Dearest TEP donors, volunteers, and friends,
Eileen here once again, reporting to you during the middle of a lovely break from classes. As we have told you, last week brought us many days of stress with monitoring the examination process. I’m sure, however, that our stress was little compared with how the students must have felt preparing for their exams. There were last-minute problems with copying and having the correct exam ready on the correct day, but these were all solved at some point and the whole process went off (relatively speaking) without a hitch.
During my last trip to Tanzania, I was very focused on volunteer work and had not budgeted myself any extra money to do “touristy” things in Tanzania. On the first go around, I thought this was a plus, and there was a certain amount of patting myself on the back thinking I was a “real” volunteer and not just in Tanzania to see the sights and build my resume. However, thanks to my students and director Cassie, I came to realize that Tanzanians, despite lacking the means to visit their own country’s most beautiful sights, are very proud of their homeland, and expect that visitors from other countries will do typical tourist things. Additionally, aside from the cement industry, tourism really is the only other major industry in Tanzania. By patronizing TANZANIAN-RUN tourist companies and facilities, a visitor is doing a lot to support the economy (I emphasize “Tanzanian-run” because many companies come from other countries and simply exploit the resources here and funnel the profits back to the US, er, other countries).
In this spirit, and in light of having a break from our teaching responsibilities for a few days, Kristina and I decided to visit the island of Zanzibar for a short holiday. This was a wonderful trip and Zanzibar is a beautiful place. Though a part of Tanzania, in many ways it is drastically different from mainland Tanzania. And though I enjoyed the trip, I really do not like feeling like a tourist, and I was glad to be home yesterday.
However, now that we’ve taken a bit of a break, its time to get back to work. We have a lot we will be doing in this coming week, so look forward to a more extensive blog update next week. This week, we will be writing up assessments of the projects we implemented last year (ELA Nursery, Olof Secondary School and Orphanage, Hope & Joy Primary School, and Fanaka Memorial Secondary School libraries, Fanaka Stationary shop, etc), as well as writing assessments and proposals for upcoming projects. These will include the Hydrate 2 Educate (H2E) Water Project, Raising a Future the chicken coop project, and the Garden-lunch program. We’ve had the luck to observe a sort of “experimental” version of the chicken coop project, so we will be able to assess the pros and cons of such an investment, as well as investigate what executing such a project would entail.
In addition to these project assessments, we will also be trying to make some decisions on finding a librarian for Fanaka’s library as we have an extremely generous donation to cover a portion of his/her salary. Right now our colleague Mwende (who assisted us in the building of libraries) is running a book lending system for the textbooks at Fanaka, but currently there is no reliable system for students wishing to borrow fiction or nonfiction books for pleasure. Mwende is doing an excellent job, but as of now, he is untrained in library science. He is interested in attending a Librarian’s College in nearby Bagamoyo, but if he decides to do so (which would be good for Fanaka in the long run), then we would have to find a librarian to supervise the library in the interim.
I’m sure that many of you are also interested to hear about the progress in finding a primary boarding school for Father. Father’s mother, Ana, has heard of a few schools that she is interested in, and while we are at the internet today, I will be researching some of these schools and try to visit a few during our break. I want to find the best possible school for Father, one that is a boarding school with an excellent reputation and in good standing in the community. It is also vital that there be a teacher or an administrator at the school whom the TEP can trust as a reliable contact, to keep us updated on Father’s progress as a student. Currently, though he has just recovered from a nasty bout of malaria, Father is in the top of his class, despite how large the classes are. He remains an affable and utterly brilliant child, and it astounds (and frankly, disturbs me a little) me how happy I am when in his company.
Side note to my family: Don’t worry about my affection for Father, it in no way makes me want to reproduce any time soon; it merely makes me weigh the problems an international kidnapping may stir up. JOKE.
Well, friends, we’ve got a busy week ahead of us and I had better get to work. I hope all is well in your respective homelands, and you are bearing the grim early-spring weather well. I can’t say I envy you the crappy late March/early April slush and sleet. I’ll stick to palm trees and a constant mustache of sweat droplets, thank YOU.
As always, may the Force be with you.
Love,
Eileen
Thursday, March 31
Friday, March 25
Phase One Complete!
Hi again, to all of our TEP followers, friends and families!
As we approach the end of the first half of my Tanzanian experience, I am extremely happy to report that Phase One (as Babu calls it) of Hydrate to Educate is complete! What “Phase One” means is that FANAKA is now fully equipped with rain gutters and water-holding tanks on various buildings on the grounds. The dinning hall, one of the girls’ dormitories, and the boys’ dormitory are able to gather and store rain water. This capability will provide FANAKA students with water for drinking, cooking, and bathing both during the rainy season, and for about four months after the rains end. Ideally, TEP’s goal is to provide water for FANAKA for the entire year, although this goal is still a bit futuristic. Until then, the completion of Phase One allows us to begin to collect water while we work out the financial details to get Phase Two underway (Phase Two of Hydrate to Educate will be to equip at least one of the classroom buildings with gutters and another large storage tank to extend the rain water for a few more months). As though some external observer was pleased watching our progress, the past few days (after Phase One was completed) have experienced rain and thunderstorms, and the beginning of filling the water tanks! Just Wednesday morning I was awoken by the crash of thunder and the pounding of rain on our tin roof and couldn’t help but smile at the idea that this rain was flowing through the gutters at school. Of course that is not the only benefit of the rain.
As may have been mentioned last week, midterm examinations began at school on Friday and go throughout this entire week. What this means is that for up to three hours each morning and three hours each afternoon, all of FANAKA’s students are seated together, in the dinning hall, taking their exams-picture the O.W.L. exams in Harry Potter 5. There are both advantages and disadvantages to this process. The main idea behind such a strategy is to spread out students in the same form to discourage laziness and cheating, and allow teachers to “persuade” one another in administering the examination process. It may be surprising to some people that we have issues with cheating at FANAKA. I realized this after talking to my family on Sunday and my brother expressing his thought that my students probably won’t cheat on their midterms, and I think this could be a common assumption back home. It is easy to imagine that these African students, who have faced far greater challenges than I ever have, would value their educational opportunities much more than their counterparts in developed nations like the United States. I’m sorry to say, that I am here to burst that bubble. While it is true that some of our students are extremely hard working and do put a great value on their educations, the full truth is that we teach teenagers, and if my experiences these last five weeks have taught me anything, it is that teenagers are teenagers no matter where you are. This is not a knock to my brother, or to the many others who no doubt believed similarly. If not for this experience I am sure I would have the same thought, because the only experience I have had with international students was at University where they always seemed very serious and dedicated. But if you think about that, you must admit that university students are, as a whole, more serious than high school students, and if an international student is in the United States for school, he/she has already proven him/herself to be above and beyond the majority in terms of dedication and hard work. Therefore these students cannot be compared fairly and we must look at my students in a different light.
