Peace Corps Journals

Larry Harris Scholarship Project

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Tanzania YouTube Videos matching query: "peace corps" "Tanzania "

2012-02-08 23:01:26

	Larry Harris Scholarship Project Peace Corps Volunteer returns to Tanzania and reunites with his Tanzanian counterpart. They haven't had contact in 45 years. The epilogue features Vincenti, his wife and his granddaughter Getrude.	From: erniezaremba Views: 5 0 ratings
	Time: 14:28	More in Nonprofits & Activism

Comment on Bowser by paff00

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Tanzania Paff In Tanzania

2011-11-05 09:57:06

Hey. I don't believe there is a time limit, so waiting till Christmas should work. Although I also don't think there's any restriction on multiple donations if you want to do one now and one later or something.

Comment on Bowser by Megan

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Tanzania Paff In Tanzania

2011-12-18 21:46:07

Augh! And just as I was getting my shit together for Christmas donating :( I'm glad the rest of your community is so great... *hides in shame* You'll get a letter from me, at least, in a few days...?

Rambling ramble

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Tanzania jenzania

2012-02-09 12:51:00

My apologies for the length of time that has passed since I’ve last written. However, expect this to be the norm. Internet opportunities and chances for electricity are, sadly, few and far between.

First of all, I’m grateful for being relatively close to two other current PCV’s. My closest “site mate” (which means closest volunteer in the nearest village” is a 20 minute walk from my house. The other close volunteer is another hour walk. It’s just nice to know if I need anything or if something goes wrong (knock on wood), they’re close enough to me to come over and help. However, I’m trying not to think about the future; for they are finished here in Tanzania in July, and the next round of newbies (I won’t be a newbie anymore!) won’t arrive until probably December. By then, though, I will hopefully be all settled in and will have projects underway. Maybe I’ll try to plan some traveling trips during those lonely 5 months.

I’m not sure if I’ve written about this, but the Primary School has been in session for about a month now. Since I live so close to the school, it never fails that I routinely get woken up at 6:30am every morning to the sound of their muffled conversations as they sweep dirt. Sweeping dirt should be a whole separate blog post, haha. It’s difficult to sleep much past then anyway, life in Africa starts even before the sun rises.

To my dismay, mango season is now over. As depressing as this is, I have orange season to look forward to in July and August. Apparently bananas and pineapples are always in season, however, it is a chore to track them down. On a lighter note, I found a cucumber in the market last weekend! Score! The PC Medical Officers would scold me, because I didn’t peel and boil the bacteria (and taste) off of it before consuming. I’m sorry doc, that’ll ruin the cucumber; I’ll take my chances with diarrhea, thank you.

Since lizards like to live in my house and climb my walls, they also like to poop on my floors too. Now, I don’t mind the lizards, they probably eat bugs and spiders that I don’t have to kill myself. It’s deciphering between the lizard poop and rat poop that has proven difficult. However, I figured it out (please don’t ask me how). In case you’d like to know, lizard poop has a white tip at the end of it. Rat poop doesn’t. This comforts me when all I see in the morning is white-tipped poop, this means the rats have stayed away yet one more night.

The rat killing stories I’m hearing from my site mate are horrifying and I hope to never have to use a hockey slap shot move to kill a rat, although I’m sure it’s only a matter of time. His tips will be useful though, to this I have no doubt. Don’t worry, you can look forward to a very disgusting and descriptive post at that time.

I’m traveling to Mtwara on the coast this weekend. Despite what you may think, this is not considered a “city”. From what I hear it’s more like a glorified town. However, there will be internet access there, so you can expect another post about how awesome the Indian Ocean is in the next few days.

Hope everyone’s doing well! Keep in touch. Cheers!

Back again

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Tanzania InterpretacionesDelTanzania

2012-02-08 16:11:00

Back in Pemba... again. Spent the week of the 22nd in Dar for a volunteer government-type thing, called VAC (Volunteer Advisory Council). The VAC meeting was productive AND fun. Talked to PC staff about stuff that we wanted to be addressed and PC did the same to the vols. It was a little like work but afterwards we (there were about 13 vols there from all over TZ) usually went out in Dar to get some food (legit fajitas, shawarma (almost every day), street chicken, pizza) and some drinks. (I don't know how I'll drink when I get back to the states: shots are < $1, beers = $1, plus the beers are bigger and have a higher alcohol content. I've probably mentioned this before.) But Dar IS expensive. Getting there from Pemba is 45,000tsh (90,000tsh round trip, which is about 1/3 of my monthly pay), to stay is around 10,000tsh/night (if you split a room), and the food costs more than elsewhere in TZ. But its fun there. We hit a couple bars (hard) along with the Holiday Inn rooftop bar for some hookah. The VAC meeting was over by Thurs, and there are no ferries to Pemba on Friday (probably because its the holy day) so I decided to make a weekend trip to Dodoma. (Not my first time to Dodoma. I stopped there on the return trip from shadow. Dodoma is an OK city. It's the actual Capital of TZ so the gov't building are verryy nice. It's got things that most other cities/towns have: safi dukas ["nice shops"], food places, banks, etc. But that's about it. It's in the middle of nowhere in the desert so it's hot and dry. And aside from the gov't buildings being there and a legit Italian restaurant with mini-golf (which, I admit, is something), nothing too special about it.)

The bus trip there took entirely too long: 8.5 hours instead of the normal 6-7 (yeah I know that's only a couple of hours more, but it felt longer). But I traveled with another vol so it wasn't horrible. Got to Dodoma and met up with another vol there. Took some time to relax and shower after the bus trip (I normally don't bathe the morning I travel, there's really no point) then we got some food and hit up a bar. It was only midnight(ish?) by the time the bar shut off all the lights and said it was time for us to go. Being the former-college students we are, it was decided that we should shotgun a beer before we left. I'm not sure what the TZians were thinking as they watched us, but part of the reason we're here is to "promote better understanding of Americans on the part of peoples served," so.... (Did I just quote a PC Core Expectation to justify shotgunning a beer?) Anyway, we left the bar and walked back into the center of town. Some people wanted to hit the clubs up, but I wasn't feeling it (plus who wants to pay a cover?) so a couple of us headed back to the guesti for the night. (I don't know how people drink until 3am then get up to get on a 6am bus. I've only tried that once (twice?) and ended throwing up on the ferry back to Pemba. But I didn't have to get up this time. Another vol did.) Saturday was pretty good too. Lazy morning/afternoon and went to get pizza/pasta from an Italian place in Dodoma. Legit pizza and pasta. The night ended up at another bar. One (very ADD) game of Kings, one very poor math student (our waiter), and some HORRIBLE tequila later, the night ends (it was only midnight-ish again).

Next day starts early and I'm on a bus back to Dar at 6:15am. The ride there isn't horrible (took 7 hours) with only a large mama sitting next to me (cozy). Get into Dar around 1pm and get a room to sleep in. I get a ticket to Unguja (Zanzibar) for the next day then crash in my room. Ferries to Pemba during the windy season (now) and non-peak tourist season (also now) don't go as often so I was forced to spend a night on Unguja. But I was able to crash at a VSO's place there. It was pretty nice. My own guest room, own bathroom, and hot shower. Hells yea.

Up at 5:30am the next day for a 7am ferry back to Pemba. What is it with the seas between Unguja-Pemba? Maybe its 'cause of the windy season, but twas a choppy ride. I also think the captain was trying to set a speed record for a 'not-quite-yet-in-need-of-repair ferry.' How I didn't "rudisha chenji' [lit. "return the change," slang for vomit] is beyond me. I actually fell asleep while trying not to think about the fact that my stomach was starting to feel funny. Weird. But I got back home in one piece [mzima = lit. "whole person." A common greeting here is "mzima?" with a response of "mzima." Its funny to translate TZ grettings word for word] but I missed a week of school.
Actually, I didn't miss much. Form 3 still isn't here and when I ask when they're coming I still get the response I got at the beginning of the year: "maybe after some days." (I wish I had 10,000tsh for every time I've heard that.) Great. So my Form 1 students had a weeks break from me and my funny language. Teaching is again frustrating. Its been a month and I'm only teaching 12 periods/week. I go to the school, teach my 2-4 periods, done by 10:30, go home. But my Form 1 students are doing OK, I think. I'm going very slllooowwwwww with them (we're still on self-introduction/personal information). And I tried to teach the chitlins running around my house some English. They asked me to. I told them when to show up and where ("that house whose door you always bang on while I'm napping and sometimes lock while I'm inside"). No one showed. TITS (This Is Tanzania, Sir).

I know I've said it before but getting back to site after hanging out with vols is also tough. Going from speaking English all week and talking with people you relate with to.... none of that, can take a toll. There's also a lack of community with me, the school, and my village (read: cluster of houses) which, at times, can suck.
But then, there's times like last weekend. Very Beach Corps. We (all the vols in Pemba) hit up a pretty secluded beach in the south of the island. After a 15min ride, it was about a 10-15min walk from the main road. Very small beach with mangrove on both sides of it, but super private at nice. We went at high tide so the water was deep enough to help kill the midday heat. We put on some music and chilled in the water for most of the afternoon. We all had a pretty solid tans/burns. Afterwards, we got back to town, ate some food (I still freakin love rice and beans), drank a little bit (Admiral Nelson's. Hello, again, high school), then at night walked around town as everyone celebrated Mohammad's (PBUH) birthday (I forget what the actual holiday is called, but that's what it celebrates.) Street vendors everywhere, people are actually out of their house at night, and people reciting the Qur'an. Its really times like that which remind me that I'm on a tropical island in the Indian Ocean. Some days are tough to beat.

Randoms:
*Still waiting for my furniture. I can't wait to nap on that couch.
*I really miss sandwiches.
*Killing insects with my bare hands and feet is kama kawida ["normal/usual"] for me now. Although, here I do not have the large bugs other vols have.
*Am I Spanish? Over the weekend I was asked twice if me or anyone from my family is from Spain. It's got to be my dark hair.
*Getting diarrhea (for 2+ days) sucks.

*Another vol has said, on more than one occasion, that Canada is set to become the next superpower. I have to agree with his reasons: rising temps will free up a crap-load (technical term) of farmland in the north of the country; they already produce a crap-ton (another technical term) of oil and as the ice retreats, they'll be able to get more that's been freed up; they don't have nearly as troubled economy as the U.S.. Plus, with the U.S. military on it's first floor, who's going to fuck with it? Though, I guess the same argument (minus the economy, but add their own military) could be said about Russia too...

*Our PC passports has our resident permit in them. It's mostly used to get things cheaper (travel tickets, mainly) and bypass customs lines (at least when going to Unguja). And the tickets I get for the ferries states on there that I'm a resident. So its always funny when getting on the boat and I hand my ticket to the agent there, he'll look at the ticket, ask "you're a resident?" I respond "yes." Then he says "mambo?" Like knowing a greeting is some sort of test.
*I really have no opinion either way about who won the Super Bowl.

*I'm slowly, but surely plugging along with Super Mario World.

*Pretty sure the temperature in Pemba jumped at least 10 degrees over the week I was in Dar. Damn, its hot.
*OK, I lied about being able to see the milky way even with a full moon. Even with a half moon I can't see it. But a new moon.... oh yeah. My night sky is pretty sweet either way.

*When asked by another teacher to "nipe mpya" ["give me new" news, or kind of like "tell me something"], instead of my ususal "sina" ["I don't have any"] I decided to tell her I didn't throw up on the boat back to Pemba.... That's my news?? *shakes head*
*Pretty confident I don't know how to properly use ( ) and [ ].
*I fell asleep on my arm one night. Woke up to it completely dead. I had to use my other arm to move it out from under my body. Such a weird (non)feeling. That can't be good for the nerves.
*W is for Music: Weezer, Wilco, and We Are Scientists have been a staple lately. Maybe some Wu Tang? Bila shaka.

Graduation!

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Tanzania Geneva in Tanzania

2012-02-07 16:49:00

As always I was put on the decoratingcommittee for Form VI graduation. Every time we choose up committeesI joke I should be a bouncer, DJ or MC and once I made it as far asbeing put with the cooks but for some reason I usually seem to end upmapamboni no matter what I do. This makes very little sense.The Tanzanian tradition of decorating everything in sight line withas many ribbons, draped clothes and bows as they can lay their handson is something I find slightly repugnant to my American senses ofboth style and efficiency.

My intrepid team of form four girls ask “Madam should we use green or pinkbows here?... Madam where can we find more lace cloth?... Madam dothese ribbons look right?” But the answer is always the same: Ireally couldn't care less.

I do make an effort though. Fridaynight we stayed until eleven o'clock in the staffroom turning it intosomewhere I might have been delighted to have my fifth birthday. Irealize of course that American traditions are just as arbitrary andheld just as dear. Why can't we have graduations without thoseridiculous robes and hats? Why isn't Christmas Christmas without atree? Why does Thanksgiving necessarily mean a turkey? Still, as adispassionate observer it all seems utterly ridiculous.

The staff room when I was finished with it.

Graduation itself was long (startingtwo hours late) and mostly much more interesting than the averageTanzanian function, at least for me. My students sang, danced, madespeeches and put on a thirty minute farce (komedi) whichaddresses the themes of sex, drugs, drinking, love. It includedcross-dressing and some slapstick so realistic the first time I sawit I literally gasped and thrust my fingers to my mouth and endedwith a joke about incest and mistaken identity. Obviously, it broughtthe house down.

The singing was moving. I've alwaysbeen a sucker for all-men choirs, call and response songs and songsthat include hand clapping, all of which were featured heavily. The song that contained a thanks specifically to me made me tear up and hate myself for not having my camera with me.

After the ceremony the graduates andthe students who paid for the food piled into classes where rice,pilau, beans, beef stew, cabbage, bananas and sodas (what a feast!)are waiting for them. The invited guests had almost the same, exceptserved from much nicer dishes and in the staffroom. As eventcoordinators, we teachers dashed about making sure that everythingwas as it should be. Only when the music was beginning out in theparade ground and all the official guests had left did we settle downfor our own plates of food and beer/soda.

Since very few people have camerasevery party has a band of roving photographers who line upparticipants in the shrubbery to take essentially the same picturesover and over again with different people in them. As something of anoddity in my community I am a big star of these photos and almost theonly one who ever smiles. The day after the photos will be printed intown and then sold back to the people who requested them. As anAmerican living my life in the post printed photos paradigm I amsometimes scolded for taking pictures I never bring back.

The music is all gospel and BongoFlavor (East Africa's idea of pop) and Tanzanians are pretty terribledancers by American standards when they are trying to be polite. Atthe sketchy discos in the big cities people have seen enough rapvideos to know how to really shake their booties.But in a village where there is no electricity and anywayeveryone knows you, your mother and your wife, its mostly a lot ofelbow work and shifting of weight from one foot to another to theprinciple beat. My friends are unduly impressed with my ability tomimic this behavior and I am always congratulated several times atany party on my dancing. As with a lot of things, when it comes to mydancing I secretly suspect that a lot of Tanzanian interest comesdown to a sort of 'look-at-what-the-monkey-can-do' fascination. I'mnever entirely sure what they're actually impressed with and whatthey're only impressed with because I'm American. Whatever. I'll takewhat I can get.

The teachers and staff dance the Tanzanian version of the twist to resounding approval from the school.

As I said, I like showing off mystuff. But as I walked back to the staffroom with the other adults Icouldn't help but feel strangely envious of the kids. They let themusic play until eleven (though they only had permission until nine)and then they piled back into the dorms, rowdy and elated. The otherteachers all went back to their families and kids. I'm the only onewho went back to an empty house (except for the lizards). Being ateacher is fun, being the center of attention is exhilarating, havingpeople interested in me and being respected is great. But being anoutsider is hard.

i'm tired

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Tanzania A Fresh Start

2012-02-06 13:14:00

Today was a long day.

It started the night before, when I went out with a group of volunteers on a veritable bar crawl to celebrate Super Bowl Sunday. It was warranted, given we had secured a viewing area for the game, complete with projector, TVs on the side for no good reason, and rotating fans which we didn't really need (it can get surprisingly cold here sometimes). After 4 beers and an insufficient amount of food to counterbalance the alcohol, we bought a few snacks (and a bottle of scotch) and took a quick nap before the game started at 2:30AM.

We woke up pretty groggy to say the least. Actually, some of us didn't wake up at all. Only about 50% of us committed to watching the game after our 2 or 3-hour doze. But we sure were glad we got to watch it. Exciting to the end, just how every Super Bowl should be! And it turned out that, right as the game ended, I had just enough time to walk back home, clean myself up, and pack my things for Mtwara: Part 2.

While I could have simply hopped a bus in town this morning, I decided to stop by the district offices to let my co-workers know I was going to Mtwara again for a longer stay, also hoping I could get a free ride in a government car. While there wasn't a car leaving in the morning, I was told there would be one in the afternoon. After being convinced that I wouldn't be getting any work done today, regardless of whether I left in the morning or the afternoon (there's nothing quite like that fantastic Tanzanian work ethic!), I reluctantly waited in the office for transport.

Lo and behold, it's the end of the work day, 4:00PM and there never was a car. And now it's too late to catch a bus. I spent most of today just trying to stay awake long enough to get into a car, thinking I could sleep off last night on the ride into town. Instead, I've been duped into wasting an entire work day waiting for imaginary transport, all while having to remain conscious enough to appear like I'm not about to pass out on my desk.

I'm looking forward to sleeping this off tonight.

1/25/12

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Tanzania Rachel in Tanzania

2012-02-06 06:31:48

So I got back to my site on Friday afternoon, after a successful day in town – shopping for food, internet, picking up clothes I had made, staying happy, ready to start working – and slowly began to realize that … Continue reading →

Things are still good.

