Tangamano

You know those clothes you’ve outgrown or don’t want... the ones that you throw into bags or boxes, drop into bins, donate to the local Diabetes Society, Heart and Lung Society, Children’s Hospital Foundation or Salvation Army? They end up here. They end up here in bales, sorted into bundles of t-shirts, pants, kids clothes, underwear, baby items, socks, blouses, dresses, jackets, bags, miscellaneous toys and so on. Locals BUY these bales for a fixed price from someone – still not sure exactly what the procedure is – and then resell them at the local market for profit. Our old Canadian and American clothes are everywhere.

Today was the big market day, so I headed to “Tangamano,” THE big clothing market in Tanga, in a field near the railway station. The little girls, Saumu, Rachael, Asia and Asma wanted to take me there to see what it was all about and I was keen to pick up a new Kanga to wear around the house (and maybe over my leggings when I go out, if I don’t get laughed at too much). The four girls picked me up at my house and we set out in the midday heat to the market. Chaos ensued all around us, as teenage boys - vendors and shoppers alike - wanted to elicit a sale, or perhaps just a rise out of the seemingly wealthy Muzungu in town. The girls helped me tell them off or keep them at bay (I got a lot of laughs when I’d answer “Hey Muzungu!” with “Hey Muafrica!”) and we managed to have a fun afternoon rifling through piles of clothes for bargain t-shirts. I told the girls I’d give them each 500TSH (less than $0.50 CDN) to pick out one thing of their choice – flip flops, a t-shirt, new socks, whatever. Everyone was thrilled to get a new shirt, but we did have to go through quite a lot of piles of “Blousies” to find the ones they wanted.

Any girls remember those “Jellies” sandals from the early 90’s? Clear rubbery plastic sandals in sparkly pink, yellow, white and so on? The four little girls thought they were the best, and wanted desperately to find a pair in their size – they called them “Bajadi” but couldn’t find their size. A little Random...

Amidst the chaos, and digging through piles of t-shirts and sandals, I spotted all kinds of familiar stuff, earnestly donated by Canadians, to be bought by these poor kids and impoverished families here in Tanzania:

A John Deere trucker hat – I swear my Grandpa has the same one.

A “Teamsters Union Area 110” winter Jacket.

Outdated NHL hockey jerseys.

Harry potter, Hello Kitty, Barney and Tinkerbell backpacks.

A Best Buy “Geek Squad” Uniform T-shirt.

Heaps of Crocs and Old Navy sandals.

A Dominos Pizza Uniform shirt.

That “Shake your Coconuts” purse from the Stupid Factory (Annie, you might remember it)

Star Wars and High School Musical 3 T-shirts.

No one here knows what any of these things are, nor do they care – You need clothing; you buy what’s available. Without caring for brand names or fashion, Saumu bought a pink floral tank top originally from Gap Kids (size 7-8, such a tiny thing for an 11-year old!) for 30 cents, Asma got a tank top from Old Navy for 50 cents and Rachael and Asia each got tank tops from American companies I can’t remember. I got my Kanga (more on these later) and a Kitenge (2 pieces of traditional fabric which are either draped and tied around your body or sewn into skirts, dresses etc.) that I fell in love with... and a nasty sunburn. But all in all, I think we had a pretty great day laughing at our opposing styles and exchanging tiny fragments of each others’ culture.