Pi Day / Science Day

March 23, 2014

All of last week and part of this week I was away from my school on my first Shika na Mikono event. I first went to Dar Es Salaam with three other volunteers to present at a Pi Day (3/14) celebration. The theme for the celebration this year was teaching aids, which made this a perfect event for our group. We got in to Dar with a day to spare and we used this day to prepare our setup. We went into the PC office after picking up some materials and began getting ready. We would have a few tables to set up on and students and teachers would be wandering around from station to station. We prepared a poster with information about Shika na Mikono, brochures, and a handful of math teaching aids to show off.

On the 12th we took our gear to the venue and set up in the morning. Whether out of curiosity of the Americans or the teaching aids at our table, many students and teachers came to our table.

Here are the other volunteers showing the students how to use these home-made tools to learn algebra, trigonometry, adding and comparing fractions, and how to play number line games to learn about positive and negative integers.

While I was teaching a group of students about coordinate geometry, an onlooking teacher was so excited about the teaching aids we were using that he asked if he could step in and help explain. I gladly passed it over to him as one of our major goals is to help local teachers to start using more hands on methods in the classroom. Hopefully this teacher saw the value in this and will use it to teach his students!

Throughout the day we had many many students and a handful of teachers come by to see what we were doing. I think the steady flow of students attests to the importance of using visual and hands on teaching aids in the classroom. Many teachers find students to be lazy or unattentive, but who wouldn't be lazy and unattentive if the teachers are just talking at you and writing on the board all day. I think it is really the job of the teacher to find ways to interest the students in what is being taught and to use whatever means are available to inspire the students to want to learn. The students gravitating towards our tables shows that there is interest in math, it just isn't always apparent in the methods frequently used in the classroom.

A good number of teachers did come by to ask about our teaching aids and we gladly showed them how to use them and emphasized how easy and inexpensive they are to make. The coordinate geometry tool was made from an old rice sack, some tape, a little cardstock, and a few bottle caps. The fractions tool was made from colored markers and some wooden barbecue skewers. Some of the most popular games we showed at this event are great tool for learning the order of operations an they only require a pen and paper to make.

The second day of this event was the actual celebration (3/14). The stage was all decked out, a group of students danced the "Makilikili," there was a four-piece Tanzanian pep band, a parade entrance, and the Vice President of Tanzania showed up (the four of us got to show him our teaching aids and shake hands with him).

The entrance parade

"Makilikili"

Our day 2 setup

Playing an order of operations math game

The event gave me and one other new Shika member a good first go at the kinds of events that we will be doing and to me it was a huge success. Partly because the students and many teachers loved our teaching aids. But also because we are gaining publicity and legitimacy in this country. Meeting the ice president, working with the Ministry of Education, attending a nationally televised event... The past year has been huge for Shika na Mikono. The current team has made strong connections with the governing bodies here in Tanzania and have begun to make a name for themselves. The ministry has brought them to teacher trainings and various events to spread the idea that anyone can create teaching aids and use hands on methods to help students learn science and math, even just using garbage.

After Pi Day, the four of us went to Morogoro to meet up with the rest of the group. This would serve as the hand-off meeting from the current Shika group to the new group from my class. We had discussions about what the old members have done in their service, where we see the group heading in the future, what projects we want to take on, what each of our roles will be in the group (communication with PC, the ministry, manual writing...), and many other things.

After finishing the internal meetings, we went to a nearby secondary school where another PCV invited us to do a "science day." We checked out the campus and got answers to some logistical questions and then began to brainstorm what we wanted to do for the students the next day. We broke off into math/physics and biology/chemistry subgroups and thought of what activities and demos to do the next day. After lunch we went back into town, bought the supplies we would need for the activities and went back to our hotel to start making the teaching aids.

The next day we went back to the school in the morning and set up. School was going on still that day so students were only able to come if they were allowed by their teachers. The PCV at the school allowed all of her classes to come, and another local teacher also let his students out to get some hands on experience with us.

At the math tables we did some of the same things as at Pi Day but we also added a puzzle game to give the students some spacial sense.

