) in their prayer room, and, on their book shelf, was a copy of Medicinal Plants of East Africa by J. O. Kokwaro.

On my way, I was feeling bad about not bringing any X-Box games as Prosper requested, but he said he blew up his X-Box some months ago along with the voltage adapter.
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