Spent the last 2 days in Dar after leaving Morogoro on Tuesday. I couldn't get a bus back home until Friday, which has turned out really nice because it is not often that I have a lot of down time here. And its been especially fun because the hotel I'm at has also been taken over by one of the health/environment classes that's here for their mid-service conference. Yesterday I took a quick ferry ride (literally 2 minutes) to a island/peninsula with a nice beach and bar/restaurant/hotel. It was a lovely place to spend the day swimming and laying in a hammock and enjoying few cold ones. Afterwards I went to see my first real Tanzanian soccer game! I must say I was quite impressed, mostly because I was expecting a high school like stadium but it is in fact fancy and new and holds 60,000 spectators. Soccer is huge here and it was an especially big game, between Simba and Young Africans (Yanga); both are Tanzanian teams that also happen to be the top teams in East Africa...fun stuff. Today I went to the really nice part of Dar where all the rich non-Tanzanians live and hang out to spend the day sitting on the water, using tons of wifi, drinking a cold frappucino, and eating a magnificent pizza topped with salami and brie cheese! I added a few more pictures of it all.
Welp, that's just about all the news. I've gotta wake up super early tomorrow for a 6 a.m. bus and will make it (hopefully) to Newala tomorrow evening and then back to my village on Saturday. September will fly by with all kinds of craziness - the newbies arriving, mock NECTA exams for Form II, a 3-day regional training in Mtwara, mid-term exams, and a week off for midterm break (planning to travel to Songea), and preparing for Form IV NECTA exams at the beginning of October. Yikesies!
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Monday, August 15, 2011
Dust in the Wind
Hey hey, greetings from Tanzania! I'm currently in Morogoro, enjoying the speedy internet and variety of foods. This afternoon I'm doing a PSDN (Peer Support and Diversity Network) session about the first three months at site with the current education training class. They will be swearing-in in just a week or two and then heading off to their various sites around Tanzania which is quite an exciting time for us all. Last week was their site announcements and we learned that the deep south will be receiving 7 new volunteers - 4* to Mtwara and 3 to Lindi. It is bittersweet because we have just said farewell to three volunteers and will lose four more in October/November. But we're looking forward to welcoming the new volunteers to our wonderful region and I have the pleasure of spending a day or with them beforehand...I have been entrusted with the very important and creepy role of acquiring all the information (and pictures, if possible) I can about our newbies prior to their arrival down south :). Another plus of going to Morogoro is that I'll get to see my host family again. My host Mama and Baba are getting married in September, and since I won't be able to make it to their wedding, I'm happy to have the chance for a short visit. And of course I'll get to see my little kaka, Isaac, who recently turned 2 and is speaking many more words!
*I have long come to terms with the tendency of people of my parents' generation to name their daughters Kathryn, or some variation there of (traditionally reserved for the most favorite child, I believe). My training class alone included a Kathryn (me), Katherine (Kat), Catherine (Leslie), and Kathleen (Katie). Three of the four of us were sent down to Mtwara region, which naturally started the rumor that Peace Corps assigns sites based, at least partially, on first name. Of the 140 other PCVs in Tanzania, there is one other Katie (probably also a Kathryn). Interestingly enough, she was also placed down in Mtwara, although transferred to Iringa shortly thereafter due to a severe cashewnut allergy. This trend was further confirmed by the most recent site placements, as another Kathryn and Kathleen (Kathy) will be joining us. And because there surely aren't enough Kathryn/Katherine/Catherine/Kathleen/Katie/Kate/Kats to humor Peace Corps Tanzania, they've just sent us a second Tyler from Wisconsin. Ok Peace Corps, this is just getting weird now.
