After a relaxing weekend in Arusha, Edna and I moved into our new homestay which in Tanzania standards is amazing!! We have a mama, two dadas, and two kakas. Her husband died ten years ago from "high blood pressure" -- odly, everyone here dies of high blood pressure and there is awkwardly a large number of funerals for people around 50. She is one tough cookie and I absolutely LOVE living with her. Our home is incredibly homey and warm-- we have a large living room with tons of furniture and a TV-- World Cup is on 24/7. I think I've watched just about every game and if you aren't rooting for an African country you are booed out of the room. We have a dining room, small kitchen area, and there are 4 nice, large bedrooms. Edna and I both get our own bedroom which is soo nice- I feel like a princess!! We have a really big, nicely kept front driveway, yard, and back pasture where the cows and chickens are kept. The cho, however, is a different story. For how nice of a house it is our bathroom is quite a site. Its pretty much a hole in the ground. The saying that practice makes perfect is NOT applicable in this case!! Other than that, the homestay is everything I could have asked for, I love it!
Our week of teaching went really well- we taught primary school students 3 days in the mornings, and had community teachings in fields and at small dukas (little stores). The people in our village are so receptive, interested, and thankful for us being there and educating them. At the end of the day, it is really encouraging as a teacher.
On thursday, we took a 4 hour hike up to another village to see monkeys!! We had incredible views and it was absolutely beautiful!! After that, we visited one of our neighboring villages who organized a testing day at their secondary school. I manned up and got tested for HIV. The painful thumb prick (and my negative result of course) was definately the accomplishment of the day!!
A few other people, Jena, and I are headed off to Moshi for the weekend! It is the town at the base of Mt. Kilimanjaro where we are planning to relax, shop, and drink south african wine- I can't wait!!
xoxo
Court
Friday, June 18, 2010
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Homestay Life!
So its been two weeks and A LOT has happened. We finished our 10 day orientation and moved into our village homestays. I am in the village called Oligeruno (one of 6) in the ward of Ilkidenga. WWe are at the base of Mt. Meru and are basically in the middle of a rain forest. It is GREEN everywhere and the views are absolutely breathtaking. Village life, is, well, very primitive and simple. There are no real roads, most people live in clay/mud houses with thatched roofs and everyone owns their own live stock (cows, chickens, and goats) that provides the family with milk and meat. Life here is simple and it works. It is so refreshing to live in the village, buy fresh fruit everyday, and live so purely. I feel like I have gone decades back in technology, and sitting here at a computer in an internet cafe in Arusha feels really wierd!
I am living in a homestay with a Tanzanian teaching partner as a roommate. Her name is Edna and is an absolute HOOT! She is 21, fluent in english and swahili (which makes conversing with the family a lot easier!) and a LOVE to be around. She calls herself an African Queen and me, her baby. The other day she told me, "my doctor said sleeping during the day causes her to gain weight, so I'm going to go watch TV (aka Mexican soap opera)". I have had the time of my life living with her and feel so lucky to spend the rest of my time here with her! We take bucket baths in a "bafoo" and use the "cho" as a bathroom. I have been building thighs of steel from squating in that thing!! Our current house is a concrete structure with a few rooms, living room, and electricity! The kitchen is in a small hut in the backyard where the dada cooks all of our meals and heats our water for baths. I have helped make chapati (this amazing bread that is a mix of tortillas and nahn bread), stews, and rice & beans. We do have a TV but mind you it looks like its from the 70's with rabbit ear antennas and is still yet the coolest thing in the village. My Edna LOVES tanzanian soap operas and those are always on at night.
We are in the middle of switching homestays due to logistics and are moving into a really nice house with a mama and two dadas (daughters). I am so excited to meet them!!
Our teachings have been going really well. We regularily teach at a primary school to Standard 4 (ages 9-11 years) and Standard 7 (ages 11-14 years). All of the students are so sweet and extremely attentive. We start out with a general quiz on their knowledge of HIV/AIDS and at the end give a summary quiz. Based on our teachings thus far, it seems like they are retaining an incredible amount of information and life skills which is really encouraging and motivating as a teacher!
The schools (as you can imagine) are drastically different than those at home. No one "makes" you go to school, so the numbers in our classes vary from day to day. Also, there is no required age to start primary school (somewhat comparable to our elementary school in the states) so most grade levels have a 3-4 year age span. Supplies and resources are scarce so around 80-90 kids are packed into a concrete classroom with wooden desks and a simple chalkboard. Despite all of these challenges they face, tons of kids come to school in neatly pressed uniforms, ready to learn.
