Hallo, hope all is well. Short update as I'm hanging out in a lovely cafe in lovely Moshi enjoying some wifi and real coffee, so life is good. Moshi is by far the most developed city I've been to in Tanzania, more so than even Dar es Salaam. There are American and European tourists and ex-pats galore, and I'm still getting used to seeing so many foreigners. The variety of food here is pretty amazing, and best of all is its plethora of cute little cafes that serve lattes and cappucinos and sandwiches and salads - you can easily forget you are in Tanzania! (Just ordered a lunch of pasta salad with feta cheese!). Today's our fourth day here and other than a nice little hike out to a nearby waterfall, we've been filling our days eating yummy foods (can you binge eat for a whole month?). We've also done a bit of shopping at expensive boutique stores, which we also balanced by heading to the used clothing market to pick up a couple of Goodwill rejects. It's been especially fun to see so many friends, as Moshi is a favorite vacation/gathering spot for volunteers. Last night we went to a cool little bar that has an outdoor movie theater set up; The Shining was playing, complete with bats flying across the projector screen for added atmosphere! On Monday we'll head up to Arusha to meet some friends for sushi (seriously) and spend a day or two exploring the city.
My apologies for everyone that was grossed out by my last few poop updates, so this will be the last and least graphic one - I'm happy to report that my bowel movements are back to normal! As I'm sure you've noticed, the two most talked about topics among PCVs are food and poop, and it's suprisingly difficult to get out of that mindset as I'm writing blogposts for non-PCV readers.
Time for lunch, so more later with pictures.
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Iringaaaaa
Hey hey short update from the beautiful southern highlands. On Friday Katie and I headed from Zanzibar to Dar. That evening we "unofficially" visited the new education class trainees that arrived in Tanzania on the 15th. Getting new volunteers is quite exciting for all of us PCVs in-country, and I can't wait to see who ends up near us in Mtwara. Then we took a pleasant 8 hour bus ride to Iringa, arriving Saturday evening. We met our friend and fellow PCV, Glenn, and went out from some Chinese food and a couple of beers before heading to bed early. Glenn left early the next morning on a bus and Katie and I slept in and explored the city a bit. We went and had a wonderful brunch of vegetable and cheese omelettes, french toast, and homeade yogurt at a local restaurat here that is an absolute favorite among volunteers. Then we walked a bit out of town and climbed a big rock to get a nice view of the city. After a long afternoon nap at the hostel, we ordered delivery pizza (say what?!) for dinner. On Monday two other PCV friends, TJ and Carly, came into town and we all went for a wonderful lunch of avocado bacon paninis! We spent the afternoon shopping, had some Tanzanian food for dinner, then headed back to our hostel to watch a movie. This morning we had another tasty breakfast and then went in search of the used clothing market (where all the clothes that don't sell at Goodwill end up). Now we're hanging out at a lovely cafe...it's run by a local mission that hires only Tanzanians with disibilities - all the wait staff are deaf and others are employed in making clothes and crafts for sale. What else...Iringa is cold! I do not have appropriate clothes so I'm freezing my but off once the sun goes down, but the hostel provides warm blankets so I'm sleeping well. I suppose it's a nice change from the hot south, but I'm still a Texan and I'll always prefer sweatin' to shiverin'.
Poop update: Thanks for the concern for my health, but I'm doing fine! My fever and headache lasted for just 2 days or so and I've been getting plenty of sleep since. The diarrhea lasted for 5 days; it seemed to be clearing up yesterday but I've had to run to the bathroom twice while trying to type this post so I guess its back. Of all places to get diarrhea I suppose its not so bad because I've had access to western toilets the whole time which is a nice treat and would not be the case at home down south. But we haven't been letting my pooping damper our vacation too much and we've still been eating well..lots of dairy which is probably stupid but when's the next time I'll get ice cream and yogurt? Tomorrow I'll take some immodium to clog up my intestinal track before embarking on a long bus ride, and hopefully I'll be back to pooping solidly in no time.
Added some more pictures of food and such. Tomorrow Katie and I will hop on a bus from Iringa to Moshi, which should take about 12 hours. Can't wait to spend a week in the wonderful north, with views of Mt. Kilimanjaro!
