Potty all Around the World

I am currently embracing my few weeks in America with a little out west skiing in Colorado. To prevent myself from rambling about the natural elements - breathtaking snow tickled trees and rolling mountains that are constantly caressed by either sunlight or downy powder - I'll cut to the chase by saying facilities are nice here. For the purpose of this post, I'll focus on bathroom facilities. All the toilet seats are squeaky clean and the toilets are automatic flush. The stalls are roomy and there is a huge mirror infront of the sink that is never fogged, despite the clash of heat and cold in the indoor facilities. The paper towel dispensers are motion sensing, and incase you prefer hand dryers, there are four of those in each bathroom as well.
This afternoon as we took a brief hiatus from the slopes, I took a trip to the bathroom and read the text on the hand dryer as it jetted the water from my palms. The notice bragged about the eco-friendly nature of the device - it saves paper with every use (!!!!). For a moment, I mentally commended the effort, but then I thought, well, they must be rather costly to install and they still use energy with every use. Even if it's not paper, it's only so eco-friendly, as the energy is not reusable. Then I allowed my recently developed bias to overcome me as I thought, Tanzania has it right. 
There are two types of toilets in Tanzania. One is a hole in the ground with four wooden or cement walls built around it. A bit uncomfortable at times, but for an eager traveler, definitely an easy adjustment. You just squat and go. There is a bucket of water if you need to "flush", but there is no paper whatsoever. If you need paper, bring it with you. Use hand sanitizer in your office or wherever you came from to clean your hands afterward.
The second type is called a European bathroom (the ones we use here). Sometimes there's TP, sometimes not. There is the small or big flush option on almost all toilets to conserve water. Then there is a modest sink outside the stall with soap, but no towels. That's what your clothes are for.
Let me be clear - little to no TP, eco-friendly flush, and no paper towels. And we're the first world country. Yeah, maybe it's a little uncomfortable at first, but it is a breeze to adjust to.
I am not suggesting that America adopts these mechanisms; I think they require too much sacrifice for our consumer interests.  I understand and agree that America has earned many of its privileged comforts, but at the same time the deterioration of the environment it is something that is happening all around the world, mostly as a result of the lifestyles of consumers like ourselves. Tanzanians have adopted lifestyle choices that are comfortable for them and beneficial to the environment. I think that in America, we still can give some on the comfort end of the spectrum to live truly eco-friendly lifestyles.

Financial Ponderings

This is a picture of a Tanzanian bill. They’re called shillings, or shilingi in Kiswahili. The note I have posted is the biggest note: 10,000 tzsh. But don’t get too excited, the value of this note is somewhere between 6 and 7 USD. The conversion rate from TZ shillings to American dollars is 1,600:1. Usually, it is about 1,500 to 1, but the shilling is particularly weak right now. Now that you know the conversion rate, I am going to share a few prices of items and services that we bought locally.

Dala dala ride (bus ride)

            From town to home; 10 min – 300 tz shillings

            From town to neighboring town (Boma); 25 min – 1000 shillings

           

Petrol – 2,200 per litre (litre = ¼ gallon, so 8,800 per gallon)

Spaghetti – 1,400 shillings

Loaf of bread – 1,400 shillings

½ gallon juice – 3,600 shillings

½ gallon milk – 3,000 shillings

Eating out for 5 at average local restaurant – 35,000 shillings

20 slices of sliced cheese – 14,000 shillings

frozen chicken (whole) – 17,000 shillings

As you may see, some things, like public transit, bread, and eating out are far cheaper. However, other things, like cheese, chicken, and petrol are shockingly expensive. In fact they are far more expensive than they are in America. Still, the income for the average Tanzania is far lower than that of the average American. This means that they, and we when I am there, learn how to do without. For example, I had cheese maybe two times during my three months in Tanzania, whereas I have already eaten it with three meals since returning home last Friday. Chicken is a luxury, so when we ate it, it usually was not from the store, rather from a chicken that we would slaughter from the coup in the yard. Petrol is the most outrageously priced of all (between $5-6 per gallon) so we walked and took the dala dala.

It is often assumed that living in a third world country is far cheaper than living in the first world, but that is only when the proper lifestyle adjustments are made. Tanzania doesn’t have the resources or relationships to obtain petrol that America has, therefore the price is higher.