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Tanzania Riah in Tanzania

2012-02-05 23:22:00

My Internet hasn't been working at site, but I wanted to briefly check in and let you all know I'm doing ok. The week before last I went to dar for the vac meeting, which was cool, but awkwardly timed, given that it was the first regular week of classes. I'm the new secretary, which is cool. I also got to give my suggestions of which grammar books they should give to the English teachers, which I was happy about. I've been saying they need to give us grammar books and dictionaries, and it's nice that they're trying to do that. While I was there I also picked up a couple of books on starting and managing libraries, which look super helpful. Plus dar is fun when there are other people there to hang out with. And while it's expensive, there is good food to be had. Like nachos, complete with corn chips. Back at site, I've been settling in to teaching again. Its pretty easy cuz the baseline book that they use for the form one orientation course is full of step by step lesson plans. And it's easy material. It is interesting though thinking about how English actually works. For example, last week I taught plural nouns. Why is it families and puppies and flies, but boys and toys? I told them if the letter before the y is a vowel, just go with the +s. Why is it knives and leaves and hooves but roofs doesn't get a +ves? This one I just have no idea about. This week also marked the first meeting of my life skills club. It feels a bit like a schoo assembly instead of a club (each form meets once a month, and all of the students in form one were there. I think it might be mandatory for them to go.) anyways, it's me and mr. Alex and ms. Njau, and I was really impressed with how mr. Alex led the main part of the lesson. I'm glad to be working with him. Anyways, I'm about to go watch the super bowl, which I basically don't care about, because its boring teams, and it's the middle of the night so i'll be tired tomorrow, but we made pizza (we're really good at making pizza) and have been playing games to keep us up. So it's not so bad, even though it does start at 2:30 am here.

Not Your Ordinary Holiday Season Pt. 1

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Tanzania Stacey's Tanzanian Adventures

2012-02-05 07:59:00

Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania

First, I would like to wish everyone a late Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! This Holiday season was my second here in Tanzania and one I will never forget for the rest of my life J

Why, you ask, was this celebratory part of the year so memorable!?!? Well let me tell you…

Skyler, the greatest brother anyone could ever have, had been planning to come visit me ever since I stepped foot in Tanzania and he showed up just in time for Christmas, December 19^th. I left my village a week earlier because, well, it takes 3 to 4 days to get to Moshi (the city famous for Mount Kilimanjaro) from my village and there was a new training class of Peace Corps Volunteers swearing in Dar es Salaam and I had been invited. This was super exciting, it’s not too often PCV’s get invited to swearing in’s and the more ‘seasoned’ PCVs are always excited to meet the newcomers! Meeting the newbys, going to swearing in was a nice getaway from village life and I also got to take care of some housekeeping issues during a long overdue visit to the Peace Corps office. Then I was off to Moshi to wait for Skyler to fly into Kilimanjaro International Airport! This was the first time I’ve ever been to Moshi, it’s a small city but full of conveniences and I was living it up! Burgers, real coffee and lattes, even came iced, real cake, swimming pools, fast internet, showers…etc. But best of all my friend Danny from Indonesia, who is Studying at LCMC Hospital, I met him when he did a practicum for a month to the Bulongwa Hospital which is about 30 min walk from my village. It was my guide and kept me busy while waiting for Skyler to come. He also showed me this really amazing Chinese restaurant the was so mouth-watering I think I dreamt about it that night! Haha

As soon as Skyler landed we started preparing for the greatest adventure of both our lives so far…climbing Mount Kilimanjaro!!! Picking him up from the airport was a happy time; I made him a sign the said ‘Karibu Sana Tanzania Skyler!’ and prettied it up with balloons! The driver from Moshi Expeditions and Mountaineering Company we booked with took pictures of this heartwarming reunion. Then we were off to get the party started! I didn’t know the details of the package Skyler bought for climbing up The Mountain but was soon living it up even more. They took us to a what would be 4 star hotel in America and told us we had one night here before the climb and TWO nights after we came down! WHAT!!!! I haven’t stayed in anything other than hostels for the past year and half!! We got all our stuff in the room and figured out the packing list for climbing then, because it’s a very important tradition of min, we had to jump on the beds!!! Yes plural there was two king sized beds, along with a shower AND BATHTUP, air conditioning, real toilet, swimming pool and restaurant/bar…what more could a girl ask for?!

I hadn’t seen Skyler for almost two years so we had A LOT of catching up to do. We talked for hours until he passed out from exhaustion and jetlag. Bright and early the next day we started our trek up this beautiful, challenging mountain.

Mount Kilimanjaro, Marangu Route (yes, the easiest route, we were beginners :P) is an hour drive from Moshi. On the way we met our guide and porters, the people who would ensure our success and if necessary carry our bags or us to the top.

The first day of hiking was not very difficult trekking. We hiked for about 3 ½ hours until we reached the first check point called Mandara. It was so great to be with my brother! We talked literally the entire day everyday on the way up…except when we were struggling to breathe from being at high elevations.

The second day we hiked close to 6 hours and reached Horombo point. We once we arrived werested for an hour then hiked around for a couple hours at that elevation to get used to the thin air. We camped here two nights to get acclimate to the altitude. The next day, still at Horombo, we hiked to a really beautiful place called Zebra Rocks.

It’s a cliff that the side is black and white stripped. After a second night at Horombo we continued on to Kibo Hut which is the last check point before the summit. It took us about 7 hours to get to kibo hut but along the way we met some really awesome people that were encouraging us to keep on going.

There was a huge group from Switzerland that were completely amused by me and Skyler. Every day at the checkpoints we would all eat together in the dining halls. We were laughing and joking all the time. We even had a tower building competition with a couple from Italy. We used everything that was on the lunch table to build a tower from the table to the ceiling. This took concentration, agility, creativity and a steady hand. But the best part was when it came crashing down! We shared the huts we slept in with a couple from Germany that were on their honeymoon. They are awesome and great company!

One MAJOR thing I forgot to mention, we planned to summit on Christmas eve! Around midnight on the 23^rd we all started our summit! It was really tiring considering we were having trouble breathing and tired from the previous days hikes. But it was also so beautiful.

At Kibo Point we were at 4703m and very close to the sparkly starry sky! It was a five 1/2 hour hike up to Glimans Point, which is the start of the peak. Another 2 hours from there is Uhuru Peak, the highest point in Afrika! We made it to Glimans Point just in time to see the sunrise.

It was breath taking! Skyler was really feeling sick from altitude sickness and was struggling. At one point he wanted to go down and me go on to the top. But we were gonna make it together and WE DID!! TULIFIKA!!!!

We made it to Uhuru peak around 7am on Christmas Eve wearing our Santa hats (compliments of the lovely Tonja Rice!) It was really rough getting to the top but once I was there I had to make my mark some how…soooo I made a snow angel!! When I was explaining to our guide what I wanted to do he called it swimming in the snow! And thus Skyler and I managed to have a white Christmas Eve in Afrika.

Once pictures were taken and Skyler was about to pass out we began going back down. I think because we climbed this part in the dark I didn’t have a measure of how far it would be to go down. It was harder than I thought. And the most difficult part for me. We stopped to rest at Kibo Hut for a couple hours then continued going down to Horombo where the air was a little more tolerable. Once we were there and able to rest it sunk in that we made it and were very proud of our awesome accomplishment! Merry Christmas from Uhuru Peak, Mount Kilimanjaro!

Our joy was only short lived unfortunately. Once we were rested I turned on my cell phone I wanted to send a text to everyone saying we made it to the top. But instead received a text from our Dad that our step father, Hank, was not doing well and we needed to call home ASAP. Hank had been sick and in the hospital for months and a couple times my Mom had talked to me about coming home to see him, but things always bounced back. This time though, we found out he was not going to be able to bounce back. They wanted us to come home…We had a huge choice to make because Skyler had been planning this trip for a year, now he is finally here. Yes, we climbed the mountain but he had not yet experienced true Tanzania. So we decided we would cut his trip short a week but still go to my village so he can see where and how I live. We had to cut out going to Matema beach on Lake Malawi for New Years and a luxurious, exotic get-a-way to Zanzibar.

In Part 2 I will elaborate on Skyler’s journey to my village. I’m running out of time with electricity because the bus is coming and I have some errands to run.

With Love!

Mafia, 'Merica, and Teaching: Year 2!

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Tanzania miaka miwili katika Tanzania

2012-02-05 11:29:00

Hey all, sorry for taking a bit of a blog hiatus. It's been over 2 months, so let's see if I can remember some things...

The first of December brought on Mafia Island and...dun dun dun...swimming with whale sharks! It was awesome! We were close enough to touch them, snorkeling along side them. They are HUGE. And have really wide mouths. It was truly amazing. I posted some pics (above water, sorry), but they really don't do the experience justice. The ferry ride back was about 4 hours on very rough sea and encouraged quite a lot of vomiting (not by me, thanks strong stomache). Cultural observation: apparently throwing up over the edge of the boat is not intuitive. Tanzanians throw up on themselves and their clothes and their neighbors and their neighbors' clothes. It's no big deal, really.

Then I went home to America. It was swell. Seeing family and friends was wonderful, as expected! And I ate so much! And it was perfect weather for most of the time. I did burn my legs on Christmas morning, but was lucky that they healed before I had to head back to the land of dirt and poor medical care.

I returned to Tanzania and had about a week to get over jet lag. I did it in the worst possible way. Like opposite of getting over jet lag. I arrived at about 8 am, went to my friend's apartment, showered, and got in bed for just a "little nap." Little nap turned into all day and I woke up at about 6 pm and ate some dinner. Then some friends convinced me to go out for a few beers, and what can I say, I missed those big Tanzanian beers. Well that turned into going to a safi (nice) club, that has a 20,000 shilling cover (3 days pay). Needless to say, we stayed out way too long and I didn't get to bed until 6 in the morning. Then I slept all day, again. So I was basically nocturnal, but I got over that after not too long. I also had 4 days of 'Mid-Service Conference' at the Peace Corps office, which consisted of a mix of medical check-ups and general training sessions. It was really fun, and the first time my training class has been back all together since March. The next and last training our class will do together is COS (close of service) Conference in early August.

Finally getting back to my village and house was nice. The new school year started up right away in mid-January and we're 3 weeks into term so far. It's been a bit strange because none of our Form I or III students decided to show up until the third week, so our school was few as were our classes. Our teachers are still few...just 3 of us. We have been promised "at least 2, not more than 3" new teachers, but I won't believe it until I see it. My math levels are a bit different, and I've got 5 levels now, but I'm only teaching Form I and II physics this year (beyond that, sciences are optional for students). I have not been asked to teach Form I English again, but I suspect I will unless we receive an English teacher. Teaching math is still usually enjoyable, and I feel a lot more confident this year as a teacher. Many topics I've already taught and have class notes for, so that also cuts down on the prep time which is nice. I'm hoping that our Form IV and Form II math results at the end of this year will show a lot of improvement, as the students would have atleast had 2 years of regular math instruction beforehand. I've enjoyed teaching physics so far more than last year. For starters more current Form IIs (last years Form Is) are my favorite group to teach, most being still active and motivated and not too jaded by their chances for passing to give up yet. A few of my Form IIs that don't participate a ton in math class are interested in physics and ask a lot of questions which is nice to see. I still feel like the physics concepts they are expected to learn is way over their heads and not aligned with their math skills, which makes it difficult to teach. For example, the Form II syllabus starts with 'Static Electricity' which allows for a couple of demos (rubbing plastic pen in hair and then attracting little pieces of paper), but mostly the concepts are not intuitive or possible for them to see. All of this is also in English which makes it a million times harder for them to follow. They often ask me to describe the concepts simply and in Kiswahili; even if my Kiswahili vocabulary was good enough, the concepts just aren't simple. My students have no prior knowledge of atoms and electrons and energy and that's just the start of it. Next comes concepts like capacitance and circuit design and current electricity, things I didn't really learn about until college engineering courses. I think standing in front of a classroom that is paying attention and WANTS to understand a concept and trying but failing, either because of English or my ability to dumb down a concept, is the worst feeling in the world as a teacher. But then I have my classes that I come away from on such a high. One of the biggest struggle Peace Corps teachers have here is how to encourage students to think critically and problem solve, in a system that has only ever asked them to just memorize an answer or process. If I give students exercises that differ at all from my examples in class, they don't know how to solve them. Teaching them to combine multiple concepts to solve a problem seems impossible. Given all this, I had a student ask a question during class the other day that demonstrated critical thinking. It was shocking and awesome and I couldn't stop smiling! We were going over the laws of exponents, dividing powers of the same base, specifically. I just finished an example showing that 3^10 / 3^4 = 3^(10-4) = 3^6. This particular student, the best Form III by far, raises his hand and says something along the lines of "Madam, if it is the other way around and 3^4 / 3^10, do you have a negative exponent and what does that mean?". This was amazing on so many levels, firstly because negative numbers are really really difficult for them and few students know that 4-10=-6 and also because we hadn't been over negative numbers as exponents yet, and mostly because I have never had a student ask about exceptions to laws or use my examples to lead to more difficult questions. Ha, I don't know if any of that made sense to y'all, but it was most definitely the highlight of my teaching thus far.

I've also been working the last couple of months on writing a grant to get funds for a girls empowerment conference that the PCVs of Lindi and Mtwara regions will be hosting. Got just a few changes to make but hopefully we'll get approval soon and some much needed money. The plan is for a 4-day conference during the mid-term break in early April. Each volunteer will bring 4 girls from their secondary school to Ndanda, where we'll have sessions teaching life skills, anatomy and reproductive health, STIs and HIV/AIDS, decision-making and communication skills, and goal-setting and career planning. It's going to be a lot of work but I'm really excited and can't wait for my girls to participate.

Anyways, the only other exciting news that comes to mind is my water tank! I'm not sure if I mentioned it before, but a 2000 liter water storage tank was installed on a raised platform in my courtyard in November. While I was home for the holidays, it was collecting rain water and I came home to a full tank! It has a little faucet and it is crazy and easy and like having running water. I also don't have to filter it before drinking so I have been drinking like 3 liters a day just because I can. It's awesome for hygiene...washing hands and feet and hair and dishes and filling up bucket baths and clothes washing buckets and I just couldn't be happier with my tank. I hope it will last through dry season so I won't ever have to worry about having enough water again. Yay water tank!

Recharged (in more ways than one)

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Tanzania Chels's African Adventures in Lion King Land

2012-02-05 07:06:00

Greetings from Tanga! After four weeks, yes thirty days of village life, I have a recharged computer, recharged phone, and recharged spirit. While I have managed to get a little closer to integration in my vil from the last post, every day has been that wonderful, Peace Corps roller coaster! Some days are tough, some days are wonderful, but I guess that is life, right? Just seems magnified in TZ. :) I'm been able to begin the survey of my village PC has asked us to do, visit more with my neighbors and other friends, and even understand/convey a bit more swahili. Like I said, everything is pole pole, but as crazy as it seems sometimes, I now have one month at site under my belt.

Which means, one month of bucket bath, "cooking" (aka popcorn) and my continually waged WAR on the ANTS. These little boogers have over taken the outside of my home, but i have held my own with "dawa" (medicine, but in reality poison) from the local duke. Go me.

Hence, when my new site mate Nicole suggested a trip to the big city (Tanga), I was more than a little excited. Also, down to my last five dollars, was super excited to hit the ATM. And what a fabulous weekend it has been. Meeting up with, and staying with a former PCV and her family who now live here in town in a beautiful house on the ocean, hitting a TZ night club and learning some sweet moves, and even finding SPECIAL K bars at a random duke in town! That's what I call success. So now, a quick internet check and soon to dip in the ocean, then more PCV fellowship this evening, and I am recharged for the next few weeks at site. Just what the doctor ordered!

Now, if only the umeme (elec) would stay in my village for more than a few hours, I would be really recharged! I am able to charge the computer so hopefully a movie/intenet check in the village before another return trip to town, and my phone has been charged a few times in the vil again, so I'm feeling less disconnected. I did feel guilty leaving my village (even just to get to town), but did realize we all need a little recharging sometimes. I'll be a better/happier volunteer if I take care of my mental battery too.

Still loving the mail! I get to "little" town, Muheza to check about once a week, but sometimes takes longer, so please excuse tardy letters. Still hot, still not sure of my jobs in the village, still being taken care of by my VEO, and still being offered random Ugali and food from neighbors. Wish I had more excitement to report, dear friends, but this is all a process, and I'm just getting it started. Hope all are well, and lots of love (especially on Valentines Day! I probably won't post before then, but who knows!)

Chels (or Mkunde as I'm known in the village. It means you are loved. I melted, naturally).

Chamwino Running Club and Bad Cats

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Tanzania Let's Talk about Tanzania

2012-02-04 18:26:00

As I have mentioned before, house visits make up most of my days of late, and there are two customs relating to the house visit that I find particularly charming: pokea and sindikiza. To pokea is to receive someone, and in this context, it means relieving someone of whatever they are carrying. They will receive a sack of groceries if you happened to have hit the veggie stand before visiting a friend, or just your notebook if it’s all you’re carrying. Most helpfully, often if I’m walking to my house carrying a lot of stuff, someone will pokea me and help me all the way home. To sindikiza is to accompany a visitor part of the way. At the end of a visit, a host will gather whatever they pokea’ed you and escort you on your way home. When they have decided they have sindikiza’ed you enough, they will hand off your things—groceries, notebook, what-have-you, and wish you well on your way. Some people will just walk some 20 feet, and some people will send a child to do the sindikiza’ing for them. Some people have sindikiza’d me almost all the way home, as a very kind gesture of friendship. Then I feel the need to sindikiza them since they’ve gone so far from their home, and I can imagine this going on and on and neither of us ever gets home.

Most mornings I have taken to jogging into the fields along a dirt path. Not too many people live out that way, but I often pass a few people going to their fields or to a neighboring village. The other day I passed a Gogo man of about 40 years who was walking, dressed in the typical Gogo fashion: red plaid cloak draped about him, wooden staff in hand, sandals made out of repurposed old car tires. After a morning greeting, he asked me where I was going, and I breathlessly replied, “Not too far!” He said, “You’re doing exercise?” I said, “Yes,” and he said, “I see.” And without any other words, car tire sandals and all, he ran to catch up with me and he sindikiza’ed me on my jog. He sindikiza’ed me for more than 15 minutes until I had to turn around to go home. A few days later on another jog, I was on my way home when I passed a few schoolgirls carrying buckets and school things. One of them also wordlessly decided to run with me, and the others joined. Along the way, each schoolgirl that we passed joined us as if there was some tacit obligation, and by the time we got to the school, I had a pack of 15 girls sindikiza’ing me.

