The Insect Post (At this rate, one of many)

It wasn’t until a few nights ago when I was foolishly tracking down an abnormally loud hissing noise in my courtyard that I realized how often I have sprung for my camera at the site of a terrifying insect of some sort. In fact, I’m willing to bet that at least half of the photos I have taken in the last few weeks have been of unusual bugs.  Naturally, I thought it warranted a blog post because of course, each photo has a story.

We’ll start with the earliest of my unusual insect encounters. The, “Why is that worm flying” bug. This first encounter is special because it occurred while I was still at homestay in Morogoro and provided not only an opportunity for me to closely observe this bug with people who knew what it was but also provided my homestay family an opportunity to observe me observing bugs, which they found hilarious.

The “Why is that worm flying” bug can easily be classified among the least intelligent creatures on planet earth. Insanity, it has been said, is the act of doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. With that, I would like to officially take this opportunity to, in italics, offer the “Why is that worm flying” bug as an example. The only time I ever saw the “WITWF” bug was at night, around my family’s outdoor kitchen under the one florescent light that lit the backyard. They came in swarms, hundred of these huge maggots with wings circling the only light source. This, of course, was not unusual to me. What was unusual was that rather than simply hovering around the light the “WITWF” bug chose to fly at full speed directly into the light, knocking themselves unconscious, falling to the ground on their backs, waking up, frantically buzzing their wings to flip right side over, resting for a moment and then repeating, at full speed towards the same light! It blew my mind. Hundreds of these bugs would repeat this over and over again for hours. Naturally I was terrified of their scaly mealworm exterior that seemed too long and heavy for evolution to waste it’s time with wings. Maybe the wings are on their way out, and at this rate, I’d say they deserve to lose them.

The “Why is That Worm Flying?” bug.

 We will stick with our chronological progression but jump a few months into my service at site, but only a few days in my permanent home. In fact, the next three insects worthy of being included in this particular post were all encountered here, in my newly acquired humble two-bedroom home. Coincidence? No.

This next insect was coined the “lobster spider” by a friend and fellow PCV in the region who has apparently encountered them often. She told me their real name too, but “lobster spider” was all that stuck. For any insect sympathizers out there I will warn you now, the lobster spider in the photo below could only be captured after its death considering its frighteningly fast speed which of course, only added to its horror. This one was waiting for me just inside my front door when I came home one afternoon after teaching, and he knew he shouldn’t be there. He immediately scurried into the second room and around the corner so fast, in fact, that my only possible reaction could have been and was to step on him in order to stop him. It was a gutsy little spider, which wasn’t fun to clean. Anyways, this arachnid became more terrifying the longer and closer I had to examine. He had long, hairy legs and two gigantic pinchers for a face. Now, my Teva’s did do some pretty serious damage but surprisingly a lot of his body was still in tact, in tact enough, anyways, for me to get a photo to share with all of you.

 

The "Lobster Spider"

The next bug actually became less terrifying the more time I had to examine it. Our encounter did, however, begin in a rather terrifying manner. I was sitting in my ceiling-less second room (which, to clarify, does have a roof, just no ceiling tiles) when from the right upper corner of the roof a gigantic humming shadow came straight for me. This thing was huge, the size of a small bat with its wings out. Then it was silent. Maybe it went away, I hoped. But there it was again; the gigantic shadow flew from the floor to the roof, clearly not planning or capable of leaving on its own. So I got my camera and tracked it down. Turns out it was just a really large leaf bug which left me more intrigued than afraid. After getting a few shots of him on the florescent light he'd landed on I gently wrapped him in a kanga and took him outside. In only all of these encounters could end in such a peaceful way.

 

The "Leaf Bug"

Which brings me to my most recent and least favorite encounter. On my way to bring my laundry in from the line in my courtyard one evening I heard a very loud hissing coming from the unused kitchen portion of my back living area. My curiosity trumped my better judgment and with nothing more than my small headlamp (there was no power on this particular evening) I went in search of “the hisser.” Now initially I was expecting to only find a small cricket, amplified by the shape and materials of the structure that composed this particular area of the courtyard. Not surprisingly I did find just such a cricket only he was on a high ledge in the back of the room, which of course, to get a good photo, would require a closer observation. I carefully scanned the walls and floor of the room I entered a half footstep at a time, my small, slowly dying headlamp attached to my forehead leading the way. I knew the noise being made was loud, possibly too loud for a cricket the size I was chasing but I proceeded regardless. Then, half way to the cricket, standing dead center of the room I realized I had diligently examined every portion of concrete surrounding me except for the ceiling. As I looked up, just inches from my face, an insect four times the size of the original hissing culprit lorded over the entire room with its legs clung wrapped around a supporting roof beam! I don’t even know what to call this bug other than the hisser. Maybe it is some type of queen cricket? I have no idea. What I do know is that next time I will be sure to check the ceiling. This photo still creeps me out.

The "Hisser"

It’s worth noting, I think, that in the process of writing this not only have I killed about a dozen mosquitoes I have also stopped twice, scratch that, THREE TIMES to investigate what could have been possible additions to this post. I think I might start writing in the room with a ceiling from now on.

Also, if anyone knows the actual names of any of these insects I would love to learn them and it would make this particular post far more educational than it currently stands, so please, feel free to post in the comments below.

“Having a mzungu is something special”

Last week Abbey Secondary officially said goodbye to Jeff Rodwell, their first ever Peace Corps volunteer, and welcomed their second, me. Mndeme, the chair of the social department, organized a volleyball and soccer match between the students to start the evening. The students were competitive and seemed to really enjoy the games as much as we did watching them play. I’m really hoping I will have an opportunity to play with them sometime soon; I’ve definitely been missing the active competition.

 

Simba vs. Yanga to celebrate Jeff's departure from Abbey.

Jeff's going away dinner.

After the games the head of each department, some of the non-teaching staff and the administration all went to Subiako in Ndanda for dinner and drinks. Dinner was the typical Tanzanian celebration fair with fried chicken, sambusa, chips and kachambali. Father Amani and Headmaster Brother Sixtus sat with Jeff and I (the wageni rasmi or guests of honor) at the head table. The best part of the evening though came after dinner, when everyone in the room was invited to say a few parting words to Jeff.

Jeff and I with some of the teaching staff.