For biology the students played a game to learn about natural selection and did an activity to understand different types of motion (below).

For physics, we had the students have a competition of straw tower building, and a paper airplane toss.

In chemistry, the students learned about combustion (always fun). And in the end, one of the older members put on a show with "elephant toothpaste" (YouTube it) and some pyrotechnics.

Another successful event, and more good prep for us new members.

Here's a picture of the new group (minus one)

And here's the old group

Shika na Mikono

February 24, 2014

So within Peace Corps Tanzania there are different groups of volunteers. There are the obvious groupings based on our assigned jobs: Education (me), Health, and Environment. There are different "classes" which refer to which batch of volunteers you came with (July 2013 for me). There are also different club-like groups that you can opt into. One is called VAC which is a group of volunteer representatives who take our ideas to the administration. One is a group called the Peer Support and Diversity Network which offers support to volunteers who are having trouble adjusting to life/work here for any number of reasons. And one is called Shika Na Mikono (hold with hands), which is a group that offers support and advice to science and math teachers around the country.

They go to (and sometimes organize) conferences where they teach Tanzanian teachers to use locally available materials to make science and math topics more real for students with hands-on activities. They also hold lessons for volunteers during education pre-service trainings. There were also sessions from them during my early service training in January.

Shika Na Mikono is currently a group of 5 education volunteers. Four are from the education class above me and one is an extendee from the class above them. A few weeks ago I applied to be a part of this group and I was accepted last week! Peace Corps has decided to expan the group to 7, so six other volunteers from my class and I will be taking over the group when the older 5 end their service later this year.

The first event that this new membership entails is my going to a math conference in March. I will be going with one other new Shika member and two of the veterans to Dar Es Salaam to present teaching aids that are easy to make/obtain and use in the average Tanzanian school, and that we find helpful for students in the classroom. We will meet up before the conference to discuss ideas, and then we will head to the two day conference.

Directly following the conference in Dar, the four of us will meet the rest of the new Shika members and most of the older team in another town (on the way back to Iringa). There, we will have the official "hand-off" meeting. The new class of education volunteers will be arriving in July and we will be putting on some sessions during their PST. So the old Shika team will be teaching us all that they know in order to prepare us for that training, and our future in the group. We will also be putting on a "science day" for a local school  to give us new members a first shot at doing what we will be doing in this group for the remainder of our service.

Shika tries to have as much diversity in the different science fields as possible. Currently they have a member for physics, biology, math, chemistry and one representative for advanced level secondary schools. I will be the new physics guy, but as the group is expanding from five to seven, I'm not sure yet if I will be the only one. 

Anyways, I'm excited to have this new role! It should be a fun change of pace from the everyday stuff. It will mean that I will be spending more time away from my school and my students when there are conferences or trainings, but the current members have already shared some of their strategies for staying on track at their schools while they are gone.

I also see this as an opportunity to extend the impact of my service. Teaching at one school all the time can get discouraging and sometimes makes me question whether or not I actually have any significant impact on my students and/or Tanzania. The Shika group puts on trainings for teachers and schools around the country, and even has a healthy working relationship with the Tanzania Ministry of Education. This is an amazing chance to help lots of teachers improve their teaching methods, which, in turn, can really benefit their students. That's the idea anyway...

I'm sure there will be more on this in the future. Stay tuned.

Eat Like Me (Lunch)

February 23, 2014

I was just browsing my old blog posts and remembered that I left you guys hanging! Sorry if you've been eating makeshift peanut pancakes for breakfast lunch and dinner everyday since mid-November! Here's what I eat for lunch...every....day....

2 Cups uncooked rice

4 Cups water

4 Tbsp vegetable oil

3 tsp salt

3 cloves of garlic

1 small hot pepper (I don't know what kind they have here...)