It seems like lots of exciting things have been going on lately in my neck of the woods:
MAJI NA HALI YA HEWA (WATER & WEATHER)
We are about 2 months into dry season, and by dry season, I mean it is dry! When combined with lots of wind, this translates into dust, dust, and more dust. Everything is covered in a thick layer of red-brown dust, which you yourself have the pleasure of being covered by with every stroll around town, bus trip, etc. Blowing my nose after a bus ride is always really interesting...its amazing how red dirt translates into red/brown snot! But more importantly, with another 3 or 4 months to go until the rainy season, there is already very serious water shortage in my area. Because we live on top of the plateau, there is no groundwater to speak of. Many areas, including my school, collect rain water, which doesn't last very long after the rains have gone. My school's water tank has been empty for about a month now, so students are now hauling water for the school and teachers as needed. There is a small river that supplies water to the villages in this area, although it is a bit unreliable and often no water comes out of the village taps. When there is water, it is a crazy site to see - beginning at about 5 in the morning, when it is still pitch dark, Mamas start lining up their buckets from the tap...there will literally be a line of hundreds and hundreds of brightly colored, plastic buckets. To make matters worse, my village's tap just broke, so in the meantime people are walking to a nearby village to collect water. But one seasonal plus - it is winter! Although the sun is still quite strong, it cools off signicantly in the evenings and I have the pleasure of sleeping under a blanket!
On a related note, mine and my neighbor's house were recently invaded with ants...yikesies! I woke up one night at about 2am with ants crawling all over me and my bed. After freaking out and hopping out of bed, I stepped out of my room and found my house literally covered by long armies ofants...every surface, wall, floor...I've never seen anything like it. Luckily I had some bug killer spray that I emptied over everything. After a restless and paranoid night's sleep, I awoke and swept out all my dead little friends. The Tanzanian solution is to surround your house with brush and set fire, which I rather enjoyed watching my students do. My counterpart said that the ants usually mean it might rain, as they come from underground in search of water. Sure enough, two days later it sprinkled for a bit and the ants have not returned. I must say I prefer the rats!
HABARI ZA KIJIJINI (VILLAGE NEWS)
Kitangali, the nearest town to me received a very important visitor a couple of weeks ago! The President of Tanzania, Kikwete, came to tour the area and speak. It was quite a big deal, and was to my knowledge the first time a president has visited the town. Mtwara has been a hot topic in current parliamentary talk - namely because we have the lowest national exam grades and the only road down to here is unpaved so we're a bit disconnected from the rest of the country/economy. There is now a big push to finish the road, which they are saying will be done this December. We all know that's not going to happen, but to the credit of the Tanzanian government, there have been lots of progress lately and workers about. Travel up to Dar es Salaam would be significantly more comfortable with a paved road, so I hope its completed while I'm still living down here! But back to Kikwete. I went to join the festivities in Kitangali with my neighbor/counterpart, Mr. Likulu, and met up with my sitemate, Tyler. Because Tyler and I are white and therefore automatically overally respected guests, we were ushered to the important villager seating to watch the proceedings. There was lots of tribal dancing and singing while awaiting Kikwete's arrival, who in classic Tanzanian style arrived 4 hours late, just about a half hour before sunset. He only talked for 20 minutes or so, mostly just stating the very obvious issues - our shitty roads (he called them frightening), our poor-performing schools (he asked our District Education Officer for our pass-rates mid speech and literally didn't believe him...it made for an awkward pause), our water problem, and the price of cashews. Afterwards he offered no space for questions from the people. For these reasons I was a bit dissapointed (and tired and hot and hungry), although it was still very exciting to be apart of and get to share in the excitment with my students and villagers and the other thousands of people there.
What else? Ramadhan began August 1st and will last until the 30th. As about 95% of my students and village are Muslim, so just about everybody is fasting. From sun-up to sun-down you are not allowed to eat or drink anything, including water. I have been asked a lot if I am fasting too ("Umefunga?", which literally means "You have been closed?"). The answer is no, I'm still very much open. I have said that this year I will simply observe everyone else fast and next year I will consider participating (but probably not because I like to eat). Then I happily make my way home and spend 2 hours (or 5, if beans or chickpeas are involved) preparing my lunch, followed by the 10 minutes or so it takes to eat said lunch. Along with fasting, many Muslims shut down their businesses for the month, so most little shops and places that serve food are closed around here. I am therefore very much looking forward to breaking up the month with a trip to Dar es Salaam and Morogoro, which have much larger Christian populations and therefore more food!
