It has been a long week at Nsumba. Supervising exams and most of all, grading. I put in a few 12-hour days this week getting all my papers graded, but they're done now, so I took off a little early today.
As I expected before I got here, many of my students struggle with math. Last year my Form III students took national exams and only 30% passed math (this put Nsumba among the top 20% in the region). It's kind of discouraging to think that it would take a miracle for me to get half of them to pass their exam next year. Their performance on the end of term test is not encouraging. I think part of the problem is a lack of effort because some of the problems were almost identical to examples we did in class, so if they studied they should have done alright. On the other hand, it's pretty tough that since they have no books, if they don't see something written on the board by me they don't see it at all. Under those conditions it's pretty hard to get what you need across in four hours a week. I'm still pretty new at teaching, so I know I could be better at it. Still I know it's not only my fault. Hopefully in the next year and a half all of us can do better.
One interesting and somewhat related point was a conversation I had with one of my students one day. He actually said that I was his best teacher, and knowing he wasn't exactly enthusiastic about math, I asked him why he thought that. Well, it turns out that it was because I hardly miss any periods. Of course I'd noticed that many teachers seldom leave the staff room and go teach something, but I guess I hadn't noticed the scope of the problem. Now some teachers are really good and always show up, but apparently this student didn't have many of those teachers. So I thought that it was interesting and kind of sad that I'm considered a really good teacher just because I show up.
So most of the hard work is over. It'll probably be hectic Monday and Tuesday next week, but soon I'm off for some time off and a chance to see all the PCVs I trained with. Hard to believe most of them I haven't seen for six months, which is hard after how closely we bonded in our shared trial of Peace Corps training. Until next time.
Friday, May 26, 2006
Monday, May 22, 2006
Term Winding Down
It's been a really eventful week, so here goes:
Last Monday I met Joshua Berman (a returned PCV from Nicaragua) and his wife Sutay (likewise an RPCV, but in the Gambia) came through Mwanza for a couple of days. They are in the midst of a very long trip you can read about on Joshua's site. They got in touch with me thanks to this blog and called me up when they got into town. Of course, all Peace Corps Volunteers love visitors, so I was excited to meet them and show them around town. The following day, before they left, they came out to my place for a little while. It was really interesting to talk to the two of them about their Peace Corps experiences, both to compare with my current experience, and also because I'm curious about what it's like when the service ends. I heard from them, as I have heard from others, that returning home after service is very difficult. That doesn't surprise me. I've often heard that "reverse culture shock" is worse than the original culture shock, and this was certainly true when I returned home from Scotland four years ago. Oh well, all that is a long way away. Anyway, Josh and Tay, thanks for stopping by and karibuni tena!
Also last week we finished up classes and this week we have end of term exams. The math exams will be given Wednesday, so after that I will be very busy because one other teacher and I will have to grade all of the school's math exams in just over a week. After that I'll be rushing off for Peace Corps training. It's hard to believe I've effectively finished a quarter of my Peace Corps service. It doesn't seem like almost half a year in Mwanza.
Saturday I went with my buddy Kassim and another teacher with about fifty students to Kinango Secondary School, about an hour and a half east of Mwanza, for our schools to compete in a debate, and sports (volleyball, basketball, and, of course, soccer). The school was in a pretty isolated place and the land there was absolutely beautiful. It was a lot of fun to go out there, and the students seemed pretty happy that I'd come along. It's nice for students to have diversions like this because I feel bad for them being stuck at a boarding school with nothing at all to do on the weekends. That's kind of a recipe for teenage boys to get into trouble. It also gave me a chance to see how luck I am to be at Nsumba. While Kinango is beautiful, it would be very, very hard to get to a town from there and of course there's no running water or electricity. Yeah, I'll take my Peace Corps Lite any day.
I may be able to post again before I leave for Morogoro on June 2, but I may not. If not, it may be three weeks or so until my next post, so don't be alarmed if that's the case.
My final word is I want to say a big congratulations to my brother Kenny "Special K" Clark for graduating with his Master's from Wake Forest a week ago. Also congrats to my best friend Woody Pike and his special lady Michelle, who will be getting married on Saturday. I hate be missing all this stuff, guys. Best wishes to all of you!
Last Monday I met Joshua Berman (a returned PCV from Nicaragua) and his wife Sutay (likewise an RPCV, but in the Gambia) came through Mwanza for a couple of days. They are in the midst of a very long trip you can read about on Joshua's site. They got in touch with me thanks to this blog and called me up when they got into town. Of course, all Peace Corps Volunteers love visitors, so I was excited to meet them and show them around town. The following day, before they left, they came out to my place for a little while. It was really interesting to talk to the two of them about their Peace Corps experiences, both to compare with my current experience, and also because I'm curious about what it's like when the service ends. I heard from them, as I have heard from others, that returning home after service is very difficult. That doesn't surprise me. I've often heard that "reverse culture shock" is worse than the original culture shock, and this was certainly true when I returned home from Scotland four years ago. Oh well, all that is a long way away. Anyway, Josh and Tay, thanks for stopping by and karibuni tena!
Also last week we finished up classes and this week we have end of term exams. The math exams will be given Wednesday, so after that I will be very busy because one other teacher and I will have to grade all of the school's math exams in just over a week. After that I'll be rushing off for Peace Corps training. It's hard to believe I've effectively finished a quarter of my Peace Corps service. It doesn't seem like almost half a year in Mwanza.
Saturday I went with my buddy Kassim and another teacher with about fifty students to Kinango Secondary School, about an hour and a half east of Mwanza, for our schools to compete in a debate, and sports (volleyball, basketball, and, of course, soccer). The school was in a pretty isolated place and the land there was absolutely beautiful. It was a lot of fun to go out there, and the students seemed pretty happy that I'd come along. It's nice for students to have diversions like this because I feel bad for them being stuck at a boarding school with nothing at all to do on the weekends. That's kind of a recipe for teenage boys to get into trouble. It also gave me a chance to see how luck I am to be at Nsumba. While Kinango is beautiful, it would be very, very hard to get to a town from there and of course there's no running water or electricity. Yeah, I'll take my Peace Corps Lite any day.
I may be able to post again before I leave for Morogoro on June 2, but I may not. If not, it may be three weeks or so until my next post, so don't be alarmed if that's the case.
My final word is I want to say a big congratulations to my brother Kenny "Special K" Clark for graduating with his Master's from Wake Forest a week ago. Also congrats to my best friend Woody Pike and his special lady Michelle, who will be getting married on Saturday. I hate be missing all this stuff, guys. Best wishes to all of you!
Saturday, May 13, 2006
Africa vs. the West
The other day I walked down to the dining hall around sunset and many of my students were out eating their usual dinner of ugali (boiled maize flour with the consistency of mashed potatoes) and beans. Some of them invited me to join them and we began talking. They all seemed to want to talk about history and current events, particularly Africa's relationship with Europe and America over the last couple of hundred years. It was a very illuminating conversation.
Many of my students are very passionate about how much harm slavery and colonialism did to them. I think they are completely right about that. There is still an attitude among so many people here that Africans just aren't as smart and capable as Europeans and Americans. This self doubt is certainly at least partly because of colonialism. However, many of them see it, and the globalization they call a new colonialism, as the only reason Africa is still poor. This I argued vigorously with them. Now, before I go into detail in this argument remember that I am very liberal and am in what some conservatives call the "blame America first" crowd. I'll plead guilty to this, but it is because I feel that to be a country, or even a good person, it is much more important to see what you can do better than what others can do better because you can actually do something about your faults. In the end you can criticize others, but they have to make the decision to improve themselves. So I say that it's fine to talk about the bad things other countries or people are doing, but first let's look at what we are doing.