2 small red onions

1-2 corrots

1 green bell pepper

4 medium tomatoes

Beans

I learned a kinda new way to cook rice here, which actually gives me much better results than I ever got on a stove in the states. Add the rice, water, half of the oil, and half of the salt to a pot. Cover the pot and put it on the jiko until the water reaches a rolling boil and threatens to overflow. Take the pot off of the jiko and put it on the ground. Cover the lid with a healthy amount of hot coals. If you skimp on the coals, the rice will be mushy. Then wait. Check it after about 15 minutes and stir up any standing water at the bottom. You should be able to just leave the rice in the pot with the coals to stay warm until you're done cooking the rest.

While the rice water starts heating up, you can start chopping up the veggies. When you take the rice off of the jiko, you can add some more coals (to replace what is now on the rice pot) and start cooking the veggies. I start by heating the oil and garlic. When the garlic starts to brown I throw in the onions and the hot pepper. I can't handle super spicy stuff so I don't bother cutting the hot pepper. It adds some flavor but doesn't overwhelm.

After the onions, sautée the carrots and  bell peppers too.

Once everything looks nice and I'm sufficiently pleased with the amount of sizzling I have heard, I toss the tomatoes in. Then I add the rest of the salt, about half a cup of water and I cover the pan.

Stir it every once in a while until the tomatoes have dissintegrated into a sauce. At this point you can also add some ground up peanuts (a new trick I learned here). It thickens things up and adds some protein.

Beans take forever. I cook a big batch at the beginning of the week and eat them throughout, just boiling them each time to sterilize them. Don't bother cooking dry beans in the states. Buy a can. It's not worth the wait.

Just throw the sauce and beans on the rice and eaaaat!

Well that's that. Give it a go if you want. It's pretty good.

Things these days

February 18, 2014

So. Again. It's been a while. Maybe this is the new trend now that things aren't as new and exciting. In a lot of ways I'm doing what most of you all are doing: wake up, cup of coffee (or tea), brush teeth, go to work, go home, cook something, bathe, watch a movie or read a book or do laundry or clean the house, or go visit other teachers/neighbors, go to bed, do it again! So as the things that make our lives different become more and more normal to me, I have been finding fewer noteworthy things to say about my world. Maybe this is where you all come in; if you have questions about life here please don't hesitate to ask!

Here are some things that might be interesting to you all.

Super Bowl!

I was all but completely unreachable for the whole week after the Super Bowl because of the time difference. You West coasters may be saying, "But Joel, the time difference is only 11 hours! And you're ahead of us!" That's true, but that's when you're not trying to get a torrented HD copy of the biggest TV event in America (yes, I'm assuming all of the Americas, Emma) on the other side of the planet without electricity or good internet. So, until we could get that and watch it together several of us blocked out email, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, CNN, and anything that could ruin the surprise for us. 

Instead of celebrating the good news that was soon to arrive in Africa, we got to planning the biggest and best Super Bowl party Tanzania has ever seen (which isn't especially hard or exciting to most US of Americans). We arrived in town on Friday after school and got our game plan for "Super Bowl Saturday" ready. The next morning we wasted no time. We hit the market and split up into groups to get dairy products, fresh produce, baked goods, beans, meat, and everything else on our list. Then we returned to the guest house and got going with prep. 

Washing, cooking, chopping, mixing, mashing, stirring... Until everything was ready. When we finished, we had bean dip, homemade corn chips, guacamole, pico, homemade chili, hot dogs, cheese dip, fruit salad, a veggie plate, ranch dip, brownies, and some Seahawks-color frosted cookies.

Just as we brought the food in and finished cleaning dishes, the rain started. Just in time for our 2pm kickoff time. We hooked the computer up to the guest house's TV, ordered some beers, and started it up.

I loved it from the very first play. #GoHawks

Unfortunately (or fortunately...) this specific torrent didn't have the Super Bowl commercials, but we did get to see the halftime show. By the end we were pretty tired and full, so naturally we capped the day off with a Jurassic Park marathon.

