This is my last post from Morogoro.
On Monday we get on a bus to go to Dar es Salaam for a day of debriefing with the staff and Zanzibar volunteers. Then I get on a plane for Montreal. I'll be in Montreal for six days and back home on November 29th.
This past week has been filled with goodbyes. We had our last English and Computer class which Nicole and I filled with a review activity and the post-tests. (Michael was recovering from malaria, but he is now feeling fully recovered!)Then on Thursday we had the final graduation for those that had attended enough classes to get the certificate. It was great to be able to recognize their hardwork. Then we took a bunch of pictures with the students. On Wednesday we took the Good Governance class on a fieldtrip to learn about Governance in Tanzania and also had post-tests and a graduation ceremony. We also stopped by the drama practice to say goodbye.
Yesterday we went to the Faraja Trust Fund meeting (our partner organization, a local Tanzanian NGO) where they gave us certificates of appreciation and t-shirts to thank us for our work. It was really sweet. Then we had our regular YCI weekly meeting where we debriefed the week and got our personal evaluations (mine was surprising similar to my Emotional Intelligence results for those of you reading from the SPDC so I think Makho was pretty accurate). Finally last night we went to dinner at the Oasis Hotel with the YCI staff. It was probably the best meal we've had since leaving Canada so it was definitely a nice evening. We also saw tons of bats flying overhead and frog decided to hang out under Makho's chair so it was a cool night.
This weekend we're just saying our goodbyes to our families and packing.
I'll try to post at least once more about my time in Dar es Salaam and Montreal.
Thank you to everyone who has been reading this! I've loved hearing from all of you and it's really helped me feel connected to life back in Canada. I can't wait to see you all in person in just over a week!
Love, for the last time, from Moro!
Melissa-
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Monday, November 16, 2009
Busy Week
Hello everyone!
This last week has been quite busy so I'll just give you a quick update. I can't believe how quickly the time has gone! In one week exactly I'll be landing in the Amsterdam airport for a six-hour lay-over before I get on a plane to Montreal!
Last week was our last normal week of programming. This week we are mostly doing post-tests to help access what the students have learned during our time here and graduation ceremonies, as well as a visiting the drama club one last time to say goodbye and having a debrief dinner with the Morogoro YCI staff. Then we have a free weekend (no plans yet but I'm sure it will be filled with goodbyes) and Monday we get on a bus to meet up with the Zanzibar staff and volunteers in Dar for another debrief session. Then that night Stephanie, Nicole, Tyler and I all head to the airport to catch our flights (Michael is traveling after and Evan's plane leaves Tuesday evening).
The Side Street School class that Gasto teaches with the help of Michael and Nicole ended last week. For English class I finished up the curriculum that I'd drawn up during the first week here (seems like so long ago!) on Tuesday and was going to do review on Thursday. The problem was that we were locked out of our classroom and the Basic class had to leave early to go to the Internet cafe for a practical Computer class. So the few Intermediate students that showed up (it was raining so many students stayed home) and I all sat in the Chamwino Youth Center office having discussions to practice their English. I asked them questions and had them ask me questions. It was actually really great because at one point I told them that they could leave because we'd been working for an hour and they all asked if we could practice some more! It was really great for me because I know for most of these students the Computer class is way more interesting and exciting for them (most of them have never touched a computer before this class) and yet here were these students wanting to stay for extra English practice! :) I've been trying new ways of making the class more interactive and exciting for the students including silly variations on Simon Says and giving them skits to act out. The skits have been great because the students really enjoy it and some of the shyer students have become more outgoing and will speak in English in front of the whole class! The English class has definitely been the class with which I've had the most responsibility and therefore the changes that I'm seeing are the ones that make me the most proud. Two students from the last phase's Intermediate class were able to get jobs because of the skills that they had learned so I look forward to hearing about what lies ahead for the students we've been working with.
For Good Governance on Wednesday we had a guest speaker come to talk about Women in Governance. Then Michael and I taught about Governance in Canada. We talked briefly about things like the structure of the Canadian government, Quebec separatists (which is similar to Zanzibar wanting to separate from the rest of Tanzania) and the Sponsorship scandal as an example of corruption in Canada. Then we did an activity where each group was given a short description of a different canadian province/region (including relative size, resources, main issues etc.) and they had to come up with two laws to present to the group that would be a benefit to their area. The students actually did really well, some even identifying needs in their province that weren't clearly explained in their notes (ex. one girl representing BC talked about the need for services in rural communities).
On Friday we had our last HIV outreach event, a talent show in the local community of Mafisa. We did condom demonstrations, handed out information booklets (which people wanted so badly that they were pushing and grabbing so badly that Gasto had to grab the booklets and run away until they calmed down!) and Michael participated in one of the skits on condoms that we've helped with in the past.
Outside of programming, our homestay family has been great. Our Mama was telling us that soon we will be in Canada and that we will see our mothers and they will give us big hugs. Then she told us that she would miss us! We told her that we would miss her too. Nicky has been totally full-of-beans lately so we've been having lots of fun chasing each other around the courtyard. We've had pasta a few times recently as our Mama is trying to feed us some Canadian food which is really sweet. Unfortunately no one has had the heart to explain to her that we don't usually just eat cooked noodles so we've been having plain spaghetti noodles. It's still good and reminds me of home and I'm touched by the effort that she and the whole family has made to make us comfortable.
On Saturday Nicole and I took the bus into Dar es Salaam to attend our homestay brother Paulo's college graduation. He had invited us because his family couldn't attend. He met up with us in Dar and we took two daladalas and a ferry to get to his college. He graduated with a diploma of Economic Development. He was so happy and kept telling us where we could take pictures of him "if we wanted to". :) The president of Tanzania was supposed to be the guest of honour which would have been cool but he wasn't able to make it. In true Tanzanian fashion, the ceremony started two hours late but Nicole and I found a spot to sit and read until it started. Now Paulo is working towards a Bachelor of Economics and is hoping to move on a get his Masters and PhD so he can be a college professor. It's really exciting for him and his family and we were glad that we could go and take pictures to show them. I brought a picture frame from home intending to give it as a gift along with a picture of us and the family so we'll definitely also be printing off some pictures of the graduation to give them as well.
After we got home from the graduation Michael, Paulo and I went to a local club (which they call a disco) and met up with Makho and his girlfriend Maggie. It's really just a big open space with some tables and chairs playing lots of R&B, Bongo Flava and House music. We danced for quite a while and it was a lot of fun. Last night Nicole, Michael and I decided to go out for dinner so we walked to a restaurant called Dragonnaires hoping for pizza. Unfortunately they only have pizza on Fridays so we had pasta instead but it was still good. However Michael wasn't feeling well so after we got home he went to the hospital with Makho and it turns out he has malaria! Malaria, if caught early and properly treated, is just like a bad case of the flu. Michael's already feeling a little better this morning and will hopefully be fully recovered in a few days. Malaria is really a problem for those who can't afford to see a doctor and get the appropriate medication (which costs about 15,000 TSh, less than $15 Cdn).
Sorry for the long post. This past week has been super busy writing up Final Activity Reports. I'm still finishing up Lesson plans for all my English classes and then on Friday we'll have to submit final drafts of our Reports and our Creative project (a photo slideshow from our time in Tanzania, this is something the YCI staff in Toronto use for marketing).
I'm very excited to see all of you when I get home in less than two weeks! I've still got some time before I see you so keep those e-mails coming! I love hearing about life back in Canada.
Love from Moro,
Melissa
This last week has been quite busy so I'll just give you a quick update. I can't believe how quickly the time has gone! In one week exactly I'll be landing in the Amsterdam airport for a six-hour lay-over before I get on a plane to Montreal!
Last week was our last normal week of programming. This week we are mostly doing post-tests to help access what the students have learned during our time here and graduation ceremonies, as well as a visiting the drama club one last time to say goodbye and having a debrief dinner with the Morogoro YCI staff. Then we have a free weekend (no plans yet but I'm sure it will be filled with goodbyes) and Monday we get on a bus to meet up with the Zanzibar staff and volunteers in Dar for another debrief session. Then that night Stephanie, Nicole, Tyler and I all head to the airport to catch our flights (Michael is traveling after and Evan's plane leaves Tuesday evening).
The Side Street School class that Gasto teaches with the help of Michael and Nicole ended last week. For English class I finished up the curriculum that I'd drawn up during the first week here (seems like so long ago!) on Tuesday and was going to do review on Thursday. The problem was that we were locked out of our classroom and the Basic class had to leave early to go to the Internet cafe for a practical Computer class. So the few Intermediate students that showed up (it was raining so many students stayed home) and I all sat in the Chamwino Youth Center office having discussions to practice their English. I asked them questions and had them ask me questions. It was actually really great because at one point I told them that they could leave because we'd been working for an hour and they all asked if we could practice some more! It was really great for me because I know for most of these students the Computer class is way more interesting and exciting for them (most of them have never touched a computer before this class) and yet here were these students wanting to stay for extra English practice! :) I've been trying new ways of making the class more interactive and exciting for the students including silly variations on Simon Says and giving them skits to act out. The skits have been great because the students really enjoy it and some of the shyer students have become more outgoing and will speak in English in front of the whole class! The English class has definitely been the class with which I've had the most responsibility and therefore the changes that I'm seeing are the ones that make me the most proud. Two students from the last phase's Intermediate class were able to get jobs because of the skills that they had learned so I look forward to hearing about what lies ahead for the students we've been working with.
For Good Governance on Wednesday we had a guest speaker come to talk about Women in Governance. Then Michael and I taught about Governance in Canada. We talked briefly about things like the structure of the Canadian government, Quebec separatists (which is similar to Zanzibar wanting to separate from the rest of Tanzania) and the Sponsorship scandal as an example of corruption in Canada. Then we did an activity where each group was given a short description of a different canadian province/region (including relative size, resources, main issues etc.) and they had to come up with two laws to present to the group that would be a benefit to their area. The students actually did really well, some even identifying needs in their province that weren't clearly explained in their notes (ex. one girl representing BC talked about the need for services in rural communities).
On Friday we had our last HIV outreach event, a talent show in the local community of Mafisa. We did condom demonstrations, handed out information booklets (which people wanted so badly that they were pushing and grabbing so badly that Gasto had to grab the booklets and run away until they calmed down!) and Michael participated in one of the skits on condoms that we've helped with in the past.