This concept of learning how to do without is something that many Americans may benefit from practicing. With the encroaching recession, there has been an incredible amount of panic in American business and social communities. Instead of panicking – adjust. I am quite sure that the majority of Americans collect commodities they do not need: extra clothes, non-crucial electronics, toys. All the while, financial responsibilities such as credit card payments and electric bills fall through the cracks. My advice is to learn from the third world countries and practice stricter prioritization until you once again reach a level of comfortable panic-free living.

Come and Stay a While

Maybe some of you thought we would be on hold while I'm in America. THINK AGAIN! I am continuing Uzima work as much as ever in my time here, so I will keep you updated with news from the fundraiser I am hosting, the classes I visit, and the lesson plans I create in my time back home in America. Also, there are a lot of pictures from TZ that I never had the chance to edit and publish here on the blogspot. I will continue posting those, and I also will keep you updated with how things are going with New Life and Uzima in Tanzania. So never fear, Di*rt is still here.

Here's the first. For those of you who don't know, I LOVE Cadbury chocolate. It's not particularly common in America, and it's really expensive here, but it's everywhere in Tanzania, praise the Lord!! Mama and I visited the bank the other day and parked right next to this HUGE Cadbury truck. I absolutely needed a picture. We tried a ton of shots to try to get one that looks like I'm eating the chocolate bar, but this was just about as close as we got.

because we are

There is something about being in the airport alone that gives me an absolutely immense sense of freedom. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that all around me people are traveling to hundreds of cities throughout the world. Maybe it's that I'm invisible to them. Or maybe I'm not invisible to them....just as I was writing that, a German man was walking around the area where I am sitting with my camera bag in hand asking, "Is this yours? Is this yours?"
People are good. Thank God for that. Thank God for freedom of thought and action and community mentality. There is this Ubuntu saying of the Bantu people (most people from East Africa are Bantu people) and it is the core of their culture. It is I am because we are. There's this story to explain it. A man held a banana and he tossed it in the air. Then he said to a group of children sitting before him, "whoever reaches the banana first gets it!" He expected them all to run, but nobody moved. When he asked why, they replied, "I am because we are." Then one boy got up and peeled the banana and passed it to his neighbor who took a bite before passing it to his neighbor who took a bite before passing it to his neighbor.
This philosophy is a fundamental piece of the beauty of this culture.

Top of the mornin' to you

It’s 5:45 am and the sun is rising between the clouds to the right of Kili. I woke early this morning to the sound of my own deep breathing, something I didn’t know was quite possible. I didn’t realize that it was morning until I looked to my left to see that Dada Angel, our new house girl, was already out of bed.

Today is my last day. All these things that are normalcies for me now are about to be put on hold for a month, beginning tonight at 9:50 pm when I board the plane departing from KLM International Airport. Yesterday, I shopped for my family and bought a kanga headdress for myself to take a little piece of Tanzania back with me. Baba and I dropped Mama and Princely at the airport late last night to go to Zambia to visit a CPC that may want to partner with Uzima.  The house feels empty without them, and I feel for Charity who will be without them, me, and Baba this week as we all head to our various destinations. Today I will go to New Life to go to a teachers seminar and then I will go home, collect my things and go to the airport!! Evelyn, one of my bosses here at NLF, her husband, and Baba will take me to the airport. Though I do not want to leave, a part of me is excited to see who I will sit next to on the plane

Chapati Queen

My shirt reeked of sweat and sunflower oil and flour speckled my nose with inverse freckles. I peeked across the kitchen at the chapati on the gas cooker as my hands kneaded the dough mixture mechanically. There was a small pile of harmless bugs I had picked out of the flour to the left of my compact workspace, which was framed by three variously sized containers of oil. I carefully placed the dough I was kneading outside my work space, but away from the bugs before turning to spin the cooking chapati with my palm. Spin, spin, spin – flip! A spoonful of oil, another flip, and now it’s time to knead again. An army could not have stopped me from making my chapati this morning.

 It was my second time making chapati from scratch. Mama said I make it better than many African women. I am preparing for a fundraiser I am hosting at home where I plan to make it for my guests. Mama taught me how to make chapati about a week ago. She showed me one, then we did one together, and then I made the third. Since, I have made one batch of four chapati and this morning I made a batch of five. I love cooking it. It’s time consuming, but it’s so…authentic. It’s cooked from scratch with oil, water, flour, sugar and salt. It’s so tasty that it is hard to believe that these are all the ingredients. Pri snapped some pictures of me as I worked this morning. He now calls me Chapati Queen.