Hearing the teachers share their experiences with Jeff was refreshing. It reminded me of why I was here and gave me even more hope for what I can accomplish in the next two years, both in my work and the relationships I hope to build. They shared funny stories about Jeff’s duties as TOD, about some of the issues he faced when he originally came to site and about being his neighbor. His neighbor even more or less apologized for being so loud over the past two years, something Jeff has jokingly complained about often. Jeff said his thank you and goodbye in Swahili, which was a bit intimidating and I’ll be honest, only reminded me of all the work I still need to do, but once he had finished Brother Sixtus welcomed me (in English) and allowed me to say a few words myself.

I was happy to have the opportunity to address everyone, something I really hadn’t had a chance to do yet. Now that I think back on it, it was really an important moment. Jeff was leaving and my turn had finally come. This was my site now, these are my colleagues and you could see the acknowledgement in the staff’s eyes. That acknowledgement and acceptance I saw in their faces as I thanked Jeff for the work he’s done and explained the work I hoped to do was really gratifying. It made me feel more at home than I have since I’ve been in country. All of my concerns and fears disappeared in that moment as the family of Abbey Secondary officially accepted me as one of their own.

Abbey really does feel like a family. You can tell that the people here enjoy each other. They love being here and they love what they do. Getting to see the appreciation the staff had for Jeff also reminded me of the impact I hope to have. My relationship with the teachers and students are my top priority. Far too often these past few months I have sat up at night and worried about my ability to build these relationships, my lack of Swahili skills or missed opportunities.  But that night reminded me that the people at Abbey want that friendship as well, and that the work I have ahead of me is only half of what I thought it was.

In Brother Sixtus’ closing remarks he thanked Jeff for all of his work over the past two years and spoke of how important the computer program was for both the students and for the school. “Dunia letu ni kijiji kwa agali ya technologia,” he said. “The world is a village because of technology.” Access to a computer program like the one at Abbey is rare for many students in Tanzania and it has helped raise the profile of a school that has gained a lot of national recognition in a short amount of time. The students really seem to enjoy the program as well, so much so that it has become a common topic amongst the parents at the school’s regular meeting in Dar es Salaam, where a large majority of our students come from.

One of his final remarks was to me directly. “Don’t walk in Jeff’s footsteps,” he told me, “walk past them. If you walk in his footsteps you will be slow.” I certainly don’t intend to be slow. Jeff has done an incredible job taking the computer program at Abbey this far and I plan, with the help of the students, staff and community, to take them that much further.

“Having a mzungu is something special,” he said, and I couldn't be happier to be the mzungu here.

Jeff's departure also meant it was time for me to move into my permanent residence while I'm here. A few photos follow.

The larger of the two rooms in the house.

The larger room doesn't have a ceiling, so I've been sleeping in the smaller room.

 The courtyard.

The choo. (Pit latrine)

Life is good, but it's ok to dislike

It wasn’t until I actually looked at my blog that I realized how sparse my posts have actually been. Now that I’ve been at site for more than a month things have started to calm down and I’m finally starting to feel settled in, so now seems like a good time to fill in some of the gaps.

Classes started a few weeks ago and I’m really glad they did. It’s nice to be back on a regular routine and actually have work to get done. Jeff, the PCV who served here before me, has a great system for teaching ICT that I plan on continuing once he leaves. Our school is lucky enough to be really well equipped as far as computers are concerned and the lab is set up in such a way that nearly every student has access to a computer. That being the case, Jeff has set up lessons to work as a local webpage on the computers that the students can access and navigate through an Internet browser. The lessons are broken down into units covering different programs like Word and Excel with about 15 lessons in each unit. Since I’ve been here, we’ve expanded the lessons and added a PowerPoint unit, which I plan to keep working on. I’m also planning to add a desktop publishing unit to supplement the PowerPoint lessons for my form three classes next year. I’m not exactly sure what I will eventually be doing with my form four classes, but I’m hoping to set up some type of cultural exchange with a class back in the States. I really think it would be a good way to move their concept of computers from something that needs to be learned in a class to a more practical application as a tool for exchanging ideas.

Jeff teaching a group of Form 1 students.

Me teaching the same group of Form 1 students.

More Form 1 students working on their lesson for the day.

One of the events that delayed the start of classes since my being here was our school’s graduation ceremony. The ceremony was especially exciting because our mgeni rasmi (guest of honor) was former President of Tanzania Benjamin Mkapa, who we were lucky enough to actually meet and get a photo with. While meeting the former president was definitely a highlight, my favorite part of the day had to be the entertainment provided by the students. Music and dancing seem to be a very common passion for many of the students here at Abbey and the graduation ceremony provided a rare audience for the students to showcase their talents. The entertainment covered all spectrums. There was tribal drumming with dancers, an original rap titled “Books In Our Heads” set to the music of Lil Wayne, “Bodyshaking” with music courtesy of Missy Elliot (essentially choreographed group dancing like that seen on America’s Best Dance Crew), a Michael Jackson impersonator and “comedy” that was really more just speeches than stand-up routines. My favorite performance though had to be the original song written by the graduates thanking their teachers, school and parents. The song was in Swahili, so I didn’t understand all of it, but it was catchy, and I still find myself humming it.

Myself, Jeff, Dylan and Mikey (All PCVs in the region) with Former President of Tanzania Benjamin Mkapa

The day and ceremony was incredibly long. The entertainment had actually followed a full catholic mass and a tour of the school for our guest of honor. After the entertainment the graduates received their diplomas, certificates of excellence (awarded to the best student in each subject, which I was lucky enough to design) and the Tanzanian equivalent of leis from their parents, which looked to be made out of old Christmas decorations. But the day still wasn’t over. The ceremony went on to recognize a long list of important donors to the school, a portion my fellow wazungu and I chose to skip. Dinner followed the ceremony, which was later followed by an after party in Ndanda with more food and the regular four drinks each guest was allotted (taken all at once for a reason I am still unsure). The after party started a bit slow but picked up as time went on and ended in a full Tanzanian dance party, which of course, I couldn’t help but participate in.