Outside of programming, our homestay family has been great. Our Mama was telling us that soon we will be in Canada and that we will see our mothers and they will give us big hugs. Then she told us that she would miss us! We told her that we would miss her too. Nicky has been totally full-of-beans lately so we've been having lots of fun chasing each other around the courtyard. We've had pasta a few times recently as our Mama is trying to feed us some Canadian food which is really sweet. Unfortunately no one has had the heart to explain to her that we don't usually just eat cooked noodles so we've been having plain spaghetti noodles. It's still good and reminds me of home and I'm touched by the effort that she and the whole family has made to make us comfortable.
On Saturday Nicole and I took the bus into Dar es Salaam to attend our homestay brother Paulo's college graduation. He had invited us because his family couldn't attend. He met up with us in Dar and we took two daladalas and a ferry to get to his college. He graduated with a diploma of Economic Development. He was so happy and kept telling us where we could take pictures of him "if we wanted to". :) The president of Tanzania was supposed to be the guest of honour which would have been cool but he wasn't able to make it. In true Tanzanian fashion, the ceremony started two hours late but Nicole and I found a spot to sit and read until it started. Now Paulo is working towards a Bachelor of Economics and is hoping to move on a get his Masters and PhD so he can be a college professor. It's really exciting for him and his family and we were glad that we could go and take pictures to show them. I brought a picture frame from home intending to give it as a gift along with a picture of us and the family so we'll definitely also be printing off some pictures of the graduation to give them as well.
After we got home from the graduation Michael, Paulo and I went to a local club (which they call a disco) and met up with Makho and his girlfriend Maggie. It's really just a big open space with some tables and chairs playing lots of R&B, Bongo Flava and House music. We danced for quite a while and it was a lot of fun. Last night Nicole, Michael and I decided to go out for dinner so we walked to a restaurant called Dragonnaires hoping for pizza. Unfortunately they only have pizza on Fridays so we had pasta instead but it was still good. However Michael wasn't feeling well so after we got home he went to the hospital with Makho and it turns out he has malaria! Malaria, if caught early and properly treated, is just like a bad case of the flu. Michael's already feeling a little better this morning and will hopefully be fully recovered in a few days. Malaria is really a problem for those who can't afford to see a doctor and get the appropriate medication (which costs about 15,000 TSh, less than $15 Cdn).
Sorry for the long post. This past week has been super busy writing up Final Activity Reports. I'm still finishing up Lesson plans for all my English classes and then on Friday we'll have to submit final drafts of our Reports and our Creative project (a photo slideshow from our time in Tanzania, this is something the YCI staff in Toronto use for marketing).
I'm very excited to see all of you when I get home in less than two weeks! I've still got some time before I see you so keep those e-mails coming! I love hearing about life back in Canada.
Love from Moro,
Melissa
Monday, November 9, 2009
Safari!
Saturday the Zanzibar volunteers traveled to Morogoro where we got picked up for our safari at Mikumi National Park. We arrived at the park in the afternoon for our first game drive. We all figured it would be hard to see animals and we would have to keep our eyes peeled and maybe we would catch sight of some cool animals. This was certainly not the case. There were animals everywhere! Once we were in the park we saw lions, elephants, giraffes, buffalo, zebras, baboons, antelope, red-backs, hippos, crocodiles and various birds. We got out of the truck at the hippo pool to watch the hippos and the crocodiles.
It was pretty funny because my homestay family is always playing these gospel music videos where all of the choir singers are in matching outfits, dancing and singing with weird backdrops or green-screening. When we were at the hippo pool there was a group filming a gospel video! It was so funny and we took lots of pictures to show our family.
Our truck had a roof that lifted up so we got to have a great view throughout our safari. Our driver was really good at pointing out animals and stopping so we could get good pictures. Sometimes the animals were so close! At one point there were huge elephants on the road right in front of our truck we were all a little nervous but it was amazing! The first night we stayed at a guesthouse near the park. Nicole and I were so excited because the room that we shared with Stephanie had 3 single beds so we didn't have to share! (We've been sharing our bed in Morogoro for 6 weeks now and enjoyed the extra space)That night Tyler and I watched an intense stand-off between a lizard and a giant grasshopper. Eventually the grasshopper flew away but it looked for a while like it was going to be the lizard's dinner.
The next day we got up early for another game drive (some of the animals like the lions are more active early in the morning). It was on our way to the park on the second day that we saw the lions. There were two males and one female and it apparently they had just had a big meal because our driver explained that the day of a big meal they will mate every 15-20 minutes! This will continue with decreasing frequency for the next 5 days until it's time to eat again. One male was alone as apparently the other was the stronger one and had won the right to mate with the female.
Then we continued on our second game drive. It was amazing and I kept thinking how crazy it was that we were so close to these wild animals. Then we had lunch at a restaurant in the entrance to the park and got to watch buffalo and elephants at a nearby watering hole cover themselves with mud to help protect against the sun. It was really cool. I also had a great time with the Zanzibar volunteers. We all assigned each other "spirit animals" although I'm not sure if I like being compared to a baboon! :)
After the safari the Zanzi volunteers checked into their hotel in Morogoro and then they walked around with us, meet our homestay families and saw the town. Then we went for dinner and played pool back at the hotel.
Now there's just two weeks left before we leave Tanzania. I can't believe how fast the time has gone and I'm sure the next two weeks will fly by! Our Final Activity Reports are due in one week so any spare time we get this week is going towards working on those, writing up what we accomplished over the last two months and our recommendations for the next set of volunteers (who will arrive in January and continue the programs that we've been working on). Although I'm sure I will be sad to leave and I've really loved this experience, I'm definitely looking forward to going home, seeing my family and friends and being clean and cold for an extended period of time. This week is our last HIV/AIDS outreach event, the Ushujaa 'Courage for Life' talent show. Next week we finish our classes and have our graduation ceremonies.
Then on the Monday we take a bus to Dar es Salaam and meet up with the Zanzi volunteers for a day of group de-briefing before everyone starts leaving. I'll be flying as far home as Montreal and then spending a few days there before returning home to Vancouver on November 29th (less than 3 weeks away)!!!
Keep those e-mails coming as I still love reading them!
Happy Birthday to all November birthdays including Dad, Justin and Emily! (Sorry if I forgot anyone)
Love from Moro!
Melissa
It was pretty funny because my homestay family is always playing these gospel music videos where all of the choir singers are in matching outfits, dancing and singing with weird backdrops or green-screening. When we were at the hippo pool there was a group filming a gospel video! It was so funny and we took lots of pictures to show our family.
Our truck had a roof that lifted up so we got to have a great view throughout our safari. Our driver was really good at pointing out animals and stopping so we could get good pictures. Sometimes the animals were so close! At one point there were huge elephants on the road right in front of our truck we were all a little nervous but it was amazing! The first night we stayed at a guesthouse near the park. Nicole and I were so excited because the room that we shared with Stephanie had 3 single beds so we didn't have to share! (We've been sharing our bed in Morogoro for 6 weeks now and enjoyed the extra space)That night Tyler and I watched an intense stand-off between a lizard and a giant grasshopper. Eventually the grasshopper flew away but it looked for a while like it was going to be the lizard's dinner.
The next day we got up early for another game drive (some of the animals like the lions are more active early in the morning). It was on our way to the park on the second day that we saw the lions. There were two males and one female and it apparently they had just had a big meal because our driver explained that the day of a big meal they will mate every 15-20 minutes! This will continue with decreasing frequency for the next 5 days until it's time to eat again. One male was alone as apparently the other was the stronger one and had won the right to mate with the female.
Then we continued on our second game drive. It was amazing and I kept thinking how crazy it was that we were so close to these wild animals. Then we had lunch at a restaurant in the entrance to the park and got to watch buffalo and elephants at a nearby watering hole cover themselves with mud to help protect against the sun. It was really cool. I also had a great time with the Zanzibar volunteers. We all assigned each other "spirit animals" although I'm not sure if I like being compared to a baboon! :)
After the safari the Zanzi volunteers checked into their hotel in Morogoro and then they walked around with us, meet our homestay families and saw the town. Then we went for dinner and played pool back at the hotel.
Now there's just two weeks left before we leave Tanzania. I can't believe how fast the time has gone and I'm sure the next two weeks will fly by! Our Final Activity Reports are due in one week so any spare time we get this week is going towards working on those, writing up what we accomplished over the last two months and our recommendations for the next set of volunteers (who will arrive in January and continue the programs that we've been working on). Although I'm sure I will be sad to leave and I've really loved this experience, I'm definitely looking forward to going home, seeing my family and friends and being clean and cold for an extended period of time. This week is our last HIV/AIDS outreach event, the Ushujaa 'Courage for Life' talent show. Next week we finish our classes and have our graduation ceremonies.
Then on the Monday we take a bus to Dar es Salaam and meet up with the Zanzi volunteers for a day of group de-briefing before everyone starts leaving. I'll be flying as far home as Montreal and then spending a few days there before returning home to Vancouver on November 29th (less than 3 weeks away)!!!
Keep those e-mails coming as I still love reading them!
Happy Birthday to all November birthdays including Dad, Justin and Emily! (Sorry if I forgot anyone)
Love from Moro!
Melissa
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Volunteer Blogs
I haven't been able to post any pictures because I left my camera cord at home and apparently the special kind of USB that I need isn't sold in Morogoro.
So in case you're curious I'm posting the website addresses of the blogs of some of the other volunteers. They all have pictures that might help give you an idea of what life in Tanzania is like.
http://michaelwithoutborders.blogspot.com/
This is Michael's blog, one of the Morogoro volunteers. This is probably the most useful one and he's got some great pictures of the YCI staff, Morogoro and some of our programming. His blog also has links to mine and the other volunteer blogs.
http://www.getjealous.com/stephinzanzibar
This is Stephanie's blog, one of the the Zanzibar volunteers.
http://etrippel.blogspot.com/
This is Evan's blog. Evan has some beautiful pictures that will give you an idea of what I saw on my weekend in Zanzibar.
If any of you are looking for someway to procrastinate from studying for midterms I just gave you hours of well-wasted time! Your welcome! :)
Miss you all! I'll be home in a month!