HABARI ZA SHULENI (SCHOOL NEWS)
My school and headmaster are currently in a bit of hot water with the Ministry of Education after a couple of less than exemplary school inspections. Much of it centered around last year's terrible Form IV results, as well as things outside of his control like a shortage of classrooms, labs, and teachers (thanks for the input, how 'bout some money to build said buildings and maybe you could send some teachers this way, too?). They're making my headmaster attend a special training on effective management, so he is expectedly pretty embarassed, but hopefully some school improvements will come out of it all.
Other than that, school is moving along, kama kawaida (as usual). We've got four temporary teachers from a teacher's training college here for the month; of course all are teaching arts subjects, but its nice that the students are getting taught for most of every day. Our other female teacher, Madam Shakira, had a baby in May and is back. His name is Hudhwaifa and he cries a lot and he is cute. Speaking of babies, all the female students were just sent to Kitangali last week to get suprise pregnancy tests - hopefully their results all come back negative or they'll be kicked out of school. Still lots of chickens and goats running around everywhere. I've also been helping my counterpart mix chemicals and set up some chemistry practicals for the students, although we're still waiting on wood to construct lab furniture...
Check out the new pictures!
*I have long come to terms with the tendency of people of my parents' generation to name their daughters Kathryn, or some variation there of (traditionally reserved for the most favorite child, I believe). My training class alone included a Kathryn (me), Katherine (Kat), Catherine (Leslie), and Kathleen (Katie). Three of the four of us were sent down to Mtwara region, which naturally started the rumor that Peace Corps assigns sites based, at least partially, on first name. Of the 140 other PCVs in Tanzania, there is one other Katie (probably also a Kathryn). Interestingly enough, she was also placed down in Mtwara, although transferred to Iringa shortly thereafter due to a severe cashewnut allergy. This trend was further confirmed by the most recent site placements, as another Kathryn and Kathleen (Kathy) will be joining us. And because there surely aren't enough Kathryn/Katherine/Catherine/Kathleen/Katie/Kate/Kats to humor Peace Corps Tanzania, they've just sent us a second Tyler from Wisconsin. Ok Peace Corps, this is just getting weird now.
It seems like lots of exciting things have been going on lately in my neck of the woods:
MAJI NA HALI YA HEWA (WATER & WEATHER)
We are about 2 months into dry season, and by dry season, I mean it is dry! When combined with lots of wind, this translates into dust, dust, and more dust. Everything is covered in a thick layer of red-brown dust, which you yourself have the pleasure of being covered by with every stroll around town, bus trip, etc. Blowing my nose after a bus ride is always really interesting...its amazing how red dirt translates into red/brown snot! But more importantly, with another 3 or 4 months to go until the rainy season, there is already very serious water shortage in my area. Because we live on top of the plateau, there is no groundwater to speak of. Many areas, including my school, collect rain water, which doesn't last very long after the rains have gone. My school's water tank has been empty for about a month now, so students are now hauling water for the school and teachers as needed. There is a small river that supplies water to the villages in this area, although it is a bit unreliable and often no water comes out of the village taps. When there is water, it is a crazy site to see - beginning at about 5 in the morning, when it is still pitch dark, Mamas start lining up their buckets from the tap...there will literally be a line of hundreds and hundreds of brightly colored, plastic buckets. To make matters worse, my village's tap just broke, so in the meantime people are walking to a nearby village to collect water. But one seasonal plus - it is winter! Although the sun is still quite strong, it cools off signicantly in the evenings and I have the pleasure of sleeping under a blanket!