Having said that, I did defend America from my students, or at least tried to pursuade them to look at the things Africa can do to help itself. One thing I point out to them is that globalization does hurt many people, there's no doubt about it, but it helps many as well. Resisting it to me seems rather useless because it's a fact of life, and quite frankly poor countries that embrace it, like India and China, are doing a a lot better than poor countries that reject it, like Zimbabwe and Bolivia. So good or bad, I feel like you have to play the game. Of course many policies of the West hurt developing countries, but I feel like screaming tp these countries to change isn't going to help the situation here.
The other thing I point out to them is that there is another very important reason Africa and the Middle East largely stays poor--the treatment of women. Women in Tanzania and much of Africa are for the most part just expected to have as many babies as possible and stay home and cook, clean, and watch the kids. I told my students that doing this means half of the working age population isn't contributing to the economy. Now I'm not saying being a stay-at-home mom is so horrible, my mom was when my brother and I were real young. However, if she were African, she would probably have had 8 or 9 kids and most likely would have been out of the work force for a good 30 years. I told my students to look at the countries in the world that are rich, be they in America, Europe, or Asia. These are very different countries with different cultures, but the common factor is that in all of them there are good opportunities for women. Even countries that are poor, but richer than Tanzania, like South Africa, have more equality for women. Of course, countries made rich by oil don't have to fit this mold, but oil definately changes the equation. Anyway, I'm generalizing, but I don't have time to write a thesis, though I think it'd make a good one.
So anyway, I'm glad that my students are so interested in the world, but sometimes I'm discouraged that they don't want to help themselves, but just make excuses. Some of them also have crazy conspiracy theories. One even asked if as a Peace Corps volunteer I have to write a report for the CIA. Overall though, I really enjoy hearing the students' points of view on these things. I'm just going to be careful they don't provoke me into a political debate while I should be teaching them math.
Many of my students are very passionate about how much harm slavery and colonialism did to them. I think they are completely right about that. There is still an attitude among so many people here that Africans just aren't as smart and capable as Europeans and Americans. This self doubt is certainly at least partly because of colonialism. However, many of them see it, and the globalization they call a new colonialism, as the only reason Africa is still poor. This I argued vigorously with them. Now, before I go into detail in this argument remember that I am very liberal and am in what some conservatives call the "blame America first" crowd. I'll plead guilty to this, but it is because I feel that to be a country, or even a good person, it is much more important to see what you can do better than what others can do better because you can actually do something about your faults. In the end you can criticize others, but they have to make the decision to improve themselves. So I say that it's fine to talk about the bad things other countries or people are doing, but first let's look at what we are doing.
Having said that, I did defend America from my students, or at least tried to pursuade them to look at the things Africa can do to help itself. One thing I point out to them is that globalization does hurt many people, there's no doubt about it, but it helps many as well. Resisting it to me seems rather useless because it's a fact of life, and quite frankly poor countries that embrace it, like India and China, are doing a a lot better than poor countries that reject it, like Zimbabwe and Bolivia. So good or bad, I feel like you have to play the game. Of course many policies of the West hurt developing countries, but I feel like screaming tp these countries to change isn't going to help the situation here.
The other thing I point out to them is that there is another very important reason Africa and the Middle East largely stays poor--the treatment of women. Women in Tanzania and much of Africa are for the most part just expected to have as many babies as possible and stay home and cook, clean, and watch the kids. I told my students that doing this means half of the working age population isn't contributing to the economy. Now I'm not saying being a stay-at-home mom is so horrible, my mom was when my brother and I were real young. However, if she were African, she would probably have had 8 or 9 kids and most likely would have been out of the work force for a good 30 years. I told my students to look at the countries in the world that are rich, be they in America, Europe, or Asia. These are very different countries with different cultures, but the common factor is that in all of them there are good opportunities for women. Even countries that are poor, but richer than Tanzania, like South Africa, have more equality for women. Of course, countries made rich by oil don't have to fit this mold, but oil definately changes the equation. Anyway, I'm generalizing, but I don't have time to write a thesis, though I think it'd make a good one.
So anyway, I'm glad that my students are so interested in the world, but sometimes I'm discouraged that they don't want to help themselves, but just make excuses. Some of them also have crazy conspiracy theories. One even asked if as a Peace Corps volunteer I have to write a report for the CIA. Overall though, I really enjoy hearing the students' points of view on these things. I'm just going to be careful they don't provoke me into a political debate while I should be teaching them math.
Tuesday, May 02, 2006
Who's the Real Do-Gooder at Nsumba?
The kindness of some of teh people here really touches me sometimes. Take my friend, Kassim, another teacher at my school. For no real reason one day last week he invited Cha, the Korean volunteer at our school, and I to have chips (in the British sense) after school. There are several places by the road where they sell beer and soda and usually there's a guy who pan fries chips and grills beef shishkabobs call mshikaki. A popular thing to do with the chips is to add beaten eggs as he fries them. This comes out as sort of a french fry omlette, which sounds strange but is really good. It's called chipsi mayai--mayai being Swahili for eggs. So Kassim, who makes less money than I do and a lot less than Cha, insisted on paying. This is real normal for him. He often insists on paying for bus fare if we go somewhere and things like that. I've learned it's pointless to argue. I tried to make up for it a little this time by buying our sodas. So they guy made chipsi mayai and mshikaki one serving at a time since he only has one pan, and of course Kassim took his last. Everything up to then was nice enough, but what really touched me was when he saw a little boy walking home from primary school, called him over, and gave him half his food. By then it was 3 in the afternoon and that kid probably hadn't eaten since breakfast at 6. Needless to say, he was quite hungry and extremely grateful. I often think of the things I'm missing at home and lament my, by my old standards, spartan existence. Then there's Kassim, who's working as hard as I am but doesn't have a relatively luxurious life to look forward to after two years. I'm often amazed by how much people with so little can give.
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Back to Teaching
So far it's been a very good week. First of all, Sunday I got most of my lights replaced, finally, so I now get to read by glorious artificial light after 7 pm or so. Teaching is going well, it's actually kind of nice to be back into the old routine, but that doesn't mean the news I got today was bad. Turns out, tomorrow's a holiday. It's Union Day, celebrating the union of TANganyika and ZANzibar to become--TANZANIA. Pretty exciting. What's funny is how many teachers at the school didn't realize tomorrow was a holiday until today. So in honor of the holiday we will be celebrating volunteer solidarity as the Peace Corps and KOICA (that's Korea's Peace Corps) of Nsumba and Nganza Secondary Schools will get together and make a huge pot of chile. The Koreans have cooked Korean food for Ryan and I before, so we are finally going to return the favor with some wicked hot American chile. I'm pretty excited. Ryan's recent purchase of a pressure cooker(brilliant) and meat grinder (more brilliant) make this exciting event possible. I can hardly contain myself.
On top of all that great stuff (electric lights and chile are enough to make a week great in the Peace Corps) finally, finally, it looks like I'm going to get that security gate on my door. My headmaster brought a fundi (that's Swahili for a guy who makes and/or fixes stuff, I guess you could say "handyman") to my house today to look at my house and give him an estimate. He should start in the next couple of days. I'm glad this is finally being done because both I and the Peace Corps were losing patience with my school. With the extra security I won't be too worried about leaving my house to travel in June and July.