I’ve actually really enjoyed a lot of these types of cultural experiences I’ve had in country so far. Tanzania definitely likes to have a good time. But I’ve actually started to notice a few cultural components I haven’t been incredibly fond of. I think it’s funny that I choose to write it like that because I’m generally not a negative person, in fact, I’m really uncomfortable being negative at all and it’s obvious I am softening my language as much as possible. It actually took a fellow PCV friend telling me “It’s ok to not like something about someone’s culture,” for me to realize and admit that I’ve experienced things in this culture that I didn’t necessarily like.

The lack of productivity and punctiliousness (a new word I’ve learned since being in country) have to top my list of challenging cultural obstacles. Before I say more I want to note that these characteristics are naturally not true of every Tanzanian. Instead, they’re just a few observations I’ve made from my very short time here and from the stories I’ve been told by fellow PCVs.

During my first week at site our school’s driver offered to show me around the villages surrounding our school. We walked through the villages for four hours and everywhere we went I was surprised to see the amount of people just sitting. We even stopped near the end of my tour at a friend of the driver’s home, brought a few chairs into the front yard and sat, at times without a word exchanged for several minutes. Even at my school, amongst some of the best teachers in Tanzania the amount of time spent sitting under one of the mango trees on our school grounds surprises me.

Part of me, naturally, finds this surprising purely because of my own cultural background. I’ve been wired in such a way that I need to always be doing something, even if that something is just as pointless and wasteful as sitting under a tree for a few hours. It reminds me of the amount of television I used to watch back home, especially when I would watch even if there was nothing I wanted to see. It is interesting how access to things like television alter our culture. If every teacher sitting under that tree had a TV or a computer with the Internet, would they still be sitting there? I don’t think one is better or worse than the other. It’s just different.

Aside from the way we spend our free time, I have noticed a lack of drive and pride here in Tanzania. I have heard many Tanzanians talk of the need for their country to develop, but I’ve heard just as many tell me how they have a culture of laziness. Even more disheartening is the sense of pride I think some Tanzanians have. I remember a conversation with a man in which I asked, “But Tanzania is a great African nation, other countries look up to the progress Tanzania has made,” to which he responded with his eyes to the ground shaking his head, “No, Kenya is better.” Again, I’m sure this isn’t the attitude of every Tanzanian, but it still surprised me to hear.

It makes me wonder what “development” really means to the people here.

The punctilious nature of Tanzania has also been a bit frustrating and something I don’t think I realized until I was introduced to the word. To be punctilious is to show great attention to detail or correct behavior. Now, it could easily be argued, (by my former newspaper staff I’m sure) that I myself have some punctilious qualities, but not in the way Tanzanians do. The word was originally explained to me as showing great attention to details of the trivial or useless, a far more fitting definition to the type of behavior I’ve seen in country. For instance, I have seen the best handwriting I have ever witnessed in the notebooks of students I’ve encountered, with measured indentations and vocabulary words underlined with a straight-edge. However, if you were to ask them to summarize the contents of what they have written, many would struggle.

I’ve noticed this attention to trivial detail in other parts of the culture as well. At every ceremony or celebration I’ve attended every person of note down to the mzungu sitting with his home-stay family on the bride’s side of the reception hall is asked to stand and be introduced to all in attendance, a process that had to have taken a least an hour I’m sure. I also noticed it at my first staff meeting in which all of the minutes kept from the previous meeting weeks before were read before the meeting was allowed to continue, a painstaking process that added more time to the already painfully long meeting. 

It’s frustrating because the time isn’t being used efficiently, the form has become more important than the content, and nothing productive seems to come from any of it.

I think in a perfect Tanzania this type of activity would be replaced with something I’ve found noticeably lacking since I’ve been here – creativity. To be fair, I have noticed more as I spend more time here, but I’ve had to look really hard to find it. The region I’m in is actually known for their carvings, done by the Makonde tribe. The carvings exist, but seem in limited quantity and not widely practiced. I’ve also seen it briefly in my students, once in two students drawing in impressive perspective using Microsoft Paint, and again in a group of students filming their dancing and asking to have music added. (Two interests I plan to foster in the coursework I’m planning.) What I find especially concerning is that I don’t think they realize they’re being creative, or how important creativity is to growth and development, not only in artistic endeavors but in academic ones as well.

A few days into my time at Abbey a student came in to use our Encyclopedia program to work on an article he was writing for our school newsletter. I sat quietly watching him work for a while and eventually approached him to ask what his article was about. He was writing about education and had the Encarta page opened to that very topic. The “article” he’d been writing was copied almost word for word from the screen. “Do you know how to cite your sources?” I asked. “No,” he answered worried and confused. “Do you know what plagiarism is?” I followed up. “No sir,” he responded.   

The lack of originality is evident in other parts of the culture here as well. I’m very lucky to be included with a small group of people at my school to have all of my meals prepared for me. Every meal, everyday. In fact, it is often the exact same thing, for every meal, everyday: bread or mandazi for breakfast, and ugali or rice with mchicha and mchuzi with meat for lunch and dinner. The food is delicious; it’s just always the same.

There’s a lot more to share, but this is far too long already, and I have ugali waiting. (Turns out it was actually rice, good day!) I’ll try to update again soon but in the meantime I wanted to put out a call for thoughts and questions. It sounds like a lot more people than I ever anticipated are actually reading my blog so I’d like to keep it interesting, relevant and interactive. If you have any questions or topics you’d like to hear about from my corner of Tanzania I would love to share my perspective. Just leave them in the comments below any of my posts.


Future topics I hope to discuss:

• Access to ICT in Tanzania – (Thanks to Prof. Bruning for this one)
• The story of my first traveling disaster – (In progress)
• Corporal punishment
• Foreign Aid

A few more photos -

 This is Pude, one of the dadas that cooks our meals at Abbey.

A large catholic mission is responsible for much of the development near Ndanda, including my school, a former leper colony.

One of the homes in Mwena, the village between Abbey and Ndanda. The entire area is covered with palm trees with large wedges cut out to making climbing for coconuts easier.

A few weeks in



I've been at site for a few weeks now and things have been going incredibly well. I'm honestly not sure I could have been placed in a nicer, well suited area for me in all of Tanzania. The site is in a very lush and well developed part of the southern region of Mtwara with plenty of water you can drink right out of the tap. In fact, my school cultivates and maintains an impressively large group of orchards around the school, growing almost everything that can be grown in the region from cashews to oranges, bananas and trees for lumber. 