So looking at them without these previous conceptions, as I said, some work very hard and value the opportunities their education can bring. However, there are just as many students who are not in the least bit interested in school and just want to get through it with the minimal effort possible, as well as the majority of students existing in some infinite middle ground. While these students likely know what their life would entail without a decent secondary education, you still cannot impress upon them that studying for midterms is more important than the high-jump-like contest that is currently going on outside the boys’ dormitory (which is where most of my boy students were this afternoon instead of being inside studying for tomorrow’s midterms!). But in the end, they all want to do well; this makes cheating sort of an inevitable part of the examination process for some students, meaning that Eileen and I (at times joined by the other teachers) are spending the majority of our school time this week walking up and down aisles between desks, keeping an eye on students and handing out extra paper for answer sheets. The extreme excitement this brings typically results in me occupying myself with thoughts of the lunch I will be eating after school, which in turn makes the last hour or so of the afternoon drag on at an exhaustingly slow pass increasing that oh-so-pleasant personality shift I can get when hunger strikes. With the completion of examination week so close at hand, I am increasingly looking forward to our next week off of school (four days of which Eileen and I will be traipsing around Zanzibar for a little holiday!) as well as when we return from break and I will be able to occupy my days with classes, lesson plans, and hollering at students to “get back in class! “ Until our next update, enjoy that seasonal shift back home, and hope for some rain for FANAKA!
As we approach the end of the first half of my Tanzanian experience, I am extremely happy to report that Phase One (as Babu calls it) of Hydrate to Educate is complete! What “Phase One” means is that FANAKA is now fully equipped with rain gutters and water-holding tanks on various buildings on the grounds. The dinning hall, one of the girls’ dormitories, and the boys’ dormitory are able to gather and store rain water. This capability will provide FANAKA students with water for drinking, cooking, and bathing both during the rainy season, and for about four months after the rains end. Ideally, TEP’s goal is to provide water for FANAKA for the entire year, although this goal is still a bit futuristic. Until then, the completion of Phase One allows us to begin to collect water while we work out the financial details to get Phase Two underway (Phase Two of Hydrate to Educate will be to equip at least one of the classroom buildings with gutters and another large storage tank to extend the rain water for a few more months). As though some external observer was pleased watching our progress, the past few days (after Phase One was completed) have experienced rain and thunderstorms, and the beginning of filling the water tanks! Just Wednesday morning I was awoken by the crash of thunder and the pounding of rain on our tin roof and couldn’t help but smile at the idea that this rain was flowing through the gutters at school. Of course that is not the only benefit of the rain.
As may have been mentioned last week, midterm examinations began at school on Friday and go throughout this entire week. What this means is that for up to three hours each morning and three hours each afternoon, all of FANAKA’s students are seated together, in the dinning hall, taking their exams-picture the O.W.L. exams in Harry Potter 5. There are both advantages and disadvantages to this process. The main idea behind such a strategy is to spread out students in the same form to discourage laziness and cheating, and allow teachers to “persuade” one another in administering the examination process. It may be surprising to some people that we have issues with cheating at FANAKA. I realized this after talking to my family on Sunday and my brother expressing his thought that my students probably won’t cheat on their midterms, and I think this could be a common assumption back home. It is easy to imagine that these African students, who have faced far greater challenges than I ever have, would value their educational opportunities much more than their counterparts in developed nations like the United States. I’m sorry to say, that I am here to burst that bubble. While it is true that some of our students are extremely hard working and do put a great value on their educations, the full truth is that we teach teenagers, and if my experiences these last five weeks have taught me anything, it is that teenagers are teenagers no matter where you are. This is not a knock to my brother, or to the many others who no doubt believed similarly. If not for this experience I am sure I would have the same thought, because the only experience I have had with international students was at University where they always seemed very serious and dedicated. But if you think about that, you must admit that university students are, as a whole, more serious than high school students, and if an international student is in the United States for school, he/she has already proven him/herself to be above and beyond the majority in terms of dedication and hard work. Therefore these students cannot be compared fairly and we must look at my students in a different light.
So looking at them without these previous conceptions, as I said, some work very hard and value the opportunities their education can bring. However, there are just as many students who are not in the least bit interested in school and just want to get through it with the minimal effort possible, as well as the majority of students existing in some infinite middle ground. While these students likely know what their life would entail without a decent secondary education, you still cannot impress upon them that studying for midterms is more important than the high-jump-like contest that is currently going on outside the boys’ dormitory (which is where most of my boy students were this afternoon instead of being inside studying for tomorrow’s midterms!). But in the end, they all want to do well; this makes cheating sort of an inevitable part of the examination process for some students, meaning that Eileen and I (at times joined by the other teachers) are spending the majority of our school time this week walking up and down aisles between desks, keeping an eye on students and handing out extra paper for answer sheets. The extreme excitement this brings typically results in me occupying myself with thoughts of the lunch I will be eating after school, which in turn makes the last hour or so of the afternoon drag on at an exhaustingly slow pass increasing that oh-so-pleasant personality shift I can get when hunger strikes. With the completion of examination week so close at hand, I am increasingly looking forward to our next week off of school (four days of which Eileen and I will be traipsing around Zanzibar for a little holiday!) as well as when we return from break and I will be able to occupy my days with classes, lesson plans, and hollering at students to “get back in class! “ Until our next update, enjoy that seasonal shift back home, and hope for some rain for FANAKA!
Thursday, March 24
Understanding
Note from Cassie:
Eileen posted this updated for her friends and family aside from the updates she has provided for TEP. As an organization we focus so much on given our donors proof that we are doing our best to make their money and efforts go as far as possible. We shower you with budget progress, project details and facts to illustrate our dedication in action. However, this is also important to share with you because this is Tanzania and these are the people we are helping. Bringing to light our cultural differences provides a necessary prospective in order to understand our role as a people who can help. Although many of their struggles are no different than those in our own nation, being honest about their poverty and overall heartbreaking situations reminds us why the fight is worth while.
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Salutations!
Dearest friends and family, its from soggy Bunju A, Tanzania that I greet you once more. Its only just struck me that I have given you virtually no report of the weather since I have been here, other than to say that I am in the tropics, you are not, ha ha-ha ha. However, I know that as Midwesterners, this is probably your top concern, along with, “what do you eat there?”. I watch the weather report every evening when Babu has the news on tv, but of course the temperature is always given in degrees Celsius, and since this is a simple and uncomplicated way of measuring, much like the metric system, and used by most of the world, then of course as an American I have no use for it. I simply say “Oh, 34 degrees, that can’t be too warm”, make a sort of unintelligible “der de-der der” sound in my head and go on with the day, not noticing the heat because “34” is, relative to Fahrenheit, a low number.
However, conveniently enough for someone as lazy as I and ignorant of conversions, there is a large poster of a thermometer in our lab at Fanaka. When I knew the temperature to be close to 37 degrees Celsius that day, I happened to glance at the elementary school thermometer hanging in the lab. As it turns out, 37 degrees Celsius is close to 100 degrees Fahrenheit. This explains, perhaps, why I have been so sweaty. Huh.
Anyhow, I remain unperturbed by the muggy temperature. The conditions are only aggravated by the previous nights rainfall, which causes the mud (usually dirt) roads to congeal and turn into a sauna. (Rainfall is good though! We have completed Phase One of our Hydrate 2 Educate project and now have tanks hooked up to three of the school buildings! Check out all the details at www.tzeducationproject.blogspot.com) The main difference with this sauna, though, and maybe your average YMCA sauna, is that this one is scented with eau d’cow, goat, chicken, unwashed human, and miscellaneous rubbish. This is truly a thrill for the senses, and will never quite be able to be properly conveyed to the typical reader unless you have experiences with developing nations or farms. The more urban areas, like Dar es Salaam, smell much the same, except less cow and more unwashed human.
