I just can't believe how fast the time is going. It is really amazing, just starting to feel like we really belong. Did lots of fun things over the weekend. Went to the beach and played in the tide pools looking for crabs , jelly fish and shells. The tide just goes out forever. For about a dollar, we can get some towels and hang out pool side at one of the hotels here. That has been fun, even had a "Killy" or two. Monday market is the place to be every monday when everyone with something to sell shows up.
We went to visit a traditional healer yesterday. He really had some interesting bottles to show. One of them had a resemblance to a lava lamp. He had two different potions he uses for palpitations, one looked like orange jello, not quite set and the other was a powder that you rub on your chest and that makes them go away. He was non committal on the roots that he used to make them. He will travel for about 2 months a year to collect all his ingredients. He also showed us some of the items he uses to do exorcisms, some of which have been passed down from his grandfather. There really seems to be a nice blend of traditional and modern medicine, both having a deep respect for each other and making efforts to work together.
This afternoon I will be going with another nurse here to tour the Bagamoyo Hospital. I am sure this will be very interesting. The hospital here I believe is one of the most modern in the country. They are the main hospital in a world wide study on malaria and offer the most progressive treatment and a very reasonable cost. We continue to be diligent with our medications from home, and really hope we don't need to find out first hand. The mosquitos that carry malaria are only active at night so we are especially careful then. One of the doctors involved in this research came to home base to talk about common illnesses here. One of the schools CCS send volunteer teachers to has gotten typhoid from their well. We are instructed never to eat or drink anything at our placements.
Yesterday, we were invited to the home of a woman who knows on of the volunteers here. Jennifer (the volunteer) has been here 9 weeks. This woman Rosemary, does catering around town and we went to her home and helped her cook a dinner she was catering and then we ate it as well. The Tanzanian people are so kind warm and welcoming you just can't imagine. I have some great pictures to share, but the internet here is really slow and it took 20 minutes and 3,000 shillings ($2.00) to upload a single short video. Promise to get pictures on as soon as we get back to our own computers.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Friday, August 5, 2011
Lazy weekend
Hi All
We finally get a lazy weekend. Extra long at that. The director of the Tanzania programs niece is getting married this weekend and we were invited to the brides send off party. Quite the fancy party. will have pictures to share. We didn't get home until about 3 :00am, from Dar. Also had an interesting half hour. Where we lost the clutch on the van we were traveling in on the way home. But lucky for us Ellis was there and fixed it with a paper clip??? Still not sure how that happened, but have to say he is certainly resourceful. Getting home so lat we missed going to our placement today, and Monday is a holiday, no school. Plan on lots of sleeping and reading. Claudia
We finally get a lazy weekend. Extra long at that. The director of the Tanzania programs niece is getting married this weekend and we were invited to the brides send off party. Quite the fancy party. will have pictures to share. We didn't get home until about 3 :00am, from Dar. Also had an interesting half hour. Where we lost the clutch on the van we were traveling in on the way home. But lucky for us Ellis was there and fixed it with a paper clip??? Still not sure how that happened, but have to say he is certainly resourceful. Getting home so lat we missed going to our placement today, and Monday is a holiday, no school. Plan on lots of sleeping and reading. Claudia
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
How Little Language Really Means
Really hard day today. Liz and I left for our school placement today. Rather then our traditional greeting from 60 children with great smiles on their faces, the yard was quiet and the cook and other teacher just kept pointing for us to go in to the office. I suspected no school as Julius told me yesterday he was feeling" a little malaria". We did find Julius who told us that one of the children in our class Petro was knocked down by a van and killed on the way home from school yesterday. He turned 6 years olds about 5 days ago. There would be not classes today so they could tend to the family.
Stunned, we returned to home base. We talked to Zik, who was immediately on the phone calling to get information. Liz and I took a walk through town and when we returned just before lunch, the day was revised so Elizabeth and I would be able to attend the funeral with 3 of the staff from CCS.
The service was in Swahili, but the grief of the day and experience, needs no language to be understood. Aug 2nd.
Stunned, we returned to home base. We talked to Zik, who was immediately on the phone calling to get information. Liz and I took a walk through town and when we returned just before lunch, the day was revised so Elizabeth and I would be able to attend the funeral with 3 of the staff from CCS.