I've been doing my best to stay busy in an unusual time for my school. The students have been busy taking mock examinations to practice for the national exam and preparing for their graduation which will have a very high profile guest, so they have not had regular classes. Even without classes to teach I have been opening the lab everyday, trying my best to make myself accessible to all of the students and teachers. They have both been coming in with a lot of questions, some that I can answer and others that I can't. Luckily the volunteer I am replacing has a lot of the regular problems figured out and has been great about showing me how to fix some of the more common issues. 

Last week all of the PCVs in the southern part of the country gathered in Mtwara town for a super regional meeting. It worked out really well for us new volunteers as it gave us an opportunity to meet and spend time with all of the volunteers from each sector in the region. I had a blast with the group and I'm really looking forward to spending more time with everyone, especially at the beach house we rented for our last night, right on the Indian Ocean. The highlight of the weekend though, besides getting to see Mtwara town (my favorite TZ city to date) and meeting all of the other volunteers had to be our trip to the private coral reef where one of the environment volunteers has been doing a large majority of his work. The beach was literally untouched that day until we arrived and it was only a short swim out to see the reef, which turned out to be far more impressive than I was expecting. I hope I get an opportunity to go back soon, I'm not sure I could ever get enough of a private beach/reef in Mtwara. 

A view of the Indian Ocean from the private beach near Mtwara.

A few of the orchards surrounding my site.

The administrative building at our school.

Half of one of these duplexes will soon be my home.

I'm currently living in our school's guest house. (Below)

Our school's guest house/headmaster's residence. I live on the left.

A cashew tree in the orchards a short hike from my house.



All Boys Catholic School Here I Come

A LOT has happened since my last post. For starters, and probably most importantly, we had site announcements yesterday! Our group is going ALL over the country but I will be heading to the south eastern corner in a region called Mtwara. In my placement interview I had asked to be on the coast and compared to the other ICT sites I got exactly what I wanted! I will be teaching ICT at an all boys Catholic school. I'm not sure whether or not the school is a boarding school or not, but I do know I will be living on the school's campus and it sounds like there is a community of nuns and monks that also live at the school. I will have electricity and running water and have heard rumors that the area is known for their cheese and handmade sausages. Almost like I never left Wisconsin! I have also been told that I will be living very close to a natural spring that the area is known for. In fact, there is a bottling plant that bottles and sells the spring water on the map that the current volunteer drew to describe his site for me, which makes me think it will be close.

The volunteer that is at the site now was the first that the school has had and it sounds like he's been very successful. The school apparently has about 50 computers and is really well run, with high expectations of their teachers. (Very different than my internship school where teachers spent more time in their lounge than teaching...) I'm really excited to be replacing a current volunteer because not only will they have a lot of the household essentials I will eventually need, but I think he will also be really helpful in speeding up my integration into the school and community.

Ok, enough about my site. I will know more when I finally get there in a few weeks. I need to post about the headbanging competition I won!

In addition to being a fundi (making clothes) and running a small duka (general store) my mama is also an event designer! And a few nights ago I got to attend a send off party she decorated! It was an INCREDIBLE time but the highlight had to be the traditional music and dance portion of the evening. After a lot of gift giving (they literally showered the bride with stuff, including the traditional blanket for the baba and large pot for the mama) a musician with a large guitar like instrument made from a tortoise shell started playing traditional tribal music. The MC made myself and another PCT that was at the party get up in front of EVERYONE and essentially have a dance off! The traditional dance is almost like a competition between two men to see who can shake their head the hardest - essentially headbanging. It was an incredible cultural experience, and I totally won...

Safari Elfu Mbili na Kumi na Moja!

Officially past the half way point of training our calendar included a much anticipated “trainee directed activity.” The time is intended to allow the group to do whatever we please, but as with every group before us, we chose to go to a nearby national park on a safari! Initially I wasn’t sure what to expect. I was really hoping that the part wouldn’t be fenced or gated in anyway, which luckily it wasn’t. In fact, it was a lot like the wildlife refuge I grew up next to in that you can more or less just drive into the park area on a road that passes right through. There is, however, also an official entrance to the park with a small office that does charge admission, but it was only $20 USD and got us a lot closer to the wildlife. The rate was good for 24 hours so we chose to go both late in the evening, around sunset, and early the next morning when we were told the animals were most active. Even before entering that area of the park however, animals were visible from the road. I was the first on our bus to spot a group of impala. Then we saw warthogs, a giraffe and zebra. I couldn’t believe how easy it was to see all of the animals! There were so many! How I was seeing these animals was also hard to believe. These were free animals living as they naturally do. No cages. No “feeding times”. No souvenirs. It was amazing! Mikumi is actually one of the smaller national parks in Tanzania so it isn’t very tourist heavy and our group was one of very few in the park.

We spent a lot of our initial time in the park waiting to see a simba (lion) that was protecting a recently killed twiga (giraffe). The vantage point we had wasn’t great and the most we saw was her ears and tail once or twice. We had more luck the next morning on the opposite side of the deceased twiga. (see my photos on flickr!) We also saw hippos, crocodiles, baboons and elephants on the second day. I still can’t believe that seeing these animals is normal here. If the fact that I’m living in Africa hadn’t set in by this past weekend, it certainly did after the safari.

On another note –

Teaching has been going incredibly well. I love it. Last week I covered file types, naming files and photo editing/drawing software with my form one students. I took photos with each of my classes and loaded them onto the computers in the lab. Then, after doing an activity in which the students created and named their own files on note cards and filed them in the folders that I brought to class, I directed them to find the photo of their stream on the computer. I’ve noticed that every class I do is better as time goes on. I get to do the same lesson 3 times every week and I’m pretty sure my Thursday class always gets the best lesson. In fact, last week Kihonda didn’t have power, which meant no computers in class. I was slightly worried about how I would fill the time, but had back up plans in place. Surprisingly I think it might have been one of my best classes to date. We spent more time on the activity and I could SEE them getting it. Which felt amazing! I also got to cover how to open and save the files by drawing diagrams on the chalkboard. I know the students were a bit disappointed that they couldn’t use the computer (they asked if they could come in on Friday or Monday) but I know they still enjoyed the class and I really think they learned something.