As always, much love from Tanzania!
Poop update: Thanks for the concern for my health, but I'm doing fine! My fever and headache lasted for just 2 days or so and I've been getting plenty of sleep since. The diarrhea lasted for 5 days; it seemed to be clearing up yesterday but I've had to run to the bathroom twice while trying to type this post so I guess its back. Of all places to get diarrhea I suppose its not so bad because I've had access to western toilets the whole time which is a nice treat and would not be the case at home down south. But we haven't been letting my pooping damper our vacation too much and we've still been eating well..lots of dairy which is probably stupid but when's the next time I'll get ice cream and yogurt? Tomorrow I'll take some immodium to clog up my intestinal track before embarking on a long bus ride, and hopefully I'll be back to pooping solidly in no time.
Added some more pictures of food and such. Tomorrow Katie and I will hop on a bus from Iringa to Moshi, which should take about 12 hours. Can't wait to spend a week in the wonderful north, with views of Mt. Kilimanjaro!
As always, much love from Tanzania!
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Dar and Zanzibar
Been away from site for about a week and a half now. PSDN training in Dar was good - lots of practice with active listening, common issues faced by volunteers, etc. Add in good food and good friends and you've got a good time. Then Katie came up (had quite the scare hearing about her bus accident...you can read about it in her blog) and we headed to Zanzibar on Sunday. We spent the first two days with a couple of other PCVs from our training class, Doug and Eric as well as Eric's friend Chris who is visiting from America. The first day we spent just wondering around the streets of Stonetown, which is so old and beautiful and quaint feeling. The island is something like 99 percent Muslim and has a strong mix of Arab culture, so that it doesn't feel like it is the same country as mainland Tanzania. Then we headed to the beach and watched the sunset, grabbed a beer, and found some street food for dinner. Monday we took a spice tour, which was really great. We went out with a guide to a spice plantation a bit out of Stonetown and just walked around and looked at all kinds of different fruits and spices and herbs, got to taste a bunch, hear about their medicinal uses, etc. The tour was complete with a tasty lunch and a trip to a nearby beach that was isolated and beautiful. After a delicious dinner, the boys left on an overnight ferry back to Dar that night, so the next day Katie and I were able to get in our shopping fix and also got some henna done. We also had an amazing Indian lunch with Claire, a PCV that lives near us down south, and her boyfriend Rob who is visiting from America. Yesterday Katie and I took a daladala to a village called Nungwi, about an hour and a half north of Stonetown. We spent a relaxing day at the beach, and even enjoyed a pitcher of Sangria! Unfortunately I got sick (of course the first time is when I'm vacationing in Zanzibar) - that morning I had diarrhea, had a headache all day, and by afternoon started coming down with a fever. Last night my fever was really bad and I still have diarrhea if I try and eat anything, so I've literally spent all day today lying in bed and sleeping. Not really the plan for our last day in Stonetown, but at least I got to enjoy the first few days. We had planned to meet up with a PCV that lives here and another PCV that is in town for dinner tonight, so I'm hoping I'll feel up for that in a few hours.
Well that's about it for Zanzibar. It is truly beautiful, and if you ever make it to Tanzania you must take the short ferry over and check out its beautiful beaches! I added lots of pictures, so have a look. Tomorrow we'll head back to Dar and then take a bus to Iringa on Saturday morning.
Well that's about it for Zanzibar. It is truly beautiful, and if you ever make it to Tanzania you must take the short ferry over and check out its beautiful beaches! I added lots of pictures, so have a look. Tomorrow we'll head back to Dar and then take a bus to Iringa on Saturday morning.
Monday, June 6, 2011
Highs and lows of the week
First, I added some recent pictures if you wanna check 'em out. I know I keep posting pictures of white people vacationing, when what everyone really wants to see is pictures of my students and villagers and Tanzanians' lives in general. I'm still pretty uncomfortable whipping out a flashy, nice camera in front of poor people, but one of these days I'll be brave and go crazy taking pictures in my village. Until then, you'll just have to use your imagination...pole sana (so very sorry)!