I do not mean to sound flippant about the poverty that runs rampant here. But as my director, Cassie (founder of the TEP, if you recall), has wisely told me: “If you can’t laugh about some of these things, what else can you do?” Sometimes the best way to really accept the horrible things in Tanzania is to realize how silly some things are, otherwise you’d be reeling from the despair of it all. It is hilarious to see a child strutting proudly with an indignant chicken under its arm, the chicken screeching wildly and nearly half the size of the child. Of course, chickens are filthy and that kid will later make a toy out of a disposed plastic bottle and roll in the dirt making shapes much the way children in the US make snow angels, but its still a kid and kids everywhere get dirty. I can’t save all of the kids here; I can’t afford to put them all into nice schools, to give them clothes that fit from year to year- or even from month to month. Working with a project like the Tanzanian Education Project means that we want to stretch a dollar as far as possible, in a way that will help the most people possible. This means that I can’t choose one child, no matter how dear to me, and bestow upon him and her gifts and chances that I can’t offer to the hundreds of other children around me. Its tragic. But giving all my money to just one child will only make me feel good; it won’t help a developing nation. It is a band-aid, not an immunization (or some other such health analogy... you all know I can’t science!). So here’s to laughing at the kids who make toys of sticks, empty tubs, dirt and chickens. Because, relatively speaking, it is hilarious. In the global theatre where Tanzania is the second-poorest nation in the world, it really is tragic; cars made of bottles and caps being pulled on a string by a naked kid with a potbelly means that families don’t have enough money for clothing or food, let alone medication for when that child gets malaria. In the meantime, though, we do what we can, and laugh when that kid comes tearing around the corner once more, thrilled by the sound of its own voice, and bellowing at the top of its lungs.
Well, that’s enough touchy feely crap for one day. My appeal as a volunteer, is, I think, largely due to the fact that I try to stay away from sugar-coating the conditions here and stick to practical situations coated only with sarcasm. Its important to remember though, that even as a volunteer in a developing nation, I am still somewhat sheltered by my family here. True, our neighbors across the road and a few houses down live in mud-brick huts or shacks made of clapboard, but the fact of the matter is that I don’t live there, and I don’t know what that’s like. I can see the poverty, but because of being blessed to be part of a middle class American family, I will most likely never have to experience it, and never have to experience poverty to that degree. I will be sheltered and cushioned by my family, by social institutions, able to receive healthcare, loans and assistance. I have it easy, and most likely always will. I say this not with self-assurance, nor with any sort of pompousness, but to caution those who think they know what its like for people here. Please sympathize, and lend your aid, because the folks in Bunju A deserve help, as does Tanzania. But even I cannot know what it is like to have no end in sight, no certainty about what tomorrow will bring for me when I am middle-aged, elderly or sick.
So the word of the day, friends, is 'understand'. Understand that things are difficult here, understand that you and I have no frame of reference, and understand that understanding these things is the only thing that will get us anywhere.
Eileen posted this updated for her friends and family aside from the updates she has provided for TEP. As an organization we focus so much on given our donors proof that we are doing our best to make their money and efforts go as far as possible. We shower you with budget progress, project details and facts to illustrate our dedication in action. However, this is also important to share with you because this is Tanzania and these are the people we are helping. Bringing to light our cultural differences provides a necessary prospective in order to understand our role as a people who can help. Although many of their struggles are no different than those in our own nation, being honest about their poverty and overall heartbreaking situations reminds us why the fight is worth while.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Salutations!
Dearest friends and family, its from soggy Bunju A, Tanzania that I greet you once more. Its only just struck me that I have given you virtually no report of the weather since I have been here, other than to say that I am in the tropics, you are not, ha ha-ha ha. However, I know that as Midwesterners, this is probably your top concern, along with, “what do you eat there?”. I watch the weather report every evening when Babu has the news on tv, but of course the temperature is always given in degrees Celsius, and since this is a simple and uncomplicated way of measuring, much like the metric system, and used by most of the world, then of course as an American I have no use for it. I simply say “Oh, 34 degrees, that can’t be too warm”, make a sort of unintelligible “der de-der der” sound in my head and go on with the day, not noticing the heat because “34” is, relative to Fahrenheit, a low number.
However, conveniently enough for someone as lazy as I and ignorant of conversions, there is a large poster of a thermometer in our lab at Fanaka. When I knew the temperature to be close to 37 degrees Celsius that day, I happened to glance at the elementary school thermometer hanging in the lab. As it turns out, 37 degrees Celsius is close to 100 degrees Fahrenheit. This explains, perhaps, why I have been so sweaty. Huh.
Anyhow, I remain unperturbed by the muggy temperature. The conditions are only aggravated by the previous nights rainfall, which causes the mud (usually dirt) roads to congeal and turn into a sauna. (Rainfall is good though! We have completed Phase One of our Hydrate 2 Educate project and now have tanks hooked up to three of the school buildings! Check out all the details at www.tzeducationproject.blogspot.com) The main difference with this sauna, though, and maybe your average YMCA sauna, is that this one is scented with eau d’cow, goat, chicken, unwashed human, and miscellaneous rubbish. This is truly a thrill for the senses, and will never quite be able to be properly conveyed to the typical reader unless you have experiences with developing nations or farms. The more urban areas, like Dar es Salaam, smell much the same, except less cow and more unwashed human.
I do not mean to sound flippant about the poverty that runs rampant here. But as my director, Cassie (founder of the TEP, if you recall), has wisely told me: “If you can’t laugh about some of these things, what else can you do?” Sometimes the best way to really accept the horrible things in Tanzania is to realize how silly some things are, otherwise you’d be reeling from the despair of it all. It is hilarious to see a child strutting proudly with an indignant chicken under its arm, the chicken screeching wildly and nearly half the size of the child. Of course, chickens are filthy and that kid will later make a toy out of a disposed plastic bottle and roll in the dirt making shapes much the way children in the US make snow angels, but its still a kid and kids everywhere get dirty. I can’t save all of the kids here; I can’t afford to put them all into nice schools, to give them clothes that fit from year to year- or even from month to month. Working with a project like the Tanzanian Education Project means that we want to stretch a dollar as far as possible, in a way that will help the most people possible. This means that I can’t choose one child, no matter how dear to me, and bestow upon him and her gifts and chances that I can’t offer to the hundreds of other children around me. Its tragic. But giving all my money to just one child will only make me feel good; it won’t help a developing nation. It is a band-aid, not an immunization (or some other such health analogy... you all know I can’t science!). So here’s to laughing at the kids who make toys of sticks, empty tubs, dirt and chickens. Because, relatively speaking, it is hilarious. In the global theatre where Tanzania is the second-poorest nation in the world, it really is tragic; cars made of bottles and caps being pulled on a string by a naked kid with a potbelly means that families don’t have enough money for clothing or food, let alone medication for when that child gets malaria. In the meantime, though, we do what we can, and laugh when that kid comes tearing around the corner once more, thrilled by the sound of its own voice, and bellowing at the top of its lungs.
Well, that’s enough touchy feely crap for one day. My appeal as a volunteer, is, I think, largely due to the fact that I try to stay away from sugar-coating the conditions here and stick to practical situations coated only with sarcasm. Its important to remember though, that even as a volunteer in a developing nation, I am still somewhat sheltered by my family here. True, our neighbors across the road and a few houses down live in mud-brick huts or shacks made of clapboard, but the fact of the matter is that I don’t live there, and I don’t know what that’s like. I can see the poverty, but because of being blessed to be part of a middle class American family, I will most likely never have to experience it, and never have to experience poverty to that degree. I will be sheltered and cushioned by my family, by social institutions, able to receive healthcare, loans and assistance. I have it easy, and most likely always will. I say this not with self-assurance, nor with any sort of pompousness, but to caution those who think they know what its like for people here. Please sympathize, and lend your aid, because the folks in Bunju A deserve help, as does Tanzania. But even I cannot know what it is like to have no end in sight, no certainty about what tomorrow will bring for me when I am middle-aged, elderly or sick.
