The Ebullient Mama Anna

The big adventure of the first day in Tanzania was the trip up to Mama Anna’s. What an adventure it was for the humans, but I hated it. Being jostled and thrown around in a van is not my idea of something fun or dignified. The narrow red clay, stone sprinkled, rutted way up the shoulder of Mt. Meru was not what I’d call a road at all The van vaulted, slipped, jumped, halted and lurched its way for about an hour and all the time the humans were laughing and joking while I was constantly picking myself off the floor of the van or trying to get a purchase on someone’s lap or the car seat. Strangely enough, no one wanted to let me get a good hold on their legs with my claws so I could stop all that falling around. Even my own humans were callous about my efforts to get a secure perch. Sometimes they even screamed and slapped at me I wondered what had happened to these creatures who are usually so considerate of me Their loud noises added to the general discomfort of the trip too. You know, we cats are quiet and react poorly to loud sounds!

Oh well, we finally made it to the proposed destination despite all the pitfalls. However, I wished they had left me behind at the lodge where I could have examined every enticing flick of a tail or wing in complete comfort.

This was definitely an experience for humans only my feline sensibilities couldn’t have been less interested. However, here’s a brief report anyway just for the sake of completeness.

Mama Anna is an enterprising entrepreneur who has created a business for herself and a small community of other ladies to support their families and contribute to their school and health care facility. She taught herself to make cheeses in the Swiss manner and supplies local restaurants during the dry season when her product can be brought to market down that so-called road.

During rainy periods, it is just about impossible to get her products to market. She and the other ladies also raise coffee and process it themselves for local sale Vegetables are grown as well and the ladies take those to the restaurants and local markets as well. Her most ambitious project however is the linkage she has created with the tourist industry, her best client being Overseas Adventure Travel.

OAT pays her little cooperative to demonstrate the methods of coffee processing, cheese making, and other crafts for tourists who come up to visit The humans were served some goodies made with Mama Anna’s products as well as tea and coffee and were given a taste of the wild honey they take from their own apiaries. The ladies do not risk working with the infamous “killer bees” of Africa; instead, they provide homes fashioned from split logs that attract a gentle stingless bee. The honey tastes as if some spice like cinnamon has been added (but nothing has been) and it is not as sweet as the honey we are used to at home.

We learned an interesting cultural factoid from our visit to Mama Anna’s women in Tanzanian society are always given the honorific “Mama” when they reach adulthood (rather like our Ma’am perhaps). Once they have a child, their full title includes the name of their first born, regardless of sex. So Mama Anna’s first child was named Anna and if her first had been a boy named William, she would ever afterwards be called Mama William.

The ladies of our tour group were outfitted in typical African sarong-type garments, patterns so vibrant with flowers and birds the pupils of my eyes went all “slitty.”

Then they were shown how to pound coffee to remove the outer two shells, then how to roast it, and then how to grind it into powder. They all took turns trying to master these skills.

Some of them took a turn at churning milk into butter. (I thought what a waste of good milk kept hoping some would leak from the churn, but it didn’t and I was getting thirsty too but in Africa cats are supposed to earn their keep no freebies for me.)

Mama Anna and her ladies also demonstrated how the elegant African ladies carry such heavy loads on their head with such grace. They balanced bananas “hands,” water buckets, wood, and trays to the great appreciation of our group. Then the intrepid ones tried to imitate the skills with varying degrees of success but with much laughter all around.

Mama Anna and her ladies were so warm and welcoming everyone enjoyed trying some African dances and learning about her ambitious project. We all wished her well but wished that she were not so dependent on tourism which can be so unreliable. Economic downturns affect it as does the whim of the tour directors and guides. Mama Anna needs a local customer base for her products, letting tourist visits be her gravy rather than her meat and potatoes.