I just arrived in Mtwara town after a relatively pleasant (no breakdowns) 5-hour bus ride. This leads me into the highlight of my week. Drum roll please...tomorrow I will be...FLYING ON AN AIRPLANE to Dar es Salaam. Yep. Replacing a 15 or so hour bus ride on unpaved roads with a 1 HOUR flight is my idea of a good deal. The road up to Dar is not so great at the moment and volunteers have been getting stuck, which sucks for them, but meant that we (me and Toni, a health volunteer down here who is also going up to Dar for PSDN training) were able to convince PC to book us flights as a matter of volunteer safety and security. The few volunteers that have flown before give raving reviews of the flight, which even includes a snack service. Other people are just as excited as me about the prospect of my flight; my counterpart, Mr. Likulu, has never been on a plane and asked me to tell him all about it and take lots of pictures. And as ridiculous as it sounds, I am even excited to go through the airport security process!
So I'll try to wrap up the post on another high note, but first to bring you all down a bit...Tuesday was probably the worst day of my Peace Corps service thus far. All week I was invigilating (watching students take exams for 6 hours/day) the Form IV Regional Mock NECTA exams. On Monday afternoon, a small group of my top Form IV boys had come to my house and asked for help solving some math problems, which I'm always happy to do. Karim, our very top student that lives next door with my counterpart, even brought over a page of more problems late that night and asked if I could solve them and give him the solutions to review the next morning before the exam, which I also did. None of this was odd, because these students in particular are very motivated, like math, ask lots of questions, are constantly reviewing old NECTA problems, etc. Well the exam rolls around on Tuesday and, upon opening the exam, I was shocked to see about 75% of the questions I had solved for them the previous day. I don't remember the last time I was so shocked, angry, and hurt all at the same time; I was almost to tears. Not only did the students cheat (in the extreme), but they used me to do so. They all know my feelings about cheating - they've gone so far as to tell my counterpart they don't like when I invigilate because I stay in the room the whole time and watch them so they are unable to cheat. If it had even been any other students I don't think I would have been so angry, but I absolutely did not expect it from these students and I was so disappointed in them. They later told us that some students somewhere in the region managed to get ahold (my counterpart assumes teachers were involved) of the test in advance and texted them the questions. Everyone seemed much more concerned about how they managed to get the questions, than the fact that they cheated so badly. Unfortunately there were no consequences at all to the students. If students are cheating on my tests, I can take away points or give them a 0, but there is nothing I can do when it is for another teacher's exam or NECTA. With no consequences its not hard to imagine why students wouldn't at least try to cheat; it just seems to be so ingrained in the education system here that there is really nothing I can do about it but accept it and try not to take it personally...
But now I have 6 weeks off from school and I am starting my vacation and I promised to end on a high note... so one more piece of exciting news: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is visiting Dar next weekend. I may actually get to meet her, since I will be around the PC office for training....we'll see!!
I just arrived in Mtwara town after a relatively pleasant (no breakdowns) 5-hour bus ride. This leads me into the highlight of my week. Drum roll please...tomorrow I will be...FLYING ON AN AIRPLANE to Dar es Salaam. Yep. Replacing a 15 or so hour bus ride on unpaved roads with a 1 HOUR flight is my idea of a good deal. The road up to Dar is not so great at the moment and volunteers have been getting stuck, which sucks for them, but meant that we (me and Toni, a health volunteer down here who is also going up to Dar for PSDN training) were able to convince PC to book us flights as a matter of volunteer safety and security. The few volunteers that have flown before give raving reviews of the flight, which even includes a snack service. Other people are just as excited as me about the prospect of my flight; my counterpart, Mr. Likulu, has never been on a plane and asked me to tell him all about it and take lots of pictures. And as ridiculous as it sounds, I am even excited to go through the airport security process!
