My language partner and I had a discussion about adultery this week. It came up when we were discussing a fall from grace as a possible reason for a change in one’s circumstances (along with poor business decisions, foolish investments, and so on.) My language partner spoke of women who have […]
In speaking with my friend about the wellbeing of women, we got onto gender roles in marriage. I wanted to push him on the idea that however you configure hierarchy, women are still vulnerable. Everything for them depends on the goodwill of their husband if he is over them in […]
How does change come? I was having a conversation with someone this week who noted that within a generation the expectations around women in Tanzania have changed. The examples he gave were two things that feature a lot in human rights advocacy in Tanzania: girls’ education, and domestic violence. Girls’ […]
Our TAFES colleague Mr Seth came around for dinner a while ago. His wife wasn’t able to make it because she was organising things for their daughter’s kitchen party as she was about to get married. Just before the wedding it’s customary to have a ‘Send Off’, which the men […]
A TAFES Associate who is also a psychologist posted on her Facebook profile about why a man might beat (but not kill) his wife. She wasn’t trying to give justification for it, but to unpack what his assumptions or mental situation might be. The reasons listed were: he might do […]
“Because of TAFES I have changed what I am looking for in marriage.” One of the staff said this to me one evening when he was over for dinner. Intriguing! I asked him, how have you changed? This guy hasn’t lived in his tribal context for most of his life, […]
I was at a Christian seminar on parenting with Tanzanian peers. The facilitator made the argument that your first priority must be God your spouse your children and only after that, your career or money or anything else. This stuff makes sense to me. I am in a highly companionate […]