Love
Melissa
So in case you're curious I'm posting the website addresses of the blogs of some of the other volunteers. They all have pictures that might help give you an idea of what life in Tanzania is like.
http://michaelwithoutborders.blogspot.com/
This is Michael's blog, one of the Morogoro volunteers. This is probably the most useful one and he's got some great pictures of the YCI staff, Morogoro and some of our programming. His blog also has links to mine and the other volunteer blogs.
http://www.getjealous.com/stephinzanzibar
This is Stephanie's blog, one of the the Zanzibar volunteers.
http://etrippel.blogspot.com/
This is Evan's blog. Evan has some beautiful pictures that will give you an idea of what I saw on my weekend in Zanzibar.
If any of you are looking for someway to procrastinate from studying for midterms I just gave you hours of well-wasted time! Your welcome! :)
Miss you all! I'll be home in a month!
Love
Melissa
Programming Overview
Here is an outline of the programming that we're doing in Morogoro.
Business Communication Class
This consists of two components, an English and a Computer class, each at a Basic and Intermediate level. The classes meet twice a week for two hours total. There is also a Continuing class for students that have completed both levels held weekly at a local Internet cafe. If the students attend at least 10 of the 13 classes they get a certificate of attendance. Apparently these certificates look really good on the student's resumes and two of the students in the Continuing class had to drop out because they got jobs! I have been running both English classes with Godfrey to help act as translator. So far this has been one of the most rewarding programs. Due to the structure the volunteers are able to have significant involvement in the planning and implementation. It's been great witnessing the improvement that is already evident. Even if the improvement is only in the confidence level of some of the students it has been really cool to see!
HIV Club
Nicole and I were supposed to attend weekly meetings with a pre-existing secondary school HIV club but so far this hasn't happened. School examinations and other miscommunication has kept this and Good Governance from starting and this has been both frustrating and disappointing. There is still a chance that we might be able to work with a different school but we're not sure. The idea was for us to be there to share any information we've researched and help the club in anyway we could.
Good Governance
As I mentioned this was postponed due to school examinations, however we have now been able to start this and had our first class on Friday. Godfrey runs this for the most part and Michael and I are involved in researching prior to each class and helping run activities and discussions. This class meets two a week for 2 hours and covers 6 modules of information regarding good governance meant to educate students on their local government and encourage them to get actively involved. We cover topics like corruption, politics and women and youth in government. I'm really glad that this class has now started and look forward to some interesting discussions with the students.
Street Side School English Class
I am not involved in this program but I can explain it a little. Gasto, the Tanzanian volunteer that we work with in many of our programming, teaches an English class at a local school for students that have had to drop out of regular school due to family pressure or finances. He teaches the class for one hour four times a week. Twice a week Nicole and Michael accompany him to these classes and help him in the implementation of the class. Often they will play games with the students at the end as well.
Faraja Office Work
This is something all of us are supposed to be a part of but so far we haven't been too involved. Michael is supposed to be helping them with their website and we're all supposed to be helping edit translated stories of local street children but there has been a hold-up on Faraja's end and we have been busy and haven't really sought out other work to be done the way we should. This is definitely something we'll have to get going on before we leave!
Play Day
I just described this event in my previous post so I won't go into too much detail. All of us are involved in this monthly event at the Home Based Care Department, playing with children who are mostly HIV-positive, so they can enjoy a day of fun and lunch in a stigma-free environment. There is counselling available and an HIV presentation for children twelve and older on how to live responsibly with HIV and on how they can still live healthy happy lives despite their status. Then we took the older youth to the Rock Garden for an afternoon of swimming and fun. This was definitely one of the most enjoyable and rewarding things I've done so far in Morogoro.
HIV Outreach
There is a drama group that Gasto is a part of, that helps YCI and Faraja put on this outreach events. We attend their practices weekly taking part in drama exercises and skits. At first we were all shy and unsure, especially because the vast majority of it is in Swahili. However we are all gaining our courage and have even taken part in some of the skits at the outreach presentations.
Once a week we have some kind of outreach event, either at a secondary school, in a rural community or a local Ushujaa 'Courage for Life' talent show. Each of these events varies a little but there follow the same basic idea. Usually the drama group does several skits around various themes of HIV/AIDS whether Prevention, Condom Use, Stigma etc. So far both Nicole and I have participated in these skits, usually as the silent fiance of one of the drama group members as he convinces others that condoms in Tanzania are just as good as condoms in America! This has certainly taken some courage on my part but has actually ended up being quite fun. I get to act a little "gangsta" and sometimes throw in my limited Swahili. We also usually present some facts about HIV in Canada. Tanzanians are interested to learn that HIV isn't just in Africa. Usually there's some kind of talent component either dancing, singing or rapping and we give out prizes that the volunteers brought from home. Makho and Godfrey act as MC's and Makho is actually a really good rapper so sometimes he raps as well. If we're allowed we do condom demonstrations (we've only had one secondary school say that we couldn't do them) and give out condoms to the crowd. We also do a pre and post survey of 5 questions to 10 random audience members (5 boys and 5 girls) in order to help gauge whether they learned anything and if the event was a success. (We do Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) tests for our classes too but this usually takes the form of a writing test)
It's been great so far and I've been really amazed at the work that YCI does. I've been so impressed by the staff as well as all of the M&E and Reporting procedures in place to ensure maximum efficiency and success.
Love!
Melissa
Business Communication Class
This consists of two components, an English and a Computer class, each at a Basic and Intermediate level. The classes meet twice a week for two hours total. There is also a Continuing class for students that have completed both levels held weekly at a local Internet cafe. If the students attend at least 10 of the 13 classes they get a certificate of attendance. Apparently these certificates look really good on the student's resumes and two of the students in the Continuing class had to drop out because they got jobs! I have been running both English classes with Godfrey to help act as translator. So far this has been one of the most rewarding programs. Due to the structure the volunteers are able to have significant involvement in the planning and implementation. It's been great witnessing the improvement that is already evident. Even if the improvement is only in the confidence level of some of the students it has been really cool to see!
HIV Club
Nicole and I were supposed to attend weekly meetings with a pre-existing secondary school HIV club but so far this hasn't happened. School examinations and other miscommunication has kept this and Good Governance from starting and this has been both frustrating and disappointing. There is still a chance that we might be able to work with a different school but we're not sure. The idea was for us to be there to share any information we've researched and help the club in anyway we could.
Good Governance
As I mentioned this was postponed due to school examinations, however we have now been able to start this and had our first class on Friday. Godfrey runs this for the most part and Michael and I are involved in researching prior to each class and helping run activities and discussions. This class meets two a week for 2 hours and covers 6 modules of information regarding good governance meant to educate students on their local government and encourage them to get actively involved. We cover topics like corruption, politics and women and youth in government. I'm really glad that this class has now started and look forward to some interesting discussions with the students.
Street Side School English Class
I am not involved in this program but I can explain it a little. Gasto, the Tanzanian volunteer that we work with in many of our programming, teaches an English class at a local school for students that have had to drop out of regular school due to family pressure or finances. He teaches the class for one hour four times a week. Twice a week Nicole and Michael accompany him to these classes and help him in the implementation of the class. Often they will play games with the students at the end as well.
Faraja Office Work
This is something all of us are supposed to be a part of but so far we haven't been too involved. Michael is supposed to be helping them with their website and we're all supposed to be helping edit translated stories of local street children but there has been a hold-up on Faraja's end and we have been busy and haven't really sought out other work to be done the way we should. This is definitely something we'll have to get going on before we leave!
Play Day
I just described this event in my previous post so I won't go into too much detail. All of us are involved in this monthly event at the Home Based Care Department, playing with children who are mostly HIV-positive, so they can enjoy a day of fun and lunch in a stigma-free environment. There is counselling available and an HIV presentation for children twelve and older on how to live responsibly with HIV and on how they can still live healthy happy lives despite their status. Then we took the older youth to the Rock Garden for an afternoon of swimming and fun. This was definitely one of the most enjoyable and rewarding things I've done so far in Morogoro.
HIV Outreach
There is a drama group that Gasto is a part of, that helps YCI and Faraja put on this outreach events. We attend their practices weekly taking part in drama exercises and skits. At first we were all shy and unsure, especially because the vast majority of it is in Swahili. However we are all gaining our courage and have even taken part in some of the skits at the outreach presentations.
Once a week we have some kind of outreach event, either at a secondary school, in a rural community or a local Ushujaa 'Courage for Life' talent show. Each of these events varies a little but there follow the same basic idea. Usually the drama group does several skits around various themes of HIV/AIDS whether Prevention, Condom Use, Stigma etc. So far both Nicole and I have participated in these skits, usually as the silent fiance of one of the drama group members as he convinces others that condoms in Tanzania are just as good as condoms in America! This has certainly taken some courage on my part but has actually ended up being quite fun. I get to act a little "gangsta" and sometimes throw in my limited Swahili. We also usually present some facts about HIV in Canada. Tanzanians are interested to learn that HIV isn't just in Africa. Usually there's some kind of talent component either dancing, singing or rapping and we give out prizes that the volunteers brought from home. Makho and Godfrey act as MC's and Makho is actually a really good rapper so sometimes he raps as well. If we're allowed we do condom demonstrations (we've only had one secondary school say that we couldn't do them) and give out condoms to the crowd. We also do a pre and post survey of 5 questions to 10 random audience members (5 boys and 5 girls) in order to help gauge whether they learned anything and if the event was a success. (We do Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) tests for our classes too but this usually takes the form of a writing test)
It's been great so far and I've been really amazed at the work that YCI does. I've been so impressed by the staff as well as all of the M&E and Reporting procedures in place to ensure maximum efficiency and success.
Love!
Melissa
Halloween in Morogoro
Despite the fact that Tanzanians don't celebrate Halloween (most have never even heard of it) yesterday still ended up being one of the coolest Halloweens I've ever had.
Yesterday was Play Day, a once-a-month event hosted by our partner organization Faraja Trust Fund at their Home Based Care Department. Unfortunately we're only in Morogoro for one of them as we leave right before the next one in November. This has been something that I have been looking forward to since reading about it in the blogs of past volunteers, so I'd been looking forward to this day quite a bit!