So I'll try to wrap up the post on another high note, but first to bring you all down a bit...Tuesday was probably the worst day of my Peace Corps service thus far. All week I was invigilating (watching students take exams for 6 hours/day) the Form IV Regional Mock NECTA exams. On Monday afternoon, a small group of my top Form IV boys had come to my house and asked for help solving some math problems, which I'm always happy to do. Karim, our very top student that lives next door with my counterpart, even brought over a page of more problems late that night and asked if I could solve them and give him the solutions to review the next morning before the exam, which I also did. None of this was odd, because these students in particular are very motivated, like math, ask lots of questions, are constantly reviewing old NECTA problems, etc. Well the exam rolls around on Tuesday and, upon opening the exam, I was shocked to see about 75% of the questions I had solved for them the previous day. I don't remember the last time I was so shocked, angry, and hurt all at the same time; I was almost to tears. Not only did the students cheat (in the extreme), but they used me to do so. They all know my feelings about cheating - they've gone so far as to tell my counterpart they don't like when I invigilate because I stay in the room the whole time and watch them so they are unable to cheat. If it had even been any other students I don't think I would have been so angry, but I absolutely did not expect it from these students and I was so disappointed in them. They later told us that some students somewhere in the region managed to get ahold (my counterpart assumes teachers were involved) of the test in advance and texted them the questions. Everyone seemed much more concerned about how they managed to get the questions, than the fact that they cheated so badly. Unfortunately there were no consequences at all to the students. If students are cheating on my tests, I can take away points or give them a 0, but there is nothing I can do when it is for another teacher's exam or NECTA. With no consequences its not hard to imagine why students wouldn't at least try to cheat; it just seems to be so ingrained in the education system here that there is really nothing I can do about it but accept it and try not to take it personally...
But now I have 6 weeks off from school and I am starting my vacation and I promised to end on a high note... so one more piece of exciting news: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is visiting Dar next weekend. I may actually get to meet her, since I will be around the PC office for training....we'll see!!
Saturday, May 28, 2011
May
Hey hey hope all is well at home! I'm in Lindi town for the weekend hanging out with a few other PCVs. I was just trying to think of what has happened over the last month but I honestly I can't remember...the only thing that comes to mind is a description of one of my Form IV students, Hassani. Hassani, who is one of the few students that is taller than me, is a pretty cocky kid and this last month he has taken to wearing a woman's purse around his neck all day, every day. And I mean a woman's purse - a big, black leather bag that hangs around his neck...during morning assembly, between classes, and my personal favorite, sitting at his desk during class. You cannot imagine how funny it is to look up and see a tall, teenage boy wearing a purse around his head as he's working on math exercises! And I think he's starting some kind of fad because lately I've seen other students holding Hassani's purse, too. So I'll keep you posted on that one.
Anyways, school has been pretty crazy lately getting ready for the end of the term...I'm not sure who's more restless for a vacation, me or the students. Next week our Form IVs will take a regional mock NECTA exam and then the following week Forms I-III will take their terminal exams. Teaching is pretty much over, and I spent the last week writing my 8 exams as well as typing all 28 of my school's terminal exams which ended up being quite the undertaking! This week I'll do a bit of teaching and also invigilate (what they call proctoring here) the Form IV exams. Then on Tuesday, June 7th I'm off to Newala then up to Dar for a few days of Peace Corps training. I'm on PSDN (Peer Support and Diversity Network), which is made up of 12 volunteers from around the country. We're basically a resource for volunteers to call if they're going through a hard time at site. So I'll be getting some training on counseling and active listening skills as well as enjoy all the food options Dar has to offer. Then Katie will head up to Dar and we will commence SUMMER VACATION 2011...
First stop, Zanzibar. That's right. We will spend an amazing 5 or 6 days enjoying the beautiful island, swimming in the Indian Ocean, eating amazing foods, etc. Then we'll head to Iringa, which is west of Dar on the road out to Mbeya. It is supposed to be amazing and has a fairly large ex-pat community, which means it is well stocked with food and entertainment that white people enjoy. There is, get this, pizza delivery and iced coffee. We'll also get to see a few PCV friends that live in the area. Then we'll head back to Dar and then up to Arusha and Moshi for a week. This is a huge tourist area (base for Mt. Kilimanjaro, Serengeti, Ngorongoro crater), so they are supposed to be very nice and stocked with food straight out of an America grocery store. I'm especially looking forward to eating a famed banana split in Moshi. We'll also visit with a few other friends in the area which will be fun. Last stop is Tanga, where we'll meet up with a bunch of other volunteers for a 4th of July party. We'll charter a boat to take us out to a little island so it should be really fun...of course there won't be a BBQ and potato salad but sometimes you just gotta make do! Then off to spend the last couple weeks of break at home in my village before the second term starts July 18. I really can't wait!