Finally I got another cat! It is a nice kitten that sits on my lap and purrs and it hasn’t run away yet. I am very grateful for these things, but I am sort of disappointed that it hasn’t really been doing its job. I’m still finding mice droppings in the corners, and in an even graver lapse in felinity, the cat failed to alert me to the 3-foot snake in my kitchen last week. The cat was sleeping in the other room when I came across the black snake slithering amongst my coffee mugs and cans of oatmeal (still no furniture). I ran, terrified, out my front door to get a neighbor, but when the neighbor came with his wooden staff to kill it, it was nowhere to be found. After an extensive search, I left my house still terrified, and not long after, students said they saw the snake leave my courtyard, and at which point they ID’d it as the spitting cobra. I kept on thinking of the turn of phrase people use when you’re looking and looking for something and it’s right in front of you—“If it was a snake you’d be dead by now.”

That night and every night since, I slept with my wooden staff, and now I enter every room with my head first to survey before stepping. Even so, I am often tricked by things like backpack straps, shoelaces. Just this morning, my heart did a cartwheel when I walked into the kitchen to find a serpentine white line curving across the floor like a sine wave, like a perfect negative of that haunting black cobra. Upon investigation, at the end of the twisting trail I found a half-empty bag of salt with little rodent teeth marks. I don’t know what a mouse would want with a bag of salt, but it’s just more proof that that cat is not doing its job.

Weekend Update

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Tanzania Safari Tanzania

2012-02-04 10:57:00

Just a "brief" update on things here over the last couple weeks. Classes have still been going well, and the workload is a good amount. I have class every day but am always done by early afternoon and have time then to work on my next lesson plans. It also gives me time to work on other kinds of practice and review for my math students. I'm trying to do a different review focused on their old math topics from the last three years each week or so to give them enough practice for the national exam at the end of the year. My only concern now is having enough time to get to all of the topics on this year's syllabus since things always seem to move slower in class than I plan on. The test is about 60% old topics and 40% Form IV so they definitely need to review while learning new things.

The new FEMA life skills club has gotten off and running pretty well so far. There are 4 or 5 of the older students who have been organizing and running the meetings. I go just to be available if they have any questions, but they are all talking in Swahili so I usually understand little of what is actually being said. I'm hoping more of the other teachers will come regularly so they can at least catch it if false info is being given out. But I know the student leaders know good amount about the topics and they have the books to go off of too. So far we've had about 250 or so students come each time, which is great. Most of them are the Form I and II students, so it's good that they are curious and interested to learn about these things.

So that is on Fridays, when we have our social clubs, and academic clubs are on Mondays, so I attend the Math Club. It's mostly led by my best Form IV student, whose name is Mansweet a.k.a. the "King of Mathematics" as he's been dubbed. It's actually really great to go to those meetings because it's all students who actually like math! What a concept! And then Wednesdays are for Debates, which the whole school is supposed to attend and is done (more or less) in English.

And I'm still bringing out the computers in the evenings - 3 nights for students and 2 nights for teachers. The students love using Encarta and listening to different countries' national anthems. The teachers have gotten hooked on this typing program that gives out stats on your accuracy and words per minute. It shows them how to type with both hands though, so it's not too bad of an obsession. I guess a couple of the computer charges I brought to get fixed actually got fixed (shocking!) so I'll try to get them this weekend so we can have more functioning computers.

We had a staff meeting a couple of weeks ago - there is usually about a 5-hour minimum, but somehow this one was only like 4. And I brought up a couple ideas as suggestions for this school year, one of which was the possibility of trying to get some sort of solar system set up at the school so that the computers could be used during the daytime, which I had already discussed a bit with my counterpart. They seemed to be pretty interested and the headmaster said he would like to try and do it. From what I've heard, grant writing is always a long process, but hopefully it won't be too difficult. The first step is to get an idea on how much power would be needed so we can see how many solar panels and all we would need. I think it could be very helpful - even though there is the rainy season for a few months like now, there is still sunlight for a good part of the day most of the time, so there should be enough power available.

This past Saturday was the Graduation for the Form 6 students, who will be taking their final exams and leaving soon. Naturally I was the photographer, being the only one with a digital camera. I'll get some of the pictures developed for them in town this weekend. They played this game after lunch called "Jenga" -unfortunately it didn't involve moving little wooden bricks like I'm familiar with. Instead, it was like a fundraising game, I'm not sure exactly what for, maybe their exam fees or something...? So it's kind of like a truth or dare auction from what I could gather. One person tells someone else to do something goofy, like roll across the room on the floor apparently, and puts a price on it. Then the person either has to do the dare or pay/increase the amount of money, and then they can make up their own thing for someone else to do. Luckily for me they all showed the mercy not to drag me into the game, since I still didn't really know what the heck was going on, but it was sure entertaining to watch!

Sunday was a typical laid back Tanzanian Sunday - cooking, laundry, cleaning around the house, and putting in work on my new Risk board. It's not nearly as impressive as the first one made on the ping pong table - just poster board size. I was wishing I had the old crew here to help with it - especially Ray's drawing skills, but it's coming along pretty well. Soon I will be able to occupy my free time by playing myself in Scrabble AND Risk! Yea one-person game nights!

Oh yea, and I finally decided to set up my tent outside in my courtyard to sleep under the stars/rain, but it didn't work out so well. I set it up in the daytime, but when I went outside at night to brush my teeth, I felt some stings on my feet and ankles... and then all over my legs... and then I ran inside and feverishly scrubbed myself and sprayed all over. When I went back outside with a flashlight, there were swarms and swarms of ants all around the tent- it looked like the ground was moving. So I unloaded about a full can of spray. Luckily the tent was zipped up, so they didn't infest the inside, but needless to say I did not end up sleeping in there after all. My only idea was that the ants saw some new foreign object and decided they wanted to take it to their queen, so they sent every living ant in the area to retrieve a giant 7x7 foot tent. Anyways, they were gone the next day luckily, save for the carcasses of the unfortunate spray victims, and I cleaned up my tent and put that idea of backyard camping far out of my head.

But in between ant attacks, life is good, as I hope it continues to be for everyone back home.

Guerrilla Warfare

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Tanzania A Peace Corps Odyssey: Tanzania

2012-02-02 17:14:00

Where to start? It's only been a weekor two since my last blog post, but as we have already established –events here come in waves.

I guess it is best to start with thesad news first. About a week ago my neighbor passed away. She leftfive children (one was three weeks old), a husband (a teacher at myschool), a sister and many friends. No one is really sure what thecause of death was, but I guess it does not matter. I think what doesmatter however is how when tragedy strikes a community pullstogether. I was actually amazed how similarly affairs are taken careof here and in America. The only thing I found a little different wasthe separation of the sexes. The day Mama Anna passed away all of thewomen who were close to her flocked to her house and the men satoutside. I should admit here that I become a very awkward person whenI heard someone has died and go to visit the family. I never knowwhat to say or do. Come to think of it... who really does? So, Idreaded going to the families house, but I reminded myself I signedup for the entire experience – good or bad. As is custom, I wrappedmyself up in my most colorful fabric, took my shoes off, greeted allof the women sitting on the floor in the house, sat against the walland cried. To make matters worse one of the older woman directed meto sit next to Mama Anna's children who, as one can imagine,inconsolable. I did my best to comfort them by rubbing backs, butlike I said not really my specialty. I will miss Mama Anna. She wassuch a friendly woman. She was always smiled and waved whenever shesaw me. She was also the only Tanzania woman I sawplay physical games with her kids and for that she gets huge props inmy book.

The last thing I would like to sayabout the funeral was the procession to the church. After peoplegathered at the family's house we all piled into lorries, students,teachers, friends, family. Lorries are big trucks that they transportpotatoes and other produce in. It has a metal bar roll cage covering,but it more of less a glorified pick up truck. Once we startedrolling one of the older female students next to me started to sing.It quickly turned into a call and response song to which I wished Iknew the words. It was absolutely beautiful to hear them all singing.As we climbed up the green mountain side and I stared out from thelorrie I realized how truly special my experience here has been sofar. I have been accepted into a community with open arms, noquestions asked. I am expected to celebrate with the community asmember and mourn as a member. At school I am treated no differentlythan the rest of the teachers. My issues matter just as much astheirs. At this point I feel I could not ask for more – I haveblended into the background.

Now for some happier news. This weekour from VI A-level students graduated! Yesterday was the sherehe(party) for which I assumed my normal role in the kitchen. I know Ihave complained about being a woman in Tanzania before, butgraduations are the one exception. Why? Well instead of having to sitat the head table with the Mkuu, Guest of Honor and other maleteachers I get to hide in the kitchen and no one cares. In thekitchen I am usually placed on some sort of “baby task” (i.e.peeling carrots, cleaning peppers, cutting cabbage), but I do notmind. The rest of the time is spend gossiping, involuntarily inhalingsmoke from the wood fires and being the unofficial food tester. Nottoo shabby.

Graduation went off without a hitch...four hours later than planned. Apparently the guest of honor decidedthat showing up at 2pm was much better than showing up at 10 am.About halfway through the ceremony I decided I had had enough smokeand loud music, so I went home for awhile and reappeared just in timeto greet the guest of honor and be offered a beer, which I politelydeclined.

Not too much else to report from here.Today we had a staff meeting. We discussed the fact that thevillagers think the teachers will be leaving the school because ofwhat happened to Mama Anna and all of us being, supposedly,superstitious. We also discussed an issue that has plagued our schoolfor a few weeks now. According to my head master there is a rougeex-form IV student who hides in the bushes and ambushes form Istudents on their way to and from school. He attacks without warningand steals their notebooks. We were told to keep a lookout for him.If we see him, we are to capture him and bring him to the schooloffice. I have two things to say about this:
1. I am amazed that Iunderstood this whole scenario as it was explained in Swahili.

2. This story made me laugh so hard Ialmost had to leave the staff room. Apparently no one else thought akid using guerrilla warfare to target only high school freshman andsteal their notebooks was funny.

Oh! Almost forgot. I survived my 25^thbirthday with the help of some awesome friends. They planned a BBQ,made me wear birthday glasses and even baked me a cake with Nutellafrosting and candles! Thanks again Anna, Anne, Kat, TJ, Eric,Brandon, Andrew, Hannah and Jess!

Hope February is treating everyone wellback at home. It has started to rain more here, but is stillunseasonably cold for summer time. I just hope May, June and July arenot too cold.

All my love from TZ.

tz21 project launch: t-minus ? days

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Tanzania A Fresh Start

2012-02-02 09:25:00

February has arrived, and we are waist-deep in preparations for the TZ21 project launch!

Quite a few things changed in the time I left to start my new life in my new town. Most notably, the launch date has been pushed back. I was quite surprised to hear this news, mostly because I hadn't heard it sooner, but it was apparently a recent development. The information hasn't yet made its way into the districts because the new date isn't actually set yet; we have to run it through the embassy to make room in the ambassador's schedule, as well as the president's.

Also, the venue has changed. We had plans to have the launch party at one of the primary schools that received pilot ICT equipment, but apparently there were security issues; basically, the roads out to the school are awful, especially now that the rains have started, and we can't have the president of Tanzania or the ambassador of the United States riding on these awful dirt roads and risking personal injury just to attend our meager event. No, that's too risky, and it would make the president feel bad that his country has so many terrible, terrible roads. Ironically, I've heard that the venue we're switching to is also on a dirt road, and from what I remember, it's also pretty terrible. But hey, we'll do anything to get them on the guest list. It's not every day you get to meet two massively important government officials!

So even though everything I knew (or thought I knew) about this event has turned into a moving target, I've been summoned to Mtwara to take part in the preparations. It all happened rather suddenly; I got a phone call on Tuesday morning and was in a government car the next day headed into town. Now it seems I may be here a bit longer than expected; I was only supposed to come in until the end of the week, but now it's looking as if they want to keep me here just about until the launch actually happens.

I came into town to help our IYF friends with testing their e-content in the pilot schools. You might remember that our Inveneo friends installed the pilot equipment at the end of last year. Because of delays in the process of getting permits to shoot video for the e-content, there were associated delays in getting the e-content ready for pilot testing. All things considered, they got the beta videos together pretty quick! In the past two days, we've been in the classrooms using the videos to help teachers teach lessons on greetings and expressing thanks in English. In addition to testing how well the students respond to the videos, we're also analyzing how well the hardware performs. This is where my job begins.

We're having issues in our mobile lab setup when we try to stream the e-content from the teacher's laptop to the students' laptops. We're attempting to do this wirelessly, and it appears we've hit some sort of bottleneck, as the video stutters badly during playback. My job is to get this working before the launch. We've discussed possible solutions, some of which radically change the setup (which will make things interesting for the accounting department) and might anger the admin team. I'm hopeful that we can figure out a way to get it working with what we have. In the midst of all this, I've also identified some issues in the procurement of the e-content. That always seems to be the way; for every obstacle you tackle, 3 more come flying right at you.

Hopefully this all leads to more lines of communication coming in my direction. Since I've been out in the district, it almost feels like I'm no longer a part of the project.

Karibu Tanzania

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Tanzania Maria:The Elephant Whisperer

2012-01-30 08:26:00

Well I had a sweet blog all written out to type up but I lost the notebook so....yeaaa. I have been at my site for a little over a month now! I LOVE my village. I am becoming mildly obsessed with the Tanzanian lifestyle. I enjoy going out to the village square in the evenings when everyone gets done farming and chilling in the coffee hut or just alongside the road in the grass for hours upon hours with my villagers.It's perfectly normal to see 2 guys or girls walking down the street holding hands or embracing but you will never see guy/girl pda. I fully take advantage of this with all my girlfriends. It's also a sign of respect to call an old man just that -Mzee, I like it.I now eat dinner around 9pm or later. During homestay I thought eating at 8pm was late. Now eating before 9 feels strange.Also, around 10am everyday everything closes for a chai break, and trust me, my belly knows when it's time for chai. How did I/will I ever live without the daily chai break? I also cant imagine sleeping without a mosquito net.

So a couple weeks ago I go into my banking town to meet up with one of my site mates. I arrive at the bus stand to meet her a couple hours early so I find a spot in the shade to read. One of the bus conductors (who I do not remember ever meeting) comes up like "Hey, Maria!!! Your friends bus gets in at 10 so come inside our office to pumzika and wait for her." When her bus arrives he says "oh she is right near the front so she will be off soon." It was so random. How does he know who I am waiting for and that she is in the front of the bus? It's so random but I suppose they always know what the wazungu are up to. The conductors must call each other as soon as they see us. I have to admit it's really convenient though.I will always know if a friends bus is running late or had problems. Also, so soon as I walk into the standi I hear "Maria Maria, njoo njoo(come here) So I never have a problem getting where I need to go and I pretty much get VIP treatment. Bus rides are always very interesting....packing 200 people onto a bus that holds 130.

It's not all fun and games here though. As much as I love my village I defiantly feel really isolated sometimes.I know I have said it before but it's a rollercoaster ride. The things I worried about when living in the US seem so petty now. Waking up in a village that wonders where they are going to get their water for the week makes "who Betty was with last night" seem really insipid.

Right now my daily schedule is something like wake up around 7am, buck bathe(maybe about twice a week), boil water to drink for the day, make oatmeal on the jiko, head over to the clinic around 8:30 to weigh babies, fill out charts or sit with the nurse as the sick & injured some in and help distribute medicine, have chai and chapati around 10:00 then back to the clinic, head to the primary school around 12 and visit the students and the teachers,eat lunch around 1:30 (ugali, beans, chai). Then the rest of the day I read, visit the villlage sit on my front porch with visitors,visit the youth at the pool table, hit up the coffee hut and learn the local language. Sometimes I go into the subvillages with the nurses to weigh babies. In February i will start giving presentations at the clinic about importance of boiling water, malaria, typhoid fever etc. I start teaching life skill sat the secondary school in late March /early April. I really want to work with the youth outside of the classroom as well. On my daily pool table visits the youth have manged to steal a place in my heart, so I def want to start a youth club. We can meet up once or twice a month and talk about safe sex, stds, drug abuse and possibly start some income generating projects. Thursday I am also going to a womens group the previous volunteer started, I have lots of ideas for projects for them as well.This is all I have time for now! I lost my Swahili to English dictionary (kind of a big deal) so I am off the look for one. I miss everyone!!!
I'll keep you posted
-Maria

corn, nairobi fly, and daladalas

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Tanzania Tanzaniadave

2012-01-29 08:08:00

Yesterday I came down the mountain to attend a meeting with Peace Corps volunteers in Mbeya. Everytime I travel outside of my village, it is an adventure. There a few vehicles that travel from the village to the main highway in terms of public transportation. These are a minibus (called coaster), a large farm truck with seats in the back covered by a tarp, and sometimes smaller lories or pickup trucks. This last time I was in a small pickup truck, descending the steep, hairpin turn road that is four wheel drive only to the base of the mountain.

There is a spectacular forest you pass through with green lush trees. During one trip down the mountain I was able to briefly see some small baboons crossing the road. Wish I had snapped a shot. I also saw an own one evening coming back to the village. One a longer road you can catch a glimpse of a pretty spectacular waterfall as well- within hiking distance of my village, when I get the chance.

At the base of the mountain to the city you usually take either a daladala- a large, vanlike transportation that tends to become extremely crowded; they pack as many people as humanly possible into these. Also minibuses go for shorter trips- these are crowded too but maybe not quite as bad. I went to a meeting for a girl's conference that will be held in the month of June, probably. This is an opportunity to bring young women from the village to learn life skills, health info, environmental stuff, and more. I'd like to participate in this as it is a very worthwhile project.

