Wardenship

June 19, 2014

Peace Corps does a pretty good job of keeping us safe using many techniques including cultural integration advice, language training and warnings about unsafe areas. But they can't do it all, so they have us PCVs help out.

In each region there's a designated PCV called a Warden who is the primary contact for the main office's security team. I was recently appointed (for lack of a better term...) as Iringa's Assistant Warden. The current Warden is going to be leaving in December so I will take over then as the actual Warden.

Basically, we need to have ways of contacting all of the Iringa volunteers in case of an emergency and make sure people are safe.

The Warden's other responsibility is that we are the main force in developing new sites. If there is a village or school in the region that wants a PCV, one of us will make initial contact with the community and help them fill out the paperwork to help them get one.

Earlier this month, I was in Iringa for a training mostly about how to manage emergencies like natural disasters or political instability. Things that could become more relevant with coming elections and political clashes.

So that's another thing I'm doing now.

Holiday (Likizo): Part 1

June 19, 2014

I'm done with my first full semester of teaching here! It was a pretty good semester, but now I am enjoying some time away from the classroom.

For the first week or so I hung out at or around my site. I had some other volunteers visit me at my house. These visits frequently revolve around food and this was no exception. We made peanut sauce rice, pork tacos and baked coffee cake, brownies, banana bread and a chocolate cake.

Coffee cake

Tacos

Brownies

We also got into the village a couple of times to watch World Cup games. The villagers love meeting new guests that I have over and it's always fun to watch soccer in such a different environment than the sports bars that we're used to. I'll try and get a picture of the village bar where we watch games.

I have been working on an outfit to where for the Fourth of July here. Here is a sneak peak. More pictures after the event!

After my site, I went with another volunteer to a neighboring site for a night, where we checked out the health clinic and had some amazing home-made coconut curry!

Now I am in Iringa preparing for my flight up to Arusha tomorrow. I will meet my aunt, uncle and cousin up there and will travel for a few days with them. They have told me they want a cultural experience here so after being pampered in the touristy north, we will come down to my area and spend some time in my banking town and even a night at my house! They have been thoroughly warned, but somehow they still want to check it out.

Tonight I am just relaxing and watching some World Cup games in town and making reservations for when we return to the south. More on the secon half of break in July! Here's a pretty picture I guess.

Boys Conference

May 20, 2014

This last weekend four other volunteers and I helped to put on a boys conference for boys from our respective villages/schools. I brought some Form 1 boys who do well in school and participate actively. Others brought more Form 1 boys or boys from upper primary school.

We all got together at a venue outside of Mafinga on Friday mid morning and were there until late morning on Monday. The main purpose of this conference was to teach the boys about life skills and things that they do not otherwise learn in school. But the conference had other goals also. We all brought counterparts with us and they did most of the talking during sessions. This is partly because they can convey the messages in Swahili way more effectively than we (volunteers) can, but also because we want them to learn these topics and learn how to run a conference like this. As Peace Corps says, it's about building capacity.

During the conference we put on sessions about HIV, budgeting, studying science, gender roles, role models, puberty, goal setting, entrepreneurship, and other topics.

My counterpart and I helped mostly with the science, goal setting and HIV transmission sessions. The week before the conference we worked on what to teach during these lessons and we had some good information and activities to do with the students. So when we showed up we just had to make a few teaching aids and then got going.

Playing a math game with some students during the Shika na Mikono (hands-on science) session

Students with their straw tower for the physics part of the session

Teaching about gende roles. On the left: things that men do. On the right: things that women do. In the middle: things that both can do. Cooking, cleaning and raising children were all in the middle (wooooo!), but somehow pregnancy is only for men...

My counterpart teaching the session about making goals. When we talked about realistic goals we had to crush some dreams by telling them that they couldn't be president of the US because they weren't born there... Poor kids. But hopefully they have better ideas of what they want to do in life and how to achieve it now.

My counterpart helping to explain the goal setting activity.

The kids had a ball with the condom balloons during the HIV prevention talk.

Giving the students their certificates of completion for the conference!

Along with all of the learning we also had some good food...

...had a movie night (they loooooooove Cool Runnings!!)...

...and got some exercise while learning about health.

We also did some Insanity work outs with the kids one night and had a dance party with them after the graduation ceremony and some skits about what they learned. All the kids seemed to have a really good time and they kept asking if we could continue the conference all week. For some of them, this is the farthest they have ever travelled from their villages (~80 km), and the accommodations (hot running water, electricity, plenty of food and water...) are way more than they are used to. Even if they learned nothing from the sessions, just staying at a nice place like that might be motivation to work hard to have a better life.