Also, Peace Corps Tanzania finally got a website up and running. I haven't really had a chance to check it out, but maybe it's got some interesting stuff? http://tanzania.peacecorps.gov/
Anyways, school has been pretty crazy lately getting ready for the end of the term...I'm not sure who's more restless for a vacation, me or the students. Next week our Form IVs will take a regional mock NECTA exam and then the following week Forms I-III will take their terminal exams. Teaching is pretty much over, and I spent the last week writing my 8 exams as well as typing all 28 of my school's terminal exams which ended up being quite the undertaking! This week I'll do a bit of teaching and also invigilate (what they call proctoring here) the Form IV exams. Then on Tuesday, June 7th I'm off to Newala then up to Dar for a few days of Peace Corps training. I'm on PSDN (Peer Support and Diversity Network), which is made up of 12 volunteers from around the country. We're basically a resource for volunteers to call if they're going through a hard time at site. So I'll be getting some training on counseling and active listening skills as well as enjoy all the food options Dar has to offer. Then Katie will head up to Dar and we will commence SUMMER VACATION 2011...
First stop, Zanzibar. That's right. We will spend an amazing 5 or 6 days enjoying the beautiful island, swimming in the Indian Ocean, eating amazing foods, etc. Then we'll head to Iringa, which is west of Dar on the road out to Mbeya. It is supposed to be amazing and has a fairly large ex-pat community, which means it is well stocked with food and entertainment that white people enjoy. There is, get this, pizza delivery and iced coffee. We'll also get to see a few PCV friends that live in the area. Then we'll head back to Dar and then up to Arusha and Moshi for a week. This is a huge tourist area (base for Mt. Kilimanjaro, Serengeti, Ngorongoro crater), so they are supposed to be very nice and stocked with food straight out of an America grocery store. I'm especially looking forward to eating a famed banana split in Moshi. We'll also visit with a few other friends in the area which will be fun. Last stop is Tanga, where we'll meet up with a bunch of other volunteers for a 4th of July party. We'll charter a boat to take us out to a little island so it should be really fun...of course there won't be a BBQ and potato salad but sometimes you just gotta make do! Then off to spend the last couple weeks of break at home in my village before the second term starts July 18. I really can't wait!
Also, Peace Corps Tanzania finally got a website up and running. I haven't really had a chance to check it out, but maybe it's got some interesting stuff? http://tanzania.peacecorps.gov/
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Ngoma video
Well it took me an hour and a half to upload a 30 second video to youtube, so this will probably be the first and last. Enjoy!
April Update
Hey all, hope everyone is having a splendid month of April...happy holidays from Tanzania! I've got a long weekend off from school for the Easter vacation, so I'm enjoying it on the beach in Mtwara town with a group of 9 other PCVs. We're staying in a beautiful house right on the Indian Ocean, owned by some German fathers that give us a good deal. It even has a hot shower (my first in nearly 7 months!) so I've been taking plenty of those. This afternoon we went to the fish market and bought a bunch of shrimp and a 2 foot long tuna fish (prime tuna steak!)...tonight we'll grill up some seafood skewers and make pilau (seasoned rice) so it should be tasty! Then we'll have a bonfire on the beach and then head back to our respective sites tomorrow morning.