For Play Day, about 50 children who are HIV-affected (most are infected with HIV themselves while others have been orphaned by the disease) come to the center with their caregivers to play games, have fun, eat a healthy lunch and enjoy being children in a stigma-free environment. As volunteers we went to the center bringing toys and games we'd brought from Canada including soccer balls, crayons, playdough, stickers (which the kids loved!) etc. At this time Godfrey and Gasto also spoke with the children who were 12 years old and above about HIV, talking about living responsibly with the disease and answering their questions. Makho has been doing this presentation for years and the children have really grown to trust him and be open with him but unfortunately he is sick right now but from talking with the children after I think they were still able to learn from the presentation.
That afternoon we got to do something that hasn't been done at previous Play Days. YCI had been asked to find a way of including the older youth in a more active way to encourage them to come out to Play Day and attend the presentation. To do so we got to take all of the older youth in a daladala to the Rock Garden. This is a secluded area with tons of trees and rocks that, when it rains which it has been lately, fills with water to create beautiful swimming holes. All of the kids got a soda and then we separated the boys and girls (most of them don't have proper swimwear so this meant they didn't need to worry about modesty) so they could enjoy an afternoon of swimming. I spent time swimming with the girls and they had such a blast splashing around.
It was so great to see because these kids have been given a really tough life, through no fault of their own. I was so glad that YCI got to give them a chance to just enjoy an afternoon and be kids. Other than during the HIV presentation there was never any mention that these kids were sick (although there is counselling available at the center) and the presentation was really to encourage them that with the proper knowledge and medical care they can leave fulfilling and happy lives. It's really upsetting to think about it too much, the unfairness of it, how hard life is for these kids. It's something I really tried not to think about during the day, in order to just help them enjoy the day as much as possible. However it's definitely upsetting because these kids deserve every chance and opportunity, just like kids all over the world, but for the most part they won't get it.
This is why I really respect the work being done by YCI and Faraja. While I'm just here for two months getting a taste of what life is like for people living with HIV, they deal with it everyday. I'm really proud to have been able to help even a little bit and I know that the pictures that I have from Play Day are going to be some of the ones I look back on most fondly.
After the Rock Garden Michael, Nicole and I decided that we needed to do something to celebrate Halloween so we went to Pira's a small grocery store in town and bought some chocolate. A few days ago we'd got CD's with a collection of Bruce Willis and Will Smith movies on them so we sat down with our chocolate in the YCI office and watched The Sixth Sense. Later that night we went out for sodas and watched the Man Utd vs Blackbyrn soccer game (if I haven't mentioned this already soccer is HUGE in Tanzania). Overall it was a pretty great day.
It's so hard to believe that I will be home in exactly 4 weeks! I finish my time in Morogoro 3 weeks tomorrow and take the bus out to Dar es Salaam. There we have a de-brief with all the staff and the Zanzibar volunteers and then we fly home. I'll be stopping in Montreal for a few days and then it's home to Vancouver!
Next weekend the Zanzibar volunteers are coming to Morogoro and we're going on a two-day safari at Mikumi National Park so that will be really exciting. After that we'll be wrapping up our programming, writing our final activity reports and saying our goodbyes. I just know the time is going to fly! There hasn't been a day yet where I don't wake up and pinch myself in total disbelief that I'm living in Tanzania. It has been a very cool experience and I'm exciting for what's still to come.
Love from Morogoro!
Melissa
Yesterday was Play Day, a once-a-month event hosted by our partner organization Faraja Trust Fund at their Home Based Care Department. Unfortunately we're only in Morogoro for one of them as we leave right before the next one in November. This has been something that I have been looking forward to since reading about it in the blogs of past volunteers, so I'd been looking forward to this day quite a bit!
For Play Day, about 50 children who are HIV-affected (most are infected with HIV themselves while others have been orphaned by the disease) come to the center with their caregivers to play games, have fun, eat a healthy lunch and enjoy being children in a stigma-free environment. As volunteers we went to the center bringing toys and games we'd brought from Canada including soccer balls, crayons, playdough, stickers (which the kids loved!) etc. At this time Godfrey and Gasto also spoke with the children who were 12 years old and above about HIV, talking about living responsibly with the disease and answering their questions. Makho has been doing this presentation for years and the children have really grown to trust him and be open with him but unfortunately he is sick right now but from talking with the children after I think they were still able to learn from the presentation.
That afternoon we got to do something that hasn't been done at previous Play Days. YCI had been asked to find a way of including the older youth in a more active way to encourage them to come out to Play Day and attend the presentation. To do so we got to take all of the older youth in a daladala to the Rock Garden. This is a secluded area with tons of trees and rocks that, when it rains which it has been lately, fills with water to create beautiful swimming holes. All of the kids got a soda and then we separated the boys and girls (most of them don't have proper swimwear so this meant they didn't need to worry about modesty) so they could enjoy an afternoon of swimming. I spent time swimming with the girls and they had such a blast splashing around.
It was so great to see because these kids have been given a really tough life, through no fault of their own. I was so glad that YCI got to give them a chance to just enjoy an afternoon and be kids. Other than during the HIV presentation there was never any mention that these kids were sick (although there is counselling available at the center) and the presentation was really to encourage them that with the proper knowledge and medical care they can leave fulfilling and happy lives. It's really upsetting to think about it too much, the unfairness of it, how hard life is for these kids. It's something I really tried not to think about during the day, in order to just help them enjoy the day as much as possible. However it's definitely upsetting because these kids deserve every chance and opportunity, just like kids all over the world, but for the most part they won't get it.
This is why I really respect the work being done by YCI and Faraja. While I'm just here for two months getting a taste of what life is like for people living with HIV, they deal with it everyday. I'm really proud to have been able to help even a little bit and I know that the pictures that I have from Play Day are going to be some of the ones I look back on most fondly.
After the Rock Garden Michael, Nicole and I decided that we needed to do something to celebrate Halloween so we went to Pira's a small grocery store in town and bought some chocolate. A few days ago we'd got CD's with a collection of Bruce Willis and Will Smith movies on them so we sat down with our chocolate in the YCI office and watched The Sixth Sense. Later that night we went out for sodas and watched the Man Utd vs Blackbyrn soccer game (if I haven't mentioned this already soccer is HUGE in Tanzania). Overall it was a pretty great day.
It's so hard to believe that I will be home in exactly 4 weeks! I finish my time in Morogoro 3 weeks tomorrow and take the bus out to Dar es Salaam. There we have a de-brief with all the staff and the Zanzibar volunteers and then we fly home. I'll be stopping in Montreal for a few days and then it's home to Vancouver!
Next weekend the Zanzibar volunteers are coming to Morogoro and we're going on a two-day safari at Mikumi National Park so that will be really exciting. After that we'll be wrapping up our programming, writing our final activity reports and saying our goodbyes. I just know the time is going to fly! There hasn't been a day yet where I don't wake up and pinch myself in total disbelief that I'm living in Tanzania. It has been a very cool experience and I'm exciting for what's still to come.
Love from Morogoro!
Melissa
Friday, October 30, 2009
Stories from Morogoro
So I thought I would quickly share some random recent events in Morogoro. This includes getting sick which is one of the not-so-cool things about living in Morogoro (that way you’re not all too jealous)! ;) As I am writing this I have a cold. Which is pretty understandable considering I high-five about twenty kids a day some of whom have snotty noses and no amount of hand sanitizer seems to be able to save me. Of course that is not the worst, after my last “mysterious African sickness” I also have experienced another random illness. About a week ago I woke up at 3am feeling nauseous. I ended up throwing up (in the bucket that now stays in our room) and fell back asleep. The next morning I woke up feeling perfectly fine but it’s definitely unpleasant. Fortunately though my homestay family, all of the YCI staff and my fellow volunteers have been really great helping me when I get sick, checking in on me for regularly for several days afterwards and offering to take me to the hospital.
One cute story, I also had one night where I couldn’t sleep because I had a cup of coffee at 4pm (their coffee is definitely stronger here). Around 4:00am I decided that since I was awake I would go outside, read my book and watch the sunrise. (I think I was expecting some sort of magical Lion King moment which definitely didn’t happen, but the sky changing colours was still very pretty!) So my family regularly wakes up at 4:30am to start their daily activities and was shocked to see me awake. They were immediately so concerned and wouldn’t believe me that I couldn’t sleep because of the coffee. They were convinced that there was some problem that I wasn’t tell them about and Paulo even phoned Godfrey to see if I’d mentioned to him if anything was wrong. Somehow Gasto, the Tanzanian volunteer that we work with here, heard that I had malaria and I got a very concerned phone call from him asking if I was alright. It was very sweet and I felt bad for causing everyone so much worry.
Another story is from when I was walking home the other day. Usually when we walk around we got a ton of people yelling “mzungu” and “mwenda” so we’re pretty used to it. This day though I had a guy come up and start walking with me as I was going home for lunch. He asked my name and where I was from and immediately said that I couldn’t possibly be from Canada because “there’s no one named Melissa in Canada” don’t I know. He then started quizzing me on the capital of Canada and the prime minister’s name as if he could catch me in my lie! It was quite funny actually. Then when he learned I’m a science student started asking me questions about Newton and Einstein. Meanwhile another guy started walking with us who was a lot more annoying. He immediately started asking me if I had a boyfriend in Canada, telling me that I can’t trust him because he must be lying to me. He told me that Africa is my real home and that I need to start having African children. He was also pushing me to give him my contact information (when I lied and told him I didn’t have a phone he tried to get me to give him the contact information of one of my friends in Canada….don’t worry I didn’t give him any!). Finally he told me that as long as he could “get a white girl” then his life would be good. It didn’t matter if she was from Belgium or Canada that he just needed a white girl. This was when I lost patience and told him that I was not that girl and that he and the other guy had to leave me alone.
Fortunately this by no means represents your average Tanzanian who really is just interested in how we are doing and welcomes us to Tanzania. This guy was just an extreme like any pushy guy back home. We were told by Micah to expect some of this and just to be very blunt that we are not interested. So far this seems to have worked because I haven’t seen him since and have definitely not let this one experience affect my view of Tanzanians as a whole. Really now I just share this story because I find it quite humorous. Unfortunately I'm running out of time at the internet cafe so I've got to go but I hope to give you all an update of my programming soon. Also some of the volunteers are going on a safari to Mikumi Park next weekend so expect an update about that as well!