So I notice my mood is dramatically different from my last post. Well, let's just say that emotions are pretty far from constant here in the Peace Corps. In fact most days I will experience the mood from this post and from the other each several times a day. "Emotional roller coaster" really is the best way to describe this service. The ups and downs are more extreme and come more quickly than I have ever experienced before. Sometimes it's great, sometimes it's horrible, but it is never boring (except when you're sitting at home alone in the dark, but that's not a problem at the moment). It's an amazing amount of stress and I imagine I'll look five years older instead of two next time most of you see me, but it's an amazing experience that I'm lucky to have. Who knows, maybe I'll even have a positive impact here? So until next time, this is Andrew Clark, signing off from the University of St. Augustine computer lab, Mwanza, Tanzania.
On top of all that great stuff (electric lights and chile are enough to make a week great in the Peace Corps) finally, finally, it looks like I'm going to get that security gate on my door. My headmaster brought a fundi (that's Swahili for a guy who makes and/or fixes stuff, I guess you could say "handyman") to my house today to look at my house and give him an estimate. He should start in the next couple of days. I'm glad this is finally being done because both I and the Peace Corps were losing patience with my school. With the extra security I won't be too worried about leaving my house to travel in June and July.
So I notice my mood is dramatically different from my last post. Well, let's just say that emotions are pretty far from constant here in the Peace Corps. In fact most days I will experience the mood from this post and from the other each several times a day. "Emotional roller coaster" really is the best way to describe this service. The ups and downs are more extreme and come more quickly than I have ever experienced before. Sometimes it's great, sometimes it's horrible, but it is never boring (except when you're sitting at home alone in the dark, but that's not a problem at the moment). It's an amazing amount of stress and I imagine I'll look five years older instead of two next time most of you see me, but it's an amazing experience that I'm lucky to have. Who knows, maybe I'll even have a positive impact here? So until next time, this is Andrew Clark, signing off from the University of St. Augustine computer lab, Mwanza, Tanzania.
Friday, April 14, 2006
Electricity
As loyal readers know, TANESCO, the company that holds a monopoly on electricity in this country, and I are not exactly the best of friends. Well they managed yet again to find a way to foil me. No, my electricity isn't exactly out. In fact it's been on pretty much all week. However, there seems to be a problem with a transformer around my school and for a couple of days the current was so low it hardly lit the light bulbs and wouldn't start the fluorescent lights. Then for a short time things went normal, then the current spiked incredibly high. This blew out all my fluorescent lights, most of my light bulbs, and my phone charger. They said they have to get another transformer from God knows where and install it, so I'm sure it'll be here by year's end. In the meantime, there's no use replacing bulbs that will just blow out in the periodic spikes, so we're waiting until the transformer is fixed. The school will replace my lights which is a good thing because one fluorescent tube is a good four days' pay for me, and I lost three of them. So despite having electricity, I still am again stuck with candles. I did replace my phone charger, which cost $10. Even that's pricey as I make $6 a day.
Ok, sorry about that rant. On the other hand it's been a pretty quiet week. I'm catching up on my laundry and grading tests. I kind of wish I could have travelled but I don't want to leave my house until the security improvements are done. Unfortunately, still nothing but promises there.
So a lot of whining this entry, but I guess I have too much time on my hands. Next week it'll be back to the old routine, which will be ok. There will only be about six weeks of classes before the long break when I will have a lot more going on. Hopefully things will be relatively calm until then.
Ok, sorry about that rant. On the other hand it's been a pretty quiet week. I'm catching up on my laundry and grading tests. I kind of wish I could have travelled but I don't want to leave my house until the security improvements are done. Unfortunately, still nothing but promises there.
So a lot of whining this entry, but I guess I have too much time on my hands. Next week it'll be back to the old routine, which will be ok. There will only be about six weeks of classes before the long break when I will have a lot more going on. Hopefully things will be relatively calm until then.
Monday, April 10, 2006
Conference Over, Life Back at Site
The conference is over, so back to normal life. After the conference, the people going back to Bukoba couldn't leave until last night because of the ferry schedule, so they came up to my place Saturday with Meena (from Musoma) and we had a big dinner. They stayed around until last night and then got on the ferry. The whole time was really great and it was nice to see everyone. The only problem was that when I returned home on Saturday I found that even though a student was staying in my house to watch it someone tried to break open my bedroom door (which I had locked) and a few small things were stolen. The whole security thing is becoming really frustrating, so I'm really pressuring my headmaster to improve the security at my house. He's being very responsive. He was not around for the last few weeks so he likely wasn't aware that promised improvements have not yet been done. Hopefully it'll be done soon. I'm certainly not going to leave my house overnight again until I have more secure doors and windows. I think PC will put a lot of pressure on him too so I hope it can be taken care of shortly. I know volunteers who have been temporarily or permanently removed from site because of security concerns, and that's really something I don't want to deal with. People back home shouldn't worry to much. I've never felt physically threatened. I think stuff will be stolen but I think it's extremely unlikely I'll be hurt.
Anyway, other than security things are fine. I think I'm going to enjoy a week to relax. Of course there is also a lot of house work to do and tests to be graded, but it won't be too bad. And after the break it's maybe six weeks until we have the much longer break between semesters. Time actually is going pretty quickly right now. So I'm off for at least one day of utter laziness. Since I have a lot of time this week I may be able to use the internet a little more so I may update this again in a couple of days.
Anyway, other than security things are fine. I think I'm going to enjoy a week to relax. Of course there is also a lot of house work to do and tests to be graded, but it won't be too bad. And after the break it's maybe six weeks until we have the much longer break between semesters. Time actually is going pretty quickly right now. So I'm off for at least one day of utter laziness. Since I have a lot of time this week I may be able to use the internet a little more so I may update this again in a couple of days.
Wednesday, April 05, 2006
Break from Teaching!
Well, in the continuing saga, my electricity is back now, but I'm not at home. This week I'm staying at a lovely Catholic conference center in town where six other volunteers and I are at a conference for PEPFAR, which is the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. Tanzania is one of the 15 target countries for the program and Peace Corps carries out some of the programs. Most of those are done by the health volunteers, but the rest of us are encouraged to do some secondary projects in HIV/AIDS relief. It is an area where there is a lot of grant money available, so if something comes up I may go in that direction. There are a lot of options though and I'm still pretty new at site so I haven't made up my mind on what kind of project I'll do. Time will tell.
The conference itself has been a blast. I hadn't seen most of these volunteers in several months and one I just met. It's been real cool to get together and go out on the town each night, including a great time last night for my birthday (25, now, which according to my cousin Erika means I'm "half dead"). Following the conference I'll have about 10 days off from school, so it will be nice to rest and collect myself. I won't travel too far, but may make some small trips or have a visitor or two. We'll see.
I got a text message today from Laura, a volunteer out in Tanga (on the east coast near the Kenyan border) who is a good friend of mine. Apparently her students just killed a 12-foot python that had just eaten a goat. Unfortunately I have no exciting wildlife stories to report. Being at a site so close to a big city, in many ways I'm just "Peace Corps Lite," except I have more security problems. Like I've written previously, it's different enough being where I am, but you get out in a village and it's another thing entirely. It's really amazing how much the PC can differ between volunteers in the same country. I'm sure I'll get out there to Laura's site sometime and get a little more insight into the differences. Until next time.
The conference itself has been a blast. I hadn't seen most of these volunteers in several months and one I just met. It's been real cool to get together and go out on the town each night, including a great time last night for my birthday (25, now, which according to my cousin Erika means I'm "half dead"). Following the conference I'll have about 10 days off from school, so it will be nice to rest and collect myself. I won't travel too far, but may make some small trips or have a visitor or two. We'll see.
I got a text message today from Laura, a volunteer out in Tanga (on the east coast near the Kenyan border) who is a good friend of mine. Apparently her students just killed a 12-foot python that had just eaten a goat. Unfortunately I have no exciting wildlife stories to report. Being at a site so close to a big city, in many ways I'm just "Peace Corps Lite," except I have more security problems. Like I've written previously, it's different enough being where I am, but you get out in a village and it's another thing entirely. It's really amazing how much the PC can differ between volunteers in the same country. I'm sure I'll get out there to Laura's site sometime and get a little more insight into the differences. Until next time.
