This is a mobile market! These guys have probably just come from Tangamano- the second hand market I previously told you about. It is held on Tues, Thurs and Sat and hence today is Thurs approx. 4 pm which is when most people collect their goods and head home. Mr. Ndauka took this photo as they were passing by. The guy caring the board on his back is carrying items such as sunglasses, belts, hats and other items which are most likely Chinese made and purchased cheaply beacuse of the outsourcing of labor to the Chinese has lead to contracts here which are trade agreements. It goes something like this; the Chinese do much construction here and in exchange for this their goods are shipped here at low rates and put to the market. This can also be seen in the fishing industry whereas the coastal regions are not protected for local fishermen- and the huge Chinese boats are allowed to fish right up to the shore- using nettting practices and such that rob the local fisherman...this is a subject not open for discussion here... Environmental conservation is a subject that I will write in further detail about at a later time but it is taboo here in the sense that no one talks about what is going on or how the local people are being robbed by these dangerous practices...it is hard for me to bite my tongue on this issue here as well, but it is somewhat dangerous to have an opinion on it. The other goods sold are second hand and come from thrift stores in the U.S. and Europe. These are commercial goods these guys are carrying, but often you will see people coming from the produce markets carrying goods in this manner or in HUGE woven baskets, made of sisal, carrying their harvest on their bicycles or their heads.
This is a photo of a local woman who has just collected firewood and is carrying it back to her house most likely. Either for personal consumption to use as cooking firewood, or for a building structure or perhaps she will sell it. She is approx. 50-60 years old and still doing this type of labor is not uncommon for even older women.
This woman was walking with the other woman in the above photo. As you can see, their type of dress is called a "kanga" and it is a sheet of material with bright prints and wrapped around the body as a skirt on the lower half and a matching, or not matching material is wrapped around the head in a number of different ways. One way is to wrap it around in the traditional Muslim style, another way is to wrap it with a circle in the back, like a bun, or another way is to wrap it and tuck both ends under one another and it looks like a turban, but more stylish. Yesterday I saw a kanga with the print of President Kikwete's face on it, others are for the CCM party, others are brightly colored fruits or vegetables and still others are animal print. The newer fashion is to use this type of material but have a tailor make it into a more modern style dress...it looks very nice and it is pretty cheap to have a dress tailor-made. All along the street sides you will see both women and men sitting behind foot-pump sewing machines, making beautiful dresses or fixing school uniforms, or making handbags or seat covers...you can have pretty much anything sewn here. Yiu can even take them a photo of something from a magazine, let's say a dress style you particularly like, and then chose the material, they will take your measurments and you will have exactly what you want in a few days. I have not tried it yet, as you have to be recommended to a specific tailor to ensure it is done properly and I have not done so yet...but I'm sure I will before i come home.
This is a picture of the word "Toledo" which is written at the Toledo Secondary School. It is done with white and green flowers and previously mentioned from the other photo captions :)