The One With The Trip To Mbeya (written 9/29/2012)

This weekend Dahlia and I decided it was finally time to leave Kafule for the night and make our first trip to the big city of Mbeya.  What a long day it has been.  The truck leaves from Lupembe (a town about a 30 minute walk from our house) at 3:00am.  Which meant that we were up at 2 and walking by the light of the moon and flashlights to the truck stop (the moon was full last night though which was such a blessing!! I have never seen a moon that bright!)  We made it to the truck stop and got on.  Thankfully we had called ahead and reserved seats in the front so we didn’t have to sit in the back of the truck, but it was still a very bumpy and dusty ride.  Anyway, 4 and a half hours later we made it to the paved roads and the city of Mpemba where we got off the truck and onto a bus for the remaining three hours of our trip.  We made it to Mbeya around 10:30.  We had called Kita to ask him if we could take him out to dinner while we were in the city.  He decided to meet us at the bus station and stay with us the whole day! He showed us to our hotel, to the market, the grocery store, and the shopping area.  It was great!! We were able to get a bunch of spices, bread, mango, soy sauce!! We were like kids in a candy store all day, so amazed at all of the options we had!! And the hotel has running water so I got to take my first real shower in a month, what a blessing! It has been a long day! But I am feeling very accomplished for making it here… now we just have the journey back home.  But Kita is coming in the morning to see us off so we should make it on the right bus which will at least get us the first half of the way home.  

The One With The Pictures Of The School

A view of the school from the entrance 

A picture that I took from the window in the form 3 classroom

One of the form 2 classrooms

The board in the form 3 classroom

The One With The Pictures Of The Teachers

Here are a few pictures I was able to take at graduation with some of the other teachers.

Makala and I 

Stela and I 

Grace and I 

Kivega and I 

The One With The Graduation (written 9/28/2012)

Dahlia and I got to school early this morning to help prepare for graduation.  There was decorating, cleaning and lot of cooking to be done.  The ceremony was supposed to begin at 9am (and end at 12).  So we diligently set to work chopping onions and tomatoes and helping to decorate.  9:00 came… and went… there was a “guest of honor” who attended graduation (a district official from Ileje) without whom the ceremony could not begin.  The students were more than happy to wait though because a speaker had been through in for the ceremony and so they were able to play music and dance while they were waiting.  They literally danced for hours and loved every minute of it.  The guest of honor arrived at 1:45, so just a little later than expected, and the ceremony began shortly after.  It was great! I got to see the songs and dances again and watch the form four students proudly hear their names called and receive their certificate (and then promptly hand it back, the headmaster didn’t have time to sign them beforehand so they will receive them, signed, later).  It was so fun! The ceremony ended at about 6:00.  After, there was a meal for the teachers and officials that came.  And then, after another tiring day, I got to head home.  

The One With The Huge Improvement (written 9/28/2012)

Dahlia and I invited Elizabeth over for dinner last night and so we decided to give rice and beans another try.  We came straight home from school and began the long cooking process.  Three hours later we had rice, beans, and cabbage (it is not often that we are courageous enough to cook a three part meal but we were struck by ambition yesterday and it turned out well).  Just as we finished cooking Stela and Grace stopped by so we invited them to stay and eat.  Grace took one bit of her rice and said, “Oh you have very much improved!” in an astonished tone.  We know it is not the best rice in the world but we were excited for the compliment! And we just keep reminding ourselves that we have 8 more months to practice.  Elizabeth seemed to enjoy it as well, but I think she enjoyed the fact that we tried to cook Tanzanian food more than she enjoyed the actual food. She just kept saying, “I am so happy to be eating the food that white people cooked.” 

After dinner Dahlia and I cleaned up and sat down after an exhausting day, so excited to read and relax and go to bed early.  Not five minutes later did we hear a knock on the door.  Our neighbor, Mr. Mbughi had sent two of his daughters to invite us over.  So to the Mbughi’s we went to eat (again!) and talk.  We finally made it back home and were able to get some sleep before waking up early for the big day: graduation!

The One With The Graduation Rehearsal (written 9/26/2012)

Graduation for the Form 4 students is this Friday.  Today I was walking out of the staff room to go teach a class when one of the other teachers stopped and asked me where I was going. "Class" I said.  He laughed at me and told me that classes were canceled because there was going to be graduation rehearsal   I try to hard to anticipate these schedule changes, but alas, I always miss something.  So the lesson will have to wait.