Mwalimu Tyler

My first official day as an ICT mwalimu at Kihonda Secondary School didn’t start as smoothly as I would have hoped. My shangazi got a late start this morning and the hot water for my bucket-bath wasn’t ready until 15 minutes later than I was expecting. I’ve worked very hard to establish a predictable routine in the morning, almost down to the minute, but considering the Tanzanian concept of time and relative lack of clocks and reliable alarm systems the fact that I was ready for my maji moto every morning at 6:30 I’m afraid was lost on the extended family member I depend on every morning. I chose to take the water before it was ready in order to save as much time as I could and ended up making up the difference with some speed bathing.

The interruptions unfortunately didn’t end there. I’ve been lucky to not need my med kit for much since arriving in country, but have once or twice used the throat lozenges provided by the Peace Corps. I went again this morning to grab a few lozenges for my backpack and per usual, removed a few small ants along the way. However today the deeper I dug into the kit, it seemed, the more ants I needed to remove. I continued doing so until I found the source of the increased amount of the pests. Apparently a colony had decided to make the back right corner of my med kit its permanent residence and had not only moved in, but had begun laying eggs as well. I cursed, bit my lip and took the kit outside to really shake everything out. The time saved speed bathing with cold water was immediately lost but still didn’t put me too far behind. I was determined for today to be a good day. It was my first day teaching and I really couldn’t wait. I ate and drank chai quickly and left home only a few minutes behind schedule.

By the time I got to school (about a 10 minute walk when I’m really moving) any misfortune the morning had brought at home had completely been replaced by the adrenaline the prospect of teaching brought. I went to our normal room, grabbed my chalk and eraser and headed to the computer lab. Class was set to start at 7:40, and I had arrived at about 7:15. Students were already in the lab, but they were there to clean the floors and prepare the room for the day. I could tell they were avoiding other duties and probably shouldn’t be reading the newspaper or playing games, but I didn’t say anything. They eventually left the room to me and I began uncovering the computers, one at a time. I hadn’t had any time to explore what computers worked or what was on them, so I knew the coming lesson could really go either way. By 8:00 (20 minutes behind schedule, hamna shida, that’s Tanzania) the computer technician brought me a room full of Form 1 students.

I was so excited to start that I’m pretty sure I forgot to introduce myself, which was fine, because they would probably have just called me teacher anyways. I was worried about my ability to use “level appropriate” English, but I think I fell into it pretty easily, in fact, it almost felt natural. I was also somewhat worried about participation, specifically my ability to wait, remain patient and not panic while waiting for students to speak up. Luckily, standing in front of the classroom of 30 or more students felt incredibly comfortable, even as they stared blankly and quietly as I repeated myself multiple times. I even found myself using the charade like non-verbal reinforcements I had seen other current volunteers using.

My first activity to gauge their knowledge was more or less a failure. I asked each of them to raise their hands and show me:

1 if you know a little about computers
2 if you know some about computers
3 if you know a lot of about computers

Most hands that rose, if any, were half up at best - but there was some response. I saw a lot of one’s and two’s, which I was expecting. The next activity I was hoping would be a bit more specific and engaging. I asked them to help me make a list on the board of all the things they knew computers could do. I asked the question a few times and waited for a response. Things move slower here. It takes time for the students to translate and understand what you are asking, think of an answer and work up the courage to give the answer in front of the entire class. Eventually a girl in the class raised her hand and said, “It simplifies work.” A great answer! I was so thrilled I nearly skipped to the board to write it. (In retrospect, however, the answer was almost too textbook. I followed up with “HOW does it simplify work” which produced no response. We’ve been told that this is a common problem in Tanzania. Students very often will memorize terms and definitions verbatim from textbooks, memorizing the English rather than actually learning the information. I guess some volunteers have seen students memorize and write entire essays for their exams, only to use the essay for a question that in no way relates to the content they have memorized.) Either way, I was thrilled and it really got the ball rolling. After a few long minutes we had a relatively decent list of things a computer could do. (One student mentioned drawing, which was a great opportunity for me to tell them about how I was a graphic designer and created art on the computer for a living.)

Next, I asked the class to help me make a list of the things that they wanted to learn about computers. By this time, the ball was really rolling (in relative terms, things were still moving quite slowly. But they were participating!) Just as we were finishing our list and as I was moving on to definitions and describing the difference between hardware and software (my fellow CBT members helped me come up with a great analogy using the brain as hardware and ideas as software) a teacher walked into the room and said, “I want chairs.” I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. How rude! I was teaching. Students were learning. And you want chairs? I don’t care what you want. He didn’t even acknowledge that I was in the room; he spoke directly to the students as if I wasn’t even there. I only get four 80-minute sessions with each of these groups and we already started 20 minutes late. The last thing I need is another distraction. Regardless, with little to no hesitation the students got out of their chairs, picked them up and carried them away. I had no idea what to do and was completely powerless. Was my lesson over? Were they coming back? Were they planning on standing for the next 50 minutes?

Luckily one student remained in the room (he was the only one with a wooden rather than plastic chair). I looked at him, then out the door, then back at him. “Are they coming back?” I asked. “Yes,” he answered. “With chairs?” I asked. “Yes,” he repeated. “Good,” I concluded with bewildered relief.

About 10 minutes later the room had refilled with students. We moved through the lesson on hardware, which included more participation and drawing on the board, plus my new awesome brain analogy and moved on to what I’m sure the students were all looking forward too – the computers! Turning on the computers was a bit chaotic, as I knew it would be. Not all of the machines worked and some ran Ubuntu while others used Windows, which made it difficult to explain how things worked at first.

My original plan was to have each of the groups around a computer report back to me the programs that they found on each computer. However the trill of having the machine working in front of them was too much for them to sit and simply look at what it could do, they wanted to use them! I quickly abandoned the plan and decided to move right to the end of the lesson I had planned. (I also really felt like I had reached teacher mode by this point. I’m not sure where it came from but after a few failed attempts at “hands up if you can hear me” and “quiet please” - “eyes on me” with an incredibly fluent and seemingly practiced gesture mimicking the command rang from my voice like I’d said it a million times before, with authority no less! I’m not sure how or why, but it definitely felt natural, totally fit the situation and completely commanded the attention of the room. It was perfect. I was teaching.)

I explained to each group how to open a word processor. (Word for Windows and Open Office for Ubuntu) and introduced the sentence:

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.

