On foot: Philippines in Tanzania

The Filipino Community in Tanzania (FCT)

Last weekend, Saturday night (11 June), I was with fellow Filipinos to celebrate our Independence Day. The FCT (Filipino Community in Tanzania) was the organizer. Based on our History; the first Philippine declaration of Independence Day was on 12 June 1898 (113 years ago) – the independence of the Philippine islands from the colonial rule of Spain (Philippines was under the colony of Spain for more than 300 years but defeated during the Spanish-American war - the reason why Americans are always the hero of some Filipinos).

In Tanzania, Filipino community celebrates this day yearly and that night was the 21^st. According to a fellow pinoy (means a Filipino in our lingo), there are more than 400 pinoys in Tanzania; around 30-40% are in Dar es Salaam (am not sure if that includes me). My attendance was through the courtesy of Abeth. She’s so generous to shoulder my registration fee (thank you very much Abeth!). I’ve met her for the first time during this event. We have a common friend in the Philippines who introduced us to each other via internet chat.

Abeth beside the FCT logo - the logo represents the flags of the Philippies and Tanzania, the famous Luneta Park in the Philippines and the Mt. Kilimanjaro of Tanzania

The celebration was a relief temporarily from my home sickness. The venue was packed with almost 200 pinoys. They are from different walks of life. Some of them have established their lives in Tanzania together with their family members. My fellow volunteer Filipinos were not around so, I tried to fight my anti-social personality (not really - I am actually shy! <blushing>) by mingling and did some small talks to few. The bad thing about me is that - I have a difficulty remembering names (but I can easily remember faces), as a result; there are only 4 names that were stored in the data-base of my memory bank after the night.

During the singing that National Anthem, I have observed that all of us sung it by heart – or I was just sentimental?

The Tanzania Dance Troupe- with 2 Filipino members

After the programme – the protocol delivery of messages, entertainment and dinner, it was dancing time for everyone but it was too late for me to stay. Instead of going back home by taxi cab, Abeth demanded (take note -not requested -hahaha!) a fellow pinoy named Alvin to drive us (with Thess – a newbie like me in FCT).

While in the car, we had the opportunity to talk about what we are doing in Tanzania – reason/s why we are in Africa. Me, a volunteer, Abeth works in a local NGO, Thess; a development adviser of an International NGO and Alvin – not sure but I think he works in the energy sector. He corrected me when I asked where does he work – it was in Taglish – (Tagalog <major dialect in the Philippines> and English) that when it is translated to English – it would be – “What is the name of your company?” It makes sense that his answer was – “I don’t own the company but I work for the company”. Yeah, you’re right! J He also gave me a classic pinoy puzzle or a joke (?) – translation of “good road” to my dialect. I was not able to answer it. The answer is “okay nga road” – you are really smart eh! (thank you so much for taking us home safely Alvin!)

Interpretative Dance = "who I am"

I was back home. I was again alone and the silence was deafening. The limited number of my neurons have digested this – from one of the lines of the message of our President Aquino that was read by the representative of Philippine Consular’s Office in Kenya – “I hope that we (Filipinos) have the same vision for the Philippines – a country that is free from poverty, corruption and apathy”. I was trying to process the message until I was sleepy and my little brain was too tired to think of anything.