Thursday, July 26, 2012

Livin' and Lovin' T to the Z


It has been 3 months without a blog and for that I apologize! In the past three months I have learned a lot, accomplished a lot, and realized how much I truly love Tanzania! I have also realized while I really love what I do, my career and my sanity may prefer relief work, as opposed to development work.

The month of May went quickly. I did a lot of teaching! I really enjoy teaching English to my Form 2 students, and I think they appreciate my different teaching style. I have worked with them on English structure, writing and speaking. We've completed our first story book, and written letters. I was able to teach them during school vacation, and I truly enjoyed being the only teacher there, truly to teach, and from the heart. I wanted them to have fun, and learn at the same time; that doesn't happen to much in a typical classroom setting. I know they enjoyed learning with games just as much as I did. (And the winning team at the end of the week enjoyed their “blow pops” even more!)

I've also been teaching my Health Club with a counterpart (They have named themselves The Bright Star and we are working to register with FEMINA). We had a WONDERFUL session on gender, and the students loved it so much, we continued to discuss it the following week. Needless to say, that was my favorite topic and lesson. Those students will also be going to my primary school in two weeks to teach them the hand-washing and how germs spread lesson themselves. My principal at the secondary school was so enthused that she also asked them to prepare a skit. It's so true when they say our role as a volunteer is to simply facilitate.

When the kids return in September from their month long break for the census in August, we will be planting banana trees at the primary school and health clinic. The chairperson of my sub village volunteered to water the ones at the health clinic everyday, and just showed me there are in fact people interested in helping me, help them.

I am also doing a chicken project with the Women's Empowerment Group. The plan was to do a village wide training, and then build the coupe with the group (including a feeding schedule, growth management and financial management plan). Two weeks ago, I went to town with the President of the group, and we made the budget. I wrote the grant, submitted it to Peace Corps, and decided yesterday to retract it. (I was accepted to our Grants Committee as a peer reviewer of grants) and during training this week I realized I want to re-do my grant, and have them write it. When I leave, who will write a grant for them? Who will reach out to resources both in our district and region? I need to equip them with the skills to be able to do this. I'm going to start from the beginning, edit as needed, but have them write every piece of the grant, and see the steps involved. To me, this is capacity building; I shouldn't be doing it for them. While they did give input, I did the work. I'm really excited to make these changes.

Lastly, our Girls Conference will happen in February 2013. Our region has never had one, and this will be a lot of work, but we are all fully committed. I'm also really excited about this.

My garden is doing well, still volunteering at the health clinic, and trying to make educational posters to put up every month. I also have another project in the works-details to come in the next blog! :) Stay tuned!

Top 10 Things I LOVE about (peaceful, peaceful) Tanzania!
  1. When I go to a duka to buy phone voucher and there isn't any, they send someone on a hunt FOR ME to find it; everyone takes care of me, even in the big cities when they don't know me!
  2. Once I lost my phone, and the entire bus stopped to look for it, until it was found.
  3. I have lost my favorite Nalgene 3 times, and all 3 times it has been returned to me.
  4. I don't have to fear guns because no one in the village has one. I feel more safe living here than in the States.
  5. When I go to the market, my market mama always throws in extra vegetables, just because. (And I buy a weeks worth of food for about 4 dollars!)
  6. Life is simple! While time isn't of the essence and sometimes bothers me when I'm trying to get things done, things are stress free and calm. There aren't 1,943 things to get done in one day.
  7. Kids can make anything into a toy, and while we think they don't have critical thinking skills, I don't think they could get any more creative.
  8. All the awesome income generating activities that make great gifts :) I've gotten some lovely paintings, pottery made from clay in my village and jewelry that you're going to LOVE! Also in this category, the awesome craftsman that can fix ANYTHING for practically a penny (this includes clothes!)
  9. When I leave my village and return, you'd think I was arriving in my village for the first time; the kids take my bags to my house, my family makes me dinner, and every one greets me! (And my village bus makes sure I have seat number one, right in the front!)
  10. The genuine people, and the greetings! At first it was annoying to go through 5 greetings with everyone, (and the question “where are you going” still bothers me), but I really appreciate people valuing taking the time to sincerely say Hi! Random people on the streets, and in the village, will not only greet you, but welcome you to whatever they are doing (including eating!) Sharing happens all the time, and between a lot of people who don't have much. It's beautiful!