So the word of the day, friends, is 'understand'. Understand that things are difficult here, understand that you and I have no frame of reference, and understand that understanding these things is the only thing that will get us anywhere.
Monday, March 21
Sunburns and Sickness
Greetings, friends!
I write to you this week from our very own Fanaka Memorial Stationary Shop. My good friend Mwende (librarian extraordinaire) and I are slaving away over the heat of the copier to prepare for midterm examinations next week. Kristina and I have been typing away for the past few days, and we are almost finished with all 50-something exams. (Four forms, each with about nine or so subjects). We are hoping to finish with the copying process by this weekend, and then examinations will take place all through next week.
The process has been a bit slow-going due to nationwide blackouts that have been happening for the past month or so. The Tanzanian electrical supply company (Tanesco), had a contract with a group called Dowans, which was run by a Bahrainian (I think) company. Dowans recently pulled out of the contract, saying that Tanesco still owed money to the electrical supplier. As a result of these issues, as well as a shortage of water (which limits hydroelectric power), has led to nationwide blackouts every day or so. This is incredibly convenient for pretty much everyone. (Please pick up on my sarcasm).
Other than typing exams, I have been struggling through the days as a result of my own bullheaded stupidity. Last Saturday, Kristina and I took a day off and I took her to the beach for the afternoon. We went to a nice resort to sit in the sun and watch the ocean for a bit. However, being of sound mind and incredible wisdom, I did not appropriately or thoroughly apply sunscreen because, as I so sagely put it “well, uhhhhh, I didn’t get burned last year”. Needless to say, blinded by my own folly, I got scorched, to say the least. To say that the 2nd-degree burns which appeared on my knee and in convenient patches on my shoulders would make a leper feel sympathetic is to put it lightly. I’ve always been a Michael Jackson fan, but I think this time I’ve taken it a bit too far this time. In addition to this, for the past week I have also been plagued with some sort of intestinal issue which smacks eerily of dysentery.
However, I am feeling much better today, and have even been able to venture more than twenty feet of the toilet without feeling too concerned! (Forgive the gross details, but hey, I’m in Africa. These things happen.) The good news is that I don’t have malaria (again) which was my first concern. Babu says that maybe I should only drink water from bottles instead of the water we have at the house. Its the local water, and its been boiled, but there is still a smack of charcoal about it that I can’t seem to get used to. Babu supposes that perhaps even the boiled water is disturbing my insides. Don’t worry though, mother, if it doesn’t improve by tomorrow I will be visiting the hospital. No worries.
In addition to the frenetic activity of trying to collect, interpret, type and copy exams, we have also had the excitement of having Baby Heri, Eve and Billo staying at the house this week. This is enjoyable, and as I’m sure my family will be glad to hear, incredible birth control. Eve and Heri stayed in our room for a night, and I can say that although I am an excellent surrogate mother and have no problem soothing irritable infants, I enjoy having at least eight hours of sleep at night, where the only interruption is the beeping of the solar power and the occasional fight among the guard dogs outside (this consists of an alarming amount of yipping, snarling, biting, and some weird version of screaming). However, its fun to play with Heri and its nice to see Eve and Billo so often.
Along with the excitement of having an infant in the house, Babu commanded that we celebrate baby Heri by slaughtering some goats! This was a big to-do at home on Monday, and all of the men who work at the house somehow showed up, and there was much laughter and talking as the knives made quick work of the kids (get it, goats? Ha. Ha. Morbid, right?). As it turns out, “Goats Head Soup” is not something created by the Rolling Stones, but in fact by a shirtless man and a machete. I know my observations may make this whole celebration sound a bit gruesome and barbaric, but it was indeed a family celebration, it was fun, and gol-durn-it if those goats weren’t delicious!
As far as our current project, Hydrate 2 Educate, we are steaming along rather well. The cement tank behind the dining hall is now fully functional and covered. Now, as Babu says, “Let the rains come!”
Last week we were delivered two new black plastic tanks; one will be placed near the girls’ dormitory and the other will go to the boys’ dormitory. The gutters around the girls’ dormitory are now completed and our faithful carpenter Fabian has begun working on the gutters to surround the boys’ dormitory. We had a bit of rain last night, but nothing substantial so far. This past week, Babu has had to have water brought from town twice because there was no water at the house or at the school which is extremely expensive.
We are still having some substantial issues with discipline at Fanaka. Of course the students are always rowdy, but they’re teenagers, and it is unrealistic to expect them to conduct themselves like angelic scholars. However, this is what some of the teachers do expect, yet they do not seem to adhere to such principles themselves. They complain about the behavior of the students, and expect me to excuse their own erratic behavior. This is not altogether unusual human behavior, it is in fact, in my experience, quite normal for people to hold high expectations for others, only to make excuses for themselves. I did reach a bit of a breaking point yesterday, when I confronted a teacher about his methods of disciplining a student, and he proceeded to laugh in my face when I got angry. Later, he accused me of losing my temper and being “too emotional” and embarrassing him, only to seconds later ask me to excuse his behavior because he had lost his temper with the student. This is nothing new or unusual and normally, I let these things roll off my back, but after feeling sick up until yesterday, this argument took a lot out of me. Those who know me know that it is difficult to provoke me; I rarely get angry, confrontational, or even yell really. I dislike passive aggressiveness, but usually shy away from an argument. I’m pretty good at just letting things go. However, yesterday, when I knew myself to be in the right it became a very difficult situation for me.
That aside, things are still moving along pretty well. My sunburns are healing, and I am looking less leper-like (though strangely I am seem to bear more similarities with the average Dalmatian than human). So, wish us luck as we dive into exams tomorrow.
May the Force be with you.
Eileen
I write to you this week from our very own Fanaka Memorial Stationary Shop. My good friend Mwende (librarian extraordinaire) and I are slaving away over the heat of the copier to prepare for midterm examinations next week. Kristina and I have been typing away for the past few days, and we are almost finished with all 50-something exams. (Four forms, each with about nine or so subjects). We are hoping to finish with the copying process by this weekend, and then examinations will take place all through next week.
The process has been a bit slow-going due to nationwide blackouts that have been happening for the past month or so. The Tanzanian electrical supply company (Tanesco), had a contract with a group called Dowans, which was run by a Bahrainian (I think) company. Dowans recently pulled out of the contract, saying that Tanesco still owed money to the electrical supplier. As a result of these issues, as well as a shortage of water (which limits hydroelectric power), has led to nationwide blackouts every day or so. This is incredibly convenient for pretty much everyone. (Please pick up on my sarcasm).
Other than typing exams, I have been struggling through the days as a result of my own bullheaded stupidity. Last Saturday, Kristina and I took a day off and I took her to the beach for the afternoon. We went to a nice resort to sit in the sun and watch the ocean for a bit. However, being of sound mind and incredible wisdom, I did not appropriately or thoroughly apply sunscreen because, as I so sagely put it “well, uhhhhh, I didn’t get burned last year”. Needless to say, blinded by my own folly, I got scorched, to say the least. To say that the 2nd-degree burns which appeared on my knee and in convenient patches on my shoulders would make a leper feel sympathetic is to put it lightly. I’ve always been a Michael Jackson fan, but I think this time I’ve taken it a bit too far this time. In addition to this, for the past week I have also been plagued with some sort of intestinal issue which smacks eerily of dysentery.