Market Friends

As many of you know (based on where you send my mail), I am often in my banking town to pick up mail, food, money or other necessities. I have been living at my site now for about 5 months and I have become a regular at many places in town. I have "a guy" for just about everything I buy on a regular basis. I have a "bwana karanga" (peanuts), "bwana mboga" (vegetables), "bwana vitunguu" (onions), "bwana mchele" (uncooked rice), and even a "bwana vocha" (cell phone credit). After a few times of visiting each of these guys (somehow they're all men... Does that make me sexist?) they have become very friendly! They give me the local prices (which is a problem for many tourists and other foreigners) and often throw in a "zawadi" (gift). My peanut guy will give me a couple of ginger roots or some garlic. My onion guy tosses in a few extra just for the consistent business and a brief chat with a white dude. My rice guy is good friends with most of the teachers at my school and let's us leave our bags behind his counter while we shop around so we don't have to carry them everywhere. And my veggie guys have even made a habit of sitting down and sharing a cup of "chai ya maziwa" (tea made with milk instead of water) and some conversation.

These new relationships makes me feel more comfortable at the market in town than I do at my local Albertson's in Olympia. Even those who I don't regularly interact with personally, recognize me. And though they still think I'm some weirdo mzungu (white person/foreigner), they have seen me enough to know that I'm not going anywhere for a good while.

Time

I've been thinking about time over here. Because it's kind of weird. I got here at the beginning of July last year so it's been over 7 months since I got to country. I'm over a quarter of the way done with my 27 month service, but I still feel new here. I've been teaching and making friends and sharing ideas, but I certainly haven't done or started doing anything groundbreaking. These 7 months have flown by, which I think I have chalked up to the slow pace of life here. Everything I do here takes way longer than it does in the states. I've become accustomed to making 3-4 hour trips on a regular basis to meet up with other volunteers; in the states I would plan days or weeks in advance to meet up with someone an hour or two away. I don't have the distractions that we do in the states so I feel like I have loads of free time, but in reality that "free time" goes to every day tasks like washing clothes or cleaning up the house. So what I'm saying is that because my time is consumed by things that we generally do not think of as major "time consumers," my time here has gone by quickly so far. In comparison, when I think of my time at UP during busy dead weeks, they used to drag on forever. I had so many things to study. One day I might spend 3 hours at work, then a few hours writing a report or a paper, a couple hours studying, then maybe I would go to the store for groceries for 40 minutes, cook and eat dinner in half an hour, study for another hour, and then go to sleep. Here it takes me an hour to get to town for food, and the car that brings me to town doesn't leave town until 3 pm, so I'm generally stuck in town for the whole day, if not the night. Cooking requires waiting for 15-20 minutes just to get the charcoal going, then some veggie prep, waiting for rice to cook and then cooking veggies, and even longer if I'm cooking beans. The things that consume my time here are things that I don't even consider accomplishments in the states. If I swept around my house, did laundry, cooked, weeded my garden and bathed here, it would be a full day. But in the states...well...I don't need to tell you. Ha. Tasks consuming time = time moving fast.

Garden

So they use corporal punishment a lot in schools here. When students are late, skip class, don't do homework, or really any reason the teachers thing is worthy. So I try, when I can, to offer alternate ways to give punishments. One day when some kids were going to get hit, I told the teachers that I had some work to be done at my house and to send them I me instead. So they told the students to come to my house with their hoes. I had a forest of weeds in my courtyard after being gone for break and then for training, and the neglect was showing. So the students came and went to work on the weeds. When they were finishing up, I asked if they knew anything about gardening and told them I was interested in planting some tomatoes. They said they did and began to cultivate a garden for me. Most of my students help their families in the farm a lot, and if they don't, they frequently help out in the school farm. So they know how to cultivate. They made me this beautiful plot and helped my stupid mzungu self plant some tomatoes. Only time will tell if can keep them alive!

Also, here's some charcoal that a guy brought on a bicycle. Two huge bags. Impressive.

Ok. That's good for now, right? What else do you want to hear about?

This is me riding home from school a couple weeks ago.

EST (Early Service Training)

January 23, 2014

Blah blah blah... Sorry about the long time between posts... Blah. 