  I planned to make the chapati for him and Charity because they loved it the first time and asked for more, however we had some unexpected guests come by today as Princely, Mama and I worked from home. One of them was a local pastor (who took the chapati we gave him and praised the chef) and the next was a 98 year old man (wow!!) who is also a pastor, still healthy preaching in his old age. He had some and enjoyed it as well. By the time our guests ate their share and our new house girl, Angel, and boy, Theo, got some it was all gone. Maybe I’ll wake early tomorrow to make some more…

Patient

            Today we picked up a patient from a regional hospital in Moshi. She was there to abort her child, but somehow she had been in contact with Mama, so we went to pick her and talk to her at Uzima before she underwent the procedure. Mama took her into the counseling room and told her, a few things. She told her that the thing she is carrying inside her is not just a thing, it’s a three month old child. She told her that aborting it is in fact murder and that it would damage her relationship with God for forever. She reminded the girl that she would never forgive herself if she killed the child, and then she took a hopeful approach. She said the child could grow up to become anything – a scientist, doctor, engineer – it is a seed for something beautiful. Then she ended on a realistic note by saying there are so many barren women in Moshi and Kilimanjaro Region: someone will take care of the baby if you cannot. You can come back to the Uzima Healing Center in about a month when we have the equipment set up, and you can see your baby then.

            Then she asked me if there is anything I would like to add. I said that I think it’s a beautiful thing what mere education can do. There is no way that we can know what is going on inside – at three months you cannot even feel the baby kick. However by looking to the future, thinking of what the baby can be and what his or her options are, we can see a life instead of just a red plus sign on a pregnancy test.

            This experience reminded me of the sheer power of education. Within forty five minutes, the young woman made the choice to give life. Forty five minutes. I would have loved to hear more science behind the convincing method. What always sticks with me is when I see those pictures of the baby at one month, and two months and three months – even though we can’t feel it or see it, it’s a living thing and it’s growing fast. When I am home this December, I think I would like to gather teaching materials for this specifically. Maybe I can teach it to Zoe Girls and Joy Girls and secondary school girls at New Life. I can incorporate a spiritual bit (keep my audience in mind) but also focus on the scientific facts that allow someone to really understand what they are doing before they make their choice, whatever it may be. 

Babu!!

One of Uzima's developing sustainability projects is a food production and packaging business called Noga, which means tastefulness in Tanzania's national language of Swahili. This is one of Noga's first friends. We call him Babu (grandpa). Babu has been struggling with health for a long while. He once was unable to walk, and the doctors suggested that he mix cinnamon with honey to strengthen his immune system again. The remedy worked, but now he is too old to work and no longer can afford the honey. We give Babu our fresh Noga honey and cinnamon at a very low and often no cost. He is always so grateful toward us

Power of Thought

Sorry I’ve been away…things have been quite busy with me leaving in a couple days. Today I want to talk about one moment that happened almost a week ago, but it has stuck with me.

Monday, as I informed you, was pray day at New Life. For the whole day there was no school, no work, no food, no anything besides prayer.  Each individual was prayed over. There were sermons, full group prayers, individual prayers, small group prayers – you name it, we prayed it.

There was one prayer toward the end that stirred my mind. After Pastor Shoo preached the final sermon, we all bowed our heads to listen to God. Now at that point, something had been on my mind the past couple days. The more I thought about it, the more sure I was that I wanted to sponsor Angel, a girl at Zoe Babies who is three years old and is the sweetest thing. I visit her every time I am done working with Joy Girls and she is always so excited. We play and play and she speaks to me in Swahili and I shower her in ticklish kisses. So I’ve been thinking about it and I’m pretty sure I can afford it and it is something I want to do. However when
I was listening to God at that moment, I felt a sense of conviction for the first time that yes, I would sponsor Angel.

My sassy Angelic friend

After the moment was over, we were to share our testimonies with Evelyn, the Chief Coordinator and New Life, if we heard anything from God. I paced around her for a while as others shared their testimonies, and finally, when she was about to get up and share them, I sat down next to her and said, “You don’t have to share this one. Please don’t write it down. But I have been filled with a suddenly strong desire and necessity to sponsor Angel, from Zoe Babies. I think you are the one to talk to about this, so do you think we could talk about it later?”

“Yes.” She said. “Thank you.”

I walked away feeling jittery and awkward, but pleased.

Evelyn moved to the stage area to call up those with testimonies. They came, one then the next then the next. They all spoke of visions God had given them: pouring black and white water from bottles into a well; a man dressed in all white with a bloody wound on his knee. All of the testimonies were visuals or words from the scriptures.