However, I am feeling much better today, and have even been able to venture more than twenty feet of the toilet without feeling too concerned! (Forgive the gross details, but hey, I’m in Africa. These things happen.) The good news is that I don’t have malaria (again) which was my first concern. Babu says that maybe I should only drink water from bottles instead of the water we have at the house. Its the local water, and its been boiled, but there is still a smack of charcoal about it that I can’t seem to get used to. Babu supposes that perhaps even the boiled water is disturbing my insides. Don’t worry though, mother, if it doesn’t improve by tomorrow I will be visiting the hospital. No worries.
In addition to the frenetic activity of trying to collect, interpret, type and copy exams, we have also had the excitement of having Baby Heri, Eve and Billo staying at the house this week. This is enjoyable, and as I’m sure my family will be glad to hear, incredible birth control. Eve and Heri stayed in our room for a night, and I can say that although I am an excellent surrogate mother and have no problem soothing irritable infants, I enjoy having at least eight hours of sleep at night, where the only interruption is the beeping of the solar power and the occasional fight among the guard dogs outside (this consists of an alarming amount of yipping, snarling, biting, and some weird version of screaming). However, its fun to play with Heri and its nice to see Eve and Billo so often.
Along with the excitement of having an infant in the house, Babu commanded that we celebrate baby Heri by slaughtering some goats! This was a big to-do at home on Monday, and all of the men who work at the house somehow showed up, and there was much laughter and talking as the knives made quick work of the kids (get it, goats? Ha. Ha. Morbid, right?). As it turns out, “Goats Head Soup” is not something created by the Rolling Stones, but in fact by a shirtless man and a machete. I know my observations may make this whole celebration sound a bit gruesome and barbaric, but it was indeed a family celebration, it was fun, and gol-durn-it if those goats weren’t delicious!
As far as our current project, Hydrate 2 Educate, we are steaming along rather well. The cement tank behind the dining hall is now fully functional and covered. Now, as Babu says, “Let the rains come!”
Last week we were delivered two new black plastic tanks; one will be placed near the girls’ dormitory and the other will go to the boys’ dormitory. The gutters around the girls’ dormitory are now completed and our faithful carpenter Fabian has begun working on the gutters to surround the boys’ dormitory. We had a bit of rain last night, but nothing substantial so far. This past week, Babu has had to have water brought from town twice because there was no water at the house or at the school which is extremely expensive.
We are still having some substantial issues with discipline at Fanaka. Of course the students are always rowdy, but they’re teenagers, and it is unrealistic to expect them to conduct themselves like angelic scholars. However, this is what some of the teachers do expect, yet they do not seem to adhere to such principles themselves. They complain about the behavior of the students, and expect me to excuse their own erratic behavior. This is not altogether unusual human behavior, it is in fact, in my experience, quite normal for people to hold high expectations for others, only to make excuses for themselves. I did reach a bit of a breaking point yesterday, when I confronted a teacher about his methods of disciplining a student, and he proceeded to laugh in my face when I got angry. Later, he accused me of losing my temper and being “too emotional” and embarrassing him, only to seconds later ask me to excuse his behavior because he had lost his temper with the student. This is nothing new or unusual and normally, I let these things roll off my back, but after feeling sick up until yesterday, this argument took a lot out of me. Those who know me know that it is difficult to provoke me; I rarely get angry, confrontational, or even yell really. I dislike passive aggressiveness, but usually shy away from an argument. I’m pretty good at just letting things go. However, yesterday, when I knew myself to be in the right it became a very difficult situation for me.
That aside, things are still moving along pretty well. My sunburns are healing, and I am looking less leper-like (though strangely I am seem to bear more similarities with the average Dalmatian than human). So, wish us luck as we dive into exams tomorrow.
May the Force be with you.
Eileen
Wednesday, March 16
New addition to the family!
Hello to all of our wonderful family, friends, and TEP followers, Eileen and I have some extremely happy news to share with you. Last Saturday (March 5th) a new face joined the Kahatono family! Billo and Eve had a baby boy! Heri (pronounced like Harry) Baijuki Kahatano was born in the afternoon and weighed 3.3kg. While this was obviously a joyful occasion, it did have us quite worried for a few hours. After some time in labor, it was decided that Eve would need to undergo a C-section. What neither Eileen nor I realized (until Babu told us) is that C-sections are not the common, simple procedure that they typically are in the United States. In fact, one out of every two women who undergo this procedure in Tanzania die. Needless to say, once we heard this bit of information neither of us were so at ease, but thankfully the operation went off well and both Eve and the baby came through in full health! What is amazing is that because of this immersion lifestyle, I can (at times) forget that I am in a Third-World country. However there is no forgetting it when you are told that something like a C-section (which is generally safe in the U.S. today) kills 50% of the women who undergo it.
Due to the operation, we were not able to see Eve or the baby on Saturday when we went to the hospital with Babu. We were told that Heri was perfectly healthy, and we saw a glimpse of Eve as she was wheeled from the Operating Room into the recovery area (although she was very pale and appeared to be in a great deal of pain) but that was all. Billo asked that we come back on Sunday, which we did, along with Babu, Babu’s sister, Baba Policia and his wife May (both of whom I met that afternoon and are very nice people!) and we were all able to see Eve and Heri. I am extremely happy to report that both Eve and Heri looked very good and as the week as progressed there has been no evidence of complications. Babu’s sister (whom you may remember has been staying at our house in Bunju) was taken to stay with Billo and Eve to help them with the baby and help teach Eve how to be a new mom. This, I think, is an amazing thing that could be implemented more often in the United States. Both Eileen and I studied Women’s and Gender Studies at WSU, therefore giving us many opportunities to discuss women’s health in the United States and abroad, and while our medical care is so advanced in the United States, many new mothers have huge difficulties because they are often left alone with their new baby as soon as they return from the hospital. With recovering from something as physically strenuous as childbirth, plus the new additive of a BABY, I fully support this Tanzanian practice of caring for new mothers for a bit after a birth. This is a very common practice in other developing nations as well, and it believed by many people to reduce the effects of PPD, which is uncommonly high in developed countries like the US.
Yes, things are going very well in our family life here, but I cannot say the same has been true at school. New struggles (both in and out the classroom) are becoming evident to me with each passing day. As far as in the classroom goes, I am becoming much more attuned to what my students’ strengths and weaknesses are. While group work is becoming increasingly common in the United States, it seems as though it is still a very foreign concept in the Tanzanian school. Due to the limitation of books and supplies, I have, on several occasions, assigned the students to work in groups of two or three and share whatever is needed for the assignment. For example, there are only two Form One English books at school, so if I want them to practice English reading and comprehension, I must write out a passage for them on paper, and then use the blackboard to write out the related questions. To save time and paper (and because some students need the assistance of their classmates) I have had them do this in partners and I write out half the number of passages. The first time I did this, I was rewarded with 20 blank stares, as if I had asked them to write a 10-page essay on A Tale of Two Cites. After some confused babbling, they seemed to understand the point of the assignment, but still do not seem to grasp that they are to work together (verses them using the passage one at a time and doing the questions separately, or one person doing all of it and the other copying the work). But I plan to continue with this style for reading/comprehension and hope that they will continue to progress as term moves on.