Back in the village I am continuing to gather information about the village, villagers, and natural environment. This is really the only project I will do for my first three months. I will ask questions about environmental issues and what the routine lives of villagers are at a series of meetings, some of which I will hold and others I will attend. Basically the idea is involve as many people as possible in learning about environmental problems, and have them participate in the decision making. Once I gather this information and attend training I will be able to decide what projects I will do for the future, such as environmental education, gardening, agroforestry or whatever.

There is a bug in Tanzania called the Nairobi fly. It is not a fly bus an insect that if crushed can realize a toxic compound on the skin which can cause large welts, or burns. I saw a secondary school student that was afflicted, definitely not fun. I have a nice garden growing at my house, it was started by the previous resident. But since I've been at site, it has exploded, corn plants shooting skyward. There are also potatoes and been plants growing, three stables of Tanzanian agriculture. Corn is the most important crop. It pretty much grows everywhere in Tanzania and they use it to make a meal called Ugali, which is basically the national dish of Tanzania. It is a crushed corn sort of batter that sauces and vegetables are added to- maybe at some point i'll learn to make it.

My New Home

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Tanzania Welcome to Chuck's Peace Corps Blog!

2012-01-28 16:41:13

Hello Friends and Family! I hope everyone is doing well in the States and elsewhere. The other 40 volunteers and I finished our Pre-Service Training in December and have since moved to our permanent sites across Tanzania. I am living … Continue reading →

An ode to Sumry

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Tanzania 820 Days of Africa

2012-01-28 05:39:26

Oh Sumry how you are the bus for me Really you’re the only one I see For a small fee I don’t have to kaa on my knees This brings me oh so much glee Seat dancing to tunes, wearing my belt This bus line really makes my heart melt With water [...]

A New Year

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Tanzania Safari Tanzania

2012-01-27 19:14:00

[written 1-19-12]

Well it's a new year and the start of a new school year here at Wilima Secondary School. The school opened on the 9th, but I quickly learned that there is a difference between school opening and classes actually starting. The first week mostly consisted of students slowly filtering into the dorms and doing cleaning and groundkeeping around the school, which was nice because everything looks very nice and clean now, as opposed to the jungle-like tall grass and weeds that engulfed the school over break. But now with everything clean and soo green all over, it really is a sight to see.

I ended up getting the classes I wanted to teach this year: Form IV Math and Form II Physics. They are the two classes that have their national exams at the end of the year, so I'm very happy to be able to try and get them well-prepared for those. I started teaching for real on Monday. I think most of the Form II's have gotten to school by now, but still probably only half of the Form IV's. It's typical apparently for the students to trickle in over the first few weeks after a long break, especially at a private boarding school like mine, where students are coming from farther away. So I'm trying not to go too fast right now so the late-comers don't get whammy-ed too badly. We're doing Coordinate Geometry in Math and Static Electricity in Physics. I've been having some fun making different things to use as teaching aids. So far I've got a giant rice bag for a coordinate plane, a couple geoboards (slabs of wood with a grid of nails), and some other "works-in-progress" (aka failures) for different physics demos. It is cool though, some Peace Corps Volunteers over the last few years have started this Hands-On-Science program, with all kinds of lesson ideas using simple easy-to-find resources around the country. It definitely helps for the students to be able to see and touch things, rather than just sitting through lectures. And it keeps their attention- they sure loved watching me rub balloons on my head.

I also decided to open up a School Store of sorts for my Form IV students. They get points for coming to class, doing homework, participating in class, doing extra practice problems, and things like that. Then they can use them to buy notebooks, pens, rulers, candy, even paper cranes! I considered using cranes as the currency, but even at full capacity I don't think I could make enough for that. But hopefully I'll get some students to be my apprentices and see how many we can make as a class, maybe even make it a competition. But the big money prizes are things like soccer jerseys and balls. And the top 10 or so from each week will get to use the computers in the evening, so that will hopefully be a big enough motivation for them.

Speaking of computers, there has been a bit of an issue with them lately. I guess they were left plugged in over break when a big lightning storm hit and knocked out the generator, and it ended up frying a few of the chargers. I took them to a fundi (repair man-man-man-man...) last weekend, but I don't have too much optimism for getting them fixed soon. So we're down to 3 or 4 right now that can actually run, which makes it difficult to please the 15 teachers and 500 students, all of whom want a chance to play with them every day. But it's still better than nothing, and with my new typing and geography games, they will hopefully get something useful out of their computer time.

The other thing I'm focusing on now is trying to get a FEMA Club (Life Skills group) started at my school. A lot of other schools have them- it's basically just a club to teach about different life skills like communication, decision-making, relationships, and about diseases like HIV/AIDS and malaria. Our first meeting is tomorrow (Friday). I already have a few older students who are interested in leading it, which is great because it has to be led by them if it's going to continue after I leave I feel like. We'll do a True/False type game to talk about some facts and myths about HIV/AIDS.

Aside from that, my free time has been occupied by making Scrabble boards, shotty bamboo furniture for my house, watching the full Star Wars collection (now moved on to Indiana Jones), and reading/listening to some books Christine sent me for Christmas. I got the last straggling Christmas packages in town last weekend, which contained gifts and some tasty, tasty homemade Christmas cookies, so I busted out the Christmas movies one more time and treated myself to Christmas 2.0 on Sunday. Thanks guys!!
I got some passion fruits in town as well, and made some awesome fruit salad with mangos and pineapple. I don't think I'd ever seen passion fruit before, except the juice, but they're pretty dang good. A couple of the avocado trees at school are starting to produce, which is very exciting. I've been closely monitoring the one in my back yard - just tiny buds now, but that won't stop me from checking up on their progress every day...
I hope everyone is braving the winter back home, assuming the snow has started by now. It's still surprisingly cold at my school because of the daily rainstorms, but I like it, it reminds me of home.

Til next time, love and miss you all, and here is the solution to last post's swahili joke that you've all been racking your minds over for the past few weeks:

Recap:
dog = mbwa [MMM-bwah]
Q: What is a Tanzanian dog's favorite breakfast food?
Answer: Mbwa-ffles!

You're Just A Big Meanie

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Tanzania SuNsHinE & RAinBoWs

2012-01-27 13:59:00

You’re Just a Big Meanie

Hello All…..
Over the last few days I’ve noticed some things that have been a little disturbing to me. Maybe I’ve been living in a fantasy world with Unicorns and Rainbows, but lately I’ve noticed that people are “Mean!” I’ve noticed people pass each other in the hallways at work without as much as a “hello.” I’ve seen a little old lady standing up on a crowded bus, while onlookers clench their coach bags and sip their lattes. Marriages, if they take place, end in divorce quicker than the seasons change these days. We’ve become so cautious of one another that even when a total strange speaks to us, instead of saying hello we wonder what the heck their motive really is. The younger generation has become so disconnected from the simple things in life; such as reading a book or riding a bike. When I drive through my neighborhood I get so excited to see children playing outside; but then I become worried when I don’t see any adults around to ensure their safety. I’ve observed someone else’s demise be the source of other’s laughter ……When did this become Okay?

Did it ever dawn on us that Humans need other Humans to survive? Have we lost sight of the most common things in life such as Love and Support? Our thoughts, actions and feelings automatically affect one another; on some level we are all connected. We may not like to face it but every thing we do in life has the ability to be a positive or negative link for another human being. When I tell people my life’s motto is “Sunshine & Rainbows” they look at me crazy, but then they smile. No matter what happened before I talked with them or happens next; for one moment in time I connected positively with another human being. Have you ever found yourself explaining your happiness; who questions why someone is happy? When asked “Why are you so happy?”, I respond, “Why aren’t you so happy?” Maybe it’s the way the world has been for centuries, eons, and maybe it will always be this way and possibly get worse, but there is one thing you can always count on and that’s my Sunshine & Rainbows!

Today’s Swahili Lesson:
Siafu (see-a-foo)= Ant

Love Always,

SKCH

Please Stay Tuned …

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Tanzania Down by the Baobab

2012-01-25 17:45:31

Loyal readers, it has been a long time since my last (actually my first) post. There are many things I’d like to tell you about, including the landscape, climate, food, Peace Corps training and the absolutely wonderful people here in Tanzania. It will be a while longer, however, before I am able to focus on […]

Research is STARTED or at least closer!

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Tanzania Katie's Spectacular Life

2012-01-25 11:44:00

January 10,2012

Again I am having writers block not sure why it has become so much work to write a blog entry but it has. I do find it really weird how I can dread with all my might returning to the village and then when I get back be so happy, it is so weird. I have a lot to do in the next few weeks. I am starting my research so that is going to keep me busy as well as my other meetings that I have. I am really excited to start my research because I feel like I actually have a purpose which I love to death. I am also still training for the ½ marathon and am really excited about it. I am not sure when it happened but I really do love running it is so much fun and you feel so good when you are done. I am reading a book at the moment about ultra runners and it is insane. I swear so people really are super human.

Also got a package from Jenna and it was awesome. Christmas cookies, I felt like I was back at home. I am also getting really excited for my dad and aunt to come it should be so much fun. Just a little nerve racking tryong to figure things out and make sure we are giving things enough time, I know they are going to have a good time no matter what but I just want to make sure they have the best trip ever. I am really excited for them to come and see how I live but I think I am even more excited to play cards and have some beers with them on the beach. I think it is going to be
awesome.

January 17, 2012

I have been meaning to write for the last week but not sure what has happened. I have been really enjoying life in the village and the slow pace for once, which is saying a lot, not sure if I am just getting used to being here and accepting this is how life is or what, but it has been really enjoyable. I have got into so what of a pattern. I sleep until I feel like getting up and then I go for a nice long run around the village and greet everyone in the morning on their way to the town or to their farms. At first I used to be really self conscious because I was running and what would they think, but now it does not even phase me and they are pretty use to it now. They all greet me to and state the obvious as usual. After running, I do house work and hang out until after lunch and then I go walk around the village and greet people before coming back home cooking dinner and going to bed. Pretty simple and straight forward. Some days I have to say how crazy it is that the time flies by and then other days it doesn’t. Today would be an example of when the day just keeps going. I woke up this morning and ran into town (8K WOOT WOOT) and then got my bike back. My bike was at the shop getting a lot of things fixed. One thing I have learned do not let people borrow things that you want back in the same condition that it left it. Unfortunate this time because it was actually to another volunteer but after lots of new parts it is back and running which is awesome. This is good news because this means that I can now easily get in and out of town again and it can help me train for the ½ marathon and hopfully later for the PALM if everything works out. Cross your fingers. But anyways I got back and did some work on the computer made lunch (dried fish and ugali, I am really turning Tanzo), and I still have lots of time before I have to go vaccinate chickens.

But this routine is all going to change because next week I have to go to Dar for the week which I am really looking forward too. I have some meetings which are going to be boring but it is going to be great because I get to meet our new Country Director (she sounds awesome) and hang out with friends that I only get to see every once in a while and of course eat some really good food. I want to go to this Ethiopian restaurant that is supposed to be amazing. It is going to be great.

So I know I have said that I was going to start my research but it has not exactly happened yet. I swear I am getting closer I just have not gone out and started yet. Both because people are gone and I keep making excuses and putting it off. But I am really happy that my dad and JP are coming because this is going to force me to start and finish before they come. I work better on deadline anyway.

I went to Paul’s house last week for his birthday. It was great a few other volunteers came out to and we made some really good food and taught them how to play eukre. It was great to teach people so now we have people to play with but god is it hard and painstaking. First because it actually is a really hard game to teach and trying to teach it makes you realize how crazy the game sounds. But it all worked out and they actually ended up beating me and Paul. It is hard to play with new people because they are such wildcards. It was great though. We also made mango bread and BBQ pork which was awesome. Another volunteers birthday is sat so I am already looking forward to the festivities although this one possibly includes a disco and I am not really a disco person but it should be fun.

My garden is looking really good considering it has only rained a handful of times within the last 2 months but it looks gorgeous all the same. Paputo who is 3 was at my house last week and saw that I had insects all over the walls and told me I needed to use the chemicals to get rid of them. It made me laugh getting told by a 3 year old that my house was dirty. Also crazy because I am the one that sprays everyone’s houses for insects. Which thank god I am getting rid of tomorrow. I am giving the business to my neighbor as an income generating projects it is super easy and should give her some more money to work with.

January 18, 2012

Not sure what happened but while I was making amazing pancakes, I thought today would be a great day to blog. Almost feel like things are getting back to normal. I woke up to the sound of knocking at an ungodly hour to my neighbor asking if I was ready to go for a run. I really do enjoy waking up on my own but I have to say I am not used to having no personal space even with a whole house to myself, so we went running and I think it might have killed her. We will find out tomorrow when we have to go for 4.5 miles. Not sure how well she is going to fair.

I then had a women’s meeting to day where we were suppose to make fuel efficient stoves and of course we did not because we were not able to get all the material yet. After much debate between me and Jesscia (Jessica won) we decided to wait until we had different equipment but not before I voiced my concerns that we needed to do this and I am starting to count the months down until I am done. They said do not worry, but how can I not worry when this has been one of the projects I have wanted to do that I think will greatly help the community and it has already taken me a year to get this far. They still said it is better to go slow than fast which they are right of course I just really really want to do these stoves. Thinking about it, this would be me pushing the community to do something out of my own interest but I know this would greatly help them I just wish they moved faster. But then told me we would do them before I leave and I hope they are right. But the women are really good even if they do drive me crazy, they mean well. I have also started to see that I am adopting the African time a little to well . I swear I can spend an entire day doing nothing and not think twice about it and am actually sad to find out I have things to do. I really am enjoying myself but this has made me really lazy and my work and house lives have taken a toll. I am really lazy and am hardly accomplishing anything, at least by American standards. But I did start my research today, I finally gathered up the will and started and are already have to interviews ready for tomorrow. I am still really scared/ nervous about them but I figure the sooner I start the easier it is going to be. It already feels a little easier which is good although I thought it was hard in the US to explain my program try here where most people don’t even go to secondary school and then they don’t even speak the same language as me although I guess we do now, even if my Swahili is somewhat special.

I have been thinking about if another volunteer should be sent here and I have decided that another one would be good because they have gotten used to me and the type of work that I do and how I can help so I think they will have an easier time here. But also I think they will also need to realize that they are not going to do any earth shattering things. But I really do have a good village, I really like the people and have even found that I do not mind the landscape and environment even if there is no snow. Especially during the rainy season it is gorgeous I have a great view of the mountains and endless farms.

Also I am doing my last round of vaccinations before I hand them off to someone else. It makes me nervous to see what will happen but I figure now is better with me here being able to see the results or lack there if them. I wanted to do it this one last time because I wanted some more face time with my villagers before I do interviews to get a better idea of who certain people are because although I live in a small community and talk to a lot of people, most I have no idea what their names are or where they live. Crazy.

I made potatoes pancakes today and I have to say they were horrible. I think I have been spoiled between 5th sts and my dads. I did eat them but I have to say it was out of hunger not like. Also I have to admit that have started to eat a lot of bugs, I seem to have a bug infestation within my food and they are really tiny and I am at the point where I really do not care anymore and I just mix them in as if they were not even there. I know this is bad but it just seems like a lot of work kind of reminds me of my mom and dad’s fight with moths in the kitchen cupboards.

January 19, 2011

I again got woke up to go running which I guess is good, I just really like waking up on my own. I never really thought I was one to sleep but more and more I feel like I am turning into Hannah with my sleep. But anyways I got up and went running and then sprayed a few houses with bug spray I am turning into the chicken and bug lady, not sure if this is a good thing but then I went back to bed which was really nice.
I finally put my house back together and have stopped being super lazy just in time to leave again. I have been a pig the last few weeks, although I am sure by my America standards is not messy at all but here I am a huge neat freak so not having everything in order was killing me yet not killing me enough to actually do anything about it. Funny how that happens.

I did more of my research today and it was really nice, I had some great conversations with people even if I did feel like the biggest idiot asking them the questions and then asking if I could measure some of their firewood, I think they understood why but really it does sound kind of crazy. It was really fun though. I talked to one guy that ad seen a video that I guess was American because all he thinks is that people walk around shooting each other and so America is a dangerous place compared to Tanzania which is super peaceful. I told him how can that be when they beat people to death, he did not think that that counted. Interest enough. This also reminded me that I think I have Jesca scared of America as well because I was telling her about where I live and some of the problems around the area. Not the best thing to do but I reassured her that it was a peaceful place yet I do feel safer here than I do walking from my car to my house at night some days. Although here I do worry about snakes, insects, and the occasional crazy person.

I have been telling people about my dad and JP coming and it is going to be interesting what everyone thinks of them and at the same time what they think about how and where I live. I am interested to see if it matches up with what I have been saying or if it is completely different.

Also I have an influx of eggs this week so I made chocolate cake with coconut frosting. It was pretty good but I have found for the most part that I actually enjoy making the food more than actually eating it unless it is no bake cookies. Though I love. Otherwise I am just as happy to give it away. Hoping tomorrow to try and make refried beans with flour tortias but I am not sure yet if I want to spend all the time but what it really boils down to is if I want to start the charcoal stove. We will see.

January 20, 2012

Yup, I have definitely lived here to ling already. I was suppose to go to a meeting at 3pm and did not get there until 4:30 to wait and find out that no one was coming. And instead of being mad about it I did not care at all. It was crazy, last year that would have made me so mad. There was no meeting because everyone was fetching water from the tank because the tank has been broken for weeks and nobody had any, so it was a legitimate excuse but I was just so surprised to find out that I was not mad at all. Crazy.

Besides that I woke up and ran 7 miles today and it felt great. Although I did come home and crash but of course was woken up by people knocking on my door the amount of people that come to my house at the worst times is unbelievable. I never am fully relaxed because I just know someone is going to knock.

I am heading to Dodoma tomorrow and I have to say I have had a great last 2 weeks and I do not really want to leave although I do at the same time but I think I am finally finding my groove after so long although I was talking to Andrew and it probably also has to do with the fact that I know that I am leaving soon but still it has been really really great.

Calm it down, kids.

