Sarakasi Mama Afrika

Today was Eleanor's 10 month birthday- so we took her to the circus. Yes, the circus "Mama Afrika" was in town, complete with a big-top round tent and buttery popcorn. So we made the trip across town and through the rain to lay down our $15 and join the other 40 members of the audience for what turned out to be a spectacular show. It was a shame about the attendance because the tent looked equipped to handle about 400-500 and our applause, no matter how vigorous, never seemed to amount to much in the way of volume.

The show included gymnasts, magicians, clowns, jugglers, a contortionist, and a unicyclist. All were supremely talented, save perhaps the head clown who seemed more well suited for the djimbe. Attendance has been consistently low, or so we've heard from other ex-pats- and this may explain the performers' enthusiasm and apparent gratitude despite playing for only one row of viewers.

Including concessions, I can't see how the house brought in more than $500...half the cost of our used camera and lens. The show was two hours long and the performers had to set up and break down all of the equipment they used. They would finish their routine, take a bow, and run back stage as the lights dimmed only to reappear moments later under the cover of darkness to disassemble and remove their own props.

From the announcer's garbled declarations the performers were from Tanzania, mostly from Dar. I can't stress enough how enthusiastic they were. Certainly more so than the Tanzanian members of the audience, many of whom seemed curiously reluctant to smile or applaud. The tent itself was surrounded by the day's rain and rickety planks conveyed us from the ticket booth to the tent.

Eleanor, who seemed to be as impressed by the assemblage of chairs as she was by anything in the show, was a trooper for nearly two hours while mom and dad passed her back and forth. Kiyah pointed out that when Eleanor grabbed at chair backs and seats to support her various maneuverings, small finger prints would be left in the thick film of dust that had accumulated- a testament to the paucity of visitors and abundance of filth in the city air.

- tdb