The kids (and even the counterparts) made a handful of new friends from different areas in our region which was really great to see. In the beginning we had to force them to sit with each other, but by the end we had to work to get them back into their school groups for action planning.

The last session we had with them on Monday morning was Action Planning. This was a time for them to think about what and how they can share the information they got with their friends,the  school and their villages. What they learned is relevant to everyone at their schools and most people in their villages too. Unfortunately we could only bring a small number of them to the conference. So now they will plan and schedule a session to share what they learned.

This was a very cool project to be a part of. We got to share some vital information with these kids and it was easy to see how much they enjoyed it. It was a good break from the normal school environment that the kids are usually in. And it was awesome to see the counterparts taking on role model and leadership roles in the different sessions.

After the students and counterparts took off, the nuns who run the place told us that they make home made noodles, cheese and sausages there! So we checked it out and I got some cheese and noodles and will be eating mac and cheese all week!

Happy to find a new cheese supplier (it's not easy to find around here).

Welp. That was my weekend. Now one more week of teaching, a week of tests, and then it'll be June break! Half a school year down!

Soccer (Mpira wa miguu)

May 14, 2014

In an effort to integrate more into the community, I went to play soccer with some villagers at a field near my house yesterday. They play most days and sometimes have matches against other villages. I have heard them before and knew that they played but recently I've been getting invitations from various people in the village (the guy making a new door for my house, some older men who hang out in dark rooms and drink the local alcoholic bamboo drink, the guy I buy tomatoes from...), so I decided to check it out.

I showed up early (or they showed up late...I don't even remember which is which anymore) and only a few guys had showed up. We started to kick the ball around and play a little keep away. This went on as more people came. One of them was constantly blowing his whistle to tell everyone to come.

When more people showed up we stopped playing keep away and started getting organized for a scrimmage. They put me on the non-red team (I was wearing blue), and asked me where I liked to play. I said midfield. That was a mistake. I am in nooooo shape to be playing center mid like back in high school, so I slacked off a little and played more of a forward/midfield combo.

As we were playing, a bunch of villagers (all men) came to watch. Most of them know me or at least who I am and they would get excited when I did anything. It was cool to have a cheering section, but I also felt like I had to prove myself a little. I made a handful of rusty mistakes, but I made a few decent plays too and I even heard some on the sidelines telling them to pass to me more or to play more like the European guy (me, apparently).

The villagers aren't bad! I definitely got a good workout and have some competition. But they lack a lot of the more refined skills that I have learned from some great coaches over the years. Things like "you don't always have to go forward." Or "play the ball on the ground." Strategy is pretty non-existent here. So I hope to bring some of that to them once I earn my spot with the team. They could really benefit from some new drills, more movement off the ball, less kick-and-run, and a more in-shape midfielder.....

Other than the villagers who I just started playing with, I've also been recruited as a coach for the school team. With them, I have automatic superiority as a teacher. So whether they like it or not, they do what I tell them. They have similar problems to the village team - a general lack of strategy - so I have been running some drills with them to make them think differently about the game. Things to make them think more as a team when defending rather than as individuals. New ways to handle corners and free kicks in the offensive third. Drills where the "goal" is a number of passes rather than an actual goal. I think for most of them, the purpose of the drills is apparent and they enjoy the different style that it forces them to use. For others, they just think it's funny when I make the losing team do push ups.

I'm hoping to help organize a friendly between the village and school teams. I'm still at the beginning of my relationship with both of these teams so we will see where things go from here.

New Teachers

May 1, 2014

This past week, after our Easter/mid-term break, the teachers from  teacher training colleges got placed by the government at schools around the country. We had a meeting with the heads of departments to discuss this (I'm the physics head by default since I am the only physics teacher). We got 5 new teachers, which was nice, but 4 of them only teach arts subjects (history, geography, Swahili, civics...). Each of the arts subjects are covered already by at least 5 teachers that we already had, which I'm afraid will mean more bored teachers and not much relief for the busy science teachers. However, the fifth teacher we got is a math teacher! Which was exciting, but unfortunately this means that the Form II students which have gotten used to my teaching style and who I have built a good relationship with are now his students.