The service was in Swahili, but the grief of the day and experience, needs no language to be understood. Aug 2nd.
Post 2: electric boogaloo
We are very well taken care of here. Safety is a very high priority. Our program is overseen by Zik, a man who surely must be quite powerful in this community. He is the man we ask where we should and should not spend our precious dollars. I so appreciate his candor and respect his judgement. During one of our early meetings, he did emphize that CCS curfew is 10:00pm and Bagamoyo curfew is 11:00 pm. They wanted that hour in between to go out to look for missing people.
Saturday, Zik was looking around for Stuart to give a message to him. Anna, one of the girls at his placement had called to invite him to her birthday party, to be held at the Hillside cafe. This is right around the corner from home bace and we had been there several times. Invitation was for 7:00. Deanna, Bella, Liz, Stu and I got there about 7:30 sat around an hour and a half or so, until Anna, the birthday girl turning 19 showed up with a couple friends wearing her tierra. Joseph, one of the CCS Staff was there and Zeek had also stopped by to bring a card. The private area and music set up made it obvious that this was not a welcome all type of party, but the invitation was truely addressed to Stuart. I will try to have him describe the events of the evening first hand and share here only from the mom's point of view.
As is typical, I went to bed early, when Liz and Bella woke me up about 11:00 saying Stuart wasn't back yet. After spending about 10 minutes trying to figure out the best way to deal with this. I wasn't really worried, I had spoken to Joseph before we left the restaurant and knew he would walk him home. I did go and speak to the guard at the CCS gate and he assured me they would go get him. They also knew already where he was. Zik came by a couple minutes later to the annex house where we are sleeping and assured me he was fine. When I told him I was more concerned that he had broken curfew, Zeeks response was "I gave him special lease to stay out later tonight". Hoping I can get Stu to describe the party events. Think he had a great time. Think I like this takes a village thing. keeps me from being the bad guy all the time. July 30th.
Saturday, Zik was looking around for Stuart to give a message to him. Anna, one of the girls at his placement had called to invite him to her birthday party, to be held at the Hillside cafe. This is right around the corner from home bace and we had been there several times. Invitation was for 7:00. Deanna, Bella, Liz, Stu and I got there about 7:30 sat around an hour and a half or so, until Anna, the birthday girl turning 19 showed up with a couple friends wearing her tierra. Joseph, one of the CCS Staff was there and Zeek had also stopped by to bring a card. The private area and music set up made it obvious that this was not a welcome all type of party, but the invitation was truely addressed to Stuart. I will try to have him describe the events of the evening first hand and share here only from the mom's point of view.
As is typical, I went to bed early, when Liz and Bella woke me up about 11:00 saying Stuart wasn't back yet. After spending about 10 minutes trying to figure out the best way to deal with this. I wasn't really worried, I had spoken to Joseph before we left the restaurant and knew he would walk him home. I did go and speak to the guard at the CCS gate and he assured me they would go get him. They also knew already where he was. Zik came by a couple minutes later to the annex house where we are sleeping and assured me he was fine. When I told him I was more concerned that he had broken curfew, Zeeks response was "I gave him special lease to stay out later tonight". Hoping I can get Stu to describe the party events. Think he had a great time. Think I like this takes a village thing. keeps me from being the bad guy all the time. July 30th.
RUSTY NAILS AND RAZOR BLADES
One evening last week we had been invited to meet the Zawose family at their compound. They are at least 3 generations of musicians and live stock tenders. They all live in the same area and suspect their family totals well over 100. They showed us some of the basic dancing and music from Tanzania then invited us to a show they were doing at a restaurant near our home base. At some point during these interactions, we arranged for Stu Bella and Kerry to make their own drums. (Liz prefered a day curled up with a book) They did get previously made drums with broken tops and started with a dried goat skin...enter the razor blades to remove the hair. No, they were NOT safety razors. Three hours of soaking in water, softened the skins up and part 2 gave them rusty nails to attach the new skin. NOw we just need the lessons.
Many of the college girls from the last session left today. They will be missed, have been enjoying their views, advice and conversation.