At first I felt stupid. Mine was wrong; it wasn’t the response they were looking for. But then as I thought more about it, I realized mine was no more wrong or right than theirs were, they both were simply a product of our mental environments.

Since they were young, these people have been hearing messages of God interpreted into visions and dreams. Since I was young, I have been taught that charity, sharing of love and resources, is a Christian value. As products of these two schools of thought, we were guided to see different things when our eyes were closed.

This is not to take power from the word of God; rather I think that it is a testimony to the power of personal thought.

Bye Joy!

Today was my last day with Joy Girls. Lord I’m going to miss those girlies. I gave them their final test today. I think it was tough for many of them simply because they are unaccustomed to taking a large test like that in one sitting, but they all were so good about it and I have begun grading them tonight and the results are quite good.

Still, it made me realize that come January I want to quiz them more often so that tests of this nature are not such a huge to-do.

Durkasi being, well, beautiful

I gave them each the cliff bar (you know those energy bar things) a piece of clothing that I hand picked for them, and a note as a Christmas gift. They were quiet toward me saying a quick, “Thank you madam” or “thank you sister” but I could hear them squealing with joy the second they turned around.

Loveness and Happy flaunting their new attire :)

Tonight after dinner we prayed for them. We prayed for their safety and happiness over Christmas break and that they remember the solace they have found in God through New Life.

It was a beautiful day. I was sad to feel like it was the end of something lovely, but so glad to know it was a “see you later” rather than goodbye.

Pray Day

It's pray day at New Life Foundation. I snuck away for a moment to upload this beautiful shot I captured. This is one of my Joy Girls (Love) and Pedia, a baby at Zoe Babies. Love was praying over Pedia at this moment.

Football by Moonlight

Last night I felt like a roughly painted bodies in one of those African murals that hangs above the mantel. I was playing soccer with Pri, Charity, Theo (our house boy who is like a big brother to me) and some of the kids from the neighborhood. We began around five when this guy who we have befriended, Kundaeli, came calling our names over the property walls.

“Princely! Alyssa!”

“Yeah?” Princely peeked through the peephole. “Oh, Kunda – karibu kaka.”

Kunda asked that we come out instead, so we went with Charity and made our way across the road to a plot of grass that we have come to claim as our football field on the other side. We began by playing a version of monkey in the middle. Theo came running over from tending to the goats and we expanded the game. As more and more people joined “njo – una taka kucheza?” We expanded into a full on game. Kunda is the best player so he was on a team with a bunch of youngsters and Theo, Charity, Princely and I made up Pastor’s Team.

I wore sneakers. Charity wore rain boots. Princely wore no-lace converse. Kunda wore flip-flops (slippers as they’re called here). Theo was barefoot. The goal posts were two pairs of large rocks we had found. The boundary to the left was where the ground got thorny and the boundary to the right was where the cows grazed. Kilimanjaro was in clear view right behind the goal we were shooting on. I watched as the snow turned from tinted blue in the late afternoon, to pink and purple as the sun set in the evening, to a mere outline against the blackened sky. We all ran and sweated and coached and cheered until we could no longer see the ball at our own feet.

“Kesho.” We agreed. We’ll pick up tomorrow. I was sweating like crazy but felt cool and fresh. On the walk back home, we talked strategy for the next game, agreeing that we’d be sure to get Donati on our team tomorrow and play Theo as a forward.

When so many of my experiences here are so different from the picture we assume is Africa, it is refreshing to sometimes enjoy the land in the most base way possible – with a ball and a handful of friends. 

Jive

Today was dynamic. I woke up entirely inspired to go into town on my own and make some headway on Operation Di*rt. I rose at 7 and finished writing the final examination for my Joy Girls while I waited for Mama to wake up so I could tell her I was going to town. When she woke, she had news of her own. She has been back and forth to the hospital the past few days, trying to identify the source of the weakness she has been feeling recently. The doctors identified the problem and have advised that she undergo surgery on Monday. She said there are a few things she wants to take care of before that, and one of them is to thoroughly clean the house.

~

It was about 4pm and I was deep cleaning the kitchen when I was absolutely overwhelmed with a feeling of entrapment. I was not bothered that my plans had not worked out, rather I was bothered by the fact that I never even had the courage to tell Mama of those plans in the morning, and also that by the afternoon, I was the only one still cleaning. Everyone else was outside talking to the some Fountain of Hope New Life students who were on a retreat at the house because they were having issues getting along.