Our other part of our job is to educate the community. Unfortunately, this is a little more of a challenge. We have had meetings with our head village leader, the 4 sub village leaders, store owners, pastors, community health workers, and the dispensary head doctor to set up community teachings. We've experienced a few difficultiesss...Problem #1: email blasts and blackberry notifications don't exist, notice of our teachings only goes by word of mouth. Problem #2: Tanzania Time. 2 hours delayed. When we first met to set up the four subvillage meetings, the leader told us he would tell the community our meeting will start at 10... but don't expect anyone until 12 or 1. This is where I appreciate American timeliness!!
So far we have taught a youth group and a choir group. Due to all of the myths and rumors spread about HIV/AIDS here in Tanz, we are always approached with crazy questions! We have set up our testing day (a day where SIC provides free testing for everyone in the community) alongside a village soccer tournament. When we asked the soccer team what would be a cool first prize, the responded with a goat. Only 30,000 shillings they said! (Around 25 dollars US). These are the times I realize I am in a rural village in East Africa. The goat is still planned as first prize, I will update on how we get that goat.
Soccer is HUGE here and it is so cool to be around all this hype when the world cup is on! On our time off we go on loooong hikes through the other parts of the ward which ends up being 3-4 hour hikes through what looks like Avatar. It is breathtaking!
I am having a fabulous time in Arusha relaxing and enjoying western food. Tonight we are going to watch the US-UK game- can't wait!
Love,
Court
I am living in a homestay with a Tanzanian teaching partner as a roommate. Her name is Edna and is an absolute HOOT! She is 21, fluent in english and swahili (which makes conversing with the family a lot easier!) and a LOVE to be around. She calls herself an African Queen and me, her baby. The other day she told me, "my doctor said sleeping during the day causes her to gain weight, so I'm going to go watch TV (aka Mexican soap opera)". I have had the time of my life living with her and feel so lucky to spend the rest of my time here with her! We take bucket baths in a "bafoo" and use the "cho" as a bathroom. I have been building thighs of steel from squating in that thing!! Our current house is a concrete structure with a few rooms, living room, and electricity! The kitchen is in a small hut in the backyard where the dada cooks all of our meals and heats our water for baths. I have helped make chapati (this amazing bread that is a mix of tortillas and nahn bread), stews, and rice & beans. We do have a TV but mind you it looks like its from the 70's with rabbit ear antennas and is still yet the coolest thing in the village. My Edna LOVES tanzanian soap operas and those are always on at night.
We are in the middle of switching homestays due to logistics and are moving into a really nice house with a mama and two dadas (daughters). I am so excited to meet them!!
Our teachings have been going really well. We regularily teach at a primary school to Standard 4 (ages 9-11 years) and Standard 7 (ages 11-14 years). All of the students are so sweet and extremely attentive. We start out with a general quiz on their knowledge of HIV/AIDS and at the end give a summary quiz. Based on our teachings thus far, it seems like they are retaining an incredible amount of information and life skills which is really encouraging and motivating as a teacher!
The schools (as you can imagine) are drastically different than those at home. No one "makes" you go to school, so the numbers in our classes vary from day to day. Also, there is no required age to start primary school (somewhat comparable to our elementary school in the states) so most grade levels have a 3-4 year age span. Supplies and resources are scarce so around 80-90 kids are packed into a concrete classroom with wooden desks and a simple chalkboard. Despite all of these challenges they face, tons of kids come to school in neatly pressed uniforms, ready to learn.
Our other part of our job is to educate the community. Unfortunately, this is a little more of a challenge. We have had meetings with our head village leader, the 4 sub village leaders, store owners, pastors, community health workers, and the dispensary head doctor to set up community teachings. We've experienced a few difficultiesss...Problem #1: email blasts and blackberry notifications don't exist, notice of our teachings only goes by word of mouth. Problem #2: Tanzania Time. 2 hours delayed. When we first met to set up the four subvillage meetings, the leader told us he would tell the community our meeting will start at 10... but don't expect anyone until 12 or 1. This is where I appreciate American timeliness!!
So far we have taught a youth group and a choir group. Due to all of the myths and rumors spread about HIV/AIDS here in Tanz, we are always approached with crazy questions! We have set up our testing day (a day where SIC provides free testing for everyone in the community) alongside a village soccer tournament. When we asked the soccer team what would be a cool first prize, the responded with a goat. Only 30,000 shillings they said! (Around 25 dollars US). These are the times I realize I am in a rural village in East Africa. The goat is still planned as first prize, I will update on how we get that goat.
Soccer is HUGE here and it is so cool to be around all this hype when the world cup is on! On our time off we go on loooong hikes through the other parts of the ward which ends up being 3-4 hour hikes through what looks like Avatar. It is breathtaking!
I am having a fabulous time in Arusha relaxing and enjoying western food. Tonight we are going to watch the US-UK game- can't wait!
Love,
Court
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