Articles by Josie van den Hoek

Waiting for the dust to settle

Waiting for the dust to settle. I don’t know if there is an expression for this in Swahili but it certainly seems a relevant and helpful attitude. At the end…


Mbuzi ya Nazi

In my Zanzibar Traditional Cookery book, more than 50 of the 60 recipes contain coconut — or nazi in Swahili. Most probably the coconut tree originates from India and the…


Mzungu, Mzungu!

Some small kids run up and greet me with the words, ‘hé, white person..’ and while the adults sitting around should know better, they do not correct them. Although I…


Call centre customer service

I’ve mentioned my encounters with Dar’s utility providers in previous posts — but this time I tried to call one of them on the telephone. Apparently Tanesco, the power utility…


Toys

Where Fisher Price is not readily available to a majority of people, I see kids playing with an amazing selection of toys. Whatever is found around is being used. Empty…


Mr Azam

One of the friends I can always rely on is Mr Azam, at least that is what I call him. Come rain or shine, weekdays or weekend, he will pass…


Taps closed

There are days when there is an unusual activity around. Early morning, ladies are seen who are all walking in the same direction with large water containers on their heads,…



The best thing to do

Sometimes it seems sleeping is the best thing to do. If there is no work calling at the moment, nothing to eat or drink or any distraction, sleeping is always…


Wait

Before living in Tanzania I didn’t know much about waiting. Coming from a culture where time is time and efficiency supposedly a virtue it is about keeping control of one’s…