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Tanzania Hoppin' All Over the World

2012-01-24 10:50:00

Alright, for those of you who’d like a less cryptic update as to why I’m currently hanging out in Thailand, here’s the entry for you. No one needs to be freaking out about this, I’ll be fine (Mom, Dad, this means you!). I'm not having my hand chopped off nor am I undergoing some radical lobotomy.

I’m here because I have a ganglion cyst on the inside of my right wrist. I’m pretty sure it was caused due to me lugging my giant-ass suitcases worth of goodies (thank you again, Mom) back to my village through Kazakhstan. Lots of lifting and dragging a giant 50+ lb bag with one hand. Obviously, my wrist did NOT like that. So now I have this little bubble of whatever stuck on one of my tendons on my wrist. At first it was causing me loads of pain when I used and flexed it. Because of that I went to Bishkek to have it checked out. They wanted to try compression bandages and just force/squeeze the thing away. Needless to say, ‘cause of my lifestyle back in Talas (thank you, little host siblings!), immobility and something like that just wasn’t going to fly. Continuing on on the goose chase, we tried the med unit at the US Embassy to see if they could just drain the damn thing and be done with it. Because of the location of the cyst, she couldn’t. She said that she could attempt to drain it, but because it is so close to arteries, tendons, veins, etc., she didn’t want to inject the steroids to keep it from getting infected and returning. Fast forward a few hours and here I am, in Bangkok, having shenanigans dealt with. The doc says that the pain is most likely from tendonitis from the heavy lifting and not from the cyst itself, therefore trying to prolong the need for surgery (to Mom’s very large relief). Have an appointment on Saturday to see if the anti-inflammatory drugs are doing their job (as of right now, it still hurts), and then another a week later to see if it’s operation time or just go home with a giant lump on my wrist until the end of service where I’ll more than likely want it cut off anyway. Haha.

Will continue to keep everyone updated on how life goes. As for right now, Thailand is hot, humid, delicious, noisy, sunny, fantastic. Now, if only I had my fucking camera…
<3

Back to TZ

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Tanzania Tumaini: Okie on the Savannah

2012-01-23 17:51:00

So what can I say about the holidays? They were nearly perfect. I got to go home, take part in my cousin's wedding, see friends, and spend every second I could with my family. A little word of advice to any future or current Peace Corps Volunteer: if you have even the smallest thought of quitting, do not go home. If I did not feel that me job was unfinished, I'm not sure how I would have left me family again. My first few days back in Tanzania were just plain depressing. I missed my family more than I had the rest of my service. Luckily for me, I did not have to go straight back to my site and wallow in my self-pity. I hung around Dar and my entire class got together for our Mid-Service Conference, MSC. It is always amazing to see our class. I'm sure every group says it, but I'm almost positive that our training class is the best there is. For almost a week, we had medical check-ups, sessions, yummy food, and good friends. It really made for a nice transition back to country. At the end of it all, Peace Corps even flew us back down to Mtwara because the rains have turned the road into a muddy, soupy mess. Not to shabby. After a night in Mtwara Town, we loaded up onto a bus and about 7 hours later, VOI LA, I was home. Now I'm not the type of person to admit this face-to-face, but something about writing it seems so detached. When I got to my house, I sat on my floor and had myself a good cry. I sat there until Duck, my cat, started biting me, probably telling me to "shut the heck up," so then I transferred my little water works session into my bedroom. I was exhausted, my electricity was out, and I was just not too happy about being back. Luckily, the next day started to look up a little bit. I went to the market and visited with all of my favorites and handed out presents. Juice Man is now rockin' an Oklahoma State University keychain. I also gave Mr. Ubwabwa, a.k.a. the cutest little, old man alive, a pencil for his kiddo that is in school. He was ecstatic and started running around, showing everyone his cow print, Oklahoma pencil. Monday, we kicked off school. The first week was pretty much the same as always, no real classes happening and a lot of kids running around cleaning. I spent a lot of my week also reclaiming my house from the critters that had taken over. This included massacring about 200 cockroaches that had taken up residence in my shower room. My least pleasant houseguest I found at 9:30 at night. I was opening my door to let Duck out of my room for the night and I saw something long and black and thought, "My that's a large centipede." I then got the door open enough to see that it was in fact, a black snake about 2-feet-long. So of course I snatch Duck up and slam the door. Since I still did not have electricity, I grabbed my handy-dandy headlamp and then went to investigate. The snake, being the creepy crawler it is, had vanished. Lets just say I wasn't willing to be the "out of sight, out of mind" sort of girl, so I locked Duck in my room, grabbed my machete from the kitchen, and went hunting. It didn't take long to locate the sick-nasty creature my couch. I stood on my coffee table, hopefully out of striking distance, and used to machete to pry all the cushions off the couch. I was able to flush him out, but he was a quick little bugger and made it behind my bookshelf, no problem. I then scooted the coffee table over to the shelf and stood on it while I slid the shelf out. I got the table out far enough and threw a rock that I prop a window open with at the snake, making contact and slowing him down. I then went to town with my machete. Lesson learned: I need to get my machete sharpened. I did manage to kill the snake though in a blunt-force trauma sort of way. Now I'm not sure if this guy was a Black Mamba, but I think it’s safer to just assume that all black snakes around here are. The only way to really tell is to see inside of its mouth, its black with a Black Mamba, and I wasn't really to willing the explore that. Anyways, its dead and gone and I have my house back to myself. I showed the picture and told the story to all the staff at my school and I got told that it was dangerous and congrats on my kill.

In other news, my old club soccer coaches, Dee Friend and Chuck Lynn donated new soccer uniforms for my girls. We finally got some of the team together last week to model. I want to thank Dee and Chuck so much! The girls were so excited and I made them promise that they would not let any boys wear the new jerseys. No more shabby leftovers, they are lookin' sharp!

On a cute note...my favorite bug in Tanzania

World AIDS Day Events @ Mnazi

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Tanzania Sarah serves in TZ

2012-01-22 23:06:00

On Tuesday November 29, we taught HIV/AIDS lessons to students at Mnazi Primary School.

The student choir performed a few songs with excellent dance moves. After we held a question and answer session for teachers and students.

We finished the afternoon with a local arts group singing and dancing to promote HIV/AIDS awareness.

On Wednesday November 30, we traveled to Langatandoia Primary School, several miles from my village center.

Local villagers who reside near the school were invited to watch the students perform and listen to the Doctors lesson. We were all amazed with the performances these young students created to share with us. They demonstrated the Elephants and Lion game, a short drama about stigma, and sang several songs.

Because they taught us through several arts examples we chose to change the lesson to a session based on asking them questions about HIV/AIDS. Students were very excited to receive Si Mchezo magazines for their correct answers. The day ended with the local adult arts group performing.

On Thursday December 1, we began the day at 5:30am, by prepping foods for our nutrition lesson.

The official testing events began around 10 am.

The students from both primary schools performed for a crowd of over 500.

Doctor Wema announced that testing was open and all the local leaders at the high table entered the clinic for an HIV test.

Within a few short hours we used all 50 testing kits that were provided by the district.

a Big THANK YOU to Serendipity Endeavors of Livonia, NY for providing red ribbons for Mnazi World AIDS Day events. Everyone that attended and assisted with the testing day received a red ribbon.

Numbers show that 121 others came for testing but were turned away and advised to return again when more kits become available. The local arts group got the crowd excited again and performed several songs and skits.

We then moved inside the clinic, with local leaders and members of "Upendo" our local PLWHA support group. Doctor Wema referenced true and false information on our new HIV/AIDS bulletin board and passed out nutrition packets to everyone.

We reviewed the information and discussed which foods best support ARV treatments. Before sharing a nutritious meal together, we allowed the small group of 52 to ask questions.

Changes--> In our original plan we wanted to attend Mnazi Secondary to provide HIV/AIDS education, but the school closed early after their final examinations. We decided to return in February when the school reopens with a push to jump start the health club again.

Also another BIG change was with the project point person. DoctorHendrick Mangowi, had worked with me on every detail of this project. Just two weeks before the event, Doctor Bakari Wema returned from studying in Tanga to take over his original post at Mnazi Rural Health Center. Doctor Wema did an Outstanding job taking the leadership role of this project with very little time to catch up on the all details.

Much of our work this year was focused on HIV/AIDS education and a push for testing. I believe this foundation of education will provide an environment where behavior change is possible in the future.

MNAZI JUU!

fin de semana

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Tanzania the other day in Tanzania

2012-01-22 20:30:00

Yesterday I filled my fridge with fruits and veggies and leftovers (new measure of happiness).
Today I have a spotless kitchen and clean sheets.
It's been a great weekend.

Hatutaki kujifunza wimbo

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Tanzania A Peace Corps Odyssey: Tanzania

2012-01-22 07:25:00

Well the first week of school is in thebag. It was fun, but I learned some things, so I thought I wouldshare.

It takes more than two weeks for 279 students to show up.

My school is supposed to be receiving279 Form 1 students. Right now I believe our enrollment it close to170 or so, which means we are still waiting on 100ish kids to arrive.Currently the students are in two streams (a difficult processbecause they cannot count off), but there are still too many in oneclassroom to teach. The is no space to walk to the back of theclassroom and just enough space to stand at the board and teach (Firehazard?). Hoping by the end of this coming week we will have almostall of the Form 1 students, so we can stream them properly.

Trying to stream students off their exams from the previous year would work, but....

Last year, after my students werestreamed (ranked) according to GPA I found that teaching was a loteasier because I could tailor it to my classes. I could use moreEnglish in the classroom with the students in the A stream and teachat a slower pace to the students in the B stream. This year Isuggested using the exit exam grades from primary school to streamthe new students from the beginning of the year. At first my Mkuuthought this was a great idea and then said we would have to give ourown exam (which would cost time and money that we don't have) becausethe kids “plagiarized”. I can only assume he meant cheat. Not toinsult him, but to make a point, I added that our students cheat aswell. In fact, the majority of Tanzanian students cheat. Cheating isrampant. The sad thing is that the students are awful cheaters. Theircheating so blatant, it is laughable. I am still suggesting we usethe results from the exit exam, but we will see how this plays out. Iwould also like to point out that the Mkuu's son is one of the formone students I will be teaching this year.

Not everyone wants to learn a song...

To start the Form One year the Ministryof Education has an English orientation course put into place. Weteachers are supposed to use this book dated from the early 1980's(before I was born) to introduce the new students to English. Thebook is actually pretty silly and I will admit that I glanced at itand immediately decided that I would go about the introduction toEnglish in a different way. For the first few weeks my plan is toplay a game related to learning English at the beginning of eachclass, then continue to start my Physics or Math lesson for the day.This past Friday I thought teaching the students “I'm a little teapot” would be a fun start to class. About halfway through teachingthe song, I saw interest was lagging and asked if they wanted tocontinue. Most responded negatively. Actually one of the boys in theclass, who looks around 18, gave me the death stare, which left mepretty stunned. So I asked if they wanted to learn Physics. Mostresponded positively. So I turned around to the board, grabbed theeraser and said, “If it is what you really want, but Physics isn'tfun”. As you can probably guess, I like to take advantage of thefact that they do not know English. And because they don't knowEnglish I assume that they were then lost for the next thirty minutesof class when I was talking about applications of physics andgravity.

I miss my old form one students

I know I will come to love my new formone students, but I miss my old form one, now form two, students. Ina way it is nice that I am not their teacher. I feel I can be morecandid with them. I also cannot believe how much their English hasimproved. Looking at the new form one class and the now form twoclass the difference is remarkable. I secretly hope their leap inEnglish proficiency had something to do with my teaching, as mostTanzanian teachers teach in Swahili, but I could never be sure. WhatI do know, however, is that I can have a conversation with them inEnglish. Pretty amazing. After my first few encounters with myformer students I decided that I could not just let them flounder inform two without any other English besides their actual English class(taught by my awesome counterpart). So, I decided I would head up theEnglish club. The club will meet during subject clubs after classeson Thursdays. I am hoping to work on vocab and grammar with themthrough games and a pen pal program with another English Club run byanother PCV. We will see how this pans out over the next couple ofmonths... I'll keep you all updated.

Not all PCVs look like “PCVs”

I bet most of you think of PCVs and getthis image in your head of a guy who has not shaved, showered or cuthis hair in 14 months or a girl with dread locks and hairy legs/armpits, but that is not usually the case. Come to think of it mostvolunteers in Tanzania are clean and do not sport the Peace Corpshippie look. That being said, there are volunteers who fit thatstereotype. This weekend I got a call from Eric who received a callfrom two Ugandan PCVs. They were traveling through Mbeya and neededsome advice on where to stay. I ended up calling them and meeting upwith them and a few other volunteers from our region. As you canguess these guys fit the PC stereotype, but, I assume, only becausethey were traveling for about a month. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy mydaily shower, haircuts and keeping my self clean, but I wish I hadthe “I don't give two craps” attitude once in a while. I am notsaying I would go a month without taking a shower, but I wouldn'tmind having braids in for a few weeks and not caring if I wore ashirt more than twice. I guess the hippie attitude is great in PC,but not as culturally acceptable back in the states. I should alsomention these guys were really cool. It is always great to meet PCVsfrom other countries. You get to see how their program is differentfrom your and to swap stories. These guys were also thinking aboutsetting up a couch surfing network for PCVs in Africa, which would beawesome! Countries in Africa are all very different and most do notspeak the same languages, so it is always great, not to mentionsafer, to meet other volunteers, while you are traveling who have theplace wired..

6. I understand why...

Every time I walk back to my house from the village I am greeted by a backdrop of rolling green mountains, pine trees and dirt covered children hanging from peach trees. Not exactly what you think of when you think of living in Africa or Tanzania, but it still feels like a foreign place to me. I cannot help but smile and think how lucky I am to have this experience. I am still amazed how I ended up here. I guess there comes a time when you realize you just need to find yourself for one reason or another. It is a question that comes up often between PCVs and one that not everyone has a straight answer to-- So why Peace Corps? Personally my answer to this question has changed multiple times over the last 14 months, but I finally feel I have converged on an unwavering answer. I needed new direction in my life. After college/ rowing, which gave me some direction, I felt there was a hole in my life that needed to be filled. I tired to fill it with different things and people, but nothing really seemed to fit. I think PC has fit that hole pretty well and allowed me to feel like I have a new direction, a new path. This experience has also, for the time being, pacified a need for adventure and a need to feel like I am making a difference. During college I was pretty selfish and didn't get to explore too many things. I think after being deprived for a while it caught up with me. I should also add a big thank you for those people who have been so patient through this time and allowing me to do what I needed to do...you know who you are.

So there are just a few things Ilearned/ came to realize this week. This coming week is graduationfor A- level students and then a meeting to plan the girls'empowerment conference in Mbeya, i.e. I get to see other PCVs from myregion and eat Indian food! I will also be turning a quarter of acentury this week, which probably makes my parents feel much olderthan I feel...

I hope everyone is enjoying the snow athome! Seeing as though I have not seen snow in 19 months I am alittle jealous, but not really because it summer here!

All my love from TZ.

Leo ni siku yangu

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Tanzania 820 Days of Africa

2012-01-21 17:09:07

I was just looking at my site stats for the year 2011. These are some of the search terms which lead people to my blog and I think they sum up my year pretty well: dancing termite tanzania men holding hands wowowo swahili list of things i love about life red holes in my face [...]

Tabula rasa

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Tanzania 820 Days of Africa

2012-01-21 16:42:54

I remember walking into Mrs. Dahl’s first grade class with my hightop Velcro shoes, and looking around to find everyone else in class wearing Nike tie shoes. Oops, it appeared I had missed the memo somewhere. I had practiced all summer but I still couldn’t seem to figure out the art of shoe tying. I [...]

School Opening

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Tanzania Paff In Tanzania

2012-01-21 09:53:53

Bowser Project Update We opened the school this week, and had a faculty meeting about the bowser project. Basically, we decided to form a committee which would in turn decide the particulars about where to buy one, who to send to buy it, etc. The committee members have been chosen – the headmaster, a teacher, [...]

The Moth Presents Josh Swiller: What I Lost in Africa

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Tanzania YouTube Videos matching query: "peace corps" "Tanzania "

2012-01-20 19:42:35

	The Moth Presents Josh Swiller: What I Lost in Africa A deaf Peace Corps volunteer is stranded in Africa without his hearing aid. Josh Swiller is the author of The Unheard: A Memoir of Deafness and Africa. He is a professor at Gallaudet University, the national university for the deaf, in Washington, DC, where he has developed a program to help America's thousands of deafened service members.	From: mothstories Views: 66 7 ratings
	Time: 12:16	More in Entertainment

An Education

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Tanzania Geneva in Tanzania

2012-01-20 18:04:00

I am asked more often than you wouldbelieve about the American system of education: almost as often as Iam asked what exactly we are doing with all the corn we growif we aren't pounding it into cornflower and then making a flavorlesspaste the texture of play-doh to eat twice a day (look up Ugali onthe internet... it's the national food of Tanzania). So it's pasttime I explained to Americans the Tanzanian system.

When they are two years oldTanzanian's start nursery school which is called Chekechea. Ilike that because it sounds a lot like the word for laugh in Swahiliand I always imagine them sitting around and laughing a lot as theylearn to count. After nursery school, at about five, they go toSchule ya Msingi (literally “the important school”).

When they are twelve years oldTanzanians finish with Schule ya Msingi and mandatory education. Veryfew go any further in their education either because they didn't passthe national examination or because they cannot afford the schoolfees to continue on to Secondary School. School fees at Sadani (arelatively big government school) are 60,000 Tsh for the boardingstudents per term which is roughly 40 USD.

At Secondary School students do fouryears of O-level (ordinary level) education at the end of which thereis another national exam to determine if they are fit to continue onto two years of A-level (advanced level).

In O-level, for the first time,English is the medium of teaching (at least in theory). If theteachers do speak English in the classroom often its would be almostintelligible to a native speaker. In college my friend Jackson oncetook a class on existentialism and taught us all what a simulacrumwas (a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy...). Unless youreally commit to watching foreign television (and have the resourcesto make that happen for yourself) your English is going to be animperfect copy of your teacher's already imperfect copy.