I wanted to go out and join them, given that the topic was communication, which is what I teach them anyway, but it was all in Swahili. Instead, I channeled my frustration at the family and grew angry with them for abandoning cleaning when I had other plans and was still cleaning. (I was consciously aware of the immaturity of this frustration. The only problem really was I lacked the guts to tell them I wanted to leave).

Finally I decided to go outside and try to listen in Swahili and see what I could gather. I asked one student what Mama Shoo had said that made everyone laugh while she was lecturing to them, and he explained it to me. A few other students saw this interaction, and then one approached me later. His name was Samwel and we ended up talking about the instruments he played and he and his friend Nash offered to teach me. Then a boy named Victor saw this conversation and stopped me as I was washing to ask me if I ever hand wash clothes in America. He proceeded to help me wring the bed sheets as we spoke. Then, another student, Willgod asked me about basketball later which led to a wonderful chat with he and four of his friends about basketball, planets, Christmas vacations, computers software, you name it.

These interactions totally turned my day around. I didn’t need to go to town: I moved but a couple yards to be with them and suddenly all feelings of entrapment had dissipated. The reason it disappeared? I had a chance to do a little analysis while we were speaking (which was what I wanted to do in town). Only boys approached me, the girls were far shyer. I tried approaching them, but the conversation was extremely awkward. It was a start, but I have yet to find a way for the Fountain of Hope girls to feel comfortable with me. Boys are easy – you just talk about sports and they know you’re cool.

Another thing I noticed is how smart and sometimes socially immature they are. When I go home for a few weeks in December I think I want to remap their upcoming communications lesson plans to give them some more challenging material, but focus for a longer time on assertive communication because they don’t seem to grasp it 100% yet (which is completely understandable – a two hour seminar isn’t going to completely mature your personality).

Anyway, the kids added a third dynamic to my day – a wonderful important dynamic that is a small milestone, but a milestone nonetheless, in our growing relationship.

The Sweetest Goodbye

“Bye Princely!! Bye Princely!!” the kids in the New Life yard shouted at us as we began for home.

I turned around and addressed them with a subtle yet unnecessarily cutting tone, “bye!”

Princely looked at me a sadly, gently, and just barely accusingly. “They say it for you, you know. They’re saying goodbye to me, but it’s for you. They just don’t remember your name.”

I contemplated the idea, not sure if I believed him. It’s true, I had never taught the kids who were in the yard at that point. They were grade 3 and 4, and I had worked mostly with grades 1 and 2, Joy, secondary school and high school. But didn’t they know how badly I wanted to know them?? Suddenly from behind me I heard, “Your name, Madame?”

I turned to see a Grade 4 student smiling at us, shielding the setting sun from his eyes. Without meaning to I beamed. “ALYSSA!” I shouted back.

“Oh. Okay. Good night!”

Princely and I laughed in wordless commendation of accurate thinking. The bounce in my step lasted until we reached home forty minutes later.

Something Beautiful

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9Ihs241zeg

Something beautiful is beginning to happen.
I watched this Ted Talk about three weeks ago and knew I wanted to post about the reaction it stirred in me. I am glad I waited. Because now a beautiful thing is beginning to happen where I am beginning to experience this African pride for myself.
When I first saw this video, I understood that Africa is misunderstood, that's what everyone tells me. But now I'm really beginning to gain my own understanding of why and how, whereby I am gaining a proper understanding of one of the many beautiful, prosperous, multi-tiered African cultures for myself.
I will not distract from the video - I want you to watch it. Watch it, digest it, and soon I will post about my developing American-African identity.

KCB Conference

Today Princely and I attended a conference hosted by KCB Bank (the biggest banking network in Tanzania and Kenya) as the Uzima representative. The conference was held for small businesses to promote positive business management for small start-ups. It began at 8 AM, but we went to the devotion at New Life first so we didn’t get there until 9 (excellent devotion this morning. It included the staff and the high school students. Oh God it was really beautiful. I had even heard the sermon two times before, but it really touched me in a different way this morning). No worries, the conference didn’t actually start until about 10 AM.

I thought it might be a morning event, but it went through until 5 in the evening. It was a great experience though. The marketing manager for KCB Tanzania approached us and asked about Uzima. She ended up setting us up to speak to this man named Uforo who is whom we will contact if we want KCB to sponsor an Uzima event. This is huge for us, so celebrate overseas please!!

We were served tea, lunch, and evening tea to break up the talks.

 The first talk provided general information about KCB, the second a recommendation about how to use the bank, and the third a word about accounting. Then we had testimonies of thanks (something that America should really adopt. It’s so uplifting for both the speaker and the audience to hear how the audience appreciates the presentation).