So.... From the 13th to the 17th of this month all of my class (all of the education volunteers who came to Tanzania with me) was in Dar es Salaam for what they call Early Service Training (EST). And, it just so happened that the class above me (the health/environment volunteers who arrived in October of 2012) were also in Dar for their Mid-Service Conference (MSC). So there were about 80 volunteers at the same hostel/compound for a good chunk of the week. It was really fun to meet up again with my class even though I had seen most of them during our December break. And it was cool to meet some new people too from the other class. I already knew some who live in my area, but many I had never met before.

This was the first time PC Tanzania has had two trainings simultaneously at the same place. I'm sure it was hectic for them logistically but I think we all got a lot out of it. The health and environment volunteers have a much different experience than we Eds do. A lot of what they do for their primary projects is what we do for our secondary projects (teaching being our primary job). Being around them during training helped us to share ideas and make friends with people who could potentially show us the ropes when it comes to digging wells or starting a sustainable garden or promoting HIV/AIDS awareness.

Along with sharing ideas with the other volunteers, we had sessions every day about different topics. We learned how to apply for grants, how to send in the formal quarterly volunteer report, how to bring hands-on activities into the classroom with a very limited budget, and various other things.

Along with learning new tools for teaching and helping our communities, we had a chance to talk about our concerns and hopes. It was really nice to hear other volunteers bringing up concerns that I had. Things like trouble integrating into the communities and language skills. Site can be so isolating that it is easy to forget that there are forty of us going through the same things, not to mention the other classes at various stages in their service who have been where we are.

Towards the end of the week we had counterparts come to attend some sessions. Each volunteer in my class asked someone from their school to come. I asked a Swahili/Geography teacher to come. He has become a good friend of mine at school and just around site. They attended different sessions for most of the time. I'm not sure exactly what Peace Corps was telling them... I think just stuff about volunteers, how to handle the weird stuff Americans do... I don't know. But we also had some sessions together. We had a session where we rotated from topic to topic and discussed things like corporal punishment and integrating into our school communities. We shared ideas about how to handle these kinds of things. It was really cool to get the perspectives of some of the Tanzanian teachers. Having such different backgrounds from us, they often came up with ideas I never would have thought of.

Here's a picture of me and my counterpart!

And some of the other counterparts...

After all of the sessions and after the counterparts had gone, a couple volunteers in my class planned a "Prom" for Friday night before we all went back to site on Saturday. They rented out a portion of a rooftop bar in downtown Dar. Most of the volunteers from both classes went. It was so fun and different to be out with such a big group of Americans. There were probably about 60 of us up there. There was a DJ, a fish tank, hookah, air conditioning... I even had sushi. Woah.

I forgot how nice it was to go out with a big group of friends and not care about anything. It was a huge blast and a definitely a great psychological outlet. 

I think this is the only picture I got from up there...

So that was exciting. Now I'm back at site. Feeling rejuvenated. And restocked with new tools for what will hopefully be a successful year! (It's weird to think that this will be my only full school year here)

Update: 6 Months

January 4, 2014

Hooooo man! It's been 6 gosh-darn months since I got to this country in July (ok I'm a couple days early.. whatever). Oh how the time has flown. Here goes another quarterly update on life here.

"My Job"
Lately my job has been a little less defined since I have had the past month off of school for December break, but during October and November I was teaching 26 forty-minute periods each week. I taught Form I Math and Form III Physics and it was good for the most part. It was really nice to get better acquainted with the students and teachers at the school along with gaining some more experience in the classroom and  writing my first tests. I will get to teach the same students as they move up to Form II and Form IV this coming year, which I think will help a lot. They are starting to get used to me and I'm certainly getting more comfortable with them but I am still trying to figure out what works for the classes and I hope to hone in on what works for individual students' learning styles. I have heard from other volunteers that after holidays, the students (and sometimes the teachers even) don't show up for a few days or even a couple weeks after school is to open. I don't think there will be much I can do about that, so I'm preparing myself for that delay. Hopefully it does not cause any major disturbances, other than cutting off precious classroom time. I started making my scheme of work for this term and I feel that I have a much better idea of what is realistic now that I have taught for the few months that I have.

