Mwaka Mpya

The Holidays have come and gone, and I don't seem to be any wiser about the human condition. Even now I wonder at how I am able to spend 2000 shillings on using the internet when I could buy lunch for the poor Tanzanian down the street. I guess constantly going through these feelings at least means that I am questioning. I share food when I'm asked for it anyway. This is not a defensive statement, but I've been reading "Mountains Beyond Mountains" the story of Paul Farmer and it's hard not to feel like a shmuck.

Cooking a turkey for 45 orphans at the Iwambi center for Olive Branch for Children was a fun adventure. I was happily roped into it by Deborah, the founder and executive of the NGO. She turns out to be a wonderful neighbor only an hour and a half away from my site.

A little more than two weeks ago I escorted a guard at the school to the hospital. It seemed that he had elephantitis of his right leg, but I wanted to get x-rays to make sure that it wasn't actually an infection that had entered the bone. They only cost 2000 shillings (see what I mean). Luckily we didn't see any weakening of Elias's shin and he had already gone through the anti-trichonosis regimen (which only somewhat helps). In any event I saw the hospital and found out that there would be a doctor from Finland visiting to speak about UKIMWI (HIV/AIDS). A couple of days later I met in the conference room with hospital staff and the good doctor--who's name I have shamelessly forgotten and will fill in later. I made some excellent contacts in the hospital and among members of the Lutherin Church who are doing work to mitigate the impact of UKIMWI in my district. I look forward to future collaborations with some of my students and community leaders/activists.

I'm also exploring the idea of a media literacy project in Tanzania. After a comment made by a gentleman in his fifties about his children incessantly watching television and the people of Tanzania having only recently been exposed to many images of westernized media, I realized that this could potentially be having a serious effect on peoples' behavior. It'd be interesting to put together a survey to see how many of my students watch television on a regular basis and what they consider to be true to reality in the programming. All this is in it's infancy stages (ie knocking around in my brain) but I end up attempting to put together something of a media production corps in order give young girls the knowledge and power to produce their own mass media messages. We'll see where this goes.

Slow down Mister!

I've been at Kayuki for 12 days and things are beginning to settle. I've spent much of the time preparing the house to be actually lived in: ordering furniture to be made, buying various kitchen items, food etc. The surround is spectacular! I am on the crown of a small rise just South of Mt. Rungwe. I'm perched high enough over the rolling hills of the Rungwe tea plantations that in the distant South (in the evening) I can just barely see Lake Nyasa through the haze. The 8-story water tower in the center of School grounds makes an excellent lookout/meditation-spot/owl-hideout. You should see all the pellets. I could assemble a small rodent skeleton every day of the week for the next 6 months. I'm gearing up for all sorts of projects, and in particular getting a compost pile going.

The night I arrived at school I attended the school closing assembly. The assistant headmaster (mkuu wa pili) gave a lively speech and allowed me to introduce myself. When I mentioned I would be teaching the girls physics, I was met with applause. Clearly, I've come to where I'm able to do a lot of work (there are only 5 science teachers at Kayuki and none were currently teaching physics).

The gated school grounds probably cover 20 acres or so of hilly but infrastructured land. The whole area used to be involved with a Chinese coal mining company. Concrete roadways, geometric drainage troughs, and long buildings used as housing speak to the industrial nature of the place, but there is a vibrant quality that reminds me of a sleep away camp in the Adirondacks. Maybe it's the evergreen trees or the thunderstorms or the fact that many of the teachers live on school grounds, forming what turns out to be a neat little community. Faraja, the girl pictured with me, is the house help of the headmistress who kindly fed me for the first 5 days at site, before I had an operable kitchen.

So far so good. I can't imagine how buzzing the school grounds will be when students return in the second week of January.

Going to Mbeya

Mbeya, where I will eat loads of ndizi (bananas) I'm told. It is a new site, so I get to move myself in and customize the set up. Excellent, can't wait to get started on my garden. I'm being installed during the rainy season too, which is the right time to plant fruit trees and other crops. My site is not too far from the norther tip of Lake Nyasa (others call it L Malawi) which is supposedly home to the most beautiful beach in Tanzania's mainland, Mtema. Everything is looking excellent, I'm very pleased to be going to the Southern highlands, although I'm told it rains 10 months out of the year. The cooler weather up there will calm my sweat apparatus some, and I may even miss the climate of Morogoro some.

Not very sure what to expect at an all girls boarding school. Some of my peers have been speculating that I've been placed at the site that was intended for a 62 year old woman who left the program before finishing training. She was an IT/computer teacher and it may be related to the fact that the school I'm going to just received a donation of 20 computers. Looks like I'll be brushing up on my techno babble.

Two Weeks to Go

I'm finished learning Kiswahili in the classroom but Peace Corps training will continue for another two weeks. The high-point of this wiki iliyopita was definitely the permaculture session where I learned much about trapping water and which fruits and veges to plant in my garden when I get to post. I can't wait, eight months from now I may be eating papaya from my own plot of land. Permaculture also seems like an excellent secondary project to become involved in. Providing a source of nutritious food and a means to grow more of it seems to be an excellent way to cross into the medical profession. The best way to treat disease is to prevent it altogether. I still haven't seen the conditions I will be facing for the two years I will be in Tanzania after training, however, I plan on implementing what I've learned thus far, and see where it takes us. I believe that the most important aspect of Peace Corps service is the basic human interaction that takes place between a PCV and the people they meet in country.

Kiswahili of the week:

hadi hapo --> until then
unakuwaje? --> how are things? (like mambo)

Mikumi National Park

Yeah we just got back from Mikumi national park where we saw all the big ones: Baboon, zebra, giraffe, elephant, impala, red buck, water buffalo, hippo, croc, and lions!! There was a mating pair in the park the first evening because the female was in heat. Amazing to see these animals only a couple of meters away. There were also these beautiful birds called lilac breasted rollers. One of the older women in our group is a real birder and she describes them by saying they have more colors than should be allowed on one bird. I'm putting some of the pics of the trip of Facebook so take a look see.

Words of the week: "Bila shaka" --> without a doubt

"umeulamba!" --> you're looking good

more later...

Familia Yangu Mtanzania

This is my Tanzanian host family who I live with while training in Morogoro. Familia ya Omari Dudu!

Safi Sana, Shwali kabisa

"Everything is clean/cool." It has been almost one month since my arrival in Tanzania, yet I have experienced only Morogoro and a smidge of Dar es Salaam. It will be three weeks until I find out where in Tanzania Peace Corps Tanzania will send me for the following two years. It may be the mountains inland from Tanga where the weather is cool and you can get "mzungu" vegetables like broccoli and zucchini. Or I might be sent to the coast near Lindi or Mtwara where it is constantly hot and humid, but you can swim in the ocean. Or there's the central regions like Dodoma, where water is scarce and gales frequently blow up desert dust storms that send people in doors and sometimes shut businesses down. I can make certain requests about where I'd like to be posted, but it is clear that the PCTs are not to expect to arrive at a region of their choosing.

In other news, My family celebrated the end of Ramadon with the day of Idd this Saturday. A nephew and a sister in law as well as some friends of Salumu, the oldest son of my family all came by to eat chakula cha mchana (lunch). My kiswahili teacher, Chacha stopped by also and I struggled to keep up with his conversation with my host father about the practicality of faith and various religions, and whether or not a person must suffer for another to gain. I tried to explain my essentially buddhist philosphy of understanding that my being isn't at all seperate from the universe around me. Therefore, it is in my interst to see others around me succeed in life and be happy.