The annual goat race is the expat social event of the year in Dar-es-Salaam. I will not pass judgement, as I have seen odder things in my life. I will just think that people here have a great sense of humor and they love animals, whether they are racing or just roasting on a grill.
Apparently, in Dar, things don’t always move along according to a set of guidelines. In my opinion, there are any guidelines at all. So the social event of the year means getting a huge number of people, sponsors, volunteers, prizes, teams, and goats together in one place at one time!
For me it was hard to understand why someone would spend a whole day under a scorching sun in some sort of a county fair, just without the band, hot dogs, fireworks, or games. True, there was a lot of cold beer to make up for those.
Anyone in the audience could be the temporary owner of a goat, for a certain amount of charity donation money. The bets went to charity too. Then all the poor goats were gathered at some sort of a starting line, if you could call it a line. The "race" consisted in the mass of confused goats chased by a group of goat herders, the equivalent of jockeys in horse racing.
I am sure my father would have proclaimed something along the line of "Simple minds are easily entertained". I prefer one of my previous slogans: "Life's little pleasures, Dar's little pleasures!"
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