Tut Tut, Looks Like Rain

Waking up to pull a sheet over myself is not something I have needed to do very often since arriving in Tanzania. Even as someone who enjoys sleeping under blankets, I have grown accustomed to going to bed with the bare minimum and still waking up slightly warm. Recently however, I have found myself reaching for that sheet during the night with increasing frequency. This is not to say that things are getting cold here. No, no, no, I would never say that the weather is cold. But in the past week or two, in the wee morning hours just before sunrise, the temperature has dropped to what I might call a bit…chilly. This, along with random downpours of rain, is how one recognizes that winter has begun in Tanzania.

Along with the new season this week has brought with it something that resembles order at FANAKA, at least as much order as existed in the weeks prior to midterm examinations. Classes are back on schedule and it appears as though most of the students who had issues with school fees have dealt with this issue and are back at school. It is a bit of a shock after the virtual anarchy of last week how easily everyone has fallen back into his or her old routines, but I suppose it should not be. In fact the routine is not quite the same, as the thunderous sounds from a torrential downpour do occasionally interrupt classes. Now when I say thunderous sounds I am not speaking literally of thunder, although this does accompany the rain once in a while. No, I am in fact referring to the sound the rain makes on the tin roofs of the school buildings. On more than one occasion this past week I have had to stop teaching for a few minutes to wait-out a particularly strong (and therefore loud) bit of rain. But for the most part, we are back on our daily routine of old. The return of routine has, for us, meant the return of lesson planning and an increase of the time we spend at FANAKA after our lunch break. At these times we may help students with studying if they wish it, but most often it means being able to spend some more quality time with the students. Sometimes we may get to partake in their games, but most of the time we are fortunate enough to just sit and talk with them awhile, learn more about them, and teach them more about us.

This past week has also been busy trying to move along some of the TEP projects I mentioned in last week’s blog. The first steps in Raising a Future (the chicken coup project) are underway. Several of the boys who work at Babu’s house managed to clear out the large chicken coup on the property Wednesday afternoon. Today they are cleaning and disinfecting the interior and laying down sawdust to prepare for the chickens we will be purchasing in the next week or two.

Eileen has been extremely busy this week trying to gather up information regarding the finances of the FANAKA stationary that TEP began last year. Unfortunately, FANAKA’s first stationary manager, Jonathan, took up a teaching post with the government schools and was therefore relocated to a town about 10 hours South of Bunju. Due to his reassignment, he has understandably not been able to manage the stationary, and so this job has fallen upon the shoulders of people closer to home. While the loss of Jonathan as stationary manager is unfortunate, the biggest problem with this has been that the financial records of the stationary have not been kept together. Locating and copying the various records of expenses, purchases and sales of the stationary have been keeping Eileen busy most of this week, but with a bit more time we will have complete, accurate records of how much money the stationary is bringing in to FANAKA each month.

Eileen and I have also spent a bit of time discussing the garden project with Babu. Currently we have scouted out the FANAKA property and have a preliminary decision of where we want the garden to be located at school. We have also discussed some of the possibilities for what will be grown in the garden. As it is our goal to have the garden eventually be under the care of FANAKA’s boarding students, it is important that we choose to cultivate crops that are nutritious, but also that these crops are not overly delicate, so they will still thrive under the care of the students. The goal of the garden project will be to supply the boarding students with healthy food that does not need to be purchased at FANAKA’s expense. With the implementation of the water-catch-system water should not be an expense for the garden, making start up fees the only significant cost of the project.

I am sorry to end this blog on a negative note, but I must bring to your attention that I am also the barer of some sad news. Earlier this week, Alan, the bursar of FANAKA, suffered a personal loss with the death of his father. As expected, this has meant that Alan has been absent from school this week while he has been dealing with his loss and arranging the wake and funeral processes. Eileen and I stopped at Alan’s home on Wednesday afternoon to pay our respects to him and his family, and to represent everyone affiliated with TEP. Alan is a dear man and friend the Kahatano family, FANAKA, and TEP, so please keep him in your thoughts this week.

It seems as though that is all I have to report. Thanks for reading up and I hope you all have a wonderful week and watch out for those cloudbursts back home! After all, April showers and all that jazz….

Love,
Kristina