Friday, March 24, 2006
Almost at Midterm
Hard to believe but after only one more week we'll be at midterm exams. In a way time seems to have flown by. It doesn't seem like I'm about halfway through my first of four semesters. This month has been interesting because we have had nine student teachers from the local teachers' college student teaching at Nsumba. It was nice having these students around. They were all bright at seemed extremely dedicated, which is what I have noticed from the young teachers at my school as well. If I'm seeing a good representation of the younger generation of teachers, then it seems like there is indeed some promise in the future of Tanzania's schools. I certainly hope that's the case.
Unfortunately, my electricity has cut off again. I had none for two weeks, had it for a week, and now for the last few days it's been out again. I kind of gave up on getting to use my electric stove too much so today I went out and bought another kerosene one. Now I can cook rice and beans at the same time! Still, the grading papers by candlelight is not getting any more exciting. Hopefully I'll have it back before too long, but I've learned not to get my hopes up. TANESCO, the monopoly Tanzanian power company, has officially become my representation of all of Africa's evil. I haven't figured out exactly how they are responsible for HIV and malaria, but I'm sure there's a connection.
Last weekend I went up to Musoma on the eastern shore of the lake and spent some time with the three PCVs up there. It was a good time and it was nice to get out of town for a little while. I like Mwanza, but as many of you know, I do enjoy a change of scenery now and then. The highlight of the trip was that Meena, my host in Musoma, is an amazing cook, so I had some great food. She even baked a cake, which is quite a feat in a world without ovens.
Other than that things have been more or less routine. I get up before sunrise, hope there is water pressure because bucket showers are a pain, go to school and teach, go out to the road and buy some food, visit with some friends, cook, eat dinnner, read, and in bed by 10 or so. It's become a pleasant routine, sometimes broken with trips to town, a beer on the lake with PCV Ryan, or a movie and some Korean food at Cha's house (he's a volunteer at my school from KOICA, Korea's version of the Peace Corps). It's turning out to be a pretty nice predictable life. And best of all, no one's tried to break into my house in almost a month. Pretty exciting. I think in a couple of months I'll be ready to start thinking about some secondary projects, but I don't want to get ahead of myself. For now I'll just concentrate on doing my job and staying sane. Fortunately the latter is steadily getting easier.
Unfortunately, my electricity has cut off again. I had none for two weeks, had it for a week, and now for the last few days it's been out again. I kind of gave up on getting to use my electric stove too much so today I went out and bought another kerosene one. Now I can cook rice and beans at the same time! Still, the grading papers by candlelight is not getting any more exciting. Hopefully I'll have it back before too long, but I've learned not to get my hopes up. TANESCO, the monopoly Tanzanian power company, has officially become my representation of all of Africa's evil. I haven't figured out exactly how they are responsible for HIV and malaria, but I'm sure there's a connection.
Last weekend I went up to Musoma on the eastern shore of the lake and spent some time with the three PCVs up there. It was a good time and it was nice to get out of town for a little while. I like Mwanza, but as many of you know, I do enjoy a change of scenery now and then. The highlight of the trip was that Meena, my host in Musoma, is an amazing cook, so I had some great food. She even baked a cake, which is quite a feat in a world without ovens.
Other than that things have been more or less routine. I get up before sunrise, hope there is water pressure because bucket showers are a pain, go to school and teach, go out to the road and buy some food, visit with some friends, cook, eat dinnner, read, and in bed by 10 or so. It's become a pleasant routine, sometimes broken with trips to town, a beer on the lake with PCV Ryan, or a movie and some Korean food at Cha's house (he's a volunteer at my school from KOICA, Korea's version of the Peace Corps). It's turning out to be a pretty nice predictable life. And best of all, no one's tried to break into my house in almost a month. Pretty exciting. I think in a couple of months I'll be ready to start thinking about some secondary projects, but I don't want to get ahead of myself. For now I'll just concentrate on doing my job and staying sane. Fortunately the latter is steadily getting easier.
Monday, March 13, 2006
Another world 30 km away
I've been here in Tanzania for almost six months now, so for the most part I'm pretty used to life here. This past Saturday, though, I realized how limited my experience has been. Almost all of my time in the country has been in places that are either urban or the Tanzanian version of suburban. Unlike most PCVs, I have spent very little time in rural settings out in the villages. This past Saturday though I did spend the day in the village, and it was quite a time.
Right now at most of the schools in the area there are student teachers. One of them at Nganza, my PC neighbor Ryan's school, invited the two of us and Brian, the PCV in the town of Misungwi not too far from here, to go up to her family's place in a village outside of Misungwi. It sounded like a good time and something different, and I knew I'd get a good meal out of it, so I went along. It really was an amazing ride. The first thing was that the landscape was completely different even though Misungwi is only about 30 km away. Where I live it is very hilly and wooded and there are huge rock formations, especially right on the lake. Once you get a few kilometers further way though you come to grassland that is almost completely flat. Picture images of the Serengeti without animals and you're pretty close. It was a really beautiful and clear day so the scenery was quite amazing.
Once we got a ways off the main road another difference was how empty things got. Like I said, I've pretty much only lived in fairly densely populated areas. The sheer amount of empty space was amazing. You really could imagine a herd of wildebeast come thundering through at any moment. Another difference is so far from town, Swahili is no longer the predominant language. While most people know Swahili, they mostly speak Kisukuma, the language of the Sukuma tribe which inhabits this region. Brian, living in a much more remote site than Ryan or I and being gifted with languages, actually knows a good bit of Kisukuma, but Ryan and I don't know a bit. Fortunately in the house we were speaking Swahili, which Brian and Ryan have no problems with and I can muddle through.
Perhaps the most significant difference was transportation. By Western standards, my normal transportation may seem primitive. I get around in mini buses about the size of a VW van called daladalas that they cram as many as 30 people into. It's not the most comfortable way to get around, but it's cheap and convenient. I have one come by my house every five minutes or so and get to town for the equivalent of a quarter. It's pretty nice. Out of town, however, it's a little different. So, let's say the closest point any daladala comes to your house is five kilometers, and you just want to drop in for a visit so it's kind of ridiculous to walk the ten kilometer round trip in the heat, but there aren't even any cars around, let alone buses. What do you do? (Oh, and don't think horses. I've actually seen significantly more elephants than horses in this country. I've seen one elephant so far). Well the solution the rural Tanzanians have come up with is an interesting one--bicycle taxis. That's right, a guy with a bike that has a small platform over the rear wheel for the passanger to straddle. Now I have to tell you, I'm not all that comfortable on bike's in the best of circumstances, but when I'm the one pedalling, at least I'm in control of things. Riding on the back over bumpy roads dodging cattle was at first downright terrifying. Once I got used to things and relaxed though, it actually became a pretty fun way to travel. For the sake of our pedalers I was glad it was so flat where we were. They got us there (sometimes alarmingly) quickly and each got the equivalent of 50 cents for their trouble, which doesn't sound like much, but for the time it took it's only a little less than what I make. Once in the village we had a great time walking around and had a great meal, so I was really glad I got to make the trip. I'm also excited because this weekend I'm going to Musoma on the eastern shore of the lake to visit Meena, another PCV. I haven't been up that way yet, so I'm excited about it.