The speakers were long winded yet informative and they could almost always answer the questions we posed at the end.

The conference ended with us all receiving a certificate for our attendance. I learned some things at the conference, but most importantly I made a valuable connection and now have an incentive to apply the packages offered by KCB to Uzima.

Culture Blurb: Hit The Road

So we drive on the other side of the road here, big deal. There are far more challenging adjustments that make driving in Tanzania an experience.

1.     Dirt roads: don’t roll down your windows in the middle of the day. Somehow the dust seems to not rise as high in the mornings and evenings, but in midday, just keep them up until you get to the main road.

2.     Bump, Bump Bump: there are two kinds of bumps on TZ roads, the on purpose bumps and the whoa! What was that bump.

a.     On Purpose

                  On tar roads, there are speed bumps everywhere. There are some that are wide and long, but not particularly high, some that are three little bumps right in a row, and then some that are quick, high, and easy to miss until the bottom of your engine is scraping against them. They were input after the tar roads were built and there was a rapid increase in accidents because people were speeding down the roads without caution. Now, drivers must be very conscious on these roads, especially if their car sits low to the ground like ours does.

b.     Whoa! What was that?

These bumps are most commonly found on dirt roads, but this generalization is far from exclusive. The whoa! What was that? Is the bump that you could swear didn’t look that bad, or maybe it didn’t even appear until the tires dipped. Once it hits however, there’s no illusion. You know it’s really there. How to avoid them? Keep a loose grip on the steering wheel (don’t be shy about zig zagging across the whole road) and just take it slow

3.     Overtaking: You know how in America you don’t really pass other cars unless you’re really in a hurry, or you’re on the highway? Yep, not true here. There are trucks that drive 5 kilometers an hour and cars that race at 90 – overtaking is a necessary part of driving. All roads are single lanes, so the only way to do it is to move into the lane of oncoming traffic to pass the slow poke. Some drivers are exceedingly liberal overtakers and can cause panic in the lane of oncoming traffic. Often times, public transportation systems are culprits of liberal overtaking. They also tend to disregard the rules of the road in general…

4.     Piki Pikis: motorcycles here are a very common mode of transportation, especially within a city. They are cheaper than a taxi, faster than walking, and will stop wherever you want unlike dala dalas. Actually on one of my first days here, I took a quick piki piki tour around the city. It was my first time on a motorcycle, it was fun! (Don’t worry mom and dad – completely safe. We knew the driver and he went really slowly) But you’re right to worry - piki piki drivers can be crazy. They cut, weave, drive on sidewalks. They’re like snowboarders from hell on a ski-only mountain. They cause loads of accidents, loads of deaths, and are in general something to steer clear of.

5.     No Street Lights: Driving at night is dark. At first I thought that the other cars were keeping their brights on at night. Then one night Princely pointed out that the glare was in fact probably due to the lack of street lights – the utter blackness besides the headlights. It’s not something I noticed, but it makes a huge difference.

6.     Wipe or blink: Driving on the left side of the road is easy to adjust to, but it has taken me longer to grow used to the blinkers. They are on the outside of the steering wheel instead of the inside. Almost every time I intend to blink, the windshield wipers start dancing.

I don’t drive often here in Tanzania, but when I do it’s always bittersweet. It’s so much more efficient, but there are many adjustments to be made. The one that is most challenging for me is on purpose bump.  Still, I’m getting better and it’s encouraging, empowering even.

Wrinkles

Yesterday I learned how to hand wash. We were taking the day off of work to go to a funeral, but Mama and Baba left very early in the morning and I had no means of getting there. Instead, I spent the day working from home and cleaning the house because with two working parents and no house girl, things can get a little behind sometimes. I had some clothes that needed washing, so I learned how to hand wash. Mama Mkubwa, the woman who I wrote about a while back, the one with the distinct motherly charm, was helping in the garden that day and she showed me how. You fill a bucket with water and pour some detergent in and swash it around with your hands. Then you put the same colors in together (brights, lights, darks) and take the cloth in both hands and rub each spot against the palm of your left hand, right below your thumb. You do this for every part of the shirt or pants until they are clean, then you put them in a rinse bin with fabric softener for two to three minutes, and hang them out to dry.

It was tough work – it took me almost two and a half hours and I was sweaty when I finished. I didn’t realize until the next morning that the pressure against the corners of my finger nails made the nails cut into my fingers until they were all bleeding. Oddly, however I enjoyed it. It was soothing. The sound of the water lapping against the sides of the bucket was rhythmic and the cool shock of it sometimes splashing me was refreshing in the most base of ways. It felt good to know I had done it by myself – no help from a machine and that I knew how. The next morning I woke up early and proudly ironed the clothes to complete the process.