I asked the class if they knew what was special about this sentence. They had no idea, so I explained the fact that this sentence contains every letter in the English alphabet. I started to go through the letters and to my very pleasant surprise they all joined in!

I then explained that we would now be playing a game. Each computer would race to see who could type the sentence the fastest and raise their hands when they were finished. They loved the idea and jumped right in. The groups finished at a staggered pace and I finally had an opportunity to walk around and see where they were having problems. Many of them didn’t know how to add spaces, move the cursor or delete mistakes. Some even had problems using the mouse. The activity turned out to be really useful because not only were they thrilled to be using the computer but they were practicing the basic computer skills they would need to effectively use a computer. It also gave me some great ideas for things to cover in the future.

By the end of my time with the group they didn’t want to leave. And neither did I! Some of the slower groups tried to stay behind in order to finish typing the sentence and show me what they had done. (I didn’t have a prize for completing the task, so I went to each computer that was finished and gave high fives, which they LOVED!)

Teaching the class was a completely new kind of high for me. It was a complete adrenaline rush the entire time and I left the class beaming with excitement. It left me in such a good mood that I actually didn’t mind our Kiswahili session today, which I very regularly dread. I can only hope that every day will be half of what today was.

Hiking Uluguru Mountain/First Days at Kihonda Secondary

(Above: Mount Uluguru)

For our second day off here in TZ a large group of us decided to hire a few guides and hike the small mountain range that overlooks the Morogoro region. (More photos on my Flickr) The hike was short, only about 2.5 hours one way, but ended at a much anticipated waterfall. We relaxed by the falls for awhile and then split into smaller groups on the way back. My return group somehow ended up without a guide and found ourselves taking a different route back to the city but the roads were well populated most of the way down, so we asked for directions along the way.

On the route back we found ourselves in what a fellow trainee called the "Beverly Hills" of Morogoro. The houses were larger than any we'd seen and very ornate. As we got closer to the city we walked past a very well maintained golf course with mostly muzungus playing. Apparently there isn't much business done in Morogoro and it really doesn't strike me as a tourist destination, so I've yet to figure out where all of the money and muzungus came from.

The hike was tiring, but it felt good to really get out and do something physical. We have spent most of our time sitting, learning and listening the past few weeks.

Even more exciting was that this was our first week at our internship schools! Walking into the school the first time with students in their uniforms and teachers chatting and roaming the courtyard was a completely new type of rush for me. I am so excited to get in front of a classroom! (Which I never thought I'd say...) I'm nervous as well however, but it's mostly because of the unknown. I have no idea what these students know about computers.

I will be teaching 3 streams of form 1 students. Form 1 is essentially like being a Freshman in high school, however it seems to be based less on age and more on the amount of education accomplished to date. They have to pass a national exam in order to get into secondary school, and many students start their education late for one reason or another. (Mostly because parents keep them at home to do chores/farm work until they have more help from younger siblings etc.)

Kihonda Secondary is the 2nd largest Secondary school in Morogoro, so the classes are large. Because they are so large they are broken into streams, in my case there will be 3. (A, B and C) For this reason, I will only actually see each stream once every week, which means I will only have 4 classes with each stream. (We only internship teach for 4 weeks.) Luckily they will be for double sections, or 80 minutes each. I'm a little worried about filling the time, but I'm sure it will go by much faster than I'm expecting.

The students are very curious about our group. We've spent this week learning Kiswahili in a small storage room with one window. Most of the students stop what they're doing and stare as we walk by until we greet them, which always makes them smile. I can't wait to really get to know them!

I've been impressed by their attitude towards learning as well, although all I really know of it has been my observation from afar. Most of the students seem to sit in the classroom with friends and study on their own, without a teacher, for most of the day. We haven't quite figured out why there are no teachers teaching yet, but we think it might have to do with the fact that this is their first week back from a long break. (The student's first day back was spent "mowing" the lawn with machetes, sweeping the grounds and washing the sidewalks.)

Hopefully there will be more teachers around next week. I know 5 that will be there for sure!

Photos!

Finally had a chance to put some photos up. Check out my photostream on Flikr! (Link on the left.)

More to come soon!

This post not suitable for vegetarians

I came home this evening to most of the household outside sweeping and cleaning the yard in front of our house. Apparently we will be having a celebration tomorrow. What exactly we are celebrating I’m not sure yet. From what I have gathered so far it sounds like a family reunion.

As I’m watching my dadas and kakas sweep and rake the front yard, one of my kakas, Zakaria, approached me and said with a bit of condescending doubt in his voice, “Tyler, this physical labor. Can you do?” He smiled. Apparently my look of utter helplessness when it comes to any type of physical labor is universal. I said, “Of course I can! What do you want me to do?” He went on to show me how he was using a gardening hoe to remove the grass and weeds scattered throughout the rocky, sandy ground that is our front yard. (Ironically as much as we in the US try to grow grass for our yards, they do all they can to get rid of it.) I took the hoe from him and started attempting to remove the weeds as he had done, but was afraid of exactly how deep I should dig into the ground and so went about it a bit timidly. “Is it too hard for you?” He asked, “You can’t do?” “Well, yes, I can,” I tried to explain, “But I don’t completely understand. I don’t want to dig holes in the ground. Should I?” His English wasn’t really good enough to keep up with my barrage of frustrated and helpless questions. He took the hoe and showed me again before giving it back to me. This time I took no prisoners and dug deep into every blade of grass that dared to cross my gaze. “Fantastic!” He exclaimed. “Nzuri, nzuri. I go to see my friend now.” He quickly mentioned before leaving me with the hoe and half of a yard to finish. I didn’t mind however, I was really just happy to be able to participate.

