Story and photo by Sarah Britsch
As Bluffton University's first international graduate student, Hassan Mosoka (Ha-san Mo-SO-ka) brings a whole new world to this American culture, a world where community is so prominent that birthdays are not celebrated individually, a world where mothers call their children by one name and their fathers by another, and a world where favorites are a foreign concept.
Mosoka comes to us from a village in Tanzania known as Bwitengi (Bwee TAIN gee). It is found in the northwestern part of the country, on the shore of Lake Victoria and on the bank of Serengeti Park.
The nearest town on a map is Mugumu.The national language of Tanzania is Swahili, so, naturally, Mosoka can speak this language.
In addition to English and his national language, Mosoka also speaks Ki-ikoma, spoken in his village, Nata, spoken in a neighboring village, as well as multiple other languages. He could not even recount all of them. Speaking several languages on a daily basis is the cultural norm.
His description of his village makes it sound very similar to rural America, but with an African twist. A walk down the street will take you past trees, birds, crop fields, and houses. It is within these similar aspects that the variances occur.
The trees are for the most part the same, but they are naturally placed as opposed to planted by man, and the birds are much more colorful. The farms are typically of corn, cassava, which is grown in the ground like potatoes, maybe rice, lots of potatoes, and miletos, which are red, very small, and grow like corn, but on the top of the stalks.
The houses are typically made of only two patterns. The first is a more modern model made of brick with roofs of iron sheets. The second is a smaller version made of mud with grass roofing. These grass roofs never have more than two rooms beneath them.Mosoka lives in a one-story brick house closer to the city. He moved into this house at a young age, but has never lost touch with his family.
He has a fair amount of distance between them, but he always knows what is going on back home. That is one thing that is very different from what Mosoka finds in America.
"You don't talk about extended family here as much. [In Tanzania] if something happens to your sister, you are responsible to care for her children."
Mosoka comes from a family where he is the oldest of nine children. This sounds like an absolutely staggering size to most Americans, but where he comes from, his family is a fairly normal one. His educational history is one that is similar to that of most Americans. Regular schooling lasts 13 years total: seven years in primary school, four in secondary school, and two in high school.
Years spent in a university depend on what you want to do. Most schools are three-year schools, but medical schools go for five years. Mosoka went to a three-year university in Tanzania where he majored in theology. In Bluffton he is continuing his education by pursuing a Master of Arts in Organizational Management. The university pays for part of the cost, and the rest of the funding comes from grants. He found Bluffton through a friend, and was attracted to the core beliefs and values upheld by the university, compelling him to choose Bluffton over the 20-something other colleges he checked out.
His reasons for coming to the States for grad school are extensive, but the main one is exploration. This is a passion of Mosoka's. He has been in many countries, including Netherlands, Indonesia, Singapore, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Uganda. Most of these travels were for the purpose of missionary work.
Mosoka is Mennonite, and has been his entire life. In his society, people become the religion of their community at birth. However, when people unaccustomed to this cultural aspect ask when he became a Christian, he tells them Dec. 25, 1988: the day he was baptized.
One cannot really begin to describe all the fascinating nuances of the culture Hassan Mosoka opens the door to. The culture he brings to us is one that is often a source of intrigue here in the States. Parts of it almost seem quaint, but perhaps there are aspects of it that we should adopt for ourselves, enhancing the culture of our own.
Sarah Britsch is an Icon intern and a student in a Bluffton University feature writing class taught by Mary and Fred Steiner.