It is also quite clear that their creative skills are not encouraged in class very often. As Form One students they will not be taking their national exams until the end of next year (at the conclusion of Form Two) I decided I might as well try to get them to learn English in a variety of ways, some of which will allow them to use more creative processes like art or plays. The other day I had them practice their speech by drawing pictures (using colors and paper I brought to class) of FANAKA and their families and then explaining them in English to the rest of the class. While this may sound familiar to those of us who took a language class in middle school or high school, it is clearly something these students have not had a lot of opportunity with. Creative skills are also lacking in the most fundamental areas like creating sentences. Many students struggle with this concept. However, it is not just the creative skills of the students that are lacking. It is at times like these that I realize my extreme limitations as an instructor. I would not categorize myself as a very creative person and I have not been formally trained as a teacher, but with the poor quality and extremely low quantity of supplies available creativity is an important aspect if you don’t want the students completely hate class. So as limited as my skills are, I am trying.
While these issues can be frustrating at times, they are nothing compared to the frustrations I am having outside of class with other teachers. It is very difficult, because I know the majority of teachers truly care about the students and FANAKA, there are some major issues. I can sum up the problems in one word: discipline. This concept applies to many areas, but first and foremost is most of the teachers lack self-discipline. Classes are forty minutes long, and teachers will wonder in 10-15 minutes after the period is supposed to begin, and at times they may not show up at all! When this happens, the students end up having a “free period” which often means they do nothing. It is a complete lack of respect for the students’ time as well as a lack of respect for FANAKA and it is VERY frustrating for me some days. Another discipline problem we are having is that many teachers do not believe in our discipline routine, so they do not follow it. This makes consistency with the students an impossibility, which is good for no one, and then the teachers wonder why the students don’t follow rules well. It is as though some of the teachers expect perfect discipline from the students (who are children) but do not believe they (the adults) need to set the example. Of course, when the teachers do try to follow the discipline routine, they are (at times) undermined by the administration, who will not uphold the punishments assigned to misbehaving students. This is understandably frustrating for the teachers, but still not an excuse to forego discipline all together. When Eileen and I tried to address these issues at a staff meeting last week, only four other teachers showed up and neither our Headmistress nor Second Headmaster showed up (even though it was mandatory).
The problem is that FANAKA has very few trained educators, and our Headmistress and Second Headmaster are both administrators and fulltime teachers (which is obviously problematic as both administration and teaching are full-time jobs on their own!). Also, we do not have the ability to force our current teachers to behave better because we do not have the money to hire better ones, so the current ones have near complete job security and little personal incentive to improve because we cannot pay them more if they do. It is easy to sit back as an outsider and say that as educators they should want to do better, should want the students to succeed, and should want FANAKA to succeed, but the reality of it is these teachers are scraping by the same as FANAKA is, and they are concerned about their own lives and the lives of their families. We all just need more support.
Although the negatives can be easy to dwell on, there are some definite improvements. As you may remember, last year Eileen, Cassie, and Teresa were able build a library out of the large number of books donated to TEP by our wonderful sponsors. I am happy to report that the library is being utilized quite well by students from all Forms! Many students can be found flipping through books during their free study periods. Eileen has also been able to utilize the library books a great deal with some of her Form Two and Three students. She will go through the shelves and pick out books she believes will compliment a specific students English reading ability and then have that student read them outside of class and discuss them with her. She has been able to have students read wonderful fiction books like Alice In Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz, The Giver, Fantastic Mr. Fox, and even Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone! I would love to do something like this with my students, however most of their English skills are not quite advanced enough at this point (maybe a little later in the semester though!).
I am also very happy to be getting to know the FANAKA students better as time passes on. Teaching only Form One made this a bit difficult at first because I only spent significant time during school with those 20 students (many of whom have less than advanced English skills which makes them less inclined to speak to me outside of class, plus the additional fact that they are the youngest group of students so most of them are quieter anyway) but they are finally coming along. I have also gotten to spend more time with the boarding students lately and played football with some of the boys Tuesday, and on Friday Eileen and I helped prepare the field for girls’ netball (sort of like basketball) and watched the girls play netball later that afternoon-although I don’t doubt that very soon I will be playing with them, as they tried to insist on it yesterday even though I didn’t know how the game is played!
The Hydrate to Educate project is also coming along wonderfully! The gutters on the assembly/dinning hall are up and operational, and the construction of our largest tank is complete! This means that we are fully able to begin collecting rainwater-which is wonderful since we got our first real cloudburst early this morning! We also ordered two additional water-storage tanks and these will be added to the boys’ and girls’ dormitories just as soon as the buildings are fit with gutters. This is currently underway on the girls’ dorm, and then after the gutters are installed there we will move onto the boys’ dorm, and then just wait for the rain. And the most unbelievable thing of all is that we are actually on budget!!! As far as a construction project goes, this would be amazing in any country! The progress of Hydrate to Educate is also allowing us to put more focus on the possibility of beginning the chicken coup project at FANAKA, which would obviously be wonderful to get started on.
So all in all, school is stressful, the family is good, and Tanzania is, well hot, but still beautiful as ever! It is a comfort to know that you are all back home supporting TEP and us, and so as always we thank you. Enjoy that snow Midwest, only a little while longer until you are in the warmth of summer yourselves! See you next week!
Due to the operation, we were not able to see Eve or the baby on Saturday when we went to the hospital with Babu. We were told that Heri was perfectly healthy, and we saw a glimpse of Eve as she was wheeled from the Operating Room into the recovery area (although she was very pale and appeared to be in a great deal of pain) but that was all. Billo asked that we come back on Sunday, which we did, along with Babu, Babu’s sister, Baba Policia and his wife May (both of whom I met that afternoon and are very nice people!) and we were all able to see Eve and Heri. I am extremely happy to report that both Eve and Heri looked very good and as the week as progressed there has been no evidence of complications. Babu’s sister (whom you may remember has been staying at our house in Bunju) was taken to stay with Billo and Eve to help them with the baby and help teach Eve how to be a new mom. This, I think, is an amazing thing that could be implemented more often in the United States. Both Eileen and I studied Women’s and Gender Studies at WSU, therefore giving us many opportunities to discuss women’s health in the United States and abroad, and while our medical care is so advanced in the United States, many new mothers have huge difficulties because they are often left alone with their new baby as soon as they return from the hospital. With recovering from something as physically strenuous as childbirth, plus the new additive of a BABY, I fully support this Tanzanian practice of caring for new mothers for a bit after a birth. This is a very common practice in other developing nations as well, and it believed by many people to reduce the effects of PPD, which is uncommonly high in developed countries like the US.
Yes, things are going very well in our family life here, but I cannot say the same has been true at school. New struggles (both in and out the classroom) are becoming evident to me with each passing day. As far as in the classroom goes, I am becoming much more attuned to what my students’ strengths and weaknesses are. While group work is becoming increasingly common in the United States, it seems as though it is still a very foreign concept in the Tanzanian school. Due to the limitation of books and supplies, I have, on several occasions, assigned the students to work in groups of two or three and share whatever is needed for the assignment. For example, there are only two Form One English books at school, so if I want them to practice English reading and comprehension, I must write out a passage for them on paper, and then use the blackboard to write out the related questions. To save time and paper (and because some students need the assistance of their classmates) I have had them do this in partners and I write out half the number of passages. The first time I did this, I was rewarded with 20 blank stares, as if I had asked them to write a 10-page essay on A Tale of Two Cites. After some confused babbling, they seemed to understand the point of the assignment, but still do not seem to grasp that they are to work together (verses them using the passage one at a time and doing the questions separately, or one person doing all of it and the other copying the work). But I plan to continue with this style for reading/comprehension and hope that they will continue to progress as term moves on.