That same day, Princely told me that Mama Mkubwa had approached him about a month ago asking if he had any extra clothes because she knew of some teenagers in desperate need. I am leaving for home in just over a half month, so I was so glad that he turned her to me. I took Mama into my room and we sorted through my clothes and she took about half of them. I am going to give her some more on Monday when I go to Joy Girls because she will be at Zoe Babies, which is right next-door. It felt so wonderful – I gave her clothes and materials for the girls and then a new toothbrush and shampoo and body wash for her. It made her day.

Just as excited as she was to receive the gifts, she was sad at the mention of me leaving. She said that it’s like when a baby is adopted from Zoe, you’re so glad that they’ll have a family but it’s impossible to watch them go. This made my day. Those kids at Zoe are like her children, and to think that she associated me with them broke my heart in the happiest of ways. She said she would feel like something is missing when she comes to the Shoo home in December and I’m not there, and that visitors shouldn’t be allowed to stay for more than a month so that you don’t grow to love them.

I’m going to miss this place. Thank God I’m coming back…

Teaching Pics

Here are some photos I found of Princely and I teaching at Hope one day. These are the form 1 students. They are so bright. This was the first lesson we had with them and you can see that they are very interactive and attentive even on the first day.

Humpty Dumpty

So I told you all how last weekend Princely and I went to Machame village. We actually went again yesterday and saw some GREAT football matches…all upsets except for Arsenal who beat their rival Tottham (woohoo!!). Via Princely, I’m becoming quite the European football fan. We were the only people there, but it was really exciting and we got revved up with the staff. We were up in the village for a family funeral and the two of us slipped down to Protea, a small hotel in the area, afterward to watch the games.

Anyway, point of the story is I never reported back with evidence from our visit from last time. Well, we were working on our computers and the power went out about twenty minutes after our arrival, so our writing time was brief (instead we spent a majority of the time exploring one of the many beautiful rivers that flows from the peak of Kilimanjaro through Machame villages). In the time that we did have, we opened with a prompt: write for 15 minutes. Begin with a line from a nursery rhyme.

This is what I stirred up. I enjoyed the exercise thoroughly, though I felt my outcome was a bit too flowery and forced. The exercise reminded me of my time at Columbia a few summers ago, I completed prompts like this every morning in my time there. They always help me to get the creative juices flowing…

Humpty dumpty sat on the wall.

“Oh no. God, please no. Not tonight”

Humpty dumpty had a great fall…

“Please! Listen, see I’m using the magic word!!!”

Despite her desperate pleading the image grew like a balloon in her mind. The giant egg we call Humpty was a cream color wearing leg-o blue pants and a bright red belt. His legs were like soggy little French fries wobbling and occasionally knocking against the wall. His smile was crooked, like it was drawn on his face with the unsure fist of a five-year-old.

“I think I might barf.”

Slowly, the crooked pencil smile began to morph. It grew almost straight, almost white teeth, light pink thin lips and a tongue that clicked against the roof of this new mouth as Humpty sang. But this wasn’t Humpty, anymore. Not quite anyway. The face was a little more shapely, not petite and angular like hers but somewhere in between. Crimson hair was sprouting fast, fast from the apex of this creature’s head and it stopped singing for a moment to itch its scalp in confusion.

The girl tried to open her eyes. She commanded her muscles to tug from the inside but they were sleeping with her limbs. She instructed her mouth to scream, her toes to wiggle, her belly to itch, anything to force herself awake from this nightmare. Instead, her mind’s eye held reign. It continued to elaborate upon the features of this creature it had birthed. It developed blue eyes and even a freckled nose, though it looked quite out of place on the egg-like figure. The soggy French fries became boneless arms that served no new function.

 To be continued....

Post-Bump Acceleration

Today I taught Msufini again with Princely as my translator. The first half of the lesson was rough, but the second half was the best I’ve had with them.

The lesson itself was on the Power of Persuasion. I broke the lesson into two parts: attentive listening and simplicity (two key things to keep in mind when presenting a persuasive argument). So I spoke to the students about this and in the first five minutes, I noticed eight kids in the back of the class sleeping. Now, this is the class with 200 students so I shouldn’t have been discouraged, but I felt disrespected. It was an optional class, so I did not understand the logic behind showing up just to sleep right under my nose. I gave the whole lesson, but I received minimal feedback from the class and was unsure if any of my words were sinking in.

