Sunday, October 13, 2013

First post!

Disclaimer: The contents of this web site are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. Government or the Peace Corps.

Greetings from Tanzania! I know I have a little explaining to do. Since I didn’t bring a computer to country, I have been unable to type or post anything to keep you all in the loop about the happenings here. I will do my best to fill you in on the last 10 weeks and I will do better about keeping it up consistently now that I have a computer.
 I am a member of the Tanzania Education Peace Corps Class of 2013. Since my arrival in Tanzania on July 5, I have been a Peace Corps Trainee. My group of 41 colleagues and I flew from Philadelphia, to Johannesburg  South Africa, and finally to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. We stayed at a beautiful place called the Kurasini Center for 5 days while undergoing crash courses in health, cross-culture, and language.
On the 10th of July, we boarded a bus and traveled 5 hours northwest to Korogwe, Tanga where we spent the next 9 weeks of training. Upon arrival in Korogwe, we were fed a quick lunch and quickly swept away to be dropped off at our homestays. Talk about nerve racking! All we knew were the names of our host parents and the name of the internship school we would be teaching at. The van  pulled up to a nice house on what seemed like a main road and said my name. I was greeted by my mama with open arms, she helped me carry my things into my room (which was big and nice!), and then we sat down to get to know each other. Sounds nice right? Now, remember that I had been in the country for 5 days and knew how to tell her no more than my name and that I was from America. Oh, and my mama speaks absolutely no English, so we resorted to gesturing and drawing which truly shows the value of non-verbal communication.
Front view of my homestay

the shop my mama owns/runs and Heather and Jason


My host mama’s name is Monica and she runs the duka attached to the front of the house. She sells miscellaneous items like bulk food as well as razor blades, soda, toilet paper, cell phone vouchers, etc. My host baba’s name is Herman. I didn’t see him as much because he is a doctor and travels often. He is focusing his efforts on mass distribution of medicine to remote regions of Tanzania to people suffering from NTD (Neglected Tropical Diseases).  Baba Herman speaks English very well, so the few occasions when he was home was a breath of fresh air because we could sit outside and have interesting conversations comparing life in America and Tanzania.  I have 3 brothers: Richard (13), Lazaro (12), and Raphael (10). They are all in primary school here, which is taught all in Kiswahili, so I helped them with their English homework and in return, they helped me study Kiswahili. 

My little Emanual

Baby Harriet

Me and my homestay family... I had just showered

A daily occurrence at homestay. Taking dried corn off the cob, cleaning it and bagging it to get ground into ugali flour 

I found an Idaho shirt. I was so excited :)

Anyway, my host family welcomed me with open arms and taught me what it was going to be like to live here for my next 2 years. I learned how to cook traditional Tanzanian food, wash clothes and dishes by hand and keep a house clean.





Cooking maandazi every morning to sell at the shop

Picture of our backyard where we cooked, washed dishes and clothes, etc. 





During training, we got the great opportunity to travel a couple of weekends to see the Tanga Region. Our first trip was to Tanga town, a very hot city located on the ocean. The ride is short, and after being at homestay  a few weeks, it felt like a mini-vacation. A few of us walked up to the Yacht Club on the beach where we were able eat burgers and drink beer by the water, as well as play on the beach. It was a beautiful, relaxing, and much needed day to give our brains a Kiswahili break. 
View from the deck where we ate lunch

Lauren holding the tiniest crab!

A few weeks later, we had the opportunity to head in the opposite direction to the majestic mountains of Lushoto. Although the bus ride was a little longer, the selling point of this trip was the stop for lunch at the Irente Biodiversity Reserve run by a Swiss couple. We had their picnic lunch which was comprised of food all grown on the reserve, including Rye bread, 2 kinds of jam, guacamole, fresh cut veggies, fruit juice and 2 kinds of cheese. Yes, I said CHEESE! Needless to say, everyone gorged themselves. Then we went for a hike out to the lookout point where you could see for miles. It was absolutely gorgeous and of course my pictures don’t do it justice. 

Picture of Joel taking a picture

Cody wasn't feeling well, but this is a great pic

and we feast!

our cool chameleon friend

The view from the view point

Of course the main purpose of Peace Corps training is to prepare us for our 2 years of service, and to do that, we needed practice as teachers and language training. This all took place at our internship schools, which was a secondary school near our homestay houses where we met several days a week with the  other 3 or 4 members of our CBT (community based training). While at CBT were able to step in as teachers for a few weeks and teach a few lessons, run a classroom, and really get a feel for the challenges we would be facing these next couple years. We were able to get an inside look at how the Tanzanian School System works to see how we would be fitting into the puzzle. Internship teaching only lasted 4 weeks, but by the end, I felt more confident in my ability to cope with the language and sometimes cultural barriers that I am going to come across every day.


As my 10 weeks as a Peace Corps Trainee came to an end, I took some exams and mostly soaked in the last bit of time I had with my homestay family. Sadly, on September 9,  I had to say goodbye to my lovely family and head off to Dar es Salaam again. On Thursday, September 12, all 40 of us (one was absent) dressed up and headed to the United States Ambassador’s residence where we were officially sworn in as volunteers to begin our 2 years of service. The residence was beautiful and the ceremony was great. I lead the Tanzanian and American National Anthems!

Swear-in photo of everyone together


The next morning at 3am, we packed up our bags and loaded costa to head to the Dar bus standi where the 3 of us heading to Njombe (and our heads of schools) boarded the bus to Songea for  an 11 hour ride. This bus had less leg room than any bus I have ever been on, so it was a fairly uncomfortable 11 hours. Eventually we made it to Njombe and stayed a couple of nights in town to rest and pick up a few things before heading to site.
I have been placed at Maria Nyerere Secondary School (named after the 1st lady of Tanzania) in Wangama Village of the Njombe Region. This is an all-girls government boarding school with a small staff of 10 teachers for over 500 students.   The school is on the top of a hill in the Southern Highlands, and the views are phenomenal- it kind of reminds me of The Sound of Music. It gets really cold here in the winter and the wind blows all the time. No, really, all the time… but I welcome the wind as an opportunity to explore wind power.  My house is beautiful and more than I ever expected to have during my service. I have glass windows (because it gets so cold), a private courtyard with water spigot and a garden. 

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