In other news, last Thursday after 15 days my electricity finally got fixed. It was one of the most exciting moments of my life. Grading tests by candlelight, while possibly the most quintessential Peace Corps experience, is no fun. Everything else has been going pretty well and it's only a few more weeks before we have a PC conference where I'll get to see most of the lake volunteers who I haven't seen since Christmas. So, until next time, kwa heri (goodbye).
Right now at most of the schools in the area there are student teachers. One of them at Nganza, my PC neighbor Ryan's school, invited the two of us and Brian, the PCV in the town of Misungwi not too far from here, to go up to her family's place in a village outside of Misungwi. It sounded like a good time and something different, and I knew I'd get a good meal out of it, so I went along. It really was an amazing ride. The first thing was that the landscape was completely different even though Misungwi is only about 30 km away. Where I live it is very hilly and wooded and there are huge rock formations, especially right on the lake. Once you get a few kilometers further way though you come to grassland that is almost completely flat. Picture images of the Serengeti without animals and you're pretty close. It was a really beautiful and clear day so the scenery was quite amazing.
Once we got a ways off the main road another difference was how empty things got. Like I said, I've pretty much only lived in fairly densely populated areas. The sheer amount of empty space was amazing. You really could imagine a herd of wildebeast come thundering through at any moment. Another difference is so far from town, Swahili is no longer the predominant language. While most people know Swahili, they mostly speak Kisukuma, the language of the Sukuma tribe which inhabits this region. Brian, living in a much more remote site than Ryan or I and being gifted with languages, actually knows a good bit of Kisukuma, but Ryan and I don't know a bit. Fortunately in the house we were speaking Swahili, which Brian and Ryan have no problems with and I can muddle through.
Perhaps the most significant difference was transportation. By Western standards, my normal transportation may seem primitive. I get around in mini buses about the size of a VW van called daladalas that they cram as many as 30 people into. It's not the most comfortable way to get around, but it's cheap and convenient. I have one come by my house every five minutes or so and get to town for the equivalent of a quarter. It's pretty nice. Out of town, however, it's a little different. So, let's say the closest point any daladala comes to your house is five kilometers, and you just want to drop in for a visit so it's kind of ridiculous to walk the ten kilometer round trip in the heat, but there aren't even any cars around, let alone buses. What do you do? (Oh, and don't think horses. I've actually seen significantly more elephants than horses in this country. I've seen one elephant so far). Well the solution the rural Tanzanians have come up with is an interesting one--bicycle taxis. That's right, a guy with a bike that has a small platform over the rear wheel for the passanger to straddle. Now I have to tell you, I'm not all that comfortable on bike's in the best of circumstances, but when I'm the one pedalling, at least I'm in control of things. Riding on the back over bumpy roads dodging cattle was at first downright terrifying. Once I got used to things and relaxed though, it actually became a pretty fun way to travel. For the sake of our pedalers I was glad it was so flat where we were. They got us there (sometimes alarmingly) quickly and each got the equivalent of 50 cents for their trouble, which doesn't sound like much, but for the time it took it's only a little less than what I make. Once in the village we had a great time walking around and had a great meal, so I was really glad I got to make the trip. I'm also excited because this weekend I'm going to Musoma on the eastern shore of the lake to visit Meena, another PCV. I haven't been up that way yet, so I'm excited about it.
In other news, last Thursday after 15 days my electricity finally got fixed. It was one of the most exciting moments of my life. Grading tests by candlelight, while possibly the most quintessential Peace Corps experience, is no fun. Everything else has been going pretty well and it's only a few more weeks before we have a PC conference where I'll get to see most of the lake volunteers who I haven't seen since Christmas. So, until next time, kwa heri (goodbye).
Thursday, March 02, 2006
Roller Coaster
It has been an eventful couple of weeks with some crazy ups and downs. School is going really well. My supervisor from PC was here and got a really positive evaluation of me from the administration at my school. On the other hand, my electricity has been out for a week and my best buddy in PC, Nathan, is heading home early. I must say I'm disappointed to hear that news. I was also sick last week so I missed the Nganza graduation (see last two posts) and all my fans (who were the ones graduating) have left and I can't roam the school like a rock star anymore. Oh well, such is life. My buddy Ryan, the one at Nganza, tells me how everyone has crazy highs in lows in the Peace Corps and I have to tell you it's completely true. Most days I'll at some point feel like I'm the luckiest guy in the world to be here and at some point be desperate to be back home. It's a strange roller coaster ride, but it's starting to seem normal. Problems come, but I deal with them. If I can't deal with in by myself, then most likely there are friends or neighbors who can help me out. It's a strange life I'm living here. It's usually not easy, but that's ok. I didn't come here for an easy life.
Not much internet time today, so keeping this short.
Not much internet time today, so keeping this short.
Saturday, February 18, 2006
Security
Yet again there have been many ups and downs since my last update. First, there have been security concerns. On several occasions someone has attempted to reach through the bars on my windows and take anything close enough for them to grab. On one occasion a bag containing my camera and passport was taken, so I lost all my pictures, which is why none have appeared on the blog. Even more serious, though, was last Friday night when I returned to my house with a couple of Tanzanian friends. We caught someone with a crow bar trying to pry open my front door. I'm glad there were three of us, since he had the crow bar, and he just ran away. He did not succeed in getting in, but he did do enough damage to the lock that it would no longer open and I had to used the back door until we could replace the lock this week. Now people stealing stuff is one thing, but the fact that someone was almost in my house is a little more disturbing. Fortunately, my neighbors and the people at the school have been great. My headmaster has agreed to put metal gates on my doors (a fairly common security precaution here) that would probably prevent someone from breaking in. My neighbor, who is also in charge of maintenance at the school, brought someone to fix the lock, is hiring a welder for the gate, and brought students over to my house to clear out all of the large bushes surrounding my house, taking away a potential thief's hiding place. Once those gates are finished I feel like my house will be pretty secure.
On other fronts, things are going well. Classes are starting to feel fairly normal and I think that it will be a job I can handle just fine. I'm also starting to spend more time with the several Tanzanian friends I've made. I think that is helping me feel more part of the community. At first it was extremely hard to feel like I belong there, and in some ways it still is, but I don't feel so out of place anymore.
I've taken some more time to explore some of the areas around the school. As you go away from town from my house, you quickly come to sparsely populated farmland close to the lake. The area is quiet and beautiful and there are always some amazing birds down there. There's even an out of the way place to have a drink, and a really nice hotel/bar they are building that will be spectacular when it's finished. Of course with the speed things get done here, it may not be open until after I'm gone.
An update on my Nganza fan club: they convinced Ryan to invite me to their Form VI graduation on Wednesday. It's going to be quite a party.
On other fronts, things are going well. Classes are starting to feel fairly normal and I think that it will be a job I can handle just fine. I'm also starting to spend more time with the several Tanzanian friends I've made. I think that is helping me feel more part of the community. At first it was extremely hard to feel like I belong there, and in some ways it still is, but I don't feel so out of place anymore.
I've taken some more time to explore some of the areas around the school. As you go away from town from my house, you quickly come to sparsely populated farmland close to the lake. The area is quiet and beautiful and there are always some amazing birds down there. There's even an out of the way place to have a drink, and a really nice hotel/bar they are building that will be spectacular when it's finished. Of course with the speed things get done here, it may not be open until after I'm gone.
An update on my Nganza fan club: they convinced Ryan to invite me to their Form VI graduation on Wednesday. It's going to be quite a party.