In my opinion it's not fair to springEnglish on them in the secondary school. Swahili is a blessedlylogical language. If you tell me the infinitive of a word I can(99.999% of the time) tell you every variation of it given enoughtime to mull it over. There are also only four possible tenses (thepresent, the future, the past and the recent past) and the last twoare almost perfectly interchangeable. I suppose if you grow upspeaking it, you must assume every other language is equally wellconstructed. The moment when you comprehend the devilry of irregularverbs and the pluperfect must be like a fall from the paradise of astraight-forward trade language.

In A-level Tanzanians choose a“combination” which determines which subjects they study. Myschool specializes in science and offers three: PCB (Physics,Chemistry, and Biology), PCM (Physics, Chemistry, and Math) and CBG(Chemistry, Biology, and Geography). And yes, the PCM students dolook down on all the other combinations as being “soft.” Mycurrent favorite Tanzanian rap song contains the lyric “I studiedPCM, not PCB!” as a cocky rapper boast. My current PCM students areforever slowing down my lessons by asking for derivations from firstprinciples. Buncha geeks.

After A-level it's university if youpass your exam (and not many do even though the pass mark is 21%) andif not most people go to a two year teachers college and learn to beO-level teachers. Yet another depressing simulacrum.

Recently I was in my evening officehours and what started as a conversation about Logic Gates gotsidetracked (evening office hours almost always do) into meexplaining to Elia and Justin nursery school to college. When I saidmost Americans graduate university at twenty-two they both burst outlaughing.

“But shouldn't you finish A-level bythe time you're nineteen and college by the time you're maybetwenty-two or three?” I asked, pointing at the juxtaposed schedulesof the two educational systems I'd drawn on the board in between amillion truth tables.

This is the kind of naivete that Ithought I'd left behind months ago. Nothing in Tanzania goes onschedule.

Every year the teachers at my schoolspend hours meticulously drawing up a schedule for all the classesand then spend the next year patently ignoring it. There arescheduled sports and games, scheduled times for maintenance andofficial people for electricity, plumbing and each dormitory. Butlife gets in the way.

This week we are preparing for theDistrict Commissioner to visit the school. I asked who exactly thatwas for days before realizing that no one else on campus was ahundred percent sure what his job was. Despite this, it's a big deal. We'vebeen almost literally painting the roses red for his arrival. Edging all the school's pathways bricks have been laid and then painted white.They won't last more than a week and a half since it's the rainyseason. On Friday none of the O-level students went to a singleclass because they were all doing school maintenance work and all ofthe teachers were running around trying to supervise them.

“If you're very blessed; if you'revery lucky you can graduate on time,” Elia said with a laugh. “Like my young brother. He is starting O-level this year and he's only twelve. Iwas twenty-four when I took my national examination for O-level.”

“How old are you?” I asked Justin,who I had log assumed was the youngest in my class.

“I'm twenty-three.”

I'm twenty-three too but I don't sayso. We just go back to Logic Gates and hoping against hope, all ofus, that they pass their national exams.

Pole Pole (or Chilling in the Vill)

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Tanzania Chels's African Adventures in Lion King Land

2012-01-20 13:04:00

Habari Rafiki na Familia! A quick greetings from my new home (quick because i have like ten min of computer battery!)

Where to begin? Well my new home is what I like to call a Tanzanian apartment. Its two rooms, attached to the WEO (Ward Executive Officer)'s office. It has concrete floors, mosquito screens on the windows, a NEW porcelean choo. Lucky girl, right? I had a desk, a cabinent to hold my clothes and coffee table made to supplement the bed, couch, and two bookshelves the previous volunteer left for me. Its starting to feel like a home, and I was able to hang some pictures that I have been dying to get out of the plastic baggie they have been in since October.

Like I said my "house" is right by the WEO's office, and very near the village office and a place where they grind corn into flour (when there is electricity--another story). So, I pretty much always have people walking by, and my neighbors are literally right outside my window. Everyone is sweet, and my broken, awful Swahili has garnered a few smiles and nods. The kids play "football" (mpira la miguu) on a field near my house, and the little bitty kids play their own version under a tree right outside my window. Nothing like hearing a little kid laugh to turn a day around! :)

My VEO, Joyce, has been a God-Send. She has led me to meetings, visited schools with me, taken me along to her family gatherings, and generally led me around like a puppy. Thank God for her! She was the previous volunteer's counterpart, and I wasn't sure how it would work, but she has been such a help to me. Like I said, I have visited the two primary schools (i could write a whole blog about the kids and schools! :)), visited the 4 sub-villages of my village--yeah, its pretty huge! People sometimes teasingly ask why I dont' remember their names....i think i've met 300 people! I'm trying to remember names, but it will take time.

Which leads me to title of this blog, "Pole Pole" or slowly, slowly. I think I repeat this phrase 400 times a day: when trying to explain i'm trying to learn Kiswahilli, or that I can't remember someone's name, or just asking them to speak slower! Its definetely a trying time, but I just keep reminding myself this is the time to learn about my village, and what it needs and how I can help. I have been visiting the Zahanati (clinic) to "help" (more like wave at/tickle the babies bellies that come in for weighing or shots on Fridays...imagine that?). The nurses and "daktari" are very welcoming, like my village government.

Now to the important stuff, because my computer is on the brink and it'll be at least a few weeks before I can charge it. I haven't found that special "mama" yet to follow around/beg food off of, but my neighbors are kind, and everyday I feel more and more a part of the community. I did however, find a little "chai" stand, where I've been frequenting for a morning cup of chai, chappati, and beans. All for 400 shillings! (20 cents or so!). Helps with getting to know people and beats cooking! :) I'm taking after Grandpa Hand, sitting in the coffee shop.

My village is blessed with a pretty good variety of foods! I can buy bananas, oranges, mangoes, potatoes, rice, beans, flour, break, cucumbers, tomatoes, green peppers, and a few other things---that's like everything! What I can't I supplement with trips to Muheza (kerosene, oatmeal, etc), which I'm getting the hang of! Speaking of Muheza, I now have a PO box! (check fb or contact my fam for it...not putting it on the web i don't think). Hope to get to check it about once a week or so, so can't wait to be pen pals! :)

While my daily routine has differed day to day, without electricity, I've been heading to bed so early. Which is nice, because with the motorcycles, *^#^%@! Roosters, and other village sounds, its often I wake up before 6. For those of you who know me at all, I know this is a shocker! :) Life is the village is slow paced, which is nice, considering the sweltering heat we've had. This is supposedly the hottest time of year, and let me tell you, it is rather warm! :) Come June, I'll probabbly wish for this.

My battery is blinking, so I better close. I appreciate the AMAZING support I constantly have from all of you at home, and it helps me to continue on this crazy journey I've begun. I'm still unsure of the work i'll do here, but everyday I feel closer to my village, and the new job i've undertaken. Know I"m thinking of all of you, and willl randomly find myself rememering funny stories with friends and fam, so know you are never far from mind.

Lots of love and I will eat a Mango/Orange for you! :)

p.s. no electricty in my village til next month! Yikes! Cell phone may be dead. alot. hope it gets resolved soon!

1/18/12

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Tanzania Rachel in Tanzania

2012-01-20 06:29:55

Oops, another long gap in entries, but these past weeks have been more about doctor visits than anything else, so I guess there isn’t too much to tell. In regards to the possibility of seeing animals that I mentioned last … Continue reading →

Greetings, A Visit to the Zahanati, African Randomness

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Tanzania jenzania

2012-01-19 21:26:00

Here in Tanzania, greetings are essential. There are on average about 20 different ways to say “hey, how are you?” in Kiswahili; you never know which one they’re gonna throw at you next. Now, in America you’re allowed to let the person (depending on how well you know them, or care to tell them) know if you’ve had the shittiest day of your life. Here, all of the possible answers are a variation of “I’m good.” There’s even a “I’m peaceful” answer. Apparently in Tanzania, you’re not allowed to experience a semi-bad day. Which is a blessing and a curse. The other day I biked to and from town. Now mind you it’s the rainy season and none of the roads in my Region are paved, so as I was going up those hills and getting greeted left and right, my answer was always “I’m good!” Which, after a while, I had to laugh to myself because I actually thought about what I was saying, and as much as I didn’t feel good, I started to make myself believe that I was, in fact, “good”. So much of the time I feel like I’m giving a robotic answer, but I actually had to stop and think about what I was saying and it made me laugh, which in turn made the hills seem somehow less steep and less muddy J

Also, here in Tanzania, giving respect to your elders is a must. There’s a word, “Shikamoo”, response “Marahaba.” I say it to anyone I think who looks older than me, and children say it to me. Sometimes it’s hard to tell, but when you’ve got a baby strapped to your back and one on your hip, I don’t care if you’re 16, I’m going to Shikamoo you. They laugh if I’m wrong. Anyway, it’s an amazing feeling when you’re walking by an elder and you Shikamoo them. Maybe they’re not expecting you to know Kiswahili; they’re especially not expecting you to know the need to Shikamoo. I love it when their eyes light up, they smile with a grin full of teeth (sometimes not, ha), and give a polite “Marahaba.”

Today I went to the Zahanati (Health Dispensary). A Clinical Officer works there, equivalent to our RN’s in the states. She gave me a tour, which consists of a waiting room, an examination room, a delivery table (!), a recovery bed, and a fridge running on solar power which holds vaccines of all sorts. I also found out the villagers are able to get tested for HIV, which is valuable knowledge for my future work. My level of excitement sky-rocketed when I saw that rustic, semi-stained delivery table. I thought back to my time in NY, when I was shadowing a CNM and had the pleasure of assisting with a delivery. I believe this is the exact right place for me to make a difference. Thing is, everything here takes time. Patience really is a virtue.

Let me tell you, cooking in Africa is no small feat. First of all, it’s a gamble as to what’s available in the village. It’s another gamble as to what’s available if you make the trek into town. Luckily it’s mango season, so those are plentiful. However, it turns out if you don’t own a farm and harvest all the food you eat, finding nutritious food is difficult! I’m afraid I’m in the wrong profession. Nonetheless, once you do find food to cook, preparation and cooking takes about on average 2-3 hours depending on how intricate you desire to be. You know the saying (now forgive me if this is somewhat off, because every time I think of it in my head it doesn’t sound quite right), but… “A watched teapot never boils”, well, take it from me, it might take 40 minutes, but it WILL boil damn it!

And anther thing, I will never again complain about turning the knob on an electric stove, or washing each dirty dish separately in a sink under running water ever again. And you can quote me on that.

Random tid-bit from today. Snakes are nothing to be shrugged off. I got water for the first time from my well today (one reason to welcome the rainy season), and saw a snake swimming around. Call me naïve, bit I really didn’t think anything of it at the time, just made sure it didn’t swim into my bucket without my knowing. One of the teachers happened to be walking by and I mentioned it to him. About 20 minutes later he, an army of teachers, and what seemed like half the villagers came by to fish the snake out of my well. I’d come by for the show too, wouldn’t you? Don’t ask me how, but they managed to get it into the bucket with nothing more than a flashlight and long stick. Once inside, everyone stepped back save the guinea pig who got the lucky job of taking the bucket into the road, tipping it over and killing it. I repeat, Snakes are (I guess) nothing to be shrugged off. And here I was just going to watch him swim around for a while.

Ok, I’m patiently waiting under my mosquito net for the sound of the pitter-patter of rats in my house. Maybe they won’t show up tonight. Wishful thinking, I’m sure. Oh the joys of living in Africa J

The Woes of Transportation

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Tanzania jenzania

2012-01-19 21:27:00

I realize I never explained why traveling and transportation is incredibly cumbersome. Let me begin by explaining the bus ride from Dar es Salaam to Masasi on the coast in the South. In the dry season, it’s supposed to take 9 hours. In the rainy season, expect it to take as long as 12 hours. Since it’s rainy season from Dec. – March, it took us 15 hours, give or take a flat tire. Peace Corps took the liberty of booking us the entire back row of the bus. I don’t care if you’re on the newly paved roads of America, everyone knows the back row is ALWAYS the bumpiest. This bus was special. The 6 seats were separated into two groups of three by a huge crack that was somewhat uneven. My seat was really half a seat, and my fellow PCV’s seat wasn’t actually a seat at all. Every bump we’d go over her seat would detach from the seatback, she’d have to stand up and push it back on. The normal 9 hour ride is on half paved, half unpaved roads. I think we were somewhere in the middle of the unpaved road and our bus got stuck in the mud. People were made to exit the bus into about a half calf-full of mud. I chose to take the window route and jumped onto the grassy bank nearby. It only took an hour and a half to get the bus moving again. I pitied the men who had to literally dig the bus out of the mud. That did NOT look fun. We then had a flat tire, which was only a half hour wait, quite fast I might add.

Then came the weigh station. Mind you, there were four of us with luggage which consisted of everything we brought for our entire 2 years here. Along with the sacks of who knows what was packed onto the bus, we were extremely overweight. I happened to glance down and saw them unloading some of our luggage. They put a few pieces back in through the windows in the middle of the bus, I suppose to balance the weight. I noticed one of my pieces and a fellow PCV’s bag didn’t get put back on the bus, and we drove away to get weighed again. We passed that time, and then turned the opposite way of where we’d left our bags. Now, getting mad or freaking out doesn’t get you anywhere here. We stopped at a nearby gas station to pick up some of the people we dropped off before the weigh station, and waited there for a time. Luckily I glanced out the window and saw them loading our luggage back onto the bus. Sneaky.

After the weigh station, we had a little over two and a half hours to go. It was dark, and there were half-in-the-bag PCV’s waiting to greet us upon our arrival. We just wanted to get off that dang bus.

I’m not complaining, because it really was sort of funny how long it took us to travel to our sites as compared to other PCV’s in our class. And, it wasn’t all madness and frustrations; we eventually made the bus ride into a sort of twisted roller coaster ride. Anything to get a little laugh out of the situation. Since we’d get air on most the big bumps, we’d raise our hands up and pretend we were riding Raging Bull or good ole’ rickety Viper.

Daladala rides are a whole different kind of fun. The saying really is true that the bus (or in this case, glorified minibus) really doesn’t leave until it’s full. In which case it then travels 50 feet and picks up another 17 people which could have made the dala full in the first place if they’d gone the extra mile to walk to the standi. Let’s see, I’ve been here a little over three months now, and I don’t think I’ve had so many butts, boobs, armpits, faces, or chickens in my face as I have in my entire life. Personal space is lost on Tanzanians. Again, getting frustrated will get you nowhere. Looking out the window (if you’re lucky to get a seat, not to mention a window seat) has proven the best thing to do in these situations.

I’m sure I will become somewhat used to dalas and bus rides, it’s only a matter of time.

Nonetheless, if I have a choice (which is rare), I’m very careful about my seat selection.

Start of the School Year

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Tanzania Riah in Tanzania

2012-01-19 19:17:00

So school's back in session here in Tanzania, which is nice, because it was basically 2 and a half months of not really having an actual job, which was a bit much. Yes, there was IST and a couple of holidays in there too, but that's a whole lot of not teaching. But last week we had our staff meeting, and then we had two days of all the teachers (except me) having to do beauraucratic (which apparently I can't spell and am too lazy to look up right now) stuff at the ministry of education, verifying their employment and what not. (I ran into the teacher who lives next door to me, who's currently getting his masters and therefore not really a teacher this term at all, on one of these days. He asked me "Were you aware that all the teachers except for you are in Moshi verifying their employment?" Why no, no I was not.) Anyways, so classes started on Tuesday. I'm teaching Form 1 English again, which is great, cuz that's exactly what I wanted. I like form 1 English. There are fun, simple syllabus topics, and I think it's super important that these kids get a good foundation cuz all the rest of their educations will be in English. Also, it means I get to teach the Baseline orientation course, which I really like. Baseline is a 6 week course to get the new Form 1s up to speed with their English before diving into the regular syllabus. It's a really awesome, totally teacher friendly book of lesson plans in three areas (language, social sciences and math/science). So I'm glad I get to teach it. And then between internship teaching and my first 2 months at site, I've already taught about 3 months of the syllabus, so I have a good idea of how I want things to go this year. There was also some talk of me teaching ICT, but I don't think this is gonna happen, because my school is one of the very few in the country that actually takes the ICT NECTA exam, and there are topics on the syllabus that I just don;t know myself. Plus, while I can use a computer, I am not in any way trained to teach them (unlike English, which I'm good at) and I worry that my school is a little too dependent on Peace Corps volunteers as ICT teachers (the last 3 volunteers before me were all ICT), when there is a Tanzanian ICT teacher at the school. So I'm not teaching ICT, but I might help Miss Scola with some of the practical, how to use a computer topics, which are the things I actually do know how to do. We'll see. I'm not real clear on how me helping her would work. Also, in addition to my English classes, we're continuing the English club, and we're starting a Life Skills club, and some of the teachers at the school want me to help get the school a library, so I'll be putting together a grant proposal for that too. (We already have a bunch of books, and 2 classrooms that the headmaster has given us permission to turn into the library, we just need furniture so that the students can actually access the books and have a place to study). Plus there's a chicken project and a stationary project that my counterpart and her husband already have going to raise school fees for some of the students, and it's possible that I'll help with that too. So it's not like there's a shortage of things for me to be doing around here. Anyway, its really nice to be back teaching again finally, and my classes have been going well. The students seem much more comfortable than I was worried they might be, which is great. I think it's a really good think that they have baseline to get them comfortable first. (The first lesson was an hour and 20 minutes of nothing but greetings. Very Tanzanian.) But next week I'm off to Dar for my first meeting as the Kili/Arusha VAC rep, which I'm excited about, but it's kind of weird to be leaving for the first complete week of teaching. It's not the timing I would have chosen, but I'm really interested to see how the meeting goes.

