The Role Play

The road into Likamba village can be dusty! It’s actually a clay track and sometimes the dust is a foot deep – I often had to put the little Maruti into four wheel drive with dust billowing up in front and flowing down the windscreen like cascading rain!

It causes erosion because the wind blows the dust away or the rain washes into waterways. A cattle track that joins the road has been eroded ten feet deep, so cattle now pass through a gorge.

My co-worker, Joshia rightly counselled that it was protocol to advise the village government, and the central government representative, titled ‘the village executive officer’, if we were going to work in their village. The tribes in the area are Maasai and Arusha so there was an additional protocol of advising the tribal elders.

We already had a good relationship with the village executive officer whose father had worked in forestry and his side-line living was coppicing Eucalyptus trees, to sell off the harvested poles.

A meeting was planned and we arrived in the village office on time, but the elders straggled in slowly because their journey was on foot. The last arrival usually has the most importance [or self-importance] and whoever happened to be the seat that he wanted, has to meekly vacate it.

The introductions reminded me of an old union meeting with an oiyae called out after each person said his name and where he came from. I got mine when I told them who I was.

Joshia asked the meeting to speak in Swahili because I did not understand their tribal language – actually I was still new to Swahili and so struggled to understand.

Mostly the elders stuck to their Maasai, and the meeting was a bit animated for Joshia to be able to adequately translate what was said, but the body language and what I picked up was that they didn’t want us in the village planting trees. They grew wheat for the brewery and trees were a home for the birds that damaged their crops.

Joshia’s shoulders slumped as he was unable to make headway in the debate.

Out of politeness he asked me to address the meeting, expecting my usual, ‘Up the environment and plant plenty of trees.’ 

I greeted the meeting and asked Joshia to stand up straight.

I patted his hair and told the meeting that the top of his head was a farm in Likamba village.

The farmer had cleared the land and tilled the soil ready for sowing and gone to town to buy his expensive maize seed.

I told them I was the wind and have come to disturb the soil, and I nudged Joshia with my shoulder, enough to put him off balance.

But now, the wind has become angry and strong! I pushed Joshia [he didn’t know this would happen] and he nearly fell over. The meeting laughed.

I called up the tardiest of the elders and asked him his name, but I said I’m changing it to Mjohoro [a common tree] and said that his arms were roots of the tree, I asked him to hold on to the soil [Joshia].

Likewise with the village executive officer and the village chairman.

Again I told them I am still the angry wind, and tried to push Joshia again, but [human nature prevailing] they were determined to show their strength and I could not push him at all.

I told them without the tree roots, their soil’s fertility will blow away to Kenya!

Plant trees to prevent erosion.

The meeting laughed and applauded. I asked Joshia to explain that birds are going to visit looking for food, because that is what birds do. A healthy environment includes all creatures and plants – it is Nature. There is no concept in Swahili for Mother Nature, so it is ‘God’.

We were given permission to carry out an environmental programme, including tree planting at the primary school and within the village.

This little role play was a spur of the moment idea when I noticed Joshia’s shoulders slump, thankfully my Swahili sufficed! The role play became a core part of all our future seminars and environmental programmes.

Joshia insisted that the role play should be my part during every seminar, because it was good for my Swahili and it showed empathy with the local people.

School kids came to know the role play off by heart and there was always a little stir when they thought I was going to perform it for them. They all were all budding actors.

The seminars that Hifadhi had been delivering put the adult participants to sleep, so we had to jazz things up to create interest – especially because we were targeting school kids.