Coffee and Culture

Hello again! 

Make sure to fasten your seatbelts on this one, we are going on an adventure.

So this is what you missed,

Saturday we went to the Arusha Cultural Heritage Centre, and might I add that it has the equivalent feeling of being at a zoo.  There were statues of all sorts of African wildlife throughout the center.  There was even a spice center! Maybe that is a common thing, but I was enthralled! 

Loving the elephant

The place had an art gallery you could get into for free and admire all the beautiful art and history within the building.  Cool fact about the building is that it was engineered to resemble three important artifacts of Africa: a spear, a shield, and a drum. The spear represents pride. The shield represents bravery. The drum represents harmony. 

Cultural Center.

It was so interesting to walk alone and explore all the beauty in art in silence. Now art is for everyone, but you don't have to go in observing the brush strokes, or the symmetry, or analyze why everything is where it is.  Rather, what I did was just appreciate that the art exists for what it is.  There are so many things to see in the gallery, from old statues that represent guardians for African tribes, to modern artists painting realistic human portraits, to 14-foot tall statutes that implement a mold of Africans formed together as one being. On a personal note, this moment was a huge moment for me. All those single people, or introverted people, or people who just need alone time out there, go to an art gallery, swear yourself to silence, and allow yourself to soak up what it feels like to be an individual, to worry about only yourself, and be glad you are doing something for you.  It will be rewarding.  If you're married, drag your spouse with you to one and enjoy what culture has to offer.

The centre is a for-profit organization that is run off of the many wealthy tourists coming into buy paintings or art. They also had an old, dusty flea market that was basically an old warehouse full of old dusty things where I found this really heavy, but cool old elephant body mask....I was very tempted to get it, but there was no way I was going to fit it into my suitcase. 

Can you tell this is me? 

Recycled bottles at Shanga Shangaa

The next thing we went to was Shanga Shangaa, which stands for "amazing beads." This place is also a for-profit organization, but the cool thing about it is that it employs disabled people to create all kinds of glamorous jewelry, candle holders, glasses, "lady gaga" shoes, and even pillow pets!

They have pillow pets in Africa too

Making kangas.

We ate amazing food that was completely American and touristy. They had an awesome lounge area where we saw baby monkeys galore! That's right!

Be jealous! We learned about the coffee plantation that has 2,500 coffee bean trees to ever hectare, which produce 2,000 coffee beans per tree per year. Their coffee is good; you probably drank it at Starbucks this year. It was such a peaceful time to be a tourist.

Coffee beans start like this.

Then we went to a Lutheran church on Sunday, obviously, and it was entirely Swahili and was entirely traditional. There was a lot of standing and sitting, and we even took communion. Keep in mind that the wine was...very alcoholic and...I am not a drinker, so I tried very hard to keep it down. I was amazed with how well I caught up with the sermon and he preached a lot about how God heals the sick. An interesting thought was that they had an auction after the service, for when people can't bring money for offerings, they bring food and sell it. The choir was very angelic too and it was a very peaceful time to just sit in the presence of God.

Coffee Beans

There were so many things we have done the past few days, however I bid everyone a quick goodbye and know that I am sending my love from Africa and will return with more stories. Keep in mind. Make time for yourself.

Love from Africa 

Jax