It is also quite clear that their creative skills are not encouraged in class very often. As Form One students they will not be taking their national exams until the end of next year (at the conclusion of Form Two) I decided I might as well try to get them to learn English in a variety of ways, some of which will allow them to use more creative processes like art or plays. The other day I had them practice their speech by drawing pictures (using colors and paper I brought to class) of FANAKA and their families and then explaining them in English to the rest of the class. While this may sound familiar to those of us who took a language class in middle school or high school, it is clearly something these students have not had a lot of opportunity with. Creative skills are also lacking in the most fundamental areas like creating sentences. Many students struggle with this concept. However, it is not just the creative skills of the students that are lacking. It is at times like these that I realize my extreme limitations as an instructor. I would not categorize myself as a very creative person and I have not been formally trained as a teacher, but with the poor quality and extremely low quantity of supplies available creativity is an important aspect if you don’t want the students completely hate class. So as limited as my skills are, I am trying.
While these issues can be frustrating at times, they are nothing compared to the frustrations I am having outside of class with other teachers. It is very difficult, because I know the majority of teachers truly care about the students and FANAKA, there are some major issues. I can sum up the problems in one word: discipline. This concept applies to many areas, but first and foremost is most of the teachers lack self-discipline. Classes are forty minutes long, and teachers will wonder in 10-15 minutes after the period is supposed to begin, and at times they may not show up at all! When this happens, the students end up having a “free period” which often means they do nothing. It is a complete lack of respect for the students’ time as well as a lack of respect for FANAKA and it is VERY frustrating for me some days. Another discipline problem we are having is that many teachers do not believe in our discipline routine, so they do not follow it. This makes consistency with the students an impossibility, which is good for no one, and then the teachers wonder why the students don’t follow rules well. It is as though some of the teachers expect perfect discipline from the students (who are children) but do not believe they (the adults) need to set the example. Of course, when the teachers do try to follow the discipline routine, they are (at times) undermined by the administration, who will not uphold the punishments assigned to misbehaving students. This is understandably frustrating for the teachers, but still not an excuse to forego discipline all together. When Eileen and I tried to address these issues at a staff meeting last week, only four other teachers showed up and neither our Headmistress nor Second Headmaster showed up (even though it was mandatory).
The problem is that FANAKA has very few trained educators, and our Headmistress and Second Headmaster are both administrators and fulltime teachers (which is obviously problematic as both administration and teaching are full-time jobs on their own!). Also, we do not have the ability to force our current teachers to behave better because we do not have the money to hire better ones, so the current ones have near complete job security and little personal incentive to improve because we cannot pay them more if they do. It is easy to sit back as an outsider and say that as educators they should want to do better, should want the students to succeed, and should want FANAKA to succeed, but the reality of it is these teachers are scraping by the same as FANAKA is, and they are concerned about their own lives and the lives of their families. We all just need more support.
Although the negatives can be easy to dwell on, there are some definite improvements. As you may remember, last year Eileen, Cassie, and Teresa were able build a library out of the large number of books donated to TEP by our wonderful sponsors. I am happy to report that the library is being utilized quite well by students from all Forms! Many students can be found flipping through books during their free study periods. Eileen has also been able to utilize the library books a great deal with some of her Form Two and Three students. She will go through the shelves and pick out books she believes will compliment a specific students English reading ability and then have that student read them outside of class and discuss them with her. She has been able to have students read wonderful fiction books like Alice In Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz, The Giver, Fantastic Mr. Fox, and even Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone! I would love to do something like this with my students, however most of their English skills are not quite advanced enough at this point (maybe a little later in the semester though!).
I am also very happy to be getting to know the FANAKA students better as time passes on. Teaching only Form One made this a bit difficult at first because I only spent significant time during school with those 20 students (many of whom have less than advanced English skills which makes them less inclined to speak to me outside of class, plus the additional fact that they are the youngest group of students so most of them are quieter anyway) but they are finally coming along. I have also gotten to spend more time with the boarding students lately and played football with some of the boys Tuesday, and on Friday Eileen and I helped prepare the field for girls’ netball (sort of like basketball) and watched the girls play netball later that afternoon-although I don’t doubt that very soon I will be playing with them, as they tried to insist on it yesterday even though I didn’t know how the game is played!
The Hydrate to Educate project is also coming along wonderfully! The gutters on the assembly/dinning hall are up and operational, and the construction of our largest tank is complete! This means that we are fully able to begin collecting rainwater-which is wonderful since we got our first real cloudburst early this morning! We also ordered two additional water-storage tanks and these will be added to the boys’ and girls’ dormitories just as soon as the buildings are fit with gutters. This is currently underway on the girls’ dorm, and then after the gutters are installed there we will move onto the boys’ dorm, and then just wait for the rain. And the most unbelievable thing of all is that we are actually on budget!!! As far as a construction project goes, this would be amazing in any country! The progress of Hydrate to Educate is also allowing us to put more focus on the possibility of beginning the chicken coup project at FANAKA, which would obviously be wonderful to get started on.
So all in all, school is stressful, the family is good, and Tanzania is, well hot, but still beautiful as ever! It is a comfort to know that you are all back home supporting TEP and us, and so as always we thank you. Enjoy that snow Midwest, only a little while longer until you are in the warmth of summer yourselves! See you next week!
Thursday, March 3
Weddings and Water
Dear faithful TEP fans,
Its so nice to see you again (metaphorically)! Its been wonderful being back here in Bunju A, Tanzania, and I’m happy to be able to update you on our goings-on.
Last week, Fanaka had a football (soccer) match with Bunju A Secondary School. The boys looked especially smart in their shiny green Beaver Dam jerseys. They lost the match, but still did a fantastic job- there are some very talented football players at the school!
On Saturday, Kristina and I were invited to the wedding of the nephew of our Matron, Victoria. This was my first experience with a big Tanzanian celebration, and I had a wonderful time. The wedding was in town, and we attended with Babu, his sister (who has been staying with him since Bibi’s death), and Albert. Everyone dressed to the nines, and we proceeded into town. It was an exceedingly long drive in the middle of the afternoon, but we arrived at the church around 5:30, in the middle of the mass. The church’s walls were built almost like a lattice-work fence, with about 4-inch holes running the width and height of the building. We waited outside with many other people and watched the ceremony through the wall. It turned out the SEVEN couples were getting married on this day, so there were seven different types of bridesmaids and groomsmen, all in varied coordinating colors and outfits, milling about during the proceedings. Each time a different couple finished their vows, whooping and cheering went up from a different part of the church.
After the ceremony was over, we crowded around the church steps to wait for our wedding part to exit. As luck would have it, our couple was the last couple to exit the church, so we watched as each consecutive wedding party stalled on the front steps for pictures before spilling into the parking lot and making for various reception halls. Our wedding party finally made it out of the church, and Babu got directions from some relative (I swear, he is related to every other person within a 70-mile radius) to the reception hall.