Cleaning the yard wasn’t the only chore in need of doing to prepare for the party tomorrow. (Which I have now learned is just a family party. Thanks to Gracie, who is now sitting next to me. UPDATE: Turns out this gathering was the actually celebrate Grace's birthday. How she didn't know or why she didn't want to tell me I do not know.) With any good party there is of course, good food. And in this case, we will be having goat. And where does one get a good cut of goat in Tanzania? Our backyard of course! Apparently the pride a father feels in Tanzania for his grilling skills are less about actual cooking and more about the slaughtering and butchering of the animal to be cooked. My baba was more than enthusiastic to share the experience and made sure I knew he was an “expert” when it came to butchering. He seemed to really enjoy doing it as well, the fun parts at least. He left some of the more tedious jobs to our houseboy Joram. No one in my family was actually responsible for killing the animal. Instead, the man who brought the goat took the responsibility for cutting the goats throat and eventually its entire head off. (I told you this was not vegetarian-friendly, wait until you see the photos!) Brie, a fellow trainee who lives just down the road from me and who’s mama is apparently good friends with my mama (and also a vegetarian) came just in time to see the goat take some of his last gasps. She missed the more gruesome action, but saw the result all the same. Apparently they are invited to the celebration tomorrow. She, of course, will not be sharing in this particular part of the feast. It did make for a great discussion about the experience however. I’m not sure I can really put into words what it felt like to watch my food actually become my food. It was a thrilling experience I will keep with me forever, and I’m glad I got to share in it with my family here in Tanzania.

Even more exciting is that we get to eat it tomorrow! I’m not sure yet exactly how we will be preparing it, but I do think they were putting some of the parts in the same pots they use to boil my morning bucket bath. Tomorrow morning might be cold…

Photos! Note - These photos are a bit graphic in nature. Proceed at your own discretion.

O that's right, I'm here to teach...

We started micro teaching for the first time during training today. Well, we were supposed to anyways. We ended up getting the time for further planning and preparation for when we actually start micro teaching tomorrow. (I spent the time practicing writing on the chalkboard...) Micro teaching is essentially a 10 minute practice session in front of the other trainees teaching the same subject. Luckily for me, that is only 2 other people.

Next week is when things really get crazy. We start internship teaching on Monday already! We will be responsible for teaching actual students a relevant lesson in a real Tanzanian classroom! The fact that I'm here to be a teacher is finally really setting in. Teaching was never something I saw myself doing, not at the middle or high school level at least. I'm starting to get really anxious about it. What will I teach? Will it be relevant? Will I be able to control the classroom? Will I know enough about the subject to teach it? (The other ICT volunteers are VERY tech savvy. One has her MA in Computer Science and the other is a software engineer with a lot of experience. I have a BA in Communication, PR and Graphic Design... Luckily after looking at the syllabus and talking to current volunteers, it sounds like ICT has some wiggle room in what and how we teach. It sounds like it really all depends on your site.)

PC has given us a lot of really helpful instruction on teaching in a "learner centered" classroom environment, a switch from the "teacher centered" environment I guess TZ is currently in the process of making. It's been a lot of good information, but I have no idea how well any of it will work until I start actually teaching.

I do, however, think I'm just as excited as I am anxious. I really can't wait to start and see how things go.

Lazy Mzungu

SO much has happened since my last post I'm not even sure where to begin.

Since getting to Morogoro training has more or less consumed our lives. The first week was A LOT of Kiswahili, which doesn't end when we leave for the day as we go back to our home-stays to speak and learn even more language from our families. I can tell the work has started to pay off however because yesterday I had my most successful discussion with my family in Kiswahili to date. Unfortunately, the discussion was about my apparent laziness.

The plan originally was for me to do my laundry on Sunday (our only day off) but there was some sort of water problem in the village, so it didn't get done. Now, Nora, my dada, is supposed to show me how to do the laundry, as I have never done it by hand before. But, without water it was impossible, and she told me that we would do it kesho (tomorrow.) I was perfectly fine with this of course as Sunday was our first day off since being in Morogoro, and my training group took advantage of the time to work on a group project at the local bar.

I didn't think anything of it and I assumed that Nora would tell my mama, who had gone on safari for the weekend. Little did I know, this message was never passed along and the story was somehow twisted when it was told to Mama. So as we are sitting in the darkness of that night's power outage before dinner my mama asked me something that I understood completely, accept for one word. What does that mean? I asked? "Lez" they translated. "Lez?" I asked. Grace, my youngest dada was sitting on the couch to the right of me. "Lazz" she tried to enunciate. I still didn't understand. "Lazz" they all said together. "O, LAZY!" I said with excitement as I deciphered their translation. "Wait, lazy?" I reconsidered. "You think I'm lazy?!" The room exploded with laughter. "Hapana maji jana!" (No water yesterday) I exclaimed. The laughter was uncontrollable and for all of the embarrassment I should have felt, instead I felt incredibly proud as the ENTIRE conversation was in Kiswahili, minus the new vocab word for lazy that at this point escapes me.

It was really a great moment and made me feel even closer to the family. Even better, the conversation that followed (again in Kiswahili) was about at what time today we would wash my clothes which are in GREAT need of the attention...

Hope to have more photos by my next post!

First Days in Morogoro

We've been in Morogoro for a few days now and have met and moved in with our host families. I'm living with my mama, baba and two dadas, but they have extended family that have already come to visit and meet me. They are a great family and have been incredibly patient, helpful and understanding. Their home is built primarily of concrete with a tin roof and the choo is in a separate building a few steps outside. Their kitchen is also outside in the back of the house. They do, however, have a full entertainment system with cable and love to watch the news!

We've had training everyday from 7 until 5 that has consisted of cross cultural learning, language and teaching methods. The language has been incredibly overwhelming as we study it for hours everyday and while I think I've been picking it up I still struggle to actually use it. I'm sure it will come with time.

The most exciting news of the day is that we were lucky enough to be visited by Aaron Williams, the Director of the Peace Corps visiting Tanzania for the PC's 50th anniversary. We also had an opportunity to look briefly at the curriculum we will be teaching, which has me more excited to teach than ever!

Hujambo from Mikumi Sita!

(above: One of the buildings at Msimbazi Centre called “Mikumi” where our training in Dar took place and I stayed for the past 4 days in room sita, or 6.)

Our first night in Dar felt a lot like a covert operation. It was executed swiftly and with impressive precision. We were greeted very warmly at the airport by the Country Director, Andrea, a few staff members and apparently the U.S. Ambassador to Tanzania, who was sort of half introduced to us. Upon leaving the baggage claim area, we were told to look at the moon quickly, as by some strange coincidence our arrival coincided with a lunar eclipse at which we all gawked until we were instructed to grab a liter and a half bottle of water and get on the bus.

