This month I have been off from school. The students have gone home for the holidays and many of the teachers at my school have also gone home to various places in the country. I have taken advantage of the time off to see some other volunteers, practice my Swahili and break into my village a little.
There is a student at my school who greeted me when I came on site visit and has become a good friend of mine since then. He noticed that I set up solar at my house and when he mentioned his family was planning to set up solar at their house I offered to help. As most things here, it took a whole to actually get things going so by the time they asked me to come to town with them to buy the supplies I had thought about it and I added one condition: I didn't want to set it up for them, I wanted to teach this student to set it up himself.
So I went to town with the student's mother and offered a little help in purchasing the supplies. A couple days later I went over to their house and showed the student how series and parallel circuits work, how to hook up the solar panel, how to add acid to the battery, and how to connect the switches and lights. I set up some of the first light, but after one or two he was an expert. Then he installed three more in various rooms in the house.
Many students here fail out of school for various reasons. Some have obligations at home (farming, cooking, cleaning...) and do not have time to study; others have families who do not emphasize the importance of education; some simply do not have lights in their homes and cannot study after sunset around 6. I'm hoping that helping this family get solar lighting in their house will give the kids a better chance at succeeding in school. And even if he does not become an academic, at least he has a trade now. He could probably help other villagers set up solar as a business now.
But in the process of helping this family out with their set up, I did get something in return. They have a small restaurant (really an "mgahawa" or what we might call a little smokey hut with a coal stove and some rice and beans) in the village and they gave me a handful of free meals and about 10 eggs from their chickens to say thank you. Along with the free food, this created a great opportunity to get into the village, show my face, get to know some villagers, and get better at Swahili!
I was in town a week or so ago and my driver told me that I was better at Swahili than the previous volunteer at my site (which is impossible, she was here for two years...). I don't think I believe that, but it is encouraging to hear from the Tanzanians that my Swahili is improving. I'm also getting better at acting like I understand things when I only understand a word or two...which probably isn't super productive.
Let's see... Other December stuff. I started a new batch of bucket wine. Coffee wine this time. I made some mango pineapple wine as my first batch and it turned out alright, but another volunteer made a coffee wine that turned out really well (like Kahlua) so I thought I'd give it a shot.
I'll post about New Years on Zanzibar soon!
Happy new year!
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