I was a rather busy bee last week. I went to the lovely baby shower for K on Tuesday and on Wednesday morning, I attended the South African Women's Group inaugural meeting.
I know, I know...I'm Malaysian, not South African so it might seem like I was crashing the party. In my defense, the organizers (one of whom I'd met through Pinky) were kind enough to let me attend because they feel that their meetings will be helpful to any expat.
I must admit, that despite their reassurance, I did consider running away at the last moment. Luckily I spotted the Bead Queen and K before making an escape so I stayed.
Michelle and Tania, the organizers, were really calm and everything ran smoothly. There were lovely snacks and even lucky draws! Looking at them, you'd never have guessed that they'd never held a SAWG meeting before (I'd have been a bundle of nerves - I'm not very good with crowds)
The speaker of the day was Helen, an Australian lady who has been living in Tanzania for 14 years. She had plenty of advice and a lot of the information was news to me.
For instance, I'd never known that Tanzanian people are largely conservative, even here in the middle of the biggest city. This means that 'revealing' spaghetti straps and low cut blouses are frowned upon. You're also in trouble if you're seen in army/combat pants/tops because only the real military is allowed to wear that (personally, I've never had the inclination to wear combat/military stuff because I think those designs are really unattractive. In fact, I think the military shouldn't have to wear them either!). She told us quite a horrifying tale about how intolerant the Tanzanians are when they believe someone or something is disrespectful of their culture.
A couple of years ago, a South African lady had taken her 11-year-old daughter for a quick shopping session in the middle of town. From what I gathered, the little girl was wearing a sleeveless top and short shorts and because she was an 'early-developer', the locals mistook her for someone a lot older. I believe she wasn't wearing anything under her top and when they saw her they immediately surrounded her and began shouting in Swahili.
This must have truly terrified the mother and the little girl as they did not understand what the crowd was yelling about. Fortunately, a shopkeeper came to their rescue by quickly throwing some cloth over the girl.
Tanzanians are not an aggressive lot so the mom and daughter weren't physically attacked but verbal disapproval, especially from a large crowd, must have been almost as frightening.
I thought back to the times I've been into town and there has been more than one occasion when I've strolled through the streets in a halter dress. I remember people giving me looks but I assumed that it was because they liked my dress (hey, its always good to think positive) plus I'm not 'endowed' enough to be 'spilling' out of the halter and didn't think it would be a problem.
Little did I know that they were probably contemplating telling me of for being a hussy!
From now on - only long pants and tops with sleeves for me since the Fashion Police in Tanzania seem to take their jobs more seriously than the real police!
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