I love my e-mails from home so keep them coming!
Love from Moro,
Melissa
One cute story, I also had one night where I couldn’t sleep because I had a cup of coffee at 4pm (their coffee is definitely stronger here). Around 4:00am I decided that since I was awake I would go outside, read my book and watch the sunrise. (I think I was expecting some sort of magical Lion King moment which definitely didn’t happen, but the sky changing colours was still very pretty!) So my family regularly wakes up at 4:30am to start their daily activities and was shocked to see me awake. They were immediately so concerned and wouldn’t believe me that I couldn’t sleep because of the coffee. They were convinced that there was some problem that I wasn’t tell them about and Paulo even phoned Godfrey to see if I’d mentioned to him if anything was wrong. Somehow Gasto, the Tanzanian volunteer that we work with here, heard that I had malaria and I got a very concerned phone call from him asking if I was alright. It was very sweet and I felt bad for causing everyone so much worry.
Another story is from when I was walking home the other day. Usually when we walk around we got a ton of people yelling “mzungu” and “mwenda” so we’re pretty used to it. This day though I had a guy come up and start walking with me as I was going home for lunch. He asked my name and where I was from and immediately said that I couldn’t possibly be from Canada because “there’s no one named Melissa in Canada” don’t I know. He then started quizzing me on the capital of Canada and the prime minister’s name as if he could catch me in my lie! It was quite funny actually. Then when he learned I’m a science student started asking me questions about Newton and Einstein. Meanwhile another guy started walking with us who was a lot more annoying. He immediately started asking me if I had a boyfriend in Canada, telling me that I can’t trust him because he must be lying to me. He told me that Africa is my real home and that I need to start having African children. He was also pushing me to give him my contact information (when I lied and told him I didn’t have a phone he tried to get me to give him the contact information of one of my friends in Canada….don’t worry I didn’t give him any!). Finally he told me that as long as he could “get a white girl” then his life would be good. It didn’t matter if she was from Belgium or Canada that he just needed a white girl. This was when I lost patience and told him that I was not that girl and that he and the other guy had to leave me alone.
Fortunately this by no means represents your average Tanzanian who really is just interested in how we are doing and welcomes us to Tanzania. This guy was just an extreme like any pushy guy back home. We were told by Micah to expect some of this and just to be very blunt that we are not interested. So far this seems to have worked because I haven’t seen him since and have definitely not let this one experience affect my view of Tanzanians as a whole. Really now I just share this story because I find it quite humorous. Unfortunately I'm running out of time at the internet cafe so I've got to go but I hope to give you all an update of my programming soon. Also some of the volunteers are going on a safari to Mikumi Park next weekend so expect an update about that as well!
I love my e-mails from home so keep them coming!
Love from Moro,
Melissa
Trip to Zanzibar
This weekend Nicole and I went to Zanzibar to visit Evan, Tyler and Stephanie, the YCI volunteers in Zanzibar. We left Morogoro at 6am and took the bus to Dar es Salaam. The bus station was chaos in the morning. Two bus companies were competing for customers by honking and revving their engines. Once we got to Dar es Salaam we took a taxi to the Zanzibar ferry port and took a fast ferry to Zanzibar. The ferries take about 2 hours to get to Zanzibar and sea-sickness is pretty common because of the speed and choppy water. I was pretty happy that I didn’t get sick but I did take Gravol before leaving.
We had to go through immigration in Zanzibar because they like to pretend like they are their own country (more stamps on my passport!) The volunteers met us at the ferry port and we checked into the Jambo Guesthouse in Stonetown and proceeded to wander around. Stonetown is amazing, lots of narrow alleys with high buildings all very old and beautiful. Some of the doors are very ornate and we learned that there are three different kinds of doors Arab, Swahili and Indian doors. Some of the doors have spikes on them so young elephants don’t break through the doors. Poor elephants!
That night we went for the nicest dinner I’ve had since leaving Canada. Amore Mio is an Italian restaurant right on the beach so we got to watch the sunset while eating pasta and ice cream. Zanzibar is definitely more touristy than Morogoro and that was a little weird to get used to. Especially at Amore Mio all of the customers were mzungu tourists. While in Morogoro, my Swahili is very limited and really only good for basic greetings and simple conversation, in Zanzibar I kept getting complimented on my Swahili and I think this is because they are more used to tourists who come and don’t try to learn the local language.
Saturday we went to Kizimkazi to swim with the dolphins. We took a boat out into the open ocean and search until we found a pod of dolphins. We had our snorkel gear on so we would pull up next to the dolphins and jump in and swim with them. The first time I jumped in they were all around me and below me, it was an amazing experience! I really loved that this wasn’t some aquarium where the dolphins are trained to interact with people, these were wild dolphins and just got to hang out with them for about an hour as they lived their lives. Definitely one of the coolest things I’ve ever done!
After that we had lunch at the beach where they fed us tuna, rice, vegetables, fruit and chipati and then we relaxed on the beach. At one point I went for a walk along the beach and shouldn’t believe how beautiful the beach was. The sand is so white and the water is a beautiful blue-green. I couldn’t believe how lucky I was to be able to see this. After lunch we went to Jozani Forest to see the monkeys. It was very neat there were so many monkeys in the trees all jumping around, cleaning each other. I even got a picture of two monkeys on a tree doing “the jiggy-jiggy” as our Tanzanian tour guide explained it. We also walked amongst the mango tree swamp which was very beautiful
That night we went to the Forodhani night market where there are all sorts of tables set up with different chefs serving different food. We had sugar cane juice (so sweet!) and Zanzibar pizza (which is delicious!) as well as some seafood skewers. I tried barracuda, lobster and octopus, all of which were quite good. One downside to there being so many tourists in Zanzibar is that you constantly get harassed by beachboys who come up and try to sell you things (usually for an elevated price). You also have to worry more about pickpockets (Stephanie had her camera stolen during one of her first weeks in Zanzibar).
The next day the Zanzibar volunteers had programming (although Steph had to miss it because she was feeling sick and went to the doctor, fortunately she tested negative for malaria and is now on antibiotics). Nicole and I spent the morning at a beautiful beach and then joined the others for lunch. Then we wandered around Stonetown doing some souvenir shopping (a much wider selection than in Morogoro). That night we went to the volunteer’s homestay for dinner and met their family. I couldn’t believe how nice their house is! It’s about the same size as my house in Canada, has two stories, tile floors, a shower, a washing machine, HBO! It’s a much nicer house than volunteers typically stay in but the family is so welcoming and good to the volunteers that all volunteers that have stayed there have a great experience. We watched TV and then sat down to dinner and had a good conversation. The next day we took the first ferry home with Micah as she is spending this week in Morogoro.
I had a really great time in Zanzibar. It is very beautiful and is definitely somewhere I would enjoy visiting again. Although, for my own sanity, I have come to love Morogoro and am happy to be living here (otherwise I would be jealous of the Zanzibar volunteers and their beaches and giant house). Honestly I feel like I am really living the Tanzanian experience and my homestay family has been so accommodating, welcoming and kind to me that I really couldn’t ask for better. Working with Makho and Godfrey has been great! Both are very kind and do their best to take care of us and make us feel comfortable. Morogoro is also very beautiful and as I walk towards town every morning with the mountain in front of me I still get struck by this idea of “I can’t believe this is where I live!”
We had to go through immigration in Zanzibar because they like to pretend like they are their own country (more stamps on my passport!) The volunteers met us at the ferry port and we checked into the Jambo Guesthouse in Stonetown and proceeded to wander around. Stonetown is amazing, lots of narrow alleys with high buildings all very old and beautiful. Some of the doors are very ornate and we learned that there are three different kinds of doors Arab, Swahili and Indian doors. Some of the doors have spikes on them so young elephants don’t break through the doors. Poor elephants!
That night we went for the nicest dinner I’ve had since leaving Canada. Amore Mio is an Italian restaurant right on the beach so we got to watch the sunset while eating pasta and ice cream. Zanzibar is definitely more touristy than Morogoro and that was a little weird to get used to. Especially at Amore Mio all of the customers were mzungu tourists. While in Morogoro, my Swahili is very limited and really only good for basic greetings and simple conversation, in Zanzibar I kept getting complimented on my Swahili and I think this is because they are more used to tourists who come and don’t try to learn the local language.
Saturday we went to Kizimkazi to swim with the dolphins. We took a boat out into the open ocean and search until we found a pod of dolphins. We had our snorkel gear on so we would pull up next to the dolphins and jump in and swim with them. The first time I jumped in they were all around me and below me, it was an amazing experience! I really loved that this wasn’t some aquarium where the dolphins are trained to interact with people, these were wild dolphins and just got to hang out with them for about an hour as they lived their lives. Definitely one of the coolest things I’ve ever done!
After that we had lunch at the beach where they fed us tuna, rice, vegetables, fruit and chipati and then we relaxed on the beach. At one point I went for a walk along the beach and shouldn’t believe how beautiful the beach was. The sand is so white and the water is a beautiful blue-green. I couldn’t believe how lucky I was to be able to see this. After lunch we went to Jozani Forest to see the monkeys. It was very neat there were so many monkeys in the trees all jumping around, cleaning each other. I even got a picture of two monkeys on a tree doing “the jiggy-jiggy” as our Tanzanian tour guide explained it. We also walked amongst the mango tree swamp which was very beautiful
That night we went to the Forodhani night market where there are all sorts of tables set up with different chefs serving different food. We had sugar cane juice (so sweet!) and Zanzibar pizza (which is delicious!) as well as some seafood skewers. I tried barracuda, lobster and octopus, all of which were quite good. One downside to there being so many tourists in Zanzibar is that you constantly get harassed by beachboys who come up and try to sell you things (usually for an elevated price). You also have to worry more about pickpockets (Stephanie had her camera stolen during one of her first weeks in Zanzibar).
The next day the Zanzibar volunteers had programming (although Steph had to miss it because she was feeling sick and went to the doctor, fortunately she tested negative for malaria and is now on antibiotics). Nicole and I spent the morning at a beautiful beach and then joined the others for lunch. Then we wandered around Stonetown doing some souvenir shopping (a much wider selection than in Morogoro). That night we went to the volunteer’s homestay for dinner and met their family. I couldn’t believe how nice their house is! It’s about the same size as my house in Canada, has two stories, tile floors, a shower, a washing machine, HBO! It’s a much nicer house than volunteers typically stay in but the family is so welcoming and good to the volunteers that all volunteers that have stayed there have a great experience. We watched TV and then sat down to dinner and had a good conversation. The next day we took the first ferry home with Micah as she is spending this week in Morogoro.