Kerosine

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Tanzania Singing in Africa

2012-01-19 19:59:00

A part of the peace corps is culture exchange. Tanzanians teach me how to cook, clean and wash according to their standards. In the time that I have been in Tanzania I have not learned how to make many Tanzanians food but that's because I do no like Ugali, rice or andazi. Most of there reason are do to allergies to such food or that fact I just really don't like them but my first family of Tanzania was amazing. My mama taught me to know what it meant to be part of a family, my sisters taught me to understand how to act and talk like a young women of the culture and Mi, my youngest sister taught me to smile and laugh again. In the mean time I taught them how to make cookies, cake, how to use peanut butter in food and how to rest but most of all I taught them O-H-I-O! Now being in Lushoto, my villagers are teaching me the local language, games, conversations and what is needed in the village. In the mean time I am teaching them how to play american games, use walking/hiking as enjoyment and how to make banana bread. But I made a mistake and burned myself very badly while trying to help my neighbor make bread. Warning the next pictures are kindof bad....

This is what happens when you have hot water on a Kerosine jiko and it falls on your skin! So everyone please be careful!

You belong here

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Tanzania Singing in Africa

2012-01-19 18:28:00

One the first day of going to my site at the base of the mountain the song playing on my Ipod was You Belong Here. This is how I feel. Life in Lushoto is wonderful. Words can not describe how this first month at site has been for me. I can honestly say I am happy, happy that makes you smile everyday and happy that is not fake or forced just plain and Simply Happy. For a long time I have been looking for missing piece of me and now I feel that I am coming together. The pieces are coming together. In the last year I have been through a lot and I finally feel like I can focus on me. Focus on getting healthy mental and physical and helping support my village to improve it. Here are pictures of my new home and happiness.

Peace Corps Volunteer Helps Educate Her Malawi Community on HIV/AIDS & Environmental ...

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Tanzania YouTube Videos matching query: "peace corps" "Tanzania "

2012-01-18 16:50:11

	Peace Corps Volunteer Helps Educate Her Malawi Community on HIV/AIDS & Environmental Conservation Sarah Swenson from Cle Elum, Washington, is a Community-Based Natural Resource Management Volunteer in Malawi. She has worked with women in her community on small business projects such as bee-keeping, jam-making, and HIV/AIDS awareness. She currently works with a local band to educate her community on HIV/AIDS and environmental conservation. To learn more about the work of Peace Corps Volunteers, visit www.peacecorps.gov	From: peacecorps Views: 2394 7 ratings
	Time: 03:03	More in Nonprofits & Activism

day 1 who fails pe?

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Tanzania SuNsHinE & RAinBoWs

2012-01-19 16:08:00

Day 1.

I chose #13 to start with on my 30 day challenge for change….Let’s just say I’ve already been defeated. #13 says that I should try not to tell a single lie for 30 days! I work with children of all ages who come from different backgrounds. Some of them have behavioral issues and some of them have developmental issues. My favorite child on my caseload “thinks” he’s the smartest person in the world and knows EVERYTHING! I had an opportunity to prove this 10 year old wrong; it was for his own good of course. During my home visit with him last evening he decided to not disclose to me the grades from his report card which came out last week. We were talking and laughing, he was telling me alllll about the fun he had this weekend and everything else under the sun, except his grades. So I proceeded to have a separate conversation, very loudly, with his grandmother about how Disney is giving away free trips for families with children whose grades are not so good. I mean everyone knows that Disney gives away thousands of trips to families with children who are failing most of their classes, right? All of a sudden I see my smart little 10 year old walk to his room and get this crumbled up report card from under his bed….he proceeds to unravel the wrinkled and balled up piece of paper and hands it to me. “Ms. Shani!!! Look…I’m failing math and PE, do you think we can go do Disney?” I respond very seriously, “No…not even Walt Disney would understand how you can fail PE!”

Let me know how the challenge is going for you….

Swahili lesson for today:

Bustani (boo-stawni) Garden

Love and as always, Sunshine & Rainbows!

Mice and Honey

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Tanzania Let's Talk about Tanzania

2012-01-19 10:40:00

Last week I gave myself a haircut, my first haircut in ten years that wasn’t given to me by my sister. Since I have yet to see a mirror, I still don’t know how it looks but I am sure that my blind attempt at a coiffe would make sister balk. Beyond not having a mirror, my house is still very unfurnished. I have some orders in at the carpenter’s that are already tardy, but I have low expectations for any timeliness in this country anyway. I also still have a mouse problem.

I got a cat after one week here. I walked across the village and chatted with some old Gogo ladies, and after about 10 minutes one of the ladies slipped into another room in the hut and came out with a hissing and mewling sack. It was about a 10 minutes walk home and once in the house, the cat timidly made its way out of the bag (there is a pun here somewhere but I’m not up to it right now.) It seemed distressed at the lack of furniture to hide behind, but it quickly found a nook between my bed frame and mattress. I fetched it some fresh cow’s milk that it didn’t touch, and I eventually went to bed with the kitten hiding behind the mattress. I woke up in the morning and lit the stove for tea, came back inside and the cat was nowhere to be found. I’m not that surprised that the cat would run away, it was a pretty old kitten, but I am dumbfounded as to how the cat escaped. The door from my house to my courtyard was open for all of 2 minutes as I lit the stove, and even so I should have seen a cat darting out. And the only way out of my courtyard is the drain in the shower. The cat could have fit through it, but it is a pretty long tube, and I’m convinced this kind of jailbreak would have required some calculated premeditation. Now three weeks later, I still wake up to the sound of the mouse eating giant millipedes behind my desk, and I still expect any day to see this cat come sauntering out of its hiding. If I ever do, I will call it Houdini.

I’m trying to learn basic Kigogo and Kisandawe, the two main languages that are spoken here. Of course everyone speaks Kiswahili as well, but it really tickles people if I greet them in their tribal language. Kisandawe is truly a click language, and I can really crack people up when I attempt to make those impossible sounds.

A lot of my job right now is to wander around the village and talk with new people. This often means going up to a house and saying “Hodi! Hodi!” I don’t knock, I just say these words and if people are about, they say, “Karibu!” to welcome me in. If they are cooking, they will invite me to eat. If it isn’t mealtime, they will likely send a kid out to buy a soda for me. Or, if I am visiting a beekeeper, they will bring me a bowl of honey. The first time this happened, I didn’t really know what to do—about ½ a liter of honey and a spoon! That’s gluttonous, but if I only take a few spoonfuls, not only might it be rude, but the precious stuff might go to waste. Well, after a few bites, I wasn’t worried about any of that because I knew I could easily eat the whole bowl. I had been told that my Peace Corps service would change me forever; I had no idea it would just be Type II Diabetes.

A particularly industrious beekeeper had me taste the honey from nyuki wadogo, little bees, which I think are some species of dwarf honey bee. The plastic water bottle hissed releasing pressure as the beekeeper opened it, which would normally be a red flag alerting me to Something I Shouldn’t Eat, but being a profligate lover of honey, I sallied forth. It had a texture and buttery sweetness like warm caramel, a slightly tart taste like an apple, and it was curiously bubbly with carbonation. It might have been slightly alcoholic. It was delicious.

Last week I made an attempt to climb the tallest mountain in my beautiful skyline. (I told everyone I wanted to go in order to see the surroundings but really I just wanted to try and catch a glimpse of the chewi a.k.a. leopard) Unfortunately we departed too late in the afternoon, so we didn’t make it all the way to the top. News of my excursion spread, as all news does in the village: like wildfire. Now when some people ask me about my plans, they’ll say, “Are you free Thursday? Or are you going to go climb another mountain?”

When I go to visit houses, I try to ask them survey questions about what problems they are facing and what sort of work they would like to see in their village. This is an important yet frustrating exercise because their suggestions are very valid, but often too big for me to help with, which I think this is a common struggle at the start for Peace Corps volunteers. For instance, many people want me to help their group get a tractor, or access the international honey market while circumventing the price-slashing middleman in Dar es Salaam. Some of the other things they suggest are very feasible, like setting up beekeeping workshops, creating other income generating projects, and etc. Nonetheless, I am trying to do research on all these ideas so that I can tell them just how realistic the possibilities are.

This One Time, In Tanzania...

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Tanzania Harambee in Tanzania

2012-01-18 16:36:00

A few years from now, when I’m back home with friends and family, and someone brings up goats, xray machines, lizards, mangos, deathbeds, basketball, Nelly, doctors, buses, drunk nuns, the devil, or the dougie… I won’t have to say ‘this one time in Tanzania.’ I can simple refer back to this post about my first month at site.

-I ate fried goat gizzards with pilau and goat grease drizzled on top. All while squatting next to a thorn tree, in the bush, with a bunch of Kimasai men. I was admiring their single red cloths, canes and gaged ears, and they were deep in discussion about who would marry that tall, white mzungu. That one time, on a hot January day, in Tanzania.

-I cut 40 Tanzanians in line to get an x-ray. This was after the regional hospital had no electricity to take the picture and before I traveled via land cruiser on a dirt road, mid-rainy season, bumping my arm the whole way. The result was a grainy, two-picture masterpiece, given to me via poop hand, sans envelope. That one time, I took an x-ray with all metal jewelry still intact, while squatting on the floor of a very well lit room, in Tanzania.

- Olly ate a lizard that was bigger than him. Whole. It was turquoise and orange. This one time, my cat wanted attention, in Tanzania.

-I successfully baked mango (in season) and ginger bread using a two sufaria and stones homemade oven. Bake time=3 episodes of Modern Family. Eat time=1/2 of an episode of Modern Family (it was delicious). This one time, I was feeling domestic, in Tanzania.

-I played a full court basketball game with a bunch of dudes at the University nearby, to a crowd of 30+ more dudes. The court happens to be outside the men’s dormitory…. White person+ woman+ high scorer=what the HECK?! The court also had ‘Barack Obama was here’ spray painted on it. This one time, I screamed ‘in your eye’ in Kiswahili, in Tanzania.

-Every day I sit, chatting with Mama Amina (aka my Dodoma Mama), looking white and American, while the doctors at the hospital argue over who’s going to buy me a soda and chapati today. This one time, I told a bunch of doctors over and over that I was taken, in Tanzania.

-When two buses become one because it’s the rainy season and one bus can’t make it in the mud, you’ve got yourself a dala dala for a 7 hour bus ride. Squished between two mamas, and two babies just young enough not to have their own seat, but just old enough to touch you with their snotty hands and change their poopy kanga diapers on you 5 times. I’m pretty sure I was squeezed in so tight I could count the change in one mama’s pocket (700 Tsh). This one time, I made two babies cry because they were petrified sitting next to a white person, in Tanzania.

-Mama Amina was playing some American music and I asked her if she knew how to dougie? Obviously she didn’t, so I proceeded to teach her how to dougie, in the jikoni, to the delight of the men on staff at the hospital who were watching us and laughing in a distance. This one time, I got jiggy with it, in Tanzania.

-This Mama told me, ‘njoo!’ So I followed her off the bus. She put me in a car, drove me to a duka (where she had me leave my stuff), took me to a sunflower oil shop where we snacked on seeds, showed me off to the people in town as her ‘new best friend,’ stopped by her family’s home, made me ugali and goat while her brother told me I should start a fruit juice business in Tanga, had me greet dying Bibi in the next room, took me to a hostel for free soda, bought me embe at the sokoni, took me to the local bar and bought me beers, returned to the duka to get my things that were magically safe, and made sure I got to my hostel and settled in for the night. In that order. This one time, I followed a Mama because she told me to, in Tanzania.

-I received a welcome party from a village that included a feast of rabbit, goat, chicken, and pilau. Along with entertainment of a comedy-central style roast of the new nun in town (to which she awkwardly sat through, quietly, nearly in tears), two priests joking about climbing and drinking Kilimanjaro, a Kimasai sitting in the corner downing Kanyogi packets, and a drunken dance off between the nuns (post-numerous party fouls). This one time, New Years Day, in Tanzania.

-Meck: “Auntie, unajua shetani?” Me: “Do I know the devil? No, why do you ask?” Meck: “No reason!” This one time, my neighbor boy asked me if I knew the devil, in Tanzania.

-A teacher at the nursing school invited me to her house on my way home to hang out. She promptly pulled out her American music videos which she felt was super hip and American of her to do. This one time, I watched Nelly and Puff Daddy (because they were so old he was still called that) music videos for an hour, in Tanzania.

Welcome Back, The Challenge Edition

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Tanzania SuNsHinE & RAinBoWs

2012-01-18 12:49:00

WOW! I cant believe it's been over a year since my last blog. I guess I've officially settled back into the hustle and bustle of Life In America....and it's been a busy one and a half years since I left village life in Tanzania. I miss my villagers, my work, my Peace Corps Buddies and of course the "No Worries (Hamna Shida)" of Life there. I remember waking up to the wonderful sounds of children screaming, cows mooing, and chickens crowing....LOL I can laugh now but my first mornings in the village weren't so wonderful. I am still speaking the language of Swahili daily with a coworker from Kenya and I am maintaining the 3rd Goal of Peace Corps by sharing my stories of Life an the Village and my experiences as a Community Development Volunteer. I've managed to maintain a lot things I learned from Tanzanians such as; Never rushing, no matter how late I am; Finding a bug in your food is "really" not that big of a deal, and celebrating everything moment in life with a "big" meal and "lots" of people. What I have managed to slowly stop doing is writing in my journal daily, enjoying the peace within silence, and greeting my friends; verbally. Do you realize you can go for days and never actually hold a verbal conversation on the phone...That's crazy! I mean how hard is it to unlock your phone, scroll the the contact screen, select a name, select send, place the phone on speaker, and make a left turn while holding a cup of coffee...geesh!

Well with this being said I decided to challenge myself with the help of another RPCV, Stephanie Kimber, and Marc and Angel. Upon perusing Facebook as I do every morning I viewed a link in Stephanie's wall:

http://www.marcandangel.com/2011/12/25/30-challenges-for-30-days-of-growth/

This link leads to a page which focuses on 30 challenges to be accomplished over the course of 30 days. According to Marc and Angel, if carried out diligently each of these 30 actions has the potential to create a new positive habit in your life. Now before you start mumbling under your breath while clicking on the "X" to close your browser just hear me out. What would happen if you pick 2 to 5 actions to commit to over the next 30 days, wholeheartedly? Would it really be so bad if you saw a small change in yourself, your mindset, your way of thinking, your physical appearance, Love Life or maybe even your finances....Would that be the end of the world? No!
Ive decided to chose 4 from the list and blog my progress (or lack there of) with each of you. This way you can respond and let me know how it's going for you too. If you have any other ideas or actions that could be added to Marc and Angel's list respond to the blog.

Alright, Let's Do This!.....The 30 Actions are listed below in case you are having problems opening the link above!

1.Use words that encourage happiness. – Typically, when I ask someone “How are you?” they reply, “I’m fine” or “I’m okay.” But one lazy Monday afternoon last month a new colleague of mine replied, “Oh, I am fabulous!” It made me smile, so I asked him what was making him feel so fabulous and he said, “I’m healthy, my family is healthy, and we live in a free country. So I don’t have any reason not to be happy.” The difference was simply his attitude and his choice of words. He wasn’t necessarily any better off than anyone else, but he seemed twenty times happier. Spend the next 30 days using words that encourage a smile.

2. Try one new thing every day. – Variety truly is the spice of life. You can see or do something a million times, but you can only see or do it for the first time once. As a result, first time experiences often leave reflective marks in our minds for the rest of our lives. Make an effort to try something new every day for the next 30 days. It can be a whole new activity or just a small experience, such as talking to a stranger. Once you get the ball rolling many of these new experiences will open doors to life changing opportunities.

3. Perform one selfless act every day. – In life, you get what you put in. When you make a positive impact in someone else’s life, you also make a positive impact in your own life. Do something that’s greater than you, something that helps someone else be happy or suffer less. I promise, it will be an extremely rewarding experience. One you’ll likely remember forever. Obviously your options here are limitless, but if you’re looking to assist an ordinary person in need without leaving your chair, check out GoFundMe.

4. Learn and practice one new skill every day. – Self-reliance is a vital key to living a healthy, productive life. To be self-reliant one must master a basic set of skills, more or less making them a jack of all trades. Contrary to what you may have learned in school, a jack of all trades is far more equipped to deal with life than a specialized master of only one. And besides, learning new skills is fun. Check out this article, this article, and this book.

5. Teach someone something new every day. – We all have natural strengths and talents that can dramatically help those around us. What comes easy for you is no doubt challenging for others. We tend to take these gifts for granted, often hardly noticing what we have to offer, and thus we rarely share them with others. Inner happiness and zeal come from using these inherent gifts on a routine basis. What do people thank you for? What do people routinely ask for your help with? Most people’s passions and talents help others in one way or another. Perhaps for you it’s painting, teaching math, cooking a good meal or leading an exercise class. For the next 30 days devote some time each day to sharing your talents and expertise.

6. Dedicate an hour a day to something you’re passionate about. – Take part in something you passionately believe in. This could be anything. Some people take an active role in their city council, some find refuge in religious faith, some join social clubs supporting causes they believe in and others find passion in their hobbies. In each case the psychological outcome is the same. They engage themselves in something they strongly believe in. This engagement brings happiness and meaning into their lives. Read Stumbling on Happiness.

7. Treat everyone nicely, even those who are rude to you. – Being nice to someone you dislike doesn’t mean you’re fake. It means you’re mature enough to control your emotions. Treat everyone with kindness and respect, even those who are rude to you – not because they’re nice, but because you are. Do this for 30 days and I guarantee you’ll see the rudeness around you dissipate.

8. Concentrate on being positive at all times. – The real winners in life cultivate optimism. They have the ability to manufacture their own happiness and drive. No matter what the situation, the successful diva is the chick who will always find a way to put an optimistic spin on it. She knows failure only as an opportunity to grow and learn a new lesson from life. People who think optimistically see the world as a place packed with endless opportunities, especially in trying times. Try to spend the next 30 days looking at the bright side of things.

9. Address and acknowledge the lesson in inconvenient situations. – It’s important to remember that everything is a life lesson. Everyone you meet, everything you encounter, etc. They’re all part of the learning experience we call ‘life.’ Never forget to acknowledge the lesson, especially when things don’t go your way. If you don’t get a job you wanted or a relationship doesn’t work, it only means something better is out there waiting. And the lesson you just learned is the first step toward it. Over the next 30 days keep a written log of all the lessons life taught you.