Monday, February 06, 2006
School Daze
So I've started teaching and it hasn't exactly been easy. Teaching is something I'm completely new at, and the language and culture barriers I must overcome are often difficult. Also, with recent health scares from two of my grandparents, I've felt guilty about being away from my family during tough times. I've also been profoundly disturbed with the practice of hitting the students with wooden sticks for pretty much every misbehavior, however minor. At one point I was watching a student getting hit and I wondered how I could possibly stomach that for two years. I still don't know. However, having said all that, teaching is getting easier, however slowly, and the students seem extremely grateful that I show up for class--get this--on time. I found out the day school opened I'd be teaching Form II as well as Form III. The Form III classes are great and there are only about 25 students each, but each of the Form II classes has around 60. That makes things extremely difficult and means I can give almost no individual attention. Of course, I expected difficulties like this when I came, so I'm sure I'll manage. As often as I wish I were at home close to family and somewhere I can walk down the street without sticking out like a sore thumb, I feel like I'm doing the right thing and that I will get more and more out of this experience as time goes on. Time, as always, will tell.
One of the more interesting, and I admit quite nice, things recently is that I've become somewhat of a celebrity at Nganza Secondary School, and all-girls boarding school about 1 km from my all-boys boarding school. There is another PCV there, Ryan, so I go down and visit now and then. Ryan tells me that many of the girls were quite taken with me (don't worry, he teaches Form VI, so his students are 20-22). One told Ryan she'd even be willing to marry me if I shave my beard. I must say, it's nice to be a celebrity among those girls in their early 20s. Since they are also graduating in a few weeks, I suppose any relationship can be completely guilt-free, right? With the Nganza girls and a university across the street, opportunities abound.
In other news, the continuing East African drought is fortunately not causing water shortages for those of us lucky enough to be less than a mile from Lake Victoria. However, low water levels are causing problems for hydroelectric dams and there is now power rationing all over the country. I know many PCVs don't have power at all, but it's still nice to have the lights on at night. Hopefully rain will come and we'll be able to have power all the time. It's particularly annoying because I've just gotten my conflict with the power company resolved. They had cut me off because the PCV there before me hadn't paid his last two bills. We'll see how this goes. In reality I'm lucky because as you may have heard the drought is causing famine in NW Kenya. While food prices are rising here, there certainly isn't a shortage. Next month the long rainy season should start, so we'll hope it does better than the short rainy season and actually show up. If it doesn't, the lake may drop low enough that I will no longer have running water. This would be much more annoying than the power problem.
Anyway, thanks for the comments and keep them coming. The next two months will be busy, but it's only two more months to Easter break! How sad that I already count the days...
One of the more interesting, and I admit quite nice, things recently is that I've become somewhat of a celebrity at Nganza Secondary School, and all-girls boarding school about 1 km from my all-boys boarding school. There is another PCV there, Ryan, so I go down and visit now and then. Ryan tells me that many of the girls were quite taken with me (don't worry, he teaches Form VI, so his students are 20-22). One told Ryan she'd even be willing to marry me if I shave my beard. I must say, it's nice to be a celebrity among those girls in their early 20s. Since they are also graduating in a few weeks, I suppose any relationship can be completely guilt-free, right? With the Nganza girls and a university across the street, opportunities abound.
In other news, the continuing East African drought is fortunately not causing water shortages for those of us lucky enough to be less than a mile from Lake Victoria. However, low water levels are causing problems for hydroelectric dams and there is now power rationing all over the country. I know many PCVs don't have power at all, but it's still nice to have the lights on at night. Hopefully rain will come and we'll be able to have power all the time. It's particularly annoying because I've just gotten my conflict with the power company resolved. They had cut me off because the PCV there before me hadn't paid his last two bills. We'll see how this goes. In reality I'm lucky because as you may have heard the drought is causing famine in NW Kenya. While food prices are rising here, there certainly isn't a shortage. Next month the long rainy season should start, so we'll hope it does better than the short rainy season and actually show up. If it doesn't, the lake may drop low enough that I will no longer have running water. This would be much more annoying than the power problem.
Anyway, thanks for the comments and keep them coming. The next two months will be busy, but it's only two more months to Easter break! How sad that I already count the days...
Saturday, January 21, 2006
"The Staff Meeting" or "The Depth of Human Suffering in Subsaharan Africa"
Warning: This post is not approved for younger viewers, those with heart conditions, or anyone who is or may be a wuss.
Last Monday it happened. I knew it was coming, but that's not to say I was ready. I walked into the staff room at the school on Monday morning as I always do. Even though we're not teaching yet, we have to "report" every day. This time on the announcements board a message was written by the assistant head master. "Staff meeting today." There was no time on the message, and none of the other teachers knew what time it would start, so we just had to wait.
Now, waiting is the national pasttime of Tanzania. Nothing ever starts remotely on time. You rush to catch the bus that ends up leaving an hour late. School years sometimes end up starting a couple of weeks after scheduled, but some of us aren't quite used to this.
So we waited. Eventually the meeting started, and before I get into the description I'll go ahead and say in lasted five hours. FIVE HOURS! The meeting was also in Swahili. Now I can scrape by in Swahili and usually get a message across, but can you imagine trying to pay attention to someone for five hours in your native language? It's impossible, you can't do it! Inevitably you start to drift. You can't focus. You can maybe pay attention for an hour in your native language, but in another you last maybe two minutes. We went through complaints about discipline and who knows what else and then, sometime in hour three the rain started.
Ok, so we were inside, so it's not like I was getting wet, but it sure didn't help the mood. Ok, well maybe I was really excited to see rain because the rainy season was real late to start and Lake Victoria is at record low levels so it actually probably brightened my mood, but remember that the point of this story is my suffering!
As hour five approached we were served tea. This was quite nice but consider that this was just a clever plot to get enough sugar and caffeine in our systems to take more punishment.
Then, after an announcement that we will indeed be getting satellite TV in the staff room which I'm actually quite excited about the meeting ended, OR DID IT? Afterwards we had to have meetings in our academic departments. NOOOOOOOO! THE HORROR! Ok, so we'd already discussed what I would teach so that meeting lasted about ten seconds, but by then it was well passed lunchtime so it seemed a lot longer.
So that's my tale of inhuman suffering. Wait, you ask, "In a country ravaged by poverty and disease how can you in good conscience call a boring meeting suffering?" My response is: if you think you're so tough, you go two months without a cheeseburger. TWO MONTHS! What's that? You're a vegetarian? Well you really should try chicken. It's delicious.
Last Monday it happened. I knew it was coming, but that's not to say I was ready. I walked into the staff room at the school on Monday morning as I always do. Even though we're not teaching yet, we have to "report" every day. This time on the announcements board a message was written by the assistant head master. "Staff meeting today." There was no time on the message, and none of the other teachers knew what time it would start, so we just had to wait.
Now, waiting is the national pasttime of Tanzania. Nothing ever starts remotely on time. You rush to catch the bus that ends up leaving an hour late. School years sometimes end up starting a couple of weeks after scheduled, but some of us aren't quite used to this.
So we waited. Eventually the meeting started, and before I get into the description I'll go ahead and say in lasted five hours. FIVE HOURS! The meeting was also in Swahili. Now I can scrape by in Swahili and usually get a message across, but can you imagine trying to pay attention to someone for five hours in your native language? It's impossible, you can't do it! Inevitably you start to drift. You can't focus. You can maybe pay attention for an hour in your native language, but in another you last maybe two minutes. We went through complaints about discipline and who knows what else and then, sometime in hour three the rain started.
Ok, so we were inside, so it's not like I was getting wet, but it sure didn't help the mood. Ok, well maybe I was really excited to see rain because the rainy season was real late to start and Lake Victoria is at record low levels so it actually probably brightened my mood, but remember that the point of this story is my suffering!
As hour five approached we were served tea. This was quite nice but consider that this was just a clever plot to get enough sugar and caffeine in our systems to take more punishment.