Anywho, I've been busy at site since arriving back from IST a few weeks ago. I took a few days to get home from Morogoro, which included a great day in Dar with, I kid you not, a legit Subway sandwich for lunch. For dinner, Katie, Will, and I treated ourselves at a fancy Thai restaurant overlooking the harbour of Dar es Salaam, complete with a bottle of red wine, and topped off the night with ice cream sundaes. Then came the long bus ride home...the normally bad road is significantly worse due to the rainy season, and we kept hearing horror stories about people getting stuck for 3 days on the road. Fortunately we had a relatively smooth trip down to Mtwara, with no breakdowns or mud-stuckage. Then after a pretty round-about way home (the road one direction to my vill is closed) and just one missed bus, I finally made it back to site. I had mentally prepared for my house to be a complete wreck after being gone for nearly 3 weeks, and I was certainly not disapointed. Of course there was massive amounts of dirt and rat poop to be swept, containers and things knocked of all my shelves, and a good sized piece of my math notes chewed off. My kitchen-ish room floods everytime it rains hard, which is normally not a problem because I'm there to mop up afterwards. Expectedly, it was flooded. But, unexpectedly, there was a little zawadi (present) left for me in all the water, in the form of a fully decomposed rat carcass. Not sure how the rat died, but apparently the water had been standing long enough so that only bones were left. Luckily I don't have actual windows, so constant ventilation meant there was no death stench. Also left in the pool was my partly-chewed-up sock that went missing a few months ago, so that mystery has been partially solved! Needless to say I wasn't about to touch any bones or the hairy, gut-juice water with my hands so I waited about 10 days for all the water to evaporate and then swept out the bones. There is still a nice pile of rat hair stuck to the floor, so hopefully that can slowly be swept away.
SHULENI (at school):
Not a whole lot new at school. Graded lots of midterms and am back into the normal teaching routine. Our school grounds are a bit livelier since our school goats had babies! I think baby goats may be the cutest of all baby animals, but they also cry alot which tends to disrupt class. I actually had a baby goat come into my classroom when I was teaching and poop! It sure is hard to get your students back on task after something like that happens!
My counterpart was really motivated from IST which has been awesome to see. We've started to teach "Life Skills" sessions on Tuesday afternoons. We've done two sessions so far, an introduction and a session on effective communication, and the students seem to be enjoying them so far. All the girls also came to school last Saturday and we talked a bit about some issues they face (low self-confidence, early pregnancy, prostitution, etc.). They created a girls club, complete with elected officers, where they can talk about their problems, help each other out, get advice from teachers, etc. so hopefully it will continue and be helpful for them.
Mista Likulu has also been trying to get a lab (he teaches Bio and Chem) started at school for the last several months. He already got most of the supplies donated and has bought a good amount of chemicals, but they have been sitting on the floor of an empty classroom for a few months now. All we are really lacking at this point is lab tables, stools, and storage cabinets, so last week we talked with a few local fundis (carpenters) about getting those built. Wood is a bit scarce at the moment, but hopefully we will have a functioning laboratory soon! Shout-out to my mom who is going to help with the fundi costs :). Oh and if anyone has any old children's books (in English) laying around and would be willing to donate them to my school, it'd be much appreciated! The students' English level is way below where it should be, so we are working hard to get them more comfortable. Unfortunately we have no English books, so children's picture books up to easy, short elementary level reads would be a great resource to have...If you are interested in helping contact me or my mama!
KIJIJINI (in the village):
Last weekend a village nearby (where some of my students live) hosted our ward's annual ngoma kicking off the start of circumcision season. Ngoma means drum in Kiswahili, and is traditional celebration with dancing, drumming, etc. It is a really big deal, and people walk there from as far as 25 kilometers. I went with my counterpart, and let me just say it was overwhelming! I was not expecting there to be what seemed like thousands of people around. All along the road people had set up stands to sell food, fabric, basic goods, etc. and you could barely move it was so packed. We missed the main drumming part, so we just ended up walking around at first. After several months in Tanzania I feel quite used to being stared at wherever I go, but I had never experienced the level of attention I got here. I was literally surrounded by a constant circle of wide-eyed, open-mouthed children and adults, about 10 people deep, the entire time. It was both awkward and amusing. And to add to it, I am tall. Seriously. It is definitely a new experience for me, but I've encountered few taller than me among the short Makonde people! So now picture the "tall" white person that I am, standing in the middle of a massive huddle of short Tanzanians. By this time (late afternoon), most of the adults were good and drunk off pombe (local brew), so there were lots of drunk people coming up to me speaking Kimakonde, which I can understand very little of. I think I've talked a bit about alcoholism around here; it is an especially serious problem among the older people. It is common for villagers to go out and work in their shamba (farm) in the morning, and return home and begin drinking pombe. The result is that if you walk through the village by mid-afternoon, you will encounter plenty of drunk old people or see them passed out on the ground outside their huts. I have to admit that at first it was kind of amusing, but it has gotten old and is truly sad to see, especially because many of them are the parents and grandparents of my students. But on the bright side, my high school students don't drink. Seriously. When we talk about drinking alcohol at my school, it is not about the students, but about the students' parents...quite different than the US. But back to the ngoma, they finally started another drumming session which was really cool to see. Unfortunately my camera died pretty quickly, but you can check out a few pictures and a video I took! There are lots of local Makonde traditions involved that I don't know enough about, but the drummers and a few of the dancers are the oldest men in the village. There is a nearby hut where the oldest of the old men will sleep for the next month. A few of the old women that dance are the ones that actually perform the circumcisions, which I think will happen sometime in the next month. Young boys are definitely circumcized, but it is still unclear to me whether they also circumcize the girls. Previously I had heard that they do not do FGM down here, but girls are atleast somehow involved in the traditional ceremony.