After the lecture, I opened up an activity. I began by calling out the kids who were asleep by telling them they should probably wake up and stretch out because they would have to get up and move in a minute. We began the activity, a full group debate activity, and only a few students were interested until I turned the topic to football. Then they were ALL participating saying this and that, ooing and awing at the arguments and rebuttals being shot.

I closed on this lesson and answered a fantastic student question at the end. I related my answer to the soccer players we were debating about and could feel the students clinging to my words.

Today I learned the importance of my own lesson: in order to persuade, you must read your audience. My mission today was to persuade my large and rather unenthusiastic class to listen to my lesson. As I begin to understand my audience’s personality and desires, status and points of reference, I am able to communicate with them more effectively and persuade them to listen to my teachings.

Today the two most effective methods of teaching were the incorporation of the Bible and football (soccer).  I’ll keep this in mind as I plan my lesson for next week.

Grade 1

Meet my Grade 1 students. Aren’t they sweet? These are some of the students I teach every Wednesday morning. This Wednesday I taught them about the importance of attentive listening and then we spent the second half of class working on a trivia activity. Next week, I think we will continue to learn about attentive listening and then do a little geography. The class is 80 minutes, which can be a long time for such youngsters, so I usually try to split it into two parts.

High School Here I Come!

Yesterday I saw Henlicky (the high school teacher for whom I taught Black History last Wednesday) in the hallway of administration. He stopped me to chat about his history class and asked me to come teach again next Wednesday. Yay! I am excited first of all because I loved teaching his class the first time – it is an intimate setting and a challenging and different topic from that which I usually teach. I am also excited because one of the girls from the class showed interest in giving me Swahili lessons in our free time. This concept excited me, but I did not remember her name so I did not know how to contact her. When I see her next Wednesday I’ll be sure to inquire about her offer.

Ain't nothing like a child

Meet my new friend

Pastors' Wives Conference

Okay so I'm two weeks late on this one...could be worse right?

The Saturday before last, Uzima hosted a conference for pastors' wives. There is a large community of married pastors in the area so we had a wonderful turn out. Mama and I co-taught a whole-day seminar for them. We spoke about beauty: I spoke about outer beauty and Mama then came in and supplemented my lecture with one about inner beauty. 

Often times women are told that inner beauty is what matters. This is true, but it is also true that our outer beauty can feed confidence to express beauty from within. This was what I spoke about to the pastors. I focused on three main avenues to physical beauty: nutrition, hygiene, and exercise. I began with nutrition by teaching them about the food groups and the nutrients that foods from each group tend to give you, highlighting how it is important to maintain a well-rounded diet. I also spoke about hygienic cooking and the science behind boiling water, peeling vegetables, and washing our hands before and after cooking.

Next I spoke about hygiene. This was the main topic because the need for hygiene education was greatest. After the presentation, I was told that the best part was that my teaching was relevant to their needs and lifestyles. For example, when talking about the specifics of bathing, I emphasized that it is important to use body soap instead of the soap that we use to wash clothes. The women also liked how I put a science-y edge on everything I taught. Instead of just telling them what to do, I explained why scientifically it helps your body thrive. For example washing your face at night does not only help you feel clean before bed, it clears the dirt and bacteria from your pores so that your face can breath and rejuvenate overnight.  

Many of the women took notes the whole time, which was both flattering and motivating

The final part of my presentation was on exercise. This was the curveball. Initially I planned to only speak about the importance of incorporating convenient exercise into your day. That is how exercise usually occurs here. People exercise by walking to work or cleaning the house. They stay fit by being active in a natural way. These women however wanted to learn muscle strengthening exercises and aerobics. Not only that but they wanted ones that they could perform in a culturally appropriate manner, this meant in their dresses. This is how the final thirty minutes of the seminar turned into Aerobics 101. I had them lunging around the lawn and doing arm reaches  to stretch their torsos. They LOVED it. 

We ended with a question and answer session that lasted for another 45 minutes. They had some wonderful questions, and thankfully they were all ones that I felt comfortable answering.

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed my part of the seminar and was glad to find that it was highly effective. After the seminar ended, Princely, Charity and I played football and had a jam session with the New Life students who came to play music during the breaks. We sang gospel songs til it got dark and the sky opened. We rushed all the instruments inside before they could get damaged from the rain and made popcorn as a snack for the students before they went home. 

One of my beautiful listeners