Then, after an announcement that we will indeed be getting satellite TV in the staff room which I'm actually quite excited about the meeting ended, OR DID IT? Afterwards we had to have meetings in our academic departments. NOOOOOOOO! THE HORROR! Ok, so we'd already discussed what I would teach so that meeting lasted about ten seconds, but by then it was well passed lunchtime so it seemed a lot longer.
So that's my tale of inhuman suffering. Wait, you ask, "In a country ravaged by poverty and disease how can you in good conscience call a boring meeting suffering?" My response is: if you think you're so tough, you go two months without a cheeseburger. TWO MONTHS! What's that? You're a vegetarian? Well you really should try chicken. It's delicious.
The School Year is Set to Begin
Finally Monday I will start with the reason I came to Tanzania. The school year begins this week, and I am ready to have something to do. I've enjoyed my time here in Tanzania, but so far I haven't really accomplished anything so it's nice to finally be getting going. Hopefully all will go well, but I know there will be difficulties as the students get used to their mzungu teacher. Hopefully I'll be able to say how teaching is going before too long.
Saturday, January 07, 2006
New Year in Tanzania
So it's a new year and I'm going to start a new job in a country that is still sometimes quite strange to me. If things go as planned, 2006 will also be the first year of my life that I've spent entirely outside of the United States. I start teaching in two weeks, so it's really time for me to get serious on the preparations. I feel like I'm ready for the job, but we'll see. I am definately ready to start teaching, because at the moment it is a fairly lonely time since I have way too much downtime and I'm not quite at the point where I feel like I fit in my community. Fortunately it does continue to get a little easier and I'm sure once I'm working things will be easier.
As for the ACFGK, I forgot an important Kiswahili word that translates perfectly into a Southernism. The word niliweza can be translated as "I used to could." Have a good new year and enjoy the cold. I hardly remember what that's like...
As for the ACFGK, I forgot an important Kiswahili word that translates perfectly into a Southernism. The word niliweza can be translated as "I used to could." Have a good new year and enjoy the cold. I hardly remember what that's like...
Saturday, December 31, 2005
The Andrew Clark Field Guide to Kiswahili, Vol. 1
Christmas was good, but not too much going on now, so I thought I'd bring you the Andrew Clark Field Guide to Kiswahili. The following guide will help you understand the basics should you ever come to Tanzania or at least understand the occasional Kiswahili word I am sure to through on my blog now and then. the ACFGK goes way beyon an ordinary dictionary to give you the nuance behind what you're saying and hearing.
Habari za...: Habari literall means "news." However, it is used as a greating asking you how your doing. The word after za can be anything such as Habari za asibuhi (how's the morning?). The third word doesn't matter really, you always respond with something like nzuri (good) or salama (safe). Responding anything other than the positive only leads to a lot of annoying questions you don't want to deal with. Of course, we in the Peace Corps take this to ridiculous levels like "Habari za cheeseburger." Salama, incidentally, is also the name of the leading brand of condoms, which I think is appropriate.
Shikamoo: This is a greeting you give someone older than you or in a position of authority over you. It literally means "I hold your feet." The response is marahaba which means "delightful." Personally I don't know what's so delightful about someone holding your feet.
Karibu: This word means "welcome." You will hear it when someone invites you into their home or if you are a visitor or new to an area. You will also hear it when offered something, like food (karibu chakula) or tea (karibu chai) or whatever. Also you can offer somone a glass of tap water and say "karibu amoebic dyssentary." The correct response is asante (see below).
Pole: This word is a way to express sympathy for someone from the trivial to the devestating. If you trip or if your mother dies you'll hear pole. It sounds strange, but it's the correct, polite thing to say in either case even though the best translation I've heard for pole is "it sucks to be you." Again, the response is asante (again, see below).
Asante: This means "thank you." You also use it as a polite way to refuse somethign you're offered, whether it's more tea or if some guy on the street is trying to sell you a spear or something. In the case of responding to a pole or an annoying vendor, the best translation is "screw you!"
Safi: This is one of my favorites. It means "clean" but is used as slang like "cool" in America. If something's really cool you say safi kabisa which means "completely clean." The PCVs tend to love this one and I know we will confuse and/or annoy a lot of Americans with exchanges like the following:
Someone else: How was the food?
Me: It was completely clean.
Someone else: But did it taste good?
Me: I just said it did!
Fupi: This means "short." No big deal, but I just think it sounds cool.
Another great thing about Kiswahili is that there are many cases where it doesn't translate directly into standard English, but it does translate into Southern English. For example:
ninyi: y'all
Habari zenu: How y'all doin'?
Kule: over yonder. This actually is the best translation because pale means "there" but kule means a less specific "over there somewhere" kind of thing, so the best term for it probably is "yonder."
So that's it, you're first few words of Kiswahili. You already know as much as a Kenyan! Look forward to further installments of the Andrew Clark Field Guide to Kiswahili.
Habari za...: Habari literall means "news." However, it is used as a greating asking you how your doing. The word after za can be anything such as Habari za asibuhi (how's the morning?). The third word doesn't matter really, you always respond with something like nzuri (good) or salama (safe). Responding anything other than the positive only leads to a lot of annoying questions you don't want to deal with. Of course, we in the Peace Corps take this to ridiculous levels like "Habari za cheeseburger." Salama, incidentally, is also the name of the leading brand of condoms, which I think is appropriate.
Shikamoo: This is a greeting you give someone older than you or in a position of authority over you. It literally means "I hold your feet." The response is marahaba which means "delightful." Personally I don't know what's so delightful about someone holding your feet.
Karibu: This word means "welcome." You will hear it when someone invites you into their home or if you are a visitor or new to an area. You will also hear it when offered something, like food (karibu chakula) or tea (karibu chai) or whatever. Also you can offer somone a glass of tap water and say "karibu amoebic dyssentary." The correct response is asante (see below).
Pole: This word is a way to express sympathy for someone from the trivial to the devestating. If you trip or if your mother dies you'll hear pole. It sounds strange, but it's the correct, polite thing to say in either case even though the best translation I've heard for pole is "it sucks to be you." Again, the response is asante (again, see below).
Asante: This means "thank you." You also use it as a polite way to refuse somethign you're offered, whether it's more tea or if some guy on the street is trying to sell you a spear or something. In the case of responding to a pole or an annoying vendor, the best translation is "screw you!"
Safi: This is one of my favorites. It means "clean" but is used as slang like "cool" in America. If something's really cool you say safi kabisa which means "completely clean." The PCVs tend to love this one and I know we will confuse and/or annoy a lot of Americans with exchanges like the following:
Someone else: How was the food?
Me: It was completely clean.
Someone else: But did it taste good?
Me: I just said it did!
Fupi: This means "short." No big deal, but I just think it sounds cool.
Another great thing about Kiswahili is that there are many cases where it doesn't translate directly into standard English, but it does translate into Southern English. For example:
ninyi: y'all
Habari zenu: How y'all doin'?
Kule: over yonder. This actually is the best translation because pale means "there" but kule means a less specific "over there somewhere" kind of thing, so the best term for it probably is "yonder."
So that's it, you're first few words of Kiswahili. You already know as much as a Kenyan! Look forward to further installments of the Andrew Clark Field Guide to Kiswahili.
Saturday, December 24, 2005
Merry Christmas from Bukoba
It's Christmas Eve in Bukoba, and most of the lake PCVs are up here to celebrate Christmas. I took a long ferry ride across Lake Victoria to get here yesterday, but it's certainly been worth it. The PCVs up here have great sites and it's really beautiful on the western shore of Lake Victoria.