I had a really great time in Zanzibar. It is very beautiful and is definitely somewhere I would enjoy visiting again. Although, for my own sanity, I have come to love Morogoro and am happy to be living here (otherwise I would be jealous of the Zanzibar volunteers and their beaches and giant house). Honestly I feel like I am really living the Tanzanian experience and my homestay family has been so accommodating, welcoming and kind to me that I really couldn’t ask for better. Working with Makho and Godfrey has been great! Both are very kind and do their best to take care of us and make us feel comfortable. Morogoro is also very beautiful and as I walk towards town every morning with the mountain in front of me I still get struck by this idea of “I can’t believe this is where I live!”
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Random Tanzania tid-bits
I re-read some old posts and realised that there have been some things I've failed to explain so I thought I do a little of that.
Daladala-we often walk to and from programming (none of us have quite worked up the courage to rent a bike because traffic here is CRAZY!!! There are no apparent rules or traffic signs and they drive on the left-side of the road) but for longer trips or if we're carrying the big 12L bottles of water that we drink (you need to drink either bottled water or boiled water here) we take a daladala.
There are two daladala stations in Morogoro. A daladala is basically a 12-passenger van that is usually crammed with over 20 people. They often are in pretty terrible condition (we rode in one yesterday that didn't want to start until a bunch of guys started pushing it) and are covered with slogans and pictures. Fortunately they only cost 250 tanzanian shillings (TSh) (about 25 cents Canadian) so it's way cheaper than a taxi. There are no designated stops so you just wave one down on the side of the road and tell the driver when you want to get off. (Shusha means STOP!) So far I haven't seen any other mzungu on the daladala so I'm pretty pleased that we've all figured out how to navigate around Morogoro like the local Tanzanians.
Mzungu-This technically translates to foreigner. At first I thought it was used as some kind of discrimination but YCI staff assured us that this is not the case. It is simply used as a form of greeting when they don't know our names. Often little kids or people on the road yell out "Mzungu!" as we walk past. Acutally everyday we go into town there's one stretch where about 10 kids all come running over for fist pumps (Nipe tano!-High Five!) They also like to call out 'Mwenda' which we've been told is a common name for women here as a kind of joke because we're so obviously not from here.
Fun fact!: squat toilets are the perfect hiding place for cockroaches, lizards and mosquitoes so that's always a lovely surprise when I use the bathroom.
Bucket showers, despite being quite cold, aren't too bad although the first thing I'm doing upon leaving Tanzania is taking a nice warm shower!
Also everyone, please hug your washing machine today! Hand laundry, although certainly doable, is quite a pain, especially because I can never seem to get it right. Mama Paolo keeps coming over and helping me (which makes me feel quite pathetic). Although I know I'm trying hard because I actually rubbed the skin off of my knuckles!
I had a problem in the beginning of feeling useless in programming. Godfrey has to translate for my English class and when we do pre and post surveys at outreach events and I often felt like things would be more effective if he just worked alone. Fortunately as more of our programming is starting (we've had a delay because students are in exams) and as our roles become better defined and we get more comfortable in them I haven't felt as useless. Despite coming here with the understanding that I would be getting far more out of this experience than I could possible give in terms of helping the problems of HIV and gender in Tanzania, I still came with the hope of being able to contribute to YCI's programming and playing a small part in a much larger picture. I'm only now starting to feel like a will be able to play that part so that is also making my time here easier.
I had the pleasure of logging on a finding 4 facebook messages and 3 e-mails from home so that definitely made my day! I love you all and hope everyone will keep messaging as I think of you all often.
Love
Melissa
Daladala-we often walk to and from programming (none of us have quite worked up the courage to rent a bike because traffic here is CRAZY!!! There are no apparent rules or traffic signs and they drive on the left-side of the road) but for longer trips or if we're carrying the big 12L bottles of water that we drink (you need to drink either bottled water or boiled water here) we take a daladala.
There are two daladala stations in Morogoro. A daladala is basically a 12-passenger van that is usually crammed with over 20 people. They often are in pretty terrible condition (we rode in one yesterday that didn't want to start until a bunch of guys started pushing it) and are covered with slogans and pictures. Fortunately they only cost 250 tanzanian shillings (TSh) (about 25 cents Canadian) so it's way cheaper than a taxi. There are no designated stops so you just wave one down on the side of the road and tell the driver when you want to get off. (Shusha means STOP!) So far I haven't seen any other mzungu on the daladala so I'm pretty pleased that we've all figured out how to navigate around Morogoro like the local Tanzanians.
Mzungu-This technically translates to foreigner. At first I thought it was used as some kind of discrimination but YCI staff assured us that this is not the case. It is simply used as a form of greeting when they don't know our names. Often little kids or people on the road yell out "Mzungu!" as we walk past. Acutally everyday we go into town there's one stretch where about 10 kids all come running over for fist pumps (Nipe tano!-High Five!) They also like to call out 'Mwenda' which we've been told is a common name for women here as a kind of joke because we're so obviously not from here.
Fun fact!: squat toilets are the perfect hiding place for cockroaches, lizards and mosquitoes so that's always a lovely surprise when I use the bathroom.
Bucket showers, despite being quite cold, aren't too bad although the first thing I'm doing upon leaving Tanzania is taking a nice warm shower!
Also everyone, please hug your washing machine today! Hand laundry, although certainly doable, is quite a pain, especially because I can never seem to get it right. Mama Paolo keeps coming over and helping me (which makes me feel quite pathetic). Although I know I'm trying hard because I actually rubbed the skin off of my knuckles!
I had a problem in the beginning of feeling useless in programming. Godfrey has to translate for my English class and when we do pre and post surveys at outreach events and I often felt like things would be more effective if he just worked alone. Fortunately as more of our programming is starting (we've had a delay because students are in exams) and as our roles become better defined and we get more comfortable in them I haven't felt as useless. Despite coming here with the understanding that I would be getting far more out of this experience than I could possible give in terms of helping the problems of HIV and gender in Tanzania, I still came with the hope of being able to contribute to YCI's programming and playing a small part in a much larger picture. I'm only now starting to feel like a will be able to play that part so that is also making my time here easier.
I had the pleasure of logging on a finding 4 facebook messages and 3 e-mails from home so that definitely made my day! I love you all and hope everyone will keep messaging as I think of you all often.
Love
Melissa
Great weekend in Morogoro
So I searched yesterday for a USB cord for my camera but apparently they aren't sold in Morogoro and I'll have to wait until I get home to put up pictures.
On Friday I woke up and had a good feeling about the day. That was topped off by a surprise phone call from the bf back home so I was already in a good mood and the weekend just kept getting better.
We went to the Faraja office to meet with Godfrey and had to wait about an hour (we do lots of waiting here, times aren't as strict as they are back home and no one worries too much if they're late so it's been something to get used to). Then we had our weekly meeting at Ricky's (which meant ice cream for lunch!).
Later that day we had our first Ushujaa (HIV outreach talent show) in the Mazimbu area of Morogoro with the theme being Prevention. Makho, the Morogoro program director for YCI, is a really good rapper so him and Habibu from the drama club did a little rap at the beginning. We also got to hear a song that Makho has made about HIV, promoting getting tested. There were so many little kids who just loved to hang out with us. They also had a dance competition for the kids which was really neat. One guy did a Michael Jackson dance to Smooth Criminal which was great! The whole time Makho and Godfrey are being the MCs and talking to the audience about HIV prevention including the ABC's of HIV prevention (abstinence, being faithful and condom use). Meanwhile we went around handing out condoms to the teens and adults and did some condom demonstrations. We had over 200 male and female condoms and we ran out and had to tell people that we didn't have anymore. Nicole also participated in one of the drama clubs skits on condoms and I presented facts about HIV in Canada which Godfrey translated (apparently it's really interesting for people to learn that there isn't just HIV in Africa). The day was so much fun and it really felt like we were getting involved.
Yesterday we went souvenir shopping. Paul showed Nicole and I some of the good shops and helped us make sure we didn't get too ripped off by paying the "mzungu price". Then we shopped for supplies for that night. We had decided to make a Canadian dinner for our homestay family and the YCI staff. We had limited access to the same ingredients we have at home so we decided to make pancakes with maple syrup (Godfrey had been given some by a friend which he donated), nutella, jam and a bunch of fruit. Nicole also had maple syrup candies that she passed out for dessert. The dinner actually turned out quite well although it took us a while to make enough for everyone. They all seemed to enjoy it though and it was a nice change for us. (Eating ugali or rice for every meal gets old pretty quickly especially since ugali has zero flavour despite looking like mashed potatoes....it's a very deceptive dish that Nicole and I hope to eat as little as possible).
Today is more of a work day. I'm at the YCI office right now in Faraja starting to work on planning the next couple of weeks and then I plan on splurging and buying a latte from Rickys and enjoying my book. (I'm reading like crazy here, I've already finished East of Eden-Steinbeck and Life Before Man-Atwood so I'm lucky there's a stack of books at the YCI office).
Love from Moro!
Melissa
On Friday I woke up and had a good feeling about the day. That was topped off by a surprise phone call from the bf back home so I was already in a good mood and the weekend just kept getting better.
We went to the Faraja office to meet with Godfrey and had to wait about an hour (we do lots of waiting here, times aren't as strict as they are back home and no one worries too much if they're late so it's been something to get used to). Then we had our weekly meeting at Ricky's (which meant ice cream for lunch!).