HABARI YA PEACE CORPS (Peace Corps News):
Peace Corps-Tanzania is working hard to try and improve its technical training, so I'm helping another PCV to write a math teaching manual (hands-on activities, teaching tips, etc.). We are super rushed because Peace Corps wants it ready by the end of May for the incoming training class coming in June, so it will be a work in progress, but will hopefully be helpful to future volunteers. I'm also hoping to help out with math technical training of the new education class arriving in June, so we'll see.
HABARI NYINGINE (Other News):
I've been writing lots of letters lately, and I'm taking requests! If you want a super-duper-cool, handwritten letter all the way from Tanzania, send me your address or write me first!
Ok, that's all for now. I added some new pictures, so check them out!
Anywho, I've been busy at site since arriving back from IST a few weeks ago. I took a few days to get home from Morogoro, which included a great day in Dar with, I kid you not, a legit Subway sandwich for lunch. For dinner, Katie, Will, and I treated ourselves at a fancy Thai restaurant overlooking the harbour of Dar es Salaam, complete with a bottle of red wine, and topped off the night with ice cream sundaes. Then came the long bus ride home...the normally bad road is significantly worse due to the rainy season, and we kept hearing horror stories about people getting stuck for 3 days on the road. Fortunately we had a relatively smooth trip down to Mtwara, with no breakdowns or mud-stuckage. Then after a pretty round-about way home (the road one direction to my vill is closed) and just one missed bus, I finally made it back to site. I had mentally prepared for my house to be a complete wreck after being gone for nearly 3 weeks, and I was certainly not disapointed. Of course there was massive amounts of dirt and rat poop to be swept, containers and things knocked of all my shelves, and a good sized piece of my math notes chewed off. My kitchen-ish room floods everytime it rains hard, which is normally not a problem because I'm there to mop up afterwards. Expectedly, it was flooded. But, unexpectedly, there was a little zawadi (present) left for me in all the water, in the form of a fully decomposed rat carcass. Not sure how the rat died, but apparently the water had been standing long enough so that only bones were left. Luckily I don't have actual windows, so constant ventilation meant there was no death stench. Also left in the pool was my partly-chewed-up sock that went missing a few months ago, so that mystery has been partially solved! Needless to say I wasn't about to touch any bones or the hairy, gut-juice water with my hands so I waited about 10 days for all the water to evaporate and then swept out the bones. There is still a nice pile of rat hair stuck to the floor, so hopefully that can slowly be swept away.
SHULENI (at school):
Not a whole lot new at school. Graded lots of midterms and am back into the normal teaching routine. Our school grounds are a bit livelier since our school goats had babies! I think baby goats may be the cutest of all baby animals, but they also cry alot which tends to disrupt class. I actually had a baby goat come into my classroom when I was teaching and poop! It sure is hard to get your students back on task after something like that happens!
My counterpart was really motivated from IST which has been awesome to see. We've started to teach "Life Skills" sessions on Tuesday afternoons. We've done two sessions so far, an introduction and a session on effective communication, and the students seem to be enjoying them so far. All the girls also came to school last Saturday and we talked a bit about some issues they face (low self-confidence, early pregnancy, prostitution, etc.). They created a girls club, complete with elected officers, where they can talk about their problems, help each other out, get advice from teachers, etc. so hopefully it will continue and be helpful for them.