Now that I have the time to write, the internet cafe has been closed all weekend. I believe it is a religious holiday that is keeping it closed, rather then the typical reason of loosing electricity. My guess is bases on the "call to prayer" that has been audible much of the day, spouting from some nasty speaker from a place of worship at least a block away. Reminds me of the base speakers that travel in the trunks of cars in our home.
Many of the college girls from the last session left today. They will be missed, have been enjoying their views, advice and conversation.
Now that I have the time to write, the internet cafe has been closed all weekend. I believe it is a religious holiday that is keeping it closed, rather then the typical reason of loosing electricity. My guess is bases on the "call to prayer" that has been audible much of the day, spouting from some nasty speaker from a place of worship at least a block away. Reminds me of the base speakers that travel in the trunks of cars in our home.
A post
Well,we have been here just over one week. Lots happening. Our flights were long but uneventful. Getting in a day early was a good idea. We got to Dar Es Salaam (using the full name seems to mark you as a tourist, so it will forever more be refered to as Dar). Our hotel was pretty nice in the business part of town, but after our fight the buisness of the day was sleep, wake kids up go eat and sleep again. I will say I had an amazing dinner of king fish for just over $10.00 that would rival any Chicago restaurant. Favorite part of the night was when Stuart asked what kind of drinks they had the first response was Killi, the local Kilimanjaro beer. When Lizzy ordered a rum and coke, the waiters response was "double or single"????
We were picked up at our hotel as expected and on the way to Bagamoyo, we needed to stop at a bank for one of the families to change money. Bagamoyo has one ATM which is frequently out of money or not working. When I walked out of the bank, I was surprised to see a bank guard and policeman sporting an assault rifle crowded around the van my kids were in. Fotunately our silver tongued driver defended Stuart, who had pulled out his computer and assumed to be hacking into the bank security system to steal all their shillings. Stuart felt our driver Didase was actually chastising the policeman for not being nicer to us when he can up to the car. I was starting to feel like we were in really good hands.
The first three days seemed a whirlwind of activities. Getting settled in our rooms, dormatory style. Quick hello & good by to the West Point guys who were leaving the same day we got here. and getting to know those who still had a week left. Learning the rules and meeting the staff, lots of group discussions. tour of the town by car. Sure can tell Daniel Burnham was never here.
Interestingly, the group that will be here the whole time we are are 3 familes, with Stuart being the only male. The kids have made a good friend of Bella, who lives in San Diego with her mom Deann. We have a good group!
Moday was a scavenger hunt about town, which gave us a much better feel for it. Had to go buy oranges and answer a bunch of questions. It was a good way to get us out of the home base.
We had lunch with the directors of our placements at home base. I met Julius, who runs the Anglican church school which we would be teaching at. He showed us a schedule which was basically two subjects a day Math or science/ English or Swalhili.
Stuart met with Charles who runs UKUN and true to the warnings we had gotten from other volunteers is seems like he has his hands in everything. I did get a glimpse of a diagram he drew for Stuart describing his organization, but it looked strangley similar to the Krebs cycle to me.
The first day of going to our school, we understood we were to observe and get a feel for the classroom. I was a bit surprised when after introducing us to the class, Julius handed me the pointer and sat down in one of the 2 chairs in our classroom. These chairs being the only furniture as well. Pictures of the classroom will come later. Camera's tend to be a huge distraction in the classroom so we will try to bring them only at the end of our trips. Classes run from 8:00am to 11:00am. 10:30 if the cook is not there and thei r is no porridge. Faux pas the first day was including the word breakfast in morning English instruction when in some cases the porridge is the only meal the kids may get.
Many of the children in our classroom are orphans and street kids, generally taken care of by relatives or friends. There is no orphanage as we think of them. The expression of "it takes a village to raise a child" Is evident all over here. The kids are watched and disciplined by any and every adult. This is also a "private school" which charges tuition and there for considered a reeally good school. The government schools may have 100 kids in a classroom. We have just around 30. There are lots of interesting things to know about the school system, will share more details if interested, but suffice to say the government schools don't start teaching english until 5th grade, the private start right away. The testing for students to advance in the layers of school is all done in English.
CCS gives us classes and discussions in Education, health care, Swahiali lessons on most afternoons.