Later that day we had our first Ushujaa (HIV outreach talent show) in the Mazimbu area of Morogoro with the theme being Prevention. Makho, the Morogoro program director for YCI, is a really good rapper so him and Habibu from the drama club did a little rap at the beginning. We also got to hear a song that Makho has made about HIV, promoting getting tested. There were so many little kids who just loved to hang out with us. They also had a dance competition for the kids which was really neat. One guy did a Michael Jackson dance to Smooth Criminal which was great! The whole time Makho and Godfrey are being the MCs and talking to the audience about HIV prevention including the ABC's of HIV prevention (abstinence, being faithful and condom use). Meanwhile we went around handing out condoms to the teens and adults and did some condom demonstrations. We had over 200 male and female condoms and we ran out and had to tell people that we didn't have anymore. Nicole also participated in one of the drama clubs skits on condoms and I presented facts about HIV in Canada which Godfrey translated (apparently it's really interesting for people to learn that there isn't just HIV in Africa). The day was so much fun and it really felt like we were getting involved.
Yesterday we went souvenir shopping. Paul showed Nicole and I some of the good shops and helped us make sure we didn't get too ripped off by paying the "mzungu price". Then we shopped for supplies for that night. We had decided to make a Canadian dinner for our homestay family and the YCI staff. We had limited access to the same ingredients we have at home so we decided to make pancakes with maple syrup (Godfrey had been given some by a friend which he donated), nutella, jam and a bunch of fruit. Nicole also had maple syrup candies that she passed out for dessert. The dinner actually turned out quite well although it took us a while to make enough for everyone. They all seemed to enjoy it though and it was a nice change for us. (Eating ugali or rice for every meal gets old pretty quickly especially since ugali has zero flavour despite looking like mashed potatoes....it's a very deceptive dish that Nicole and I hope to eat as little as possible).
Today is more of a work day. I'm at the YCI office right now in Faraja starting to work on planning the next couple of weeks and then I plan on splurging and buying a latte from Rickys and enjoying my book. (I'm reading like crazy here, I've already finished East of Eden-Steinbeck and Life Before Man-Atwood so I'm lucky there's a stack of books at the YCI office).
Love from Moro!
Melissa
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Definitely not "vomit free since '93"!
So I forgot the cord to connect my camera to the computer so I will try to post pictures once I kind find one here in Morogoro.
Friday we had our weekly meeting at Ricky's (a cafe with Western style food) so Michael, Nicole and I went a little nuts and had stir fry and ice cream for lunch! It was really good! :)
On Saturday we went with the drama group to do an HIV/AIDS outreach presentation in Kiloka (a rural part of Morogoro). Our job was to do a pre and post survey to see if people at the event learned anything about HIV from the presentation. The best part for me was the ride in and out. The view was absolutely gorgeous!!!
Sunday we all went for a swim at the Morogoro hotel and enjoyed our day off (not that the days here are super busy but it was still really nice). Unfortunately about half way through the day I started to feel sick. On the way home we'd just stepped off the daladala when I threw up into a pile of garbage. I felt nauseous and dizzy for the rest of the night and the next day. Fortunately yesterday I was able to just sleep, rest and read for most of the day and I started to feel better and then I woke up Tuesday morning feeling much better! I didn't have a fever so it wasn't malaria but as Micah put it, it's just one of those strange african sicknesses.
More unpleasant news, Michael had his room broken into a few days ago. They cut the wire over his window, reached in and stole everything he had on his table including his medication, books and laptop. There's still a chance he might get his stuff back so everyone's keeping their fingers crossed. Both Michael and Nicole and my homestay families were so upset that this had happened and they and the YCI staff have been great about doing everything that they can. It sucks too because all three of us have been really good about always locking our doors (with so many friends and neighbours in and out all the time it's easy for stuff to go missing) but you don't think about things like not keeping stuff next to windows until something like this happens. Fortunately for Nicole and I our room is more secure because our window faces into the family courtyard and the only thing next to our window is our bed so we would definitely wake up if someone tried to get in!
Nicky, the grandson of our Mama is over at the house all the time and is definitely the best part of Tanzania! He is six and is full of beans! Yesterday he took both mine and Nicole's glasses and was wearing them both! He's also always hamming it up for photos and loves taking pictures of other people.
Keep the e-mails coming as I love reading about what's going on back home!
Time to walk back to my homestay for lunch and then English class tonight!
Love from Moro!!!!
Melissa
Friday we had our weekly meeting at Ricky's (a cafe with Western style food) so Michael, Nicole and I went a little nuts and had stir fry and ice cream for lunch! It was really good! :)
On Saturday we went with the drama group to do an HIV/AIDS outreach presentation in Kiloka (a rural part of Morogoro). Our job was to do a pre and post survey to see if people at the event learned anything about HIV from the presentation. The best part for me was the ride in and out. The view was absolutely gorgeous!!!
Sunday we all went for a swim at the Morogoro hotel and enjoyed our day off (not that the days here are super busy but it was still really nice). Unfortunately about half way through the day I started to feel sick. On the way home we'd just stepped off the daladala when I threw up into a pile of garbage. I felt nauseous and dizzy for the rest of the night and the next day. Fortunately yesterday I was able to just sleep, rest and read for most of the day and I started to feel better and then I woke up Tuesday morning feeling much better! I didn't have a fever so it wasn't malaria but as Micah put it, it's just one of those strange african sicknesses.
More unpleasant news, Michael had his room broken into a few days ago. They cut the wire over his window, reached in and stole everything he had on his table including his medication, books and laptop. There's still a chance he might get his stuff back so everyone's keeping their fingers crossed. Both Michael and Nicole and my homestay families were so upset that this had happened and they and the YCI staff have been great about doing everything that they can. It sucks too because all three of us have been really good about always locking our doors (with so many friends and neighbours in and out all the time it's easy for stuff to go missing) but you don't think about things like not keeping stuff next to windows until something like this happens. Fortunately for Nicole and I our room is more secure because our window faces into the family courtyard and the only thing next to our window is our bed so we would definitely wake up if someone tried to get in!
Nicky, the grandson of our Mama is over at the house all the time and is definitely the best part of Tanzania! He is six and is full of beans! Yesterday he took both mine and Nicole's glasses and was wearing them both! He's also always hamming it up for photos and loves taking pictures of other people.
Keep the e-mails coming as I love reading about what's going on back home!
Time to walk back to my homestay for lunch and then English class tonight!
Love from Moro!!!!
Melissa
Monday, October 5, 2009
The best part of Tanzania!
The best part about living in Tanzania is the people. Generally the Tanzanians that we have met have been very warm, welcoming and friendly. Everytime we leave our house we are greeted by people on the roads. Kids coming running out to yell “Mambo” (What’s up?) or “How are you?” It’s very cute because if you answer they don’t actually understand but it seems to be the only thing they know in English so they continue to chant it over and over. So far we saw two kids wearing Montreal Canadian shirts and one Toronto Maple Leafs shirt so I’m keeping an eye out for that Vancouver Canucks shirt that just has to be out here!
Our family has been really sweet and, although most of them don’t speak English, have been trying their best to make us comfortable and to look out for us. It took us awhile to convince them that we don’t need to eat first by ourselves, that we actually prefer to eat with the family. They often insist on not letting us help but we have been trying to be more involved in the clean-up after meals. They helped us do our laundry on Sunday and apparently the image of two mzungu doing their laundry by hand is hilarious because they all seemed to get quite a kick out of it! Mama Paul (here the Mama’s names are that of one of their children) is very good to us and is regularly asking us what we want to eat and making sure we shower, lock our door and are generally comfortable. Paul is away for a few days at a conference but he made sure before he left that we remembered to always lock our door (with so many people, friends and neighbours by all the time it is easy for volunteers to have their stuff stolen which makes the host family feel terrible), not to go out alone at night and to make sure to call him at anytime if we need anything. Since Paul has been away we’ve been trying to communicate more with the other members of the family and it seems to be going well.
Sunday night was one of my favourite nights here by far. During the day Michael, Nicole and I went into town to work at the YCI office to prepare our programming for the week. Once we got home we decided to take the soccer ball I brought out (Sam, are you reading this??? I hope to have more stories for you before I donate it to YCI for their playdays) so we kicked the ball around the street with some of the local kids (and some of the local adults too). The best part for me was when I brought my camera out to get a video of one of the soccer players juggling the ball and Nicky (grandson of our Mama and Baba who sometimes stays at the house) was fascinated with the camera! It only took him a few minutes to figure out how to take a picture, review it, scroll through pictures and then take more. He was so excited to take a picture of someone and then run up to them to show them the picture he had taken. I have a few pictures he took with his fingers in the way that are really cute. Then later that night Nicole and I sat out with Mama and Nicky and she taught us some Kiswahili with Nicky helping to translate. He and I did cartwheels (mine weren’t so much cartwheels but they made him laugh) and it was a lot of fun.
It’s crazy that I already have less than 7 weeks left. We’re currently planning our safari with the Zanzi volunteers to Mikumi National Park and then our trip to Zanzibar two weeks later.
Before I forget…Happy Birthday Colin, Loren, David, Luke, Steven and all other October birthdays!!!
Love from Morogoro!
Our family has been really sweet and, although most of them don’t speak English, have been trying their best to make us comfortable and to look out for us. It took us awhile to convince them that we don’t need to eat first by ourselves, that we actually prefer to eat with the family. They often insist on not letting us help but we have been trying to be more involved in the clean-up after meals. They helped us do our laundry on Sunday and apparently the image of two mzungu doing their laundry by hand is hilarious because they all seemed to get quite a kick out of it! Mama Paul (here the Mama’s names are that of one of their children) is very good to us and is regularly asking us what we want to eat and making sure we shower, lock our door and are generally comfortable. Paul is away for a few days at a conference but he made sure before he left that we remembered to always lock our door (with so many people, friends and neighbours by all the time it is easy for volunteers to have their stuff stolen which makes the host family feel terrible), not to go out alone at night and to make sure to call him at anytime if we need anything. Since Paul has been away we’ve been trying to communicate more with the other members of the family and it seems to be going well.
Sunday night was one of my favourite nights here by far. During the day Michael, Nicole and I went into town to work at the YCI office to prepare our programming for the week. Once we got home we decided to take the soccer ball I brought out (Sam, are you reading this??? I hope to have more stories for you before I donate it to YCI for their playdays) so we kicked the ball around the street with some of the local kids (and some of the local adults too). The best part for me was when I brought my camera out to get a video of one of the soccer players juggling the ball and Nicky (grandson of our Mama and Baba who sometimes stays at the house) was fascinated with the camera! It only took him a few minutes to figure out how to take a picture, review it, scroll through pictures and then take more. He was so excited to take a picture of someone and then run up to them to show them the picture he had taken. I have a few pictures he took with his fingers in the way that are really cute. Then later that night Nicole and I sat out with Mama and Nicky and she taught us some Kiswahili with Nicky helping to translate. He and I did cartwheels (mine weren’t so much cartwheels but they made him laugh) and it was a lot of fun.
