School May Be Out, But My Education Continues

Hello All! Yet another week has passed in my Tanzanian adventure and as far as school is concerned, this past week has been a bit on the slow side. In observance of the Easter holiday, Fanaka closed down for a small holiday beginning last Friday (Good Friday) and extending through Tuesday of this week. To many people it may seem that five days is a bit long, however in Tanzania, Easter Monday is viewed as a very important day in which one recuperates after the festivities of Easter Sunday, and when one accomplishes the work that was put off the day before (and yes this apparently includes the weekly church service as well). So, that is the point of Easter Monday. The fact that Tuesday was also a holiday was a mere coincidence. Union Day (in reference to the union of Zanzibar and Tanganyika, not labor unions) is a public holiday celebrated on the 25th of April, so it just happened to fall after the Easter holiday extending the break to five days. So in the time since our last update, there has only been one day of school, and of course that day was your basic chaos.

After the complete insanity that was the return from midterm holiday, Eileen and I arrived at school on Wednesday morning with very low expectations regarding student attendance. This assumption proved to be very much accurate, as I had only ten out of my twenty-five Form One students in class, and the rest of the forms had an equally poor showing. Of course, the number of teachers who attended school was similarly horrifying and resulted in those of us who were present to scramble throughout the day, creating new lessons and teaching extra periods, so as to avoid having each form sit around for the four or five free periods they acquired that day. Needless to say, it was a less than productive day. Thursday’s attendance was an improvement on Wednesday; however, there were still many faces missing from morning assembly.

While our time with the students was very limited this past week, there was still progress for TEP. Over the weekend we were surprised to receive a new batch of baby chicks as the next group of broilers for Eve and Billo. Although this wasn’t as excited as it would be had we received the delivery of Fanaka’s chicks, we are still eager to observe the entire process of raising a group of broiler chickens from the very beginning. It will not be long until we do have our group, as Babu reserved our 300 chicks for Raising a Future and we expect their delivery sometime next week!

The Easter holiday also brought with it the return of a familiar face. Jonathan (an old Fanaka teacher and the official manager of the stationary) has returned to Bunju for a week-long holiday from his government teaching post in Mtwara. With his return, we have finally been able to get some long awaited information regarding the precise financial situation of the stationary, specifically how successful it has been in monetary contributions to Fanaka each month. For those more recent readers, the stationary was a very important TEP project last year. At the time, Fanaka was suffering from the high cost of printing at other shops. It was decided that opening a stationary would be an effective way to cut down the school’s operation costs in printing, and it would also become a much needed reliable income to Fanaka, as the local Bunju community had a high demand for such a shop as well. The financial support brought gained from stationary revenue helps to supplement administrative costs at Fanaka, and eventually reduces the school fees for the students. Through the tireless work of volunteers and supporters, TEP was able to give financial assistance to Fanaka to rent, stock, and open a fully operational stationary shop during the time Cassie, Eileen and Teresa were in Tanzania last summer.

Aside from these developments, I was educated this week with some more Tanzanian firsts. I had my first large family holiday (Easter) which was marked by an extra long church service, more the comfort and noise brought on by the presence of extended family coming to visit, and delicious food saved for special occasions! Mae and Baba Polici came over to Babu’s house and brought along their children (Atu and Andinda) so everything was bigger and louder than it normally is, and Mae fried up a lot of chicken (yuuuuuum!!!) that I was able to help with. She also made pili pili (a sort of hot pepper mixture/sauce/paste) which is very hot but very tasty and I have been slowly eating my way through this past week! I also finally got to try kitimoto (aka pork), which I have heard about anytime the students ask me about the food I’ve tried. It was very good but prepared differently than any way I’ve ever eaten pork. The students all practically squealed with delight (no pun intended) when I could tell them that I’d finally eaten kitimoto.

I had another first experience on Tuesday, when Eileen and I went into Dar es Salaam with Mae to do a bit of shopping. The area of Dar we visited is called Kariakoo, and it is a very busy part of Dar. There are many different shops and people all over the place working as venders and trying to sell fruits, vegetables, jewelry, clothing, shoes, and basically anything else you could hope to find. It was during our stroll through Katiakoo when I received a bit more education. We were walking along and a man cut between Eileen and myself, knocking me forward and simultaneously “marking” Eileen as he bumped into her. In response to this, another man quickly tried to pickpocket Eileen! Luckily she was on her game and knew to check her pockets just after the first man ran into her, which meant that she and the would-be pickpocketer reached for her pockets at the same time! I turned around just in time to see this exchange take place, and to witness Eileen’s well placed knock back into the man. I am happy to report he got away with nothing more than a sore stomach.

After this week, my Tanzanian education is greater than ever, and so I am back in school trying to balance it by cramming a bit more English language education into the brains of my students. They will be taking their monthly English exam today after classes, so I will see if they have managed to retain anything I have taught them since their midterm break. I try to remain optimistic. Other than that, there is not much else to update you on this week. I hear that spring is finally arriving in the Midwest, as late and anticipated as ever! I hope everyone back home is enjoying the slowly approaching spring and having a good week. I can hardly believe how soon I will be among you-time flies. Until next time, eat some bacon and keep an eye on your pockets! Check ya later!