We arrived at the reception hall and were greeted warmly, escorted to a table near the front and immediately served beverages. I would have felt uncomfortable, but Albert looked even more uncomfortable than I felt, so that made the pressure of being (probably) the tallest and (other than Kristina) the whitest person there a bit lessened. Eventually, the wedding party, bride and groom made their way into the hall, and the festivities began. There were many speeches and congratulations given, lots of music and spontaneous dancing, in which I was eventually goaded into participating. The food was fantastic, but of course after the heavy meal I immediately started dozing off. Soon after, we left and headed home. I slept soundly in the car, awakening only when the occasional truck blared its horn as it passed within centimeters at the speed of light, rattling and streaming dust off into the distance.
Our water project is moving along swimmingly. Last week, we finished cementing the big water tank behind the dining hall. Also, boards were attached under the overhang of the roof so that we can fasten the gutters to that timber. On Tuesday, I went with Babu and Albert to Karikoo (a part of Dar es Salaam where you can find almost anything at a low price... its like the Wal-Mart of Tanzania. Except there’s more garbage in the streets and you feel less ashamed about shopping there) to purchase the gutters for the dining hall. Yesterday, Fabian and the other laborers were able to start fastening the gutters to the dining hall. Today, we will be purchasing extra water tanks for the boys’ and girls’ dormitories and the piping to direct the water from the gutters to the big cement tank. Our hope is that we will be finished with the gutters, tanks and so forth for the dining hall by the middle of next week. If we have enough money, then we will also be able to start on the same project for the Form III and IV school building.
It will be good to get the majority of the buildings hooked up to tanks, as the rains are anticipated to begin in the next couple of weeks. I’m anxious to see how much water we collect with one rain, and how long that water will last. It will be interesting to try and gauge how much water we can store for use during the dry seasons.
Teaching at Fanaka is going well. Currently, I am teaching Form II and III English structure. I am getting to know the Form II students, as I did not teach them last year. However, I was very close with my Form II students last year, and its fun to be able to teach them again in Form III. Their class has grown, as we’ve had some new students come to Fanaka recently, so right now there are about 45 students in the class. Its a big class, but for the most part the students are well behaved. With the availability of our new library, I’ve also been trying to start reading programs with some of the more advanced English students in Form II and III. I’m trying to select books that they will understand and be able to identify with, as well as texts that will challenge them a little bit. I found a copy of “The Giver”, one of my favorite books, and I’m excited to see what the students think of it.
Recently, the electricity has been hit-or-miss around here; we spend most nights conversing under the glare of a solitary florescent bulb. There are some issues with Tanesco (Tanzania’s electrical company) and a large foreign company who used to supply the country with electricity. Until these issues are resolved, the electricity will probably continue to get shut off at random... and at some pretty inconvenient times. Oh well.
I think that’s all for now. Its nice to see you all again, here in the hypothetical space of the internet. I hope all is going well and you are enjoy crappy pre-spring weather while I bask in a continual 80-and-sunny climate. To my friends and family, I love you and miss you. Lots.
Cheerio, chums.
Eileen
Its so nice to see you again (metaphorically)! Its been wonderful being back here in Bunju A, Tanzania, and I’m happy to be able to update you on our goings-on.
Last week, Fanaka had a football (soccer) match with Bunju A Secondary School. The boys looked especially smart in their shiny green Beaver Dam jerseys. They lost the match, but still did a fantastic job- there are some very talented football players at the school!
On Saturday, Kristina and I were invited to the wedding of the nephew of our Matron, Victoria. This was my first experience with a big Tanzanian celebration, and I had a wonderful time. The wedding was in town, and we attended with Babu, his sister (who has been staying with him since Bibi’s death), and Albert. Everyone dressed to the nines, and we proceeded into town. It was an exceedingly long drive in the middle of the afternoon, but we arrived at the church around 5:30, in the middle of the mass. The church’s walls were built almost like a lattice-work fence, with about 4-inch holes running the width and height of the building. We waited outside with many other people and watched the ceremony through the wall. It turned out the SEVEN couples were getting married on this day, so there were seven different types of bridesmaids and groomsmen, all in varied coordinating colors and outfits, milling about during the proceedings. Each time a different couple finished their vows, whooping and cheering went up from a different part of the church.
After the ceremony was over, we crowded around the church steps to wait for our wedding part to exit. As luck would have it, our couple was the last couple to exit the church, so we watched as each consecutive wedding party stalled on the front steps for pictures before spilling into the parking lot and making for various reception halls. Our wedding party finally made it out of the church, and Babu got directions from some relative (I swear, he is related to every other person within a 70-mile radius) to the reception hall.
We arrived at the reception hall and were greeted warmly, escorted to a table near the front and immediately served beverages. I would have felt uncomfortable, but Albert looked even more uncomfortable than I felt, so that made the pressure of being (probably) the tallest and (other than Kristina) the whitest person there a bit lessened. Eventually, the wedding party, bride and groom made their way into the hall, and the festivities began. There were many speeches and congratulations given, lots of music and spontaneous dancing, in which I was eventually goaded into participating. The food was fantastic, but of course after the heavy meal I immediately started dozing off. Soon after, we left and headed home. I slept soundly in the car, awakening only when the occasional truck blared its horn as it passed within centimeters at the speed of light, rattling and streaming dust off into the distance.
Our water project is moving along swimmingly. Last week, we finished cementing the big water tank behind the dining hall. Also, boards were attached under the overhang of the roof so that we can fasten the gutters to that timber. On Tuesday, I went with Babu and Albert to Karikoo (a part of Dar es Salaam where you can find almost anything at a low price... its like the Wal-Mart of Tanzania. Except there’s more garbage in the streets and you feel less ashamed about shopping there) to purchase the gutters for the dining hall. Yesterday, Fabian and the other laborers were able to start fastening the gutters to the dining hall. Today, we will be purchasing extra water tanks for the boys’ and girls’ dormitories and the piping to direct the water from the gutters to the big cement tank. Our hope is that we will be finished with the gutters, tanks and so forth for the dining hall by the middle of next week. If we have enough money, then we will also be able to start on the same project for the Form III and IV school building.
It will be good to get the majority of the buildings hooked up to tanks, as the rains are anticipated to begin in the next couple of weeks. I’m anxious to see how much water we collect with one rain, and how long that water will last. It will be interesting to try and gauge how much water we can store for use during the dry seasons.
Teaching at Fanaka is going well. Currently, I am teaching Form II and III English structure. I am getting to know the Form II students, as I did not teach them last year. However, I was very close with my Form II students last year, and its fun to be able to teach them again in Form III. Their class has grown, as we’ve had some new students come to Fanaka recently, so right now there are about 45 students in the class. Its a big class, but for the most part the students are well behaved. With the availability of our new library, I’ve also been trying to start reading programs with some of the more advanced English students in Form II and III. I’m trying to select books that they will understand and be able to identify with, as well as texts that will challenge them a little bit. I found a copy of “The Giver”, one of my favorite books, and I’m excited to see what the students think of it.
Recently, the electricity has been hit-or-miss around here; we spend most nights conversing under the glare of a solitary florescent bulb. There are some issues with Tanesco (Tanzania’s electrical company) and a large foreign company who used to supply the country with electricity. Until these issues are resolved, the electricity will probably continue to get shut off at random... and at some pretty inconvenient times. Oh well.
I think that’s all for now. Its nice to see you all again, here in the hypothetical space of the internet. I hope all is going well and you are enjoy crappy pre-spring weather while I bask in a continual 80-and-sunny climate. To my friends and family, I love you and miss you. Lots.
Cheerio, chums.
Eileen
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