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Issue 00474 |
June 23 - 29, 2007 |
issn 0856 - 9135 |
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Society |
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Via Via Cultural Café By Andre Epstein
Many people in Arusha are familiar with Via Via cultural café, located in the garden of the museum at Boma Road. The restaurant is a popular haunt of ICTR workers at lunchtime, and the place to party on Thursday nights when the calm cafe ambiance often transmutes into a raucous party with live music. According to Philippe Glauser, the general manager, "Via Via strives to be more than just a café where people eat and drink. Via Via aims to develop culture and bring people together." Glauser explained that the Via Via in Arusha is simply one of 11 affiliated Via Vias worldwide. Jocar, a Belgian tour company, and the Livingstone Group, an NGO collaborated to open the Arusha Via Via. Glauser, a Belgian with a long history working in Africa for humanitarian groups, noted: "What makes Via Via different from other restaurants, cafes, and discotheques is that we work as a 'cultural café.' We reinvest in profit in promoting culture, developing culture, and also work hard, in conjunction with the Belgian government, to help the museum where we are located." Glauser also emphasized that profits were reinvested through "workshops, training, and events." Events like the Thursday night bash are obviously Via Via's alcohol-vending cash cow, but its important to note, Glauser points out, that many other events put on by Via Via cost money—for example the setting up of free movie on Wednesday nights (which will resume in July). Via Via also conducts cultural tours and a wide variety of workshops. Through Via Via, one can learn to cook Swahili food, how to make a drum, tour a Maasai Boma, as well as satisfy various tourist urges. Unlike most restaurants Via Via has a salaried tour expert who is almost always around. But, food not culture was the draw of Via Via to this reporter. Pesto pasta, fresh and garlic, with a basket of fresh bread left me misty-eyed and delirious. The food is good and reasonably priced (for mzungu food) and the open-air garden atmosphere is a pleasure unto itself. Via Via also has an amphitheatre/stage in the garden where drum circles form and shows take place. As many as 60 groups have participated in hip-hop competitions held there, a testament to the efficacy of Via Via's mission to promote and develop culture. Asking around about Via Via produced a variety of responses. On last Thrusday night a 19year old Australian girl raved "I loooove it! I love the staff, who are so friendly. And Beer!" Another traveler, an American woman volunteering in Arusha contributed, "Via Via is the best place to dance! I love the food during the day, but Thursday nights I just want to dance!" Thursday the 21st "Uwassa" kicks things off with traditional dancing and music at 19.00 following which, "Yekete" should carry the party into the wee hours. On Saturday the 23rd events begin at 14.00 with a variety of shows throughout the day and into the night.
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