At first I thought of this as a bad thing. I like those students, I have become invested in their success, they are comfortable with me, and now they have been taken from me (or I from them) without any consultation, mid year, and they will need to adjust to a new teacher while preparing for their national exams in the fall (I'm going to stick to Northern hemisphere seasons). It's not fair to me or to the students.

But then I thought about it differently. After about a year and a half, I will be gone. Relying on outside assistance is not healthy for any country (see USA oil addiction), and although I can be an example of different teaching and classroom management methods, it is important to pass the torch, even if it is earlier than I had hoped.

With this new mindset, I have been looking at ways to be useful around the school with my new four-periods-per-week schedule (I will still be teaching Form IV physics). Work is popping up everywhere. My second master desperately needs help with Bio and Chem, the English teachers want me to help their students, and as a member of the Shika na Mikono committee I have been offering my help to any teacher interested in making science/math more interesting with hands-on tools.

Many of the volunteers in the older education class have told me that teaching is not the most important part of our job here. This has become increasingly clear to me. I have never been observed in the classroom by anyone since pre-service training in July. No teachers are learning anything from me while I am in the classroom. And while teaching seems to be my 'job' here, the title "education volunteer" does not necessarily mean "classroom teacher." If I can get teachers at my school to see the importance of teaching aids and hands-on learning, this behavior change would have a far greater impact on Tanzanian education over time than any teaching I could do in my short two years here.

In short, I'm trying to see this schedule change as a blessing in disguise. Less time with my students, but more time to make an impact in different areas. And who knows? Maybe I'll be recruited to teach even more periods now that I'm a free agent again.

Easter (Pasaka)

April 21, 2014

So Easter was yesterday and to celebrate I headed out to another volunteer's house not too far from me. There were 5 of us who went out all together. We had a lovely time making lasagna, garlic bread, coffee and coffee cake, and an Easter bunny cake...

...which turned quickly into an evil Easter bunny cake...

...but even with these great things and each other's company, the most eventful part of this Easter weekend was the transportation.

We left Makambako on Saturday at around 4:00 pm, only three hours after we had been told we would leave. It was just two of us starting out on the trip and we were relatively comfortably seated (many were standing) next to an openable window (not always the case) in the middle of the bus. To get to where we were going, most of the way is off te main paved road, which during the rainy season (now) takes a heavy toll. We weren't too surprised when we reached the dirt road and it started getting bumpy and less comfortable. But we kept moving along.

About an hour after we left Makambako, we hit our first issue. The bus had hit some wet, muddy road and the tracks of cars had dug ditches so deep that the bus was constantly bottoming out and/or threatening to flip over. So it was suggested that we get out and walk until the road got better. We walked for about two kilometers in this...

...while the bus led the pack of passengers. Kinda fun to play in the mud or a bit and not too big an inconvenience.

So we got back on the bus after kicking off some of the clay that had caked up on our feet. We kept driving for another 45 minutes. Then we stopped. We weren't anywhere. We just stopped... Apparently there was a truck in front of us? Or the road was bad? Some people got off to help with something... At this point we decided to take a nap for about half an hour until the bus started moving again. Not sure what that was all about.

At about 6:30 we arrived in a village along the way and picked up another volunteer who lives there. We continued on without many problems until the rain came. The rain came hard. It started leaking through the windows and down from the ceiling. I was pretty well protected being in an aisle seat but the bus also started to get much less comfortable as everyone closed their windows and the humidity and heat inside started to rise.

As the rain and heat began to rise and everything was getting super sticky the bus came to another stop. We waited...and waited......and waited……

Until finally one of the kondas (guy who sells the bus tickets and tells people to sit  closer together to fit more people) comes up to make an announcement. He says, "Tumefika. Tulale sasa" ("We've arrived. Let's sleep now"). Promptly after this announcement, the engine turns off and the lights go out. We hadn't arrived. Of course we were not sleeping in this sweaty, dirty, stinky, soaked bus. But maybe we would have to...

So we started working on our plan. From what we had heard so far there was an overturned or otherwise immobile car blocking our way. We had seen some smaller vehicles passing on one side of us but nothing our size. We called Lauren (the volunteer whose house we were going to) and asked her about our options. She said her headmaster has a car and she would call him to see if he could come get us. At this point we were only about 20 minutes (by car) away from her village so it wasn't that far to go.