On a related note, mine and my neighbor's house were recently invaded with ants...yikesies! I woke up one night at about 2am with ants crawling all over me and my bed. After freaking out and hopping out of bed, I stepped out of my room and found my house literally covered by long armies ofants...every surface, wall, floor...I've never seen anything like it. Luckily I had some bug killer spray that I emptied over everything. After a restless and paranoid night's sleep, I awoke and swept out all my dead little friends. The Tanzanian solution is to surround your house with brush and set fire, which I rather enjoyed watching my students do. My counterpart said that the ants usually mean it might rain, as they come from underground in search of water. Sure enough, two days later it sprinkled for a bit and the ants have not returned. I must say I prefer the rats!
HABARI ZA KIJIJINI (VILLAGE NEWS)
Kitangali, the nearest town to me received a very important visitor a couple of weeks ago! The President of Tanzania, Kikwete, came to tour the area and speak. It was quite a big deal, and was to my knowledge the first time a president has visited the town. Mtwara has been a hot topic in current parliamentary talk - namely because we have the lowest national exam grades and the only road down to here is unpaved so we're a bit disconnected from the rest of the country/economy. There is now a big push to finish the road, which they are saying will be done this December. We all know that's not going to happen, but to the credit of the Tanzanian government, there have been lots of progress lately and workers about. Travel up to Dar es Salaam would be significantly more comfortable with a paved road, so I hope its completed while I'm still living down here! But back to Kikwete. I went to join the festivities in Kitangali with my neighbor/counterpart, Mr. Likulu, and met up with my sitemate, Tyler. Because Tyler and I are white and therefore automatically overally respected guests, we were ushered to the important villager seating to watch the proceedings. There was lots of tribal dancing and singing while awaiting Kikwete's arrival, who in classic Tanzanian style arrived 4 hours late, just about a half hour before sunset. He only talked for 20 minutes or so, mostly just stating the very obvious issues - our shitty roads (he called them frightening), our poor-performing schools (he asked our District Education Officer for our pass-rates mid speech and literally didn't believe him...it made for an awkward pause), our water problem, and the price of cashews. Afterwards he offered no space for questions from the people. For these reasons I was a bit dissapointed (and tired and hot and hungry), although it was still very exciting to be apart of and get to share in the excitment with my students and villagers and the other thousands of people there.
What else? Ramadhan began August 1st and will last until the 30th. As about 95% of my students and village are Muslim, so just about everybody is fasting. From sun-up to sun-down you are not allowed to eat or drink anything, including water. I have been asked a lot if I am fasting too ("Umefunga?", which literally means "You have been closed?"). The answer is no, I'm still very much open. I have said that this year I will simply observe everyone else fast and next year I will consider participating (but probably not because I like to eat). Then I happily make my way home and spend 2 hours (or 5, if beans or chickpeas are involved) preparing my lunch, followed by the 10 minutes or so it takes to eat said lunch. Along with fasting, many Muslims shut down their businesses for the month, so most little shops and places that serve food are closed around here. I am therefore very much looking forward to breaking up the month with a trip to Dar es Salaam and Morogoro, which have much larger Christian populations and therefore more food!
HABARI ZA SHULENI (SCHOOL NEWS)
My school and headmaster are currently in a bit of hot water with the Ministry of Education after a couple of less than exemplary school inspections. Much of it centered around last year's terrible Form IV results, as well as things outside of his control like a shortage of classrooms, labs, and teachers (thanks for the input, how 'bout some money to build said buildings and maybe you could send some teachers this way, too?). They're making my headmaster attend a special training on effective management, so he is expectedly pretty embarassed, but hopefully some school improvements will come out of it all.
Other than that, school is moving along, kama kawaida (as usual). We've got four temporary teachers from a teacher's training college here for the month; of course all are teaching arts subjects, but its nice that the students are getting taught for most of every day. Our other female teacher, Madam Shakira, had a baby in May and is back. His name is Hudhwaifa and he cries a lot and he is cute. Speaking of babies, all the female students were just sent to Kitangali last week to get suprise pregnancy tests - hopefully their results all come back negative or they'll be kicked out of school. Still lots of chickens and goats running around everywhere. I've also been helping my counterpart mix chemicals and set up some chemistry practicals for the students, although we're still waiting on wood to construct lab furniture...
Check out the new pictures!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)