It's been about 19 days exactly since I
left Virginia to start this crazy Peace Corps journey. I'm not sure
if I can sum up the past 19 days, but I'll do my best. I should
start by first off saying I have had access to internet 2 times in
the past 19 days for 30 minutes. Maybe that will give you an idea
about how frequent my blogging will be. When I initially landed I
was quite excited. So excited I listened to Storms in Africa by Enya
as the plan landed. Youtube it :) My initial feelings were
happiness, anxiousness, curiosity, and slightly whole. I was anxious
and excited to experience the daily routine and life of a true
Tanzanian, looking forward to staying with my host family, and I must
say, quite excited to sleep under my mosquito net. Little did I know
my mosquito net would become my best friend and the next best thing
here in country. During my first few days at Msimbazi Center, which
is where we were lodged for 6 days before heading to home stay in
Muheza, I experienced my first bit of anxiety no one could relate to.
No matter where we went, until I spoke and people heard my accent,
they assumed I was Tanzanian. While different from India in that
Africans have seen African Americans, after speaking to two
Tanzanians in the internet cafe, it is not known to all that an
African Americans heritage can be unknown and trace extensively in
America. When asked where I was from “originally” my new friends
were not able to understand that for as far back as my family could
trace, my heritage lies within America. The final comment was “all
of us are from Nigera or here!” This was an interesting moment
because since birth I have always wondered my heritage and since
being here am comfortable with being American.
From Msimbazi we headed to Muheza. We all live in different villages with a small group called our CBT. I am in a village with three other FANTASTIC trainees who are like my family! I love them :) My village is Bagamoyo and it is really close and small. In less than 10 minutes of starting to wash clothes or even walk somewhere other than your house, everyone, including the other trainees hear about it before you can tell them :) Our village is unique from all the rest because we have sand while all the others are the infamous red clay. This is where I am currently staying, studying Swahili all day (8-5) from Monday to Saturday. (School is at my house!) It is quite the intense day and I have from 5 to 6:45 before the sun goes down to bucket bathe, help with dinner, and study. Yea right? I don't miss electricity until I think about all the things I could be doing after the sun goes down with a little bit of light. But the funny thing is Tanzanians generally take things, “pole, pole” which means “slow, slow” and I'm slowly starting to learning I don't have to do a million things in one day. Time is no issue here. (Although my mama wakes me up a 6am to start the day every morning). We get together as a large group (there are 41 of us!!!!) anywhere from one to three times a week :)
I have intensive Kiswahili training, but also do training for my technical job as a health educator. I am really looking forward to it. Yesterday I learned from a brilliant guy, Peter Jensen, how to build a perma garden. It is so rewarding to not only learn, but I will be teaching it to primary school children next weekend, building one at my home and hopefully teaching it to villagers. It is a method intended to provide a sustainable structure for gardening in this climate with dry, humid seasons. It captures and allows you to control water. If we as volunteers are able to share this with villages, we have the potential to have a direct impact on nutrition, specifically PLWHA (people living with hiv and aids).
Quick message about my homestay family: I have a million kakas and dadas (brothers and sisters). It seems everyone that comes to the courtyard or house is my brother, sister, aunt or uncle. I have two bibis (grandmothers) who are always here, and a wonderful mama and baba. My mama is so protective of me, won't let me walk to the end of the road without Jamesi (another volunteer) if no one familiar is in sight. I am slowly adjusting to my new rafikis (friends), ie creatures around here. You see something new and sometimes a little more scary every day. Interestingly enough, I think last night I received more ant bites last night than mosquitoes the entire time I've been here. Without looking in my can before dipping in my bucket, I unknowingly dipped my can full of ants in water, and then poured over my body. I reached to my back because I felt a bite, and looked at a hand full of ants! Me screaming MAMA followed, and without realizing I put all the ants in my clean water, we used the water to remove them. (Reason number 918203 as to why electricity at night is slightly beneficial, lol). Needless to say we finally removed them and I took another bucket bath. I have also befriended the rats living around my room, and luckily I have seen no buibui (spiders).