"Life"
Life here has its ups and downs. It's easy to get upset about stupid stuff and just brood over it for hours (or days...), but I'm finding good strategies to get past the lows. Guitar helps a ton just as it always did in the states. Also, watching a movie or TV show, cooking some familiar food, calling another volunteer or reading a book can take the mind off things and put everything back in perspective.
The good news is, everyday life here seems less like survival like in my previous Update and more like actual life. Chores still take forever; I still don't have a shower; I still cook on the floor; but I am becoming accustomed to the simplicity of things.
Along with that, I have gotten a lot more comfortable with the transportation system here. It's wild, but now that I'm used to it, at least it isn't terrifying. I have had a chance to see 5 or 6 other volunteers' sites and have been exploring the country more with the time off of school and it is all becoming much less intimidating and much more fun! I got a chance to go on safari, spent Christmas with other volunteers, and spent NYE on the beautiful island of Zanzibar! All of which were tons of fun and gave me much needed transportation experience (not to mention loads of new friends).
I feel I have also become closer with my village over the last three months. One of the students at my school invited me in with him to his mother's little restaurant where there was a constant flow of locals coming in and out to eat. I talked with a lot of them the handful of times I've gone in since and they have all been very welcoming and patient with me as I do my best to understand them and respond in turn. Later on during the break I helped this student set up a solar system in his house and taught him to do it along the way. His mother ensures me that this will enable him to study more at night. Hopefully he will take advantage of that!

"Back Home"
This "quarter" if you will, is a pretty tough one being so far from family for the holidays (and my birthday coming up in a few days). But the volunteers who have been here for longer know how that goes and have really set the bar high for next year's holiday season. I spent Thanksgiving, Christmas and NYE surrounded by so many wonderful people in the same situation that I'm in and for that I am grateful and though I miss everyone back home very much, I was in good company. That said, I was able to talk on the phone with much of my extended family over Thanksgiving and Christmas and it was so good to hear all of your voices again!
Over the past three months I Skyped for the first time since getting here with one lucky friend (you know who you are!), I got a smartphone delivered from the states, and I got many many letters from you all! Hopefully it was the first of many Skype dates with family and friends. The phone should help me keep in touch with you all (Whatsapp, iMessage, Facetime, Skype, facebook...). And the letters are lovely little two week time capsules from your lives.

So much Christmas love!

2 Biggest Challenges Right Now:

- Creating a relationship with my community

- Finishing Oliver Twist...

 

Well there ya go guys! I'll get up a post on my NYE soon! It was wild. Stay tuned. Here are some pictures.

 

 

Some pictures I took in Iringa on the way back from Zanzibar.

 

Dar Es Salaam has Subway and it was everything I remembered it to be...

 

Stonetown on Zanzibar.

 

Street food in Stonetown. They call them Zanzibar pizza.

 

Ferry from the mainland to the island.



Sunset in Stonetown.

 

 

 

Christmas

December 27, 2013

Being on vacation has been a really nice break from school, an opportunity to get into my village a little more and a great chance to see some other volunteers. But also, this time of year is a time that is usually spent with family back home so I have definitely been missing that. That said, I had a great time with my new friends here over Christmas!

On Christmas Eve I had my first shower in the rain ever. I highly recommend it. Two other volunteers and I got in our shorts and got clean out in the rain as it poured off the tin roof!

I spent the holiday at a neighboring site with about 8 other volunteers. And thanks to some really great planning by our host we had many of the Christmas comforts we would have otherwise been missing: a Christmas tree, stockings, egg nog, Christmas music, puzzles, a gift exchange, games and a feast!

On Christmas we went into the village and watched a soccer game. While we were setting up some chairs to watch the game a big group of village kids came and stood in front of us to watch this big group of white people in strange clothes and a radio blaring "All I Want for Christmas is You." We played some hop scotch with them in the path along the field and eventually drew a new hop scotch....uh...course? pitch? court? whatever it is... behind our chairs so that we could keep watching the game. The good guys won and after a few pictures with the teams (sorry I don't have them yet) we returned to the house and made a fire and had s'mores!

After Christmas I headed back to site briefly and then it's off to Zanzibar for New Years!