Naturally, we had a small dance party in the bus aisle before gathering our belongings and moving to the front. The other passengers were starting to get antsy too and began to get off, and when we heard from Lauren that her headmaster was on his way we decided to get off and check out the situation in front of the bus. The rain had slowed to a light mist by now which made our night walk much more pleasant. As we passed truck after truck we began to understand why we couldn't pass. Nothing seemed overturned, but there was a line of at least 10 big trucks carrying logs blocking our path. We reached the end of the line and decided to keep walking and to meet the car along the road.

It was completely dark and we only had the light from our phones to light the muddy dirt road. We walked for about 30 minutes until we saw the headlights of the car and the headmaster pulled up and shouted "Joeli!" I had forgotten that we had met before at my swearing in ceremony and the following bus ride to Makambako. We were soon in Lauren's cozy living room drinking cocoa and eating toast. Only 6 hours after leaving town.

[[INTERMISSION]]

Then Easter...blah blah blah.... Nice things, happy times, fun games, lasagna, cake...

[[INTERMISSION]]

The day after Easter we woke up at 5:30 so we could catch the one bus that leaves from the village each day. The same bus we rode in on two days before. We hopped on at 6:20 with four seats towards the front of the bus for the (now) four of us.

As we passed the site where our trip went kaput on the way in, we were optimistic about our return trip. However things would quickly change for us.

About half an hour into the return trip we encountered a river. It wasn't normally a river, but today it was a river. And it was flowing straight across the road varying from about 6 to 15 inches deep. On either side of the road the water was even deeper. Our driver decided it would be good to try to pass through this river by putting the left side of the bus in a ditch on the side of the road, straddling the edge of the driving surface. We made it through most of the river with this strategy but as we were coming back up onto the road our tires started slipping. All we could do was look at each other and laugh as we felt the left side of the bus sink, its wheels digging themselves into a comfortable clay ditch.

The first few attempts at escaping had no effect on the bus's position. Once again we were asked to get off the bus, in hopes that the lighter load would help the effort to get back on the road.

We got off the bus safely enough, but had to trudge through a foot or two of water to do so. It was only misting as we waited and watched and laughed at our situation and the unfruitful efforts of the bus crew to get the bus to move. The middle of te bus had bottomed out on the edge of the road and the wheels had no traction to fight the friction of the axle scraping on the hard-packed clay.

After the first couple attempts, we noticed the bus beginning to tip further and further towards the ditch with each effort, and we remembered that we ha left most of our luggage in the bus. I ran back over to the bus, waded into it and passed the bags out the window to the others. By that time the water was even higher and I had this to wade through getting on and off:

Starting to understand our situation, we though about our options. Wait around for this bus (the only one we knew of that goes from Lauren's village to Makambako daily), try to return back to the village, hope that other unknown transportation passes and they have room for us... We decided to first find somewhere to hang and talk for a bit. After wading through the river, we noticed a tiny hut on the side of the road and decided to check it out. Some mamas invited us in for chai and some vitumbua (fried rice cakes). I think we might have been the first non-Tanzanians to eat at their little shop. They were pretty impressed with our Swahili skills.

As we discusse our options, we saw a truck pull up next to our hut and stop to size up the river. We finished our chai quickly and went out to ask for a lift. The driver said he had space and to meet him in front of the bus. So we waded one more time through the river, gathered our things and started making the trek to where the truck had told us to meet it.

The back of the truck had space for us and we hopped on grateful to be making progress again. And then, about half an hour later, we hit a bump and heard a hiss...

We all hopped out and waited about 20 minutes for this guy to jack up the car and replace the tire with a spare. We noticed then, that none of the tires had much tread, which may have led to our next obstacle. We hit the same place where we had to walk the previous day, and the bus bottomed out. We got out again, unphased this time by the minor inconvenience, and the pushing began to get the truck moving again:

The mud on the road stuck to our shoes quickly and became very slippery after a short time walking. When I saw a couple mamas asking some locals about passing this section of road on the side of the roa instead of walking right through it, I decided to follow. 

We headed off the road and asked for some clarification on how to get back to the road after a kilometer or so. The locals were more than happy to direct us and everything seemed simple enough.... But the path started taking us further and further from the road... Until we came upon some village. We continued and walked through back yards...

...farms...

...bushes, irritations trenches, and 7 foot grasses...

As we went on this 40 minute excursion, I was getting call after call from the other volunteers at the truck asking me where I was and warning me: 

Until I finally emerged just in time to see one of the mamas pull her underwear up after relieving her bladder on the side of the road.