This will be the first Christmas in my memory that I haven't spent in Polk County with my mom's side of the family, so that's real sad. I hate to miss the annual event, but I'm glad I'll at least get to spend Christmas with some people I'm close to. Have a great Christmas in Columbus and I'm sorry I can't be there!
Not too much to report right now. Things at site are starting to feel normal so I'm having an easier time of things but just the same I'm glad to have this little trip. After this it'll be about ten weeks before I'm allowed to leave site again for more than one night. Fortunately now that I have some buddies at the school, that won't be a problem. So anyway, Merry Christmas everyone, and of course, Happy New Year.
This will be the first Christmas in my memory that I haven't spent in Polk County with my mom's side of the family, so that's real sad. I hate to miss the annual event, but I'm glad I'll at least get to spend Christmas with some people I'm close to. Have a great Christmas in Columbus and I'm sorry I can't be there!
Not too much to report right now. Things at site are starting to feel normal so I'm having an easier time of things but just the same I'm glad to have this little trip. After this it'll be about ten weeks before I'm allowed to leave site again for more than one night. Fortunately now that I have some buddies at the school, that won't be a problem. So anyway, Merry Christmas everyone, and of course, Happy New Year.
Wednesday, December 21, 2005
Getting Settled In
It's been about ten days since my last post, but things have been moving at a relatively slow pace. I spent most of my time last week exploring both center city Mwanza and the area around my house. I took some long walks along the lake and discovered a very beautiful beach. I have also met most of the teachers at the school and am getting along quite well with them, particularly a few who are around my age. It has been a strange time because for the first time since July I've been living at a place on my own. The privacy's nice but the quiet in a new place can sometimes be disconcerting. Fortunately I have a very nice house with electricity (most of the time) and running water (at least some of the day). That has made certain things a lot easier. Hauling water can really be a drag, especially those who walk a kilometer a more to the lake to carry it home by the bucketload.
The school seems very nice, but I haven't met any of my students yet since they are on break. I have met some of the older students who are in A-level (for advanced). The way the system works here the secondary school is divided between O-level (o for ordinary) for four years and A-level for two. Very few students make it to A-level, and they are on a different schedule than the rest of the students. I will be teaching O-level.
I am taking a trip up to Bukoba for Christmas. Bukoba is a fairly good sized town on the western shore of Lake Victoria. I'm taking a ferry up there with Kathryn, a volunteer from my training group whose site isn't too far from here. We're visiting Rob, Aaron, and Jodi, all from our training group and all in Bukoba. The five of us, plus Patrick (who won't be making the trip) were the six who had all the time in Dar and Zanzibar. We were around each other constantly for awhile, and then all of the sudden I was on my own, so it will be good to see them again. Of course, now it's already getting a lot easier than it was last week since I'm making friends with some of the other teachers. Before too long I'll actually start preparing to teach. The school opens one month from today.
Oh, also my new address is:
Andrew Clark
PO Box 4058
Mwanza, Tanzania
Getting mail always makes my day, so send something! Only 80 cents from the US. Have a merry Christmas.
The school seems very nice, but I haven't met any of my students yet since they are on break. I have met some of the older students who are in A-level (for advanced). The way the system works here the secondary school is divided between O-level (o for ordinary) for four years and A-level for two. Very few students make it to A-level, and they are on a different schedule than the rest of the students. I will be teaching O-level.
I am taking a trip up to Bukoba for Christmas. Bukoba is a fairly good sized town on the western shore of Lake Victoria. I'm taking a ferry up there with Kathryn, a volunteer from my training group whose site isn't too far from here. We're visiting Rob, Aaron, and Jodi, all from our training group and all in Bukoba. The five of us, plus Patrick (who won't be making the trip) were the six who had all the time in Dar and Zanzibar. We were around each other constantly for awhile, and then all of the sudden I was on my own, so it will be good to see them again. Of course, now it's already getting a lot easier than it was last week since I'm making friends with some of the other teachers. Before too long I'll actually start preparing to teach. The school opens one month from today.
Oh, also my new address is:
Andrew Clark
PO Box 4058
Mwanza, Tanzania
Getting mail always makes my day, so send something! Only 80 cents from the US. Have a merry Christmas.
Monday, December 12, 2005
I'm Home!
So I finally made it to Mwanza, which will be my home for the next two years. The area around my house and my school are incredibly beautiful. I'm a 15 minute walk from Lake Victoria, and I can take a short hike up a hill and get a great view of the surrounding area and watch the sun set over the lake. I have electricity and water, but right now the rainy season is late in arriving so the lake is really low. This means that my water is intermitent. Still, since I seem to have water at least some of every day, I can stock up and I won't suffer too much. I hope the rains come soon though, apparently the lake is the about lowest people around here have ever seen it.
My house is perhaps a 20 bus ride outside of the city center. Mwanza is not a beautiful city, in fact it suffers from some horrible urban sprawl, but I like it anyway. There's just something about the activity of cities I find appealing. There are a few really nice restaurants that are too expensive for me to enjoy often. There's even a casino in one of the nice hotels. A great thing about Mwanza is that you can take a ferry from here to other parts of the lake, including some beautiful islands, and hire tours of the Serengeti, which is fairly close. I'm looking forward to having a chance to do that sometime. I've met all the volunteers in the lake region now, and they all seem like good, interesting people. Of course, there was a lot of turnover in this region this time as six of the nine volunteers here were in my training group. Some who are on other parts of the lake I won't see too often, but two of them are really close.
I've met a few of the teachers at my school and they are very nice and helpful. I think they will be good to work with. Classes don't start until January 21, so I have lots of time to get used to things and get to know the area. Readjustment will take a little time since I've been surrounded by people, either my host family or other trainees, ever since I've been in country. Of course, there are lots of people around where I live, but I'm living alone. It will be quite an adjustment, especially all the cooking. I have a kerosene stove and a pretty nice kitchen, so I'll be alright. Real soon I'm planning on posting some pictures both from training and of the area I live. I'm in town now, but I hear there is internet at the university right by my house, so I'll probably be able to get online more frequently than in training. Of course, I will actually be working and have limited funds, so no promises. As for now, it's kind of a relief to be at my site, but I am a little nervous now. I'm now on my own and it's up to me to do my job and make some sort of difference here.
My house is perhaps a 20 bus ride outside of the city center. Mwanza is not a beautiful city, in fact it suffers from some horrible urban sprawl, but I like it anyway. There's just something about the activity of cities I find appealing. There are a few really nice restaurants that are too expensive for me to enjoy often. There's even a casino in one of the nice hotels. A great thing about Mwanza is that you can take a ferry from here to other parts of the lake, including some beautiful islands, and hire tours of the Serengeti, which is fairly close. I'm looking forward to having a chance to do that sometime. I've met all the volunteers in the lake region now, and they all seem like good, interesting people. Of course, there was a lot of turnover in this region this time as six of the nine volunteers here were in my training group. Some who are on other parts of the lake I won't see too often, but two of them are really close.
I've met a few of the teachers at my school and they are very nice and helpful. I think they will be good to work with. Classes don't start until January 21, so I have lots of time to get used to things and get to know the area. Readjustment will take a little time since I've been surrounded by people, either my host family or other trainees, ever since I've been in country. Of course, there are lots of people around where I live, but I'm living alone. It will be quite an adjustment, especially all the cooking. I have a kerosene stove and a pretty nice kitchen, so I'll be alright. Real soon I'm planning on posting some pictures both from training and of the area I live. I'm in town now, but I hear there is internet at the university right by my house, so I'll probably be able to get online more frequently than in training. Of course, I will actually be working and have limited funds, so no promises. As for now, it's kind of a relief to be at my site, but I am a little nervous now. I'm now on my own and it's up to me to do my job and make some sort of difference here.
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