Mista Likulu has also been trying to get a lab (he teaches Bio and Chem) started at school for the last several months. He already got most of the supplies donated and has bought a good amount of chemicals, but they have been sitting on the floor of an empty classroom for a few months now. All we are really lacking at this point is lab tables, stools, and storage cabinets, so last week we talked with a few local fundis (carpenters) about getting those built. Wood is a bit scarce at the moment, but hopefully we will have a functioning laboratory soon! Shout-out to my mom who is going to help with the fundi costs :). Oh and if anyone has any old children's books (in English) laying around and would be willing to donate them to my school, it'd be much appreciated! The students' English level is way below where it should be, so we are working hard to get them more comfortable. Unfortunately we have no English books, so children's picture books up to easy, short elementary level reads would be a great resource to have...If you are interested in helping contact me or my mama!
KIJIJINI (in the village):
Last weekend a village nearby (where some of my students live) hosted our ward's annual ngoma kicking off the start of circumcision season. Ngoma means drum in Kiswahili, and is traditional celebration with dancing, drumming, etc. It is a really big deal, and people walk there from as far as 25 kilometers. I went with my counterpart, and let me just say it was overwhelming! I was not expecting there to be what seemed like thousands of people around. All along the road people had set up stands to sell food, fabric, basic goods, etc. and you could barely move it was so packed. We missed the main drumming part, so we just ended up walking around at first. After several months in Tanzania I feel quite used to being stared at wherever I go, but I had never experienced the level of attention I got here. I was literally surrounded by a constant circle of wide-eyed, open-mouthed children and adults, about 10 people deep, the entire time. It was both awkward and amusing. And to add to it, I am tall. Seriously. It is definitely a new experience for me, but I've encountered few taller than me among the short Makonde people! So now picture the "tall" white person that I am, standing in the middle of a massive huddle of short Tanzanians. By this time (late afternoon), most of the adults were good and drunk off pombe (local brew), so there were lots of drunk people coming up to me speaking Kimakonde, which I can understand very little of. I think I've talked a bit about alcoholism around here; it is an especially serious problem among the older people. It is common for villagers to go out and work in their shamba (farm) in the morning, and return home and begin drinking pombe. The result is that if you walk through the village by mid-afternoon, you will encounter plenty of drunk old people or see them passed out on the ground outside their huts. I have to admit that at first it was kind of amusing, but it has gotten old and is truly sad to see, especially because many of them are the parents and grandparents of my students. But on the bright side, my high school students don't drink. Seriously. When we talk about drinking alcohol at my school, it is not about the students, but about the students' parents...quite different than the US. But back to the ngoma, they finally started another drumming session which was really cool to see. Unfortunately my camera died pretty quickly, but you can check out a few pictures and a video I took! There are lots of local Makonde traditions involved that I don't know enough about, but the drummers and a few of the dancers are the oldest men in the village. There is a nearby hut where the oldest of the old men will sleep for the next month. A few of the old women that dance are the ones that actually perform the circumcisions, which I think will happen sometime in the next month. Young boys are definitely circumcized, but it is still unclear to me whether they also circumcize the girls. Previously I had heard that they do not do FGM down here, but girls are atleast somehow involved in the traditional ceremony.
HABARI YA PEACE CORPS (Peace Corps News):
Peace Corps-Tanzania is working hard to try and improve its technical training, so I'm helping another PCV to write a math teaching manual (hands-on activities, teaching tips, etc.). We are super rushed because Peace Corps wants it ready by the end of May for the incoming training class coming in June, so it will be a work in progress, but will hopefully be helpful to future volunteers. I'm also hoping to help out with math technical training of the new education class arriving in June, so we'll see.
HABARI NYINGINE (Other News):
I've been writing lots of letters lately, and I'm taking requests! If you want a super-duper-cool, handwritten letter all the way from Tanzania, send me your address or write me first!
Ok, that's all for now. I added some new pictures, so check them out!
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