Letter from Tanzania

With Mount Kilimanjaro as a backdrop, I was quietly chatting with my neighbour on our front lawn. The morning peace shattered, however, when a nearby transformer exploded in a shower of sparks. The pyrotechnics that would deny my household three days of electricity sent me ducking for cover in a flurry of adrenaline-driven expletives. In cool contrast, my Tanzanian neighbour’s response hung in the air. “Matatizo,” he muttered. “Complications,” the typical Tanzanian euphemism for any problem, big or small. ...