We then drove about 40 minutes to Msimbazi Centre, a Christian affiliated compound that serves a lot of purposes beyond hosting foreign trainees. (Apparently there is a group of Korean foreign service volunteers here as well.) There are a lot of students here studying and taking exams and on our last night there were two very large weddings going on at the very same time. The centre seems very removed from the rest of the city, almost as if we have been tucked away safely in a type of holding place/buffer zone for the rest of the country. They are giving us our culture in doses. That is, until this Sunday when they literally throw us to our host families. (More on this later. As anxious as I am, I really can’t wait!)

No time was wasted when we finally got to the center. We were introduced to everyone on Peace Corps staff that was present and given a medical briefing, including our first malaria suppressants. (The medical staff here is very sharp. I understand malaria better than I ever thought I would.) They briefed us on the next day and a bit on the few days ahead and then gave us our room assignments.

Getting to my room was exciting and turning on the light for the first time was nerve-racking. I flipped the switch and waited. Nothing. Then a flicker. More darkness. As I waited, I couldn’t help but see the success or failure of the light as an omen for the days that were to follow. It struggled to turn on, but the longer I waited and willed it to, the more it flickered and eventually the entire room lit up. Even more than an omen the light sort of turned out to be a metaphor for our first 4 days in Dar. It has definitely taken awhile to get rolling, but at this point every day looks brighter than the last.

These last 4 days have felt like weeks considering the amount we have been learning. Every day is filled with safety and security training, cultural briefings and language training. I was really concerned about my ability to pick up the language before we arrived, and I still worry about how well I’m doing, but I really think that studying language in the past as made the experience up until now SO much easier. I know what to look for and how and why things work. I can even make comparisons to how things work in Spanish. I do, however, catch myself about to speak in Spanish when I’m trying to speak in Kiswahili at times, which can be confusing. The language training staff has been incredible so far and apparently they’re the best in the country, which at this point I would have no problem believing.

One of our very first lessons was how to use the Choo. A.k.a. cleverly shaped hole in the ground. I haven’t had to use it much yet as our rooms all have working toilets but I need to start remembering to carry toilet paper when we leave tomorrow. I’m all for assimilation, but the whole left hand bucket of water and ladle thing might take me awhile…

For as little as we have really scene of the country so far I have still very quickly fallen in love. The people are incredibly nice (apparently long 5 minute greeting are VERY common when seeing people you know here, even before any business is actually discussed) and the scenery here in the centre (as well as the 10 minutes a few of us escaped to look just past the entrance of the center one night) were everything I had hoped for but don’t believe is actually real. I wake up every morning to a rooster crowing and the call for morning prayers at about 5:30 and go to bed listening to some pretty serious parties at what must be a club across the street. Tonight it is some sort of special drum group I think, the night before sounded like one right out of Pazzo’s.

We leave tomorrow at 6:30 for the city we will spend the next 10 weeks in with our new mamas, babas and maybe even a few cacas and dadas. (moms, dads, brothers and sisters.) I think all of us are a little anxious to meet our new families. We probably know enough of the language for maybe a 10-minute conversation, and that’s including the time spent looking up the words I am likely to forget in the moment. We have met a few current volunteers during our time in Dar as well, which has been INCREDIBLY helpful. They’re great at answering all of the questions the staff can’t and have given a lot of helpful insight and advice. They all also say that their time with their host families was some of the best, and they speak of them as if they really are family. Once again, I can’t wait to wake up in the morning.

Staging in Philadelphia

Just wanted to post a quick update from staging in Philadelphia before we leave for the airport in Newark -

Everyone in my staging group is incredible and seems to be especially diverse. We have people from a wide range of ethnic groups and all over the country, essentially an equal amount of men and women and even have a strong diversity of age. Two of the volunteers in my group are RPCV's (Returned Peace Corps Volunteers) getting ready for their second term of service!

Most of the trainees in my group seem to be teaching English and Math, there are only 2 other ICT volunteers besides myself.

We woke up early this morning to get our Yellow Fever vaccination and will be leaving in about 10 minutes for the airport. Our plane to Amsterdam leaves at 6 this evening.

Part of me wishes we would have had a bit more time in Philly, it seems like an exciting city with a lot of history. Luckily on our way back from getting our vaccinations a few of us took a longer route and walked past the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. It was a nice little American history reminder before we leave for Tanzania.

Next update will be in country! Tanzania here I come!

Just a few FAQs

Hi and welcome to my blog! The more I read and talk with friends and family about my upcoming Peace Corps adventure the more necessary a blog seems to become. So, here it is, my first official blog post!

I suppose it might be beneficial to answer some of the FAQs right out of the gate:

Why the Peace Corps?

There were a number of elements that factored in to my decision to volunteer, all of which played a relatively equal role. However, the challenge and adventure that the Peace Corps offers was a leading factor, if in fact there was one.

I knew that long-term international experience in a new environment would test me in ways that I haven’t been tested before. It would also offer an opportunity to explore a new perspective and the perspectives of others that I would have otherwise never encountered. Also, I won’t have a microwave or washing machine, which will probably be challenge enough.

The desire for long-term international experience itself was a driving factor in my decision. When I was a senior in high school one of our teachers asked us to write letters to ourselves in 5 years. Now, graduating college in May four years later, I never forgot the very first thing I wrote to myself in that letter. “If you aren’t living in another country when you read this, leave tomorrow.” I can’t imagine disappointing my past self like that, so I knew I had to beat the delivery of that letter.

Another factor, of course, was the opportunity to contribute to our global community. This type of contribution has been a consistent goal for me and I am excited to have the ability to do so at this level. I hope that I will not only be able to teach the Communication and Information Technology tools that are continually altering our world (in ways that if I were to list would surely impress my Communication Theory professors, but bore you) but to inspire those I will be teaching to use those tools in all of their influential (unlisted) ways. That being said, I remain convinced that I will ultimately learn more from the people I will live and work with in Tanzania than I will ever be able to teach myself.

The answer to this first FAQ has proven to be longer than I had originally expected (which is probably a good thing) and I could say even more (maybe in a post to come). However, in the interest of keeping your attention (and avoiding obnoxiously long blog posts) I will end with a few shorter FAQ answers. (And try not to say anything else in parenthesis. Why am I doing that?)

Where? Tanzania

More specifically? I will let you know when I know.

How long? 27 months

What? Teaching Communication and Information Technology to Secondary Education students. (Our high school equivalent (Sorry, I can’t seem to stop))

When? Leaving June 13, 2011