10. Pay attention and enjoy your life as it happens. – When I watched the Academy Awards a few months ago I realized that most of the speeches actors and actresses make when they accept an award go something like this: “This means so much so me. My whole life has been leading up to this moment.” But the truth is, our whole lives have been leading up to every moment. Think about that for a second. Every single thing you’ve gone through in life, every high, every low and everything in between, it has led you to this moment right now. Ask yourself this: How much of life are you actually living? If you’re like most people, the answer is likely: “Not enough.” The key is to concentrate on a little less on doing and a little more on being. Remember, right now is the only moment guaranteed to you. Right now is life. Spend the next 30 days living in the now, for real.

11. Get rid of one thing a day for 30 days. – We have so much clutter surrounding us at any given moment (at the office, in our cars, in our homes) and we’ve become so accustomed to it that we no longer notice how it affects us. If you start cleaning up some of this external clutter, a lot of internal clutter will disappear as well. Choose one needless item each and every day and get rid of it. It’s that simple. It might be difficult at first, so expect some resistance. But after some time you will begin to learn to let go of your packrat tendencies, and your mind will thank you for your efforts.

12. Create something brand new in 30 days or less. – Creation is a process like none other. Putting to use your innovative faculties and constructing something with your own two hands will leave you with an indescribable sense of wholeness. There is no substitute for it. The only caveat is that it must be related to something you actually care about. If you are creating financial plans for clients all day and you hate it, that doesn’t really count. But if you can find something you love, and create something related to it, it will make all the difference in your life. If you haven’t created something in a while just for the sake of creating, do so. Take the next 30 days and let your creativity run wild.

13. Don’t tell a single lie for 30 days. – With all the seemingly innocent, white lies that trickle out of us, this is way harder than it sounds. But you can do it. Stop deceiving yourself and others, speak from the heart, speak the whole truth.

14. Wake up 30 minutes early every morning. – Get up 30 minutes earlier than usual so you don’t have to rush around like a mad man. That 30 minutes will help you avoid speeding tickets, tardiness and other unnecessary headaches. Give it a legitimate try for 30 days straight and see how it impacts your life.

15. Ditch 3 bad habits for 30 days. – Do you eat too much fast food? Do you play too many video games? Do you argue with your siblings? You know some of your bad habits. Pick 3 and quit doing them for 30 days. Period.

16. Watch less than 30 minutes of TV every day. – Entertain yourself with real-world experiences. Great memories are the product of interesting life experiences. So turn off the television (or the computer if that’s how you watch your TV programs) and get outdoors. Interact with the world, appreciate nature, take notice of the simple pleasures life has to offer, and just watch as life unfolds in front of you.

17. Define one long-term goal and work on it for an hour every day. – Break your goal down into bite-sized pieces and focus on achieving each one piece at a time. It really is all about taking baby steps, and taking the first step is often the hardest. Spend an hour every day for the next 30 days working toward something you’ve always wanted to accomplish. Take a small dream and make it a reality. Read Getting Things Done.

18. Read one chapter of a good book every day. – With the Web’s endless stream of informative, easy-to-skim textual snippets and collaborative written works, people are spending more and more time reading online. Nevertheless, the Web cannot replace the authoritative wisdom from certain classic books that have delivered (or will deliver) profound ideas around the globe for generations. Books open doors, in your mind and in your life. Read an online book list and find a good book to grab at the library today. Then spend the next 30 days reading at least one chapter a day until you reach the end. Here’s another book list. And another. And another.

19. Every morning, watch or read something that inspires you. – Sometimes all you need is a little pep talk. For the next 30 days, before you eat breakfast, or leave the house, watch a motivational video or read something (quotation, blog post, short story, etc.) that inspires you.

20. Do something every day after lunch that makes you laugh. – Watch a funny video clip on YouTube, read your favorite comic strip, or find a good joke online. A good chuckle stimulates the mind and can give you a renewed level on energy. The best time for this laugh is during the lull in the mid-afternoon, when you need it most.

21. Go alcohol and drug free for 30 days. – This challenge depends on your individual circumstance. If you are a heavy user of alcohol or a particular drug it is not recommended that you quit cold turkey. You need to see a physician and ease off of the substance slowly. But if you are a casual user, quit right now for 30 days. If you’re looking for a natural energy boosting alternative to a substance, check out 50 Natural Ways To Boost Your Energy.

22. Exercise for 30 minutes every day for 30 days. – Your health is your life. Don’t let it go. Eat right, exercise and get an annual physical check-up. The 4-Hour Body is an insightful and entertaining read on this topic.

23. Get uncomfortable and face a fear every day. – With a strategy of continuous small steps into uncomfortable territory we are often able to sidestep the biggest barrier to positive change: Fear. Sometimes we’re afraid we’ll fail. Sometimes we’re subconsciously afraid we’ll succeed and then we’d have to deal with all the disruption (growth) and change that follows success. And other times it’s our fear of rejection or simply our fear of looking like a fool. The best way to defeat fear is to stare it down. Connect to your fear, feel it in your body, realize it and steadily address it. Greet it by name if you have to: “Welcome, fear.” Fear can be a guiding friend if you learn how to swallow it, and listen to it only when it serves its true purpose of warning you when you are in danger. Spend an hour every day for the next 30 day’s addressing a fear that is holding you back.

24. Cook one brand new, healthy recipe every day. – Cooking is fun, challenges your mind, and if done correctly, provides vital nutrients to your body. Win-Win-Win. How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman is great tool for this challenge. Packed with 900 pages of simple instructions on how to cook everything you could ever dream of eating, it’s pretty much the greatest cookbook ever written. Prepare one new, healthy recipe every day for the next 30 days.

25. Spend 10 minutes every evening reflecting on what went well. – For the next 30 days spend 10 minutes every evening pondering the small successes that occurred during the course of the day. This process of positive reflection will remind you of all the tiny blessings in your life, and help you to celebrate your personal growth.

26. Have a conversation every day with someone you rarely speak to. – People are interesting creatures, and no two people are exactly alike. Interacting with different people will open your mind to fascinating ideas and perspectives. So for the next 30 days strike up a conversation daily with someone you rarely speak to, or someone you’ve never met before. Find out what makes them tick.

27. Pay down debt and don’t create any new debt for 30 days. – Live well below your means. Don’t buy stuff you don’t need. Sleep on big purchases. Create a budget and savings plan and stick to them. For the next 30 days pay for things in cash and micro-manage every cent you make and spend. Read I Will Teach You To Be Rich.

28. Let go of one relationship that constantly hurts you. – Keep people in your life who truly love you, motivate you, encourage you, enhance you, and make you happy. If you know people who do none of these things, let them go and make room for new positive relationships. Over the next 30 days, if relevant to your situation, gradually let go of one person in your life who has been continuously hurting you and holding you back.

29. Publicly forgive someone who deserves another chance. – Sometimes good relationships end abruptly because of big egos and arguments based on isolated incidents. If there’s someone in your life who truly deserves another chance, give it to them. If you need to apologize too, do it. Over the next 30 days give your story together a new chapter.

30. Document every day with one photograph and one paragraph. – For 30 days bring a camera with you wherever you go. Do your best to take one photograph that represents a standout experience from each day. Then, before you go to bed each night, write one paragraph in a notebook or journal that highlights your day. If do it all digitally you can unite your daily photograph and paragraph in one digital space (like a personal blog), which can be easily reviewed in the future. Many moons from now these old photos and journal entries will ignite your recollection of interesting memories you would have otherwise forgotten.

WooHoo...and as Always, Love and Sunshine & Rainbows!

The One-Year Benchmark

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00

Tanzania Paulzania

2012-01-18 14:23:00

The rains are back, the weather has cooled, and the roads have once again turned to mud; my Form V kids are grappling with the mysteries of surface tension and elasticity, while my Form VI students are recovering from their grueling pre-national examinations; the siafu have returned, my house’s endemic cricket population has resurfaced, and the air is once again choked with giant, winged termite drones… all this can only mean one thing:

Holy crap, I’ve been here a year.

Well, technically speaking, I’ve been in country for more than a year---going on 16 months, to be exact---but this past November marked the first anniversary of my being a teacher in Songea, which I feel is a slightly more tangible accomplishment than simply existing in Tanzania for an extended period of time. Don’t get me wrong, the three initial months of pre-service training in Morogoro were fun, but I wouldn’t really classify them as “service”… it was more like summer camp, only with fewer sing-alongs and more cultural faux pas. Still though, as weird as it may seem right now, I guess I always figured this day would come---the day when I’d be teaching from the same notes I wrote a year ago; when I’d be celebrating Thanksgiving and Christmas in the same places I did last year; when I’d be hanging out with the same friends I’ve been hanging out with for the last 52 weekends; when things, in the end, would come full circle. It’s a strange feeling, for sure, but not entirely unexpected.

Indeed, a quick look at my service so far shows a great deal of constancy. My daily schedule still involves teaching, chores, exercise, cooking, and sleep, interspersed with occasional marathon concertina sessions. My social life still involves hanging out with PCVs or the Italians in town on the weekends, or, barring that, sitting alone in my house and re-watching episodes of The Wire. What did I do for Thanksgiving? Cooked a big meal at my sitemate’s house and ate it. What did I do last Thanksgiving? Cooked a big meal at my sitemate’s house and ate it, too. Life for me here has not so much changed as it has stayed the same, and, gradually, I’ve settled into my niche here in the Songea community, enough so that I never really question my existence here in Tanzania; it’s merely a fact of life.

I guess this habituation to the Tanzanian way of life (or, rather, the PCV-in-Tanzania way of life) is, in and of itself, a change of sorts. Rereading a bunch of my old blog posts and journal entries, I see the naïve ramblings of a kid who was simply enchanted to be in Africa---who considered each newly-learned Kiswahili word a tremendous accomplishment, wore his pikipiki burns like badges of honor, and jumped at any opportunity for so-called “cultural exchange” with the locals. I was enthusiastic, energetic, and far less cynical than I am now: everything bad or irritating in my life could simply be chalked up to “cultural experience,” and every challenge was met with uniform, unwavering optimism---the kind that may or may not actually be well-placed, given the situation. In sum, I was a TZ neophyte, wide-eyed and innocent, bedazzled by the concept of life in another country and eager to soak in everything Tanzania had to offer.

I can safely say now that, after a year’s worth of routine and work, much of that initial zeal has given way to lethargic acceptance. Most of what annoyed, confused, and vexed me at the beginning of my service has been slowly reduced to mere background noise; similarly, many of my more lofty aspirations have been curtailed to fit a more realistic agenda. Will all 172 of my Form VI physics students pass the NECTA this year? Probably not. How many will pass? Maybe five, if I’m lucky. Is there anything I can do about it? Not really. Am I okay with this? Yeah, pretty much. It’s just the way things work down here.

This isn’t to say that I’m utterly defeated and that my life is pointless. I have a lot of stuff to keep me going here in Tanzania, and, although much of my life at Songea Boys’ has slipped into dull routine, I still feel a fundamental motivation to get things done. My Form V students, for example, are pretty much the reason I get up and go to work every morning: unlike my absentee, senioritis-stricken Form Sixes, my Form Fives are the students whom I snatched up and began America-izing to death literally the second they arrived on campus as bewildered O-level transplantees, and, over the past two terms, I’ve been relentlessly and unabashedly grooming them into my personal army of physics and biology prodigies. While they’re by no means perfect, they consistently show up to every class on time, and they’ll stay in the room and wait for me, even if I’m late. Moreover, they readily participate in class discussions, and they all laugh at my jokes, no matter how stupid they are. And, perhaps most importantly, their English is WAY better than my Form Sixes’, and they even tolerate my occasional uncontrollable outbursts of geekiness (“So, in conclusion, natural selection says that you all came from MONKEYS! Isn’t that CRAZY?!” or “If we believe the Second Law of Thermodynamics, then one day all useful energy in the universe will turn into useless chaotic motion. D’YOU ALL UNDERSTAND WHAT THIS MEANS?!?!?! WE’LL ALL BE DEAD!!!!”) And yes, those were both direct quotes from the past few weeks of classes. I’m such a dork.

Still though, despite these highlights, there’s definitely a general sense of fatigue that comes with staying one year in Tanzania; that is, while I can easily ignore or tolerate some of the routine inconveniences or cultural differences I experience here, sometimes things are just frustrating, and there isn’t really anything I can do about it except shut up and keep my slowly-festering insanity to myself.

A prime example of this is Tanzanian music. After sixteen months of self-deception, delusions of acceptance, repeated reevaluations, and extensive mental acrobatics, I have come to the unfortunate but inevitable conclusion that I simply don’t like Tanzanian music. At all. I don’t like Bongo Flava, I don’t like Tanzanian hip-hop, I don’t like the “oldies” from the 60s, I don’t like the Kiswahili gospel music they pipe through the radio, I don’t like the witchdoctor drum circles, and I don’t like that genre of Tanzanian music where they get a bunch of fat ladies to dress up in their Sunday best and look depressed and belt out 9-minute songs about Jesus while they shuffle around a bit. Honestly, from what I’ve seen, Tanzanian music was built on one beat, three chords, and the fake brass section found on your typical Casio synthesizer, and I’m convinced that the whole country listens to the same 30-song playlist that’s been around for the past 10 years. It’s really too bad (and, in the end, my loss for being narrow-minded) that Tanzanians are a people who happen to LOVE their music, and that the concept of “noise complaints” hasn’t really hit this part of Africa yet… the general attitude when it comes to music---be it in bars, on buses, or at my neighbors’ houses at 4am on a Monday morning---is that turning your speakers up to 11 is actually a good thing---you’re, in fact, magnanimous enough to share your music with your neighbors, so that everyone can enjoy the richness and poetry of Sharobaro Recordz. Again, I won’t say that American pop music is light-years ahead of Tanzania’s Top 10, and I’m certainly no Mozart myself, but, in the end, it’s the little things like this that begin to grate on the nerves after a year of continuous exposure.

Pet peeves aside, there are other more practical frustrations that arise after one year of service. Why is my power always off? Why is my seat never reserved? Why is everyone always late to everything? Why is there never a timetable for anything? Why is my school having Form V midterms literally two weeks from Form V finals? Why can’t we duplicate the key to the school’s physics lab? Why does it take two hours to fry an egg at a restaurant? Why can’t I buy spinach before 10am or after 4pm? Why can’t Tanzanian waiters/cashiers do math, or at least use a calculator? Why are stores always out of everything? Why does NO ONE have change, EVER? I mean, I guess I should be thankful that I do have power, that my school is doing midterms, and that I can buy spinach… but, after a year of this, that pessimistic little voice in the back of my head has begun to get the better of me: why do I need to be thankful for any of this? Why can’t people show up on time for anything? Why can’t Tanzanian Maritime Services Co. Ltd. or Tanzanian Railways Co. post their ferry or train schedules online? Why can’t the conductors on the daladalas bring change with them when they start work? Why can’t Tanesco Songea ration its diesel supply so I could have consistent power instead of the one-week-on, four-week-off B.S. I’m dealing with now? Most of what I’ve listed is pretty basic stuff, and in these modern times, most other countries seem to get it right… why can’t Tanzania?

On top of all this, the one thing that’s really kind of gotten under my skin during my service is the casual racism. On the one hand, I get it: I’m white (or Chinese… Tanzanians generally can’t really tell the difference, but I guess I’m racially ambiguous enough as it is), and everyone else is black. I am a foreigner. I no speak Kiswahili good. I do weird stuff like use forks or go out jogging for exercise. I hoe like a little girl. I’m kind to stray dogs. I listen to quiet, beatless music on headphones while refrying already-boiled strips of ugali paste and dumping beans and meat on top (in this biz, we call this a “Frito pie”… and it’s delicious). But still, why does everyone feel the need to point out my eccentricities, all the freaking time? I’m no stranger to being the random white guy in town---go out far enough in Appalachia in any country and you’ll definitely become the butt of ridicule---but while most countries like to keep their xenophobia to themselves (i.e. China, where people just quietly stare at you and mutter racial epithets under their breath), the modus operandi when it comes to Tanzanians is to point at you, shout “mzungu!” or “mchina!” at the top of their lungs, and laugh like you just slipped on a banana peel and landed in a pile of mousetraps. On the one hand, this works in your favor, as people generally think that you’re incapable of anything and will often give you special treatment based on your skin color (free rides, tours around town, front seat on a bus, etc.). On the other hand, you’re forced to pay mzungu prices everywhere, you’re routinely targeted by power-tripping immigration officers, and, wherever you go, you’re mercilessly mocked by annoying vijana (“Hello! Yes! Thank you, white man!” or “Chingchong hee-hong!”). And then sometimes you get fun little exchanges like this (translated from Kiswahili):

Random Konda: “Hing-hong hwei-hwong!”

Me: “[English] And an ‘ooga-booga’ to you, too. [Kiswahili] What do you want?”

RK: “I want 1000 shillings.”

Me: “No.”

RK: “Give me 1000 shillings, now!”

Me: “No. Don’t ask me for money.”

RK: “C***!”

So yeah, being special is nice, but there are certain things that come with specialness that can really get you down after a while.

In closing, I wouldn’t say that I’ve hit the doldrums of my service, but I’m definitely WAY past the honeymoon period. In no way am I saying that Tanzanians are a bad people or that Tanzania is a bad country; quite the contrary, Tanzania is a beautiful, peaceful place, and I feel incredibly lucky that I was selected to volunteer here. It’s just that I’m human, and, in time, my fuse has shortened regarding some of the less-auspicious aspects of living in this country: one day, I’m doing a practical with my students and we’re getting solid data, the other, I’m inquiring my local Tanesco officer as to how his organization can possibly “suck so bad at everything.” The Peace Corps experience goes both ways, and, in the end, it’s all about what you’ve gained as a person and how you’ve helped others, not about what trivial inconveniences tended to ruin your day.

And now that I'm done ruminating, it's time to get back to work.