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