Can you see part of our house through the field of green wheat and all the trees ?
As I mentioned in Monday’s post, we had some visitors on Sunday and after lunch we went for a nice long walk on the farm.
Now, living on a 3500 acre farm in such a remote, beautiful spot, you’d think I go for regular walks and take advantage of the beauty and wide open spaces, wouldn’t you ? But I don’t. The reasons why, might just surprise you …
In most places in remote parts of Africa, if you have a white skin, you are seen as something of a curiosity. Something to be stared at, laughed at, called out to, touched (especially your hair – they are fascinated by this). In some parts, they believe that if you touch a white man, you will be blessed and will have good luck in your life. (This is all by children, I might add.)
Many a time we have been traveling on remote roads and have had to stop for a roadside toilet/food/water/stretch- your-legs break, only to be surrounded, within minutes, by wide eyed children who seem to appear from nowhere, peering at us, laughing, calling out, watching. We have a friend who has been literally mobbed on his motorbike here, when stopping at a remote petrol station for fuel. Surrounded by a sea of people who closed in on him - in awe of the motorbike – wanting to touch it, and the white person on it. A pretty scary (but harmless) experience.
We have staff who live on our farm with their families. We also have people living on the border of our farm. As we have no fences here, we allow people to walk through parts of the farm to get where they need to go. Especially children passing to and from a local school, or fetching water (we have water supply points on the farm for the use of the local people).
When we first moved here, I would strap my daughter (who was then just a newborn baby) into a pouch and with the dogs at my heels, would set off on a walk. Only to be followed by children. First a couple, then a few more. Then even more. At one stage, I had around 12 following me, all shouting “Mzungu ! Mzungu !” (White man ! White man !) and the braver ones would cry “Good Morning, Teacher ! Good Morning Teacher !” and my worst “Mzungu, Mzungu, give us money !” or “Mzungu, Mzungu, give us pens !” (In some parts of Africa, the only white people they see are volunteer/aid workers or missionaries, who give them hand outs so in some places they only equate white people with …. free stuff !)
Of course, this would annoy the dogs who would then chase the kids. I could not hold 4 dogs on a leash, and carry my daughter ! The children would shriek, which would annoy the dogs even more. My daughter would start crying. It was terrible. So, I started walking at times of the day when there were less people around. But there are ALWAYS people around, so that didn’t help. I left the dogs at home. Which encouraged more people to follow me, as they had no fear of the dogs now. So I started taking Justin with me, to control the dogs. Then one day a child threw a stone at the dogs, the dogs chased the kids (3 of them) and as they ran off one tripped, the dogs jumped on him but luckily did not hurt him. That was the last walk I ever took here. It was just not worth it. Now I keep my walks short and stick to the farm workshop/main house/guest house areas.
So on Sunday, as there were 4 adults and 3 children (we had to leave the dogs at home) we had strength in numbers and luckily my husband was with us and no one would dare carry on like that with the “Meneger” (Manager) around. So it was a peaceful walk, and I managed to take some photo’s of the house from a different angle than I normally would.
I love exercise DVD’s, especially Leslie Sansone’s “Walk Away The Pounds” which is basically, indoor walking in front of your TV – sounds crazy, doesn’t it ?! Often, in the middle of one of these workouts I laugh and think to myself, these DVD’s are meant for people living in small spaces and high rise apartment buildings in big cities and I really do wonder what Leslie would say if she knew that she had an avid follower, who lived on a 3500 acre farm in the foothills of Kilimanjaro yet was unable to set foot outside her front door and just ..... WALK !!!!!!
Now, living on a 3500 acre farm in such a remote, beautiful spot, you’d think I go for regular walks and take advantage of the beauty and wide open spaces, wouldn’t you ? But I don’t. The reasons why, might just surprise you …
In most places in remote parts of Africa, if you have a white skin, you are seen as something of a curiosity. Something to be stared at, laughed at, called out to, touched (especially your hair – they are fascinated by this). In some parts, they believe that if you touch a white man, you will be blessed and will have good luck in your life. (This is all by children, I might add.)
Many a time we have been traveling on remote roads and have had to stop for a roadside toilet/food/water/stretch- your-legs break, only to be surrounded, within minutes, by wide eyed children who seem to appear from nowhere, peering at us, laughing, calling out, watching. We have a friend who has been literally mobbed on his motorbike here, when stopping at a remote petrol station for fuel. Surrounded by a sea of people who closed in on him - in awe of the motorbike – wanting to touch it, and the white person on it. A pretty scary (but harmless) experience.
We have staff who live on our farm with their families. We also have people living on the border of our farm. As we have no fences here, we allow people to walk through parts of the farm to get where they need to go. Especially children passing to and from a local school, or fetching water (we have water supply points on the farm for the use of the local people).
When we first moved here, I would strap my daughter (who was then just a newborn baby) into a pouch and with the dogs at my heels, would set off on a walk. Only to be followed by children. First a couple, then a few more. Then even more. At one stage, I had around 12 following me, all shouting “Mzungu ! Mzungu !” (White man ! White man !) and the braver ones would cry “Good Morning, Teacher ! Good Morning Teacher !” and my worst “Mzungu, Mzungu, give us money !” or “Mzungu, Mzungu, give us pens !” (In some parts of Africa, the only white people they see are volunteer/aid workers or missionaries, who give them hand outs so in some places they only equate white people with …. free stuff !)
Of course, this would annoy the dogs who would then chase the kids. I could not hold 4 dogs on a leash, and carry my daughter ! The children would shriek, which would annoy the dogs even more. My daughter would start crying. It was terrible. So, I started walking at times of the day when there were less people around. But there are ALWAYS people around, so that didn’t help. I left the dogs at home. Which encouraged more people to follow me, as they had no fear of the dogs now. So I started taking Justin with me, to control the dogs. Then one day a child threw a stone at the dogs, the dogs chased the kids (3 of them) and as they ran off one tripped, the dogs jumped on him but luckily did not hurt him. That was the last walk I ever took here. It was just not worth it. Now I keep my walks short and stick to the farm workshop/main house/guest house areas.
So on Sunday, as there were 4 adults and 3 children (we had to leave the dogs at home) we had strength in numbers and luckily my husband was with us and no one would dare carry on like that with the “Meneger” (Manager) around. So it was a peaceful walk, and I managed to take some photo’s of the house from a different angle than I normally would.
I love exercise DVD’s, especially Leslie Sansone’s “Walk Away The Pounds” which is basically, indoor walking in front of your TV – sounds crazy, doesn’t it ?! Often, in the middle of one of these workouts I laugh and think to myself, these DVD’s are meant for people living in small spaces and high rise apartment buildings in big cities and I really do wonder what Leslie would say if she knew that she had an avid follower, who lived on a 3500 acre farm in the foothills of Kilimanjaro yet was unable to set foot outside her front door and just ..... WALK !!!!!!