Friday class is sports and games. Our school is very close to the Indian Ocean and Friday is beach day. We had walked on Thursday evening to the fishing port in Bagamoyo. Not the place you would want to be after sundown, but ok for during the day. Saw they had dumped off some boat about a hundred yellow plactic bottles of cooking oil, which then floated to shore and were being stacked up for delivery. Sorry pictures are often not encouraged -you have to ask- and you may be asked to pay for the privilage. Not an easy task if there are 20 people in the scene.
The same boats we had seen last evening, which were bobbing away in the water were now totally up on sand, the tide having gone miles out, barely visiable from last evenings beach. I should be able to get pictures of that next Friday. July 29th.
We were picked up at our hotel as expected and on the way to Bagamoyo, we needed to stop at a bank for one of the families to change money. Bagamoyo has one ATM which is frequently out of money or not working. When I walked out of the bank, I was surprised to see a bank guard and policeman sporting an assault rifle crowded around the van my kids were in. Fotunately our silver tongued driver defended Stuart, who had pulled out his computer and assumed to be hacking into the bank security system to steal all their shillings. Stuart felt our driver Didase was actually chastising the policeman for not being nicer to us when he can up to the car. I was starting to feel like we were in really good hands.
The first three days seemed a whirlwind of activities. Getting settled in our rooms, dormatory style. Quick hello & good by to the West Point guys who were leaving the same day we got here. and getting to know those who still had a week left. Learning the rules and meeting the staff, lots of group discussions. tour of the town by car. Sure can tell Daniel Burnham was never here.
Interestingly, the group that will be here the whole time we are are 3 familes, with Stuart being the only male. The kids have made a good friend of Bella, who lives in San Diego with her mom Deann. We have a good group!
Moday was a scavenger hunt about town, which gave us a much better feel for it. Had to go buy oranges and answer a bunch of questions. It was a good way to get us out of the home base.
We had lunch with the directors of our placements at home base. I met Julius, who runs the Anglican church school which we would be teaching at. He showed us a schedule which was basically two subjects a day Math or science/ English or Swalhili.
Stuart met with Charles who runs UKUN and true to the warnings we had gotten from other volunteers is seems like he has his hands in everything. I did get a glimpse of a diagram he drew for Stuart describing his organization, but it looked strangley similar to the Krebs cycle to me.
The first day of going to our school, we understood we were to observe and get a feel for the classroom. I was a bit surprised when after introducing us to the class, Julius handed me the pointer and sat down in one of the 2 chairs in our classroom. These chairs being the only furniture as well. Pictures of the classroom will come later. Camera's tend to be a huge distraction in the classroom so we will try to bring them only at the end of our trips. Classes run from 8:00am to 11:00am. 10:30 if the cook is not there and thei r is no porridge. Faux pas the first day was including the word breakfast in morning English instruction when in some cases the porridge is the only meal the kids may get.
Many of the children in our classroom are orphans and street kids, generally taken care of by relatives or friends. There is no orphanage as we think of them. The expression of "it takes a village to raise a child" Is evident all over here. The kids are watched and disciplined by any and every adult. This is also a "private school" which charges tuition and there for considered a reeally good school. The government schools may have 100 kids in a classroom. We have just around 30. There are lots of interesting things to know about the school system, will share more details if interested, but suffice to say the government schools don't start teaching english until 5th grade, the private start right away. The testing for students to advance in the layers of school is all done in English.
CCS gives us classes and discussions in Education, health care, Swahiali lessons on most afternoons.
Friday class is sports and games. Our school is very close to the Indian Ocean and Friday is beach day. We had walked on Thursday evening to the fishing port in Bagamoyo. Not the place you would want to be after sundown, but ok for during the day. Saw they had dumped off some boat about a hundred yellow plactic bottles of cooking oil, which then floated to shore and were being stacked up for delivery. Sorry pictures are often not encouraged -you have to ask- and you may be asked to pay for the privilage. Not an easy task if there are 20 people in the scene.
The same boats we had seen last evening, which were bobbing away in the water were now totally up on sand, the tide having gone miles out, barely visiable from last evenings beach. I should be able to get pictures of that next Friday. July 29th.
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