The trip continued, and though I struggled to find a comfortable position

...sitting on the tailgate...

...or standing and constantly hitting my head on the crossbars, we moved along.

We continued through a few more lakes, countless bumps, and a detour to avoid the traffic police (who give fines for people standing in vehicles). And to top te day off, just as we were pulling into a gas station at the outskirts of Makambako, the truck puttered out of gas and coasted into the lot:

Needless to say, we found it necessary to celebrate surviving the trip by having a feast at our favorite restaurant in town. Only 7 and a half hours after leaving the village.

There's a new bar set for Easter adventures. Good luck, 2015.

Update: 9 Months

April 7, 2014

Well sheesh guys. That's 9 months. One third of my time in Tanzania (27 months) has gone by. One fourth of my time as a PCV (24 months) has passed. There's a new class of trainees that just came down to visit their sites last week just like I did in August. Here goes another quarterly update!

"My Job"

So my primary job hasn't really changed much since last time. Still teaching math and physics. But since January, I have taken on some new responsibilities. I am now on a committee called Shika na Mikono (hold with hands) which is a group of education PCVs who helps promote the use of teaching aids and hands-on activities in science and math classrooms. This means I will be spending some time away from my school doing teacher trainings, science fairs, and other conferences to spread ideas about science/math education. You can read more about that in my previous post.

At school, I have been continuing to teach as usual. My students took an interschool test a couple weeks ago which took away a week of teaching. Today was a holiday, so we have a four day week this week. The next week leads into Easter weekend so it will be a 3 day week. The following week is our mid-term break and that will bring us right up to May. Then it'll be a couple weeks of teaching, finals, and then our month-long June break (that 12 month Update is right around the corner). The school year is moving fast, and I'm starting to feel the pressure of getting these kids ready for their exams in October and November.

Along with my regular periods, I think I might need to take on a few more. The only other teacher who was teaching physics has been placed at a different school, which means I am the only person at my school "qualified" to teach physics. If I don't start teaching other forms (besides my Form IV students) they will not learn physics at all and they will have a lot of catching up to do next year. I'm not sure if it is true but I heard that out of all the graduates of all teacher training colleges in Tanzania this year, there were zero new physics teachers. Hopefully I can help get some of my students to want to be science educators here. They desperately need them!

"Life"

Life is pretty good these days. I am pretty well settled into my routine at school. I still procrastinate laundry day as long as possible, but cooking and bathing and other day to day chores don't take any thought. I had some house guests (other volunteers) this past week who got bored while I was at school and cleaned my house for me. That was pretty great, but we will have to wait and see how long it lasts. Knowing myself, probably not long.

A couple weeks ago my house got broken into and some things were stollen, including my computer and the battery for my solar setup. I had most of the important files on my laptop backed up, but it's still an inconvenience and definitely a little unsettling to know that there are people in my community who would do that to someone who is trying to help them. I got a new stronger latch and lock for my door and so far it has lasted one three-day weekend away. Hopefully the new hardware deters any other thieves. I reported the event to both the Peace Corps safety and security officer and also to the local police. They are optimistic that they will be able to find my things, but I'm trying to keep myself more realistic. We will see...

In other news, the student who I taught about setting up solar has been at work. He set it up at his family's restaurant and shop in the village and this past weekend he set it up at my teacher friend's house also. He is gaining some good experience and I am confident that he can easily turn that into a profit-making venture if he wants/needs to.

"Back Home"

I haven't heard a ton from home lately other than my weekly talks with my parents, but as I become more accustomed to things here, I have found more ways to keep in touch that don't require the 2 week delay that snail mail seems to have. I have a smart phone and can keep in touch via WhatsApp, Skype, FaceTime and other apps, which have come in handy a lot already. If you are interested in chatting, let me know!

I'm feeling a bit out of the loop on many of my friends' lives which is bound to happen being as far away as I am. I do appreciate every update I get though! It's going to be a long period of catch-up when I come home, so whatever can reduce that will be really helpful. That's all I have to say about that.

2 Biggest challenges right now

- Figuring out what I can do to make the biggest impact in my time here.

- Motivating myself to start studying more Swahili.

Here are some pictures of things that I've seen.

A shot from where we stayed during the Shika na Mikono training

Stormy skies coming towards my house

My old whimpy latches.

My pet spider!

Typical Tanzanian basketball court

My 24-month service calendar

Sunflowers by my house.