Candlelight and Khangas

This is going to be a post of dark pictures. Terribly sorry for my photography skills.

So I happen to come home one evening to no power and no water. I decided to make a moment of it and post it on my blog. This picture actually gives a pretty good impression of my life here: that's my little table where I keep my computer; that's my huge bucket of peanut butter because I couldn't cook anything without water; that's my book of Sudoku (ah, sudoku and candlelight...); and those are my candles that I bought for maybe 10 cents each. They're stuck in empty bottles because I couldn't come up with a reason to spend money on candlesticks (but, so you know, those bottles are from a friend. I don't drink here!) It happened that I bought the candles not thinking I would need to use them, and so I forgot to get matches, too. When I realized that I thought "well, I probably won't need them" (I hadn't turned on any lights by then) but something told me I should go buy matches before it got dark out. Thank you, God!

These are two of my beautiful khanga. I thought at first that three would be enough, but when I think about how much I love them and how I'm likely never going to be back to Tanzania, I think one for every day of the week might be better. Or I might get two for every day of the week, just in case I want to wear a different one in the morning than in the evening. : ) These pictures show the center print and then the border. I didn't take pictures of the words, but on every khanga, centered above the bottom border, is a saying in Swahili. The khanga below says "God is Great" and the khanga above says "There is no God like you" (not that it particularly matters, but the Swahili is the Christian God). When the khanga is wrapped (like a sarong) then the words hit mid-calf on the back of ones' legs. I put a pair of shorts on underneath them and wear them around the house kinda like sweatpants, only much better. You're supposed to get the edges hemmed but I haven't yet (they are printed in big long rolls, and then cut apart. When you buy a khanga for about 5000Tsh, you get two pieces: one to wrap around your waist and one to wear as a shawl. You then have to cut the two pieces apart yourself and get them hemmed).


It's interesting how khanga can be a social commentary: everyone on the streets wear them (and one thing I will tell you about fashion in Africa: NO ONE is afraid to mix prints, stripes, plaids, and everything in between!) and you see them all over. I was speaking with my landlady, however, and she said that a lot of the businesswomen in Arusha refuse to wear them. I'm not sure if her statement is correct or not, but it introduces an interesting socio-economic flavor to the mix.

You can get khanga in practically every color and with any number of sayings on them--many are religious, like mine, but not all. The patterns vary from flowers to simple designs to Obama's face (not sure whether I'm going to get one of those...) There are lots of corn patterns and chicken patterns and nature patterns. I think they are so beautiful!