Arrival To Tanzania

We made our way to Bunju tonight and the drive into Bunju was a commuter’s nightmare, a two lane road bumper to bumper, all the while breathing in all the smoke and exhaust which is so thick it irritates my skin. We arrived at Babu’s after a long and bumpy ride, where he opened up his house to me. Babu showed me picture albums from his wife Bibi’s funeral and showed me pictures of his family. He showed me around the house and introduced me to everyone living there. The barrage of names and people was a little bit too much to remember but after sometime here I am sure I will get to know the people much better. Afterwards we enjoyed a nice meal of rice and beef and made our way to our quarters on the school grounds.

We are living in the teacher’s quarters on schools grounds in a nice little house with two rooms and three beds. According to Cassie and Katie we are living in some really nice digs, and compared to others we are but as long as I have a decently nice bed to sleep in and some food in my stomach I am good to go. I thought that getting away from the luxuries of home would drive me nuts but being away from that 24-hour news cycle and Facebook and just the general bombardment of information the internet provides is actually quite relaxing. The language so far has been my biggest hurdle, carrying on conversations beyond the general niceties is hard, I only know greetings and goodbyes.
 

Today was my first day in Bunju, and at Fanaka. Cassie introduced me to the school administrators and the teachers and walked the school grounds with me and introducing me to every single class. She told them that I was the new volunteer and would be taking their pictures for the next couple of weeks. So far the kids have been a little stand offish but began to warm up as the day went on. I could tell that I was a little bit of a distraction from their studies when I walked into or by a classroom, someone new for them chat about. The school is bustling, the students move from class to class as the bell rings for them to do so.

I am so lucky to be raised in the American school system because many of these kids don’t have nearly as much as I did in school. Unfortunately the classroom are filled with the bare necessities.All any have is the desk in front of them and a pen and paper to write with. The library is small but it is the pride of the whole school it is filled wall to wall with novels and textbooks. The students here are very fortunate because what they have is pretty good compared to other parts of the country. TEP has done a lot to help out the students here but much more is needed to continue the real work that is getting done here. The need for real dedicated teachers is the most pressing necessity, passionate teachers, like Katie, help inspire their students.

After some school business and further introductions we headed down to the schools stationary shop on the main road in Bunju. The road is lined with merchants selling everything from food to cells phones. As we walk down the road it becomes quite apparent that we stand out like sore thumbs, especially me. The children like to shout “Munzungu(sic)” which means white person, at you quite a lot. It is actually a term of endearment. We did some light shopping, buying a phone for me and picking up some bottled water and bread. The air is so humid here that any activity is a cause for mass sweating, something that is new for me being from dry and arid Colorado. Cassie, Katie and I spend the afternoon catching up on some work and talking to a former teacher, Peter, in our living room. He has a lot of questions about America and I try to answer the best I can. The people here are filled with myths about the States and I was glad that I could clear some of these up for Peter. I would get them in detail but I’ll leave that for another time.

We ended the day watching some of the students play Football (soccer) where they finally warmed up to me and my camera. They love hamming it up for the camera. As night drew the a close we walked back to Babu’s for a dinner and afterwards we walked back to the school and were greeted with some beautiful singing from our neighbors and our beds.

Sean Leyva

7/31/2012