The Pulse

At about 5am this morning I woke up to a happy Arabic tune playing in the night. For a country where at least 1/3 of the population is Muslim, that was really the first time I’ve heard Arabic music since I’ve been here. On the streets you mostly hear African rap and at nights sometimes a pick-up truck with a full marching band in the back will go by playing band music – I haven’t figured that one out yet.

Anyway, I realized that we’re in the middle of Ramadan and that music was probably keeping one of our neighbors company while they quickly ate a feast in preparation for the day of fasting ahead. I was worried that Ramadan would mean many of the restaurants around here wouldn’t open for lunch, but I was wrong. Ramadan in Arusha doesn’t bring about many changes. In fact, Arusha has very few Muslims compared to the coast and Zanzibar. I hardly ever see women walking around in burkas or head scarfs – but they’re there.

In our hotel room we have both CNN and Al Jazeera. I watched Al Jazeera for a while, trying to figure out if there really was something wrong with the network, or if that’s just the West’s perception. From what I can tell, it’s just a normal news network, covering stories from around the world, but most of them from the US.

The news is very interesting over here, regardless of which channel I’m watching. CNN’s weather forecast, which is based in London, covers every continent and there is a disproportionate amount of air time allotted to the Democratic and Republican National Conventions back home, the election, the recent takeover of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae and hurricanes in our region. It makes me wonder if the rest of the world isn’t sick of hearing about us, actually. The channels definitely cover the world more broadly than our news networks do, however.

People here are very interested in the election, but it’s very one-sided. If East Africa got to vote, Obama would win unanimously. There are bumper stickers and signs everywhere. When anyone finds out you’re from the US they immediately ask you what you think about Obama. I don’t mind it, any little thing that comes up that reminds me of home makes me feel a little bit more comfortable here in a land of so many differences.

One more note on media: since this is a tourist town, on the streets you can get papers in almost every language for most major countries. Of course, street vendors hound you at every corner to buy one but my friend, Mike, from New Zealand discovered that they don’t have one from there. So, the secret to getting by the paper guys is to ask for the Dominion Post.