I can't wait to put up pictures. I haven't taken any because they tell us to get to know the family before pulling out electronics. I will however take many before leaving, and will post them. My house is cement although most in my village are clay. The front room is one of the village dukas (stores) and there is a short hall that leads to my room and outside. Outside is the choo, bucket bath area and kitchen. I try to help my mama cook almost every day. Mostly I just watch and study at the same time. We have a jiko charcoal stove. Its like 6in x 6in and about 6in in height. It sits on the ground; most days my mama also cooks on a stove made from stones and wood. Wood and corn cobs provide the heat to cook but that method smokes A LOT! I wash my clothes every Sunday and because my mom only lets me wash when I don't have school, I find myself recycling the same few shirts. I don't want to hand wash more than 3 skirts and 3 shirts at one time. Haha!
From Msimbazi we headed to Muheza. We all live in different villages with a small group called our CBT. I am in a village with three other FANTASTIC trainees who are like my family! I love them :) My village is Bagamoyo and it is really close and small. In less than 10 minutes of starting to wash clothes or even walk somewhere other than your house, everyone, including the other trainees hear about it before you can tell them :) Our village is unique from all the rest because we have sand while all the others are the infamous red clay. This is where I am currently staying, studying Swahili all day (8-5) from Monday to Saturday. (School is at my house!) It is quite the intense day and I have from 5 to 6:45 before the sun goes down to bucket bathe, help with dinner, and study. Yea right? I don't miss electricity until I think about all the things I could be doing after the sun goes down with a little bit of light. But the funny thing is Tanzanians generally take things, “pole, pole” which means “slow, slow” and I'm slowly starting to learning I don't have to do a million things in one day. Time is no issue here. (Although my mama wakes me up a 6am to start the day every morning). We get together as a large group (there are 41 of us!!!!) anywhere from one to three times a week :)
I have intensive Kiswahili training, but also do training for my technical job as a health educator. I am really looking forward to it. Yesterday I learned from a brilliant guy, Peter Jensen, how to build a perma garden. It is so rewarding to not only learn, but I will be teaching it to primary school children next weekend, building one at my home and hopefully teaching it to villagers. It is a method intended to provide a sustainable structure for gardening in this climate with dry, humid seasons. It captures and allows you to control water. If we as volunteers are able to share this with villages, we have the potential to have a direct impact on nutrition, specifically PLWHA (people living with hiv and aids).
Quick message about my homestay family: I have a million kakas and dadas (brothers and sisters). It seems everyone that comes to the courtyard or house is my brother, sister, aunt or uncle. I have two bibis (grandmothers) who are always here, and a wonderful mama and baba. My mama is so protective of me, won't let me walk to the end of the road without Jamesi (another volunteer) if no one familiar is in sight. I am slowly adjusting to my new rafikis (friends), ie creatures around here. You see something new and sometimes a little more scary every day. Interestingly enough, I think last night I received more ant bites last night than mosquitoes the entire time I've been here. Without looking in my can before dipping in my bucket, I unknowingly dipped my can full of ants in water, and then poured over my body. I reached to my back because I felt a bite, and looked at a hand full of ants! Me screaming MAMA followed, and without realizing I put all the ants in my clean water, we used the water to remove them. (Reason number 918203 as to why electricity at night is slightly beneficial, lol). Needless to say we finally removed them and I took another bucket bath. I have also befriended the rats living around my room, and luckily I have seen no buibui (spiders).
I can't wait to put up pictures. I haven't taken any because they tell us to get to know the family before pulling out electronics. I will however take many before leaving, and will post them. My house is cement although most in my village are clay. The front room is one of the village dukas (stores) and there is a short hall that leads to my room and outside. Outside is the choo, bucket bath area and kitchen. I try to help my mama cook almost every day. Mostly I just watch and study at the same time. We have a jiko charcoal stove. Its like 6in x 6in and about 6in in height. It sits on the ground; most days my mama also cooks on a stove made from stones and wood. Wood and corn cobs provide the heat to cook but that method smokes A LOT! I wash my clothes every Sunday and because my mom only lets me wash when I don't have school, I find myself recycling the same few shirts. I don't want to hand wash more than 3 skirts and 3 shirts at one time. Haha!
No comments:
Post a Comment