It’s crazy that I already have less than 7 weeks left. We’re currently planning our safari with the Zanzi volunteers to Mikumi National Park and then our trip to Zanzibar two weeks later.
Before I forget…Happy Birthday Colin, Loren, David, Luke, Steven and all other October birthdays!!!
Love from Morogoro!
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Life in Morogoro
Habari za Mchana (Good afternoon)
I guess the 10 hour difference means that its the middle of the night at home.
We've been doing more orientation all week including speaking with Victor from Faraja Trust (one of our partner organizations), and learning about HIV/AIDS and gender in Morogoro. The situation in Tanzania certainly isn't the worst in the world however there is still work to be done concerning the high infant mortality rate, HIV/AIDS and gender equity. The work that YCI does is to provide various programming geared towards youth that helps give them the skills and knowledge they need to become empowered and create real change. All of the staff have great respect for the Tanzanian culture (4 of the 5 are native to Tanzania). The programming is contantly evolving thanks to feedback from the participants and partners and extensive monitoring, evaluating and reporting on our part to ensure our programs are effective.
The programs we're running this phase are Basic, Intermediate and Continuing English and Computer classes focusing on how these relate to Business Communication, assisting Gasto, a very friendly and kind Tanzanian volunteer to teach English at a Faraja school, assisting a secondary school HIV club, running Good Governance workshops encouraging youth to be aware of and get involved in their local government as well as outreach programs like secondary school events and talent shows to promote the theme of HIV/AIDS awareness, testing and decreasing stigma. I'm specifically involved with the three levels of English classes, the HIV club, Good Governance and the outreach programs.
We start work on these pgorams on Monday so I'm very excited to get started!
Tita nanu! (See you!)
Love from Moro!!!
I guess the 10 hour difference means that its the middle of the night at home.
We've been doing more orientation all week including speaking with Victor from Faraja Trust (one of our partner organizations), and learning about HIV/AIDS and gender in Morogoro. The situation in Tanzania certainly isn't the worst in the world however there is still work to be done concerning the high infant mortality rate, HIV/AIDS and gender equity. The work that YCI does is to provide various programming geared towards youth that helps give them the skills and knowledge they need to become empowered and create real change. All of the staff have great respect for the Tanzanian culture (4 of the 5 are native to Tanzania). The programming is contantly evolving thanks to feedback from the participants and partners and extensive monitoring, evaluating and reporting on our part to ensure our programs are effective.
The programs we're running this phase are Basic, Intermediate and Continuing English and Computer classes focusing on how these relate to Business Communication, assisting Gasto, a very friendly and kind Tanzanian volunteer to teach English at a Faraja school, assisting a secondary school HIV club, running Good Governance workshops encouraging youth to be aware of and get involved in their local government as well as outreach programs like secondary school events and talent shows to promote the theme of HIV/AIDS awareness, testing and decreasing stigma. I'm specifically involved with the three levels of English classes, the HIV club, Good Governance and the outreach programs.
We start work on these pgorams on Monday so I'm very excited to get started!
Tita nanu! (See you!)
Love from Moro!!!
Orientation Week
I've fallen behind on blogging due to a busy Orientation week so I'll post a bunch and try to keep them coming more regularly from now on.
Hello everyone!!!
After 35 hours of flying, lay-overs and getting through Tanzanian customs I finally made it! I met up with Nicole and Michael (the other Morogoro volunteers) and Tyler (one of the Zanzibar volunteers) at the Amsterdam airport. (I got to watch old episodes of HIMYM and the Big Bang Theory on the plane so that helped the time pass quickly!)
We met up with YCI staff at the airport in Dar Es Salaam and they drove us to the Safari Inn. After walking down a sketchy alley (which looked WAY better in the daytime) we met up with Stephanie and Evan (the other Zanzibar volunteers) and the rest of the YCI staff. We spent two nights in Dar. During the day we did training on things like Power and Priviledge, Swahili lessons, Tanzanian culture and how to stay safe and healthy in Morogoro. For the first few days I was worried because I just couldn't seem to get excited. Now I think it was a combination of nerves and jet lag. I just felt like all my emotions were dampened. Now I'm doing much better although I certainly still miss home and all of you!
On Wednesday we said our goodbyes (it's surprising how quickly you bond with people when they're the only ones who understand your language) and we took a bus to Morogoro. The bus was like a greyhound, although more squished and with Jet Li movies playing on the TV. Whenever the bus stopped people would come running up to the side yelling for us to buy whatever they were selling. We got to watch a beautiful sunset on the drive.
By the time we arrived at our homestay family it was dark. Makho and Godfrey (the Morogoro YCI staff, both local Tanzanians) introduced us to each family. Nicole and I are staying with a very nice family and sharing a room (and a bed so hopefully we get along!) and Michael is staying with a family next door.
In our family only the son speaks english but it's been interesting trying to communicate with the mother, father and sisters suing our limited Swahili, gestures, laughter and smiles. They've treated us very well and Nicole and I are trying to convince them to let us help them cook and clean.
Mostly we've been eating fish (samaki) (with heads attached!), rice (wali), ugali (a corn-based doughy mass), spinach and chipsi (french fries which you can buy from local food stands), as well as a variety of fruit. We've been able to convince the family that they don't have to let us eat first so now they put all the food out and all the women eat with their right hand out of the communal bowls (using your left hand is very rude!). I'm also learning to deal with squat toilets, mosquito nets, bucket shows, hand laundry, giant cockroaches, flies and mosquitos although none of these are as bad as I was expecting! (Katie L, I'll resist saying it) ;)
Usiku mwema (Sleep well!)
This is the view from the roof of our hotel in Dar. I'll try to add more pictures later.
Hello everyone!!!
After 35 hours of flying, lay-overs and getting through Tanzanian customs I finally made it! I met up with Nicole and Michael (the other Morogoro volunteers) and Tyler (one of the Zanzibar volunteers) at the Amsterdam airport. (I got to watch old episodes of HIMYM and the Big Bang Theory on the plane so that helped the time pass quickly!)
We met up with YCI staff at the airport in Dar Es Salaam and they drove us to the Safari Inn. After walking down a sketchy alley (which looked WAY better in the daytime) we met up with Stephanie and Evan (the other Zanzibar volunteers) and the rest of the YCI staff. We spent two nights in Dar. During the day we did training on things like Power and Priviledge, Swahili lessons, Tanzanian culture and how to stay safe and healthy in Morogoro. For the first few days I was worried because I just couldn't seem to get excited. Now I think it was a combination of nerves and jet lag. I just felt like all my emotions were dampened. Now I'm doing much better although I certainly still miss home and all of you!
On Wednesday we said our goodbyes (it's surprising how quickly you bond with people when they're the only ones who understand your language) and we took a bus to Morogoro. The bus was like a greyhound, although more squished and with Jet Li movies playing on the TV. Whenever the bus stopped people would come running up to the side yelling for us to buy whatever they were selling. We got to watch a beautiful sunset on the drive.
By the time we arrived at our homestay family it was dark. Makho and Godfrey (the Morogoro YCI staff, both local Tanzanians) introduced us to each family. Nicole and I are staying with a very nice family and sharing a room (and a bed so hopefully we get along!) and Michael is staying with a family next door.
In our family only the son speaks english but it's been interesting trying to communicate with the mother, father and sisters suing our limited Swahili, gestures, laughter and smiles. They've treated us very well and Nicole and I are trying to convince them to let us help them cook and clean.
Mostly we've been eating fish (samaki) (with heads attached!), rice (wali), ugali (a corn-based doughy mass), spinach and chipsi (french fries which you can buy from local food stands), as well as a variety of fruit. We've been able to convince the family that they don't have to let us eat first so now they put all the food out and all the women eat with their right hand out of the communal bowls (using your left hand is very rude!). I'm also learning to deal with squat toilets, mosquito nets, bucket shows, hand laundry, giant cockroaches, flies and mosquitos although none of these are as bad as I was expecting! (Katie L, I'll resist saying it) ;)
Usiku mwema (Sleep well!)
This is the view from the roof of our hotel in Dar. I'll try to add more pictures later.
Friday, September 25, 2009
Pre-departure
So I leave for Tanzania in less than 36 hours. Something that I have been working towards since December is finally here and I'm feeling a big mix of excitment and nervousness.
My bag is packed, although not everything fits so I'm going to have to arrange somethings and try to guess what it is I'll actually need over the next 2 months. My vaccinations, documents and medications are all up-to-date so I'm definitely ready. The hardest part is leaving behind family and friends. This is the longest I will ever be away from home so that part is kind of scary.
On the other hard I am so extremely excited to be going off on this adventure. I'm thrilled to get the chance to experience Tanzanian life and hopefully have some tiny impact. I'm well aware that I will be getting far more out of this experience than I could possibly give to the people of Morogoro but I hope that I can still make some small difference through the YCI programming.
Internet access will likely be quite intermittent so I don't know how often I will get to update this blog but I will try to do so regularly. Please feel free to leave comments or send me an e-mail because I would love to hear from all of you on how your lives are going.
Thank you to everyone for your support up to this point and I'm taking all your love and kind thoughts with me!
My bag is packed, although not everything fits so I'm going to have to arrange somethings and try to guess what it is I'll actually need over the next 2 months. My vaccinations, documents and medications are all up-to-date so I'm definitely ready. The hardest part is leaving behind family and friends. This is the longest I will ever be away from home so that part is kind of scary.
On the other hard I am so extremely excited to be going off on this adventure. I'm thrilled to get the chance to experience Tanzanian life and hopefully have some tiny impact. I'm well aware that I will be getting far more out of this experience than I could possibly give to the people of Morogoro but I hope that I can still make some small difference through the YCI programming.
Internet access will likely be quite intermittent so I don't know how often I will get to update this blog but I will try to do so regularly. Please feel free to leave comments or send me an e-mail because I would love to hear from all of you on how your lives are going.
Thank you to everyone for your support up to this point and I'm taking all your love and kind thoughts with me!
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