I guess I don't really know what I was expecting, maybe one of the teachers telling students how to line up, going through the order of events, something generic.  Whatever I was expecting, it was wrong.  Evidently graduation here is more of a celebration than a ceremony so I got to spend three hours watching the choir from each form practice their songs and dances.  Then there was a group of four girls who sang a few songs together.  They sounded amazing! After the girls a group of three buys got up and started singing.  A few minutes into their song they started rapping.  It was absolutely hysterical! The students lost it... standing on their chairs, cheering... the other teachers and I were dying!  Finally "rehearsal" ended and the whole event ended turned into a huge dance off that about 30 of the students participated in.  It was seriously one of the funniest things I have every seen!  The whole school of about 450 kids stood around in a circle (about 4 of 5 deep with the kids on the outsides standing on the chairs), clapping, whistling, giving a beat to the kids in the middle who were battling it out for best dancer.  I don't think I stopped laughing for half an hour straight! SO FUN! (I am attaching clips from the dance off that was repeated during the actual graduation ceremony... I cant believe they did it again! But that is why the students in the background are staying in their chairs... there parents were there watching them.)

Then Dahlia and I rushed home because out neighbor Elizabeth invited us to go to the neighboring village of Kapelekese with her (and by neighboring village I mean just under an hour and a half walk each way).  Anyway, there was a drumming event in the town today so I got to see even more traditional drumming and dancing.  I am finally home now though and ready to go to bed.  Life here is exhausting but ALWAYS exciting!

The One Where We Played Hostess (written 9/24/2012)

Dahlia and I finally worked up the courage to cook for Stela and Grace.  We decided to make rice and beans.  It took us about 4 hours yesterday and I can say proudly that the beans turned out well.  The rice on the other hand was both crunchy and mushy (yes, apparently you can both under cook and over cook the same batch of rice) and wildly ill proportioned (I know Dad, you would think after we have made that mistake 100 times I would have learned not to make 6 times too much).  But Stela and Grace graciously ate the rice and loaded up on the beans.  Grace asked us if we had rice in America (assuming we don’t because we clearly don’t know how to cook it).  I told her we have rice that cooks in three minutes in the microwave.  I guess that explained our mushy/crunchy rice and she offered to come over sometime and teach us how to properly cook it.  I cant wait for the lesson! 

The One With All The Cards (written 9/24/2012)

It gets dark here around 6:45 so after that my life it lit by the stars and candles.  Since candle lighting limits the activities that can be done Dahlia and I spend a lot of evenings playing cards before we go to bed.  She brought Skip-Bo from home which is what we most often play.  Stela was over one say and saw the cards out and asked us to teach her how to play.  She loved it! And so both Saturday and Sunday she brought a few of the other teachers over to our house so that they could learn also.  They were absolutely hysterical learning to play! Makala would announce at the beginning of every game that this one was going to be “Makala’s game”.  Then he would look with horror every time he drew a card he couldn’t use.  Thus far no game has actually been “Makala’s game”.  Grace consistently talked to her cards, scolded Dahlia and I when we made a  good play and when she finally won a game proceeded to run around the room dancing and singing.  I am starting to feel like I am really becoming friends with the other teachers here which I am SO thankful for! They are incredible generous, so protective of Dahlia and I, and are always making me laugh!

The One With All The Food (written 9/18/2012)

Today we got a surprise visit from Kita (he is the one who traveled with us from Mbeya to Kafule when we first got here).  His students are taking practice exams now so he has a few days off from school and he decided to come and check up on us.  It was so great to see him! He is so encouraging and so helpful, making sure we have everything that we need and that we are enjoying ourselves.  And he brought us food from Mbeya!  Potatoes, carrots, bread and watermelon!  Dahlia nad I just stood in our pantry area after he left and could not get over all of the food choices we have! Tonight we made cabbage, potatoes, and carrots for dinner.  We definitely eat a lot of the same food here but I am actually really enjoying it!

Kita was asking how we cook here.  We told him that we have been using charcoal and most of the time have been successful.  He laughed and told us that most of the villagers here use firewood, charcoal is considered “high class”.  What a reality check! The life I am living here is high class.  I feel like each day there is something that reminds me just how blessed I really am!

The One With The Funny Faces (written 9/18/2012)

Grace is one of the other teachers at Kafule.  She is one of the most animated peope I have ever met! She is so bubbly and has the best sense of humor.  She is always singing and dancing and making something into a joke.  As I was teaching a class yesterday Grave walked by.  She proceeded to stand in the doorway where the students couldn’t see her and make faces at me while I was teaching.  I almost lost it!

Later on we had a staff meeting.  This one was after school.   It was three hours long… which meant we didn’t leave school until 5 and we hadn’t been home or eaten anything since 7 in the morning.  Anyway, half was through the meeting Grace started making faces at me when the headmaster wasn’t looking.  Again, I almost lost it.  I have a feeling she is going to get me in trouble one of these days. 

The One With Kikiva (written 9/17/2012)

Kafule Secondary School has 4 grades which are divided up into 10 classes, 3 each for the first two grades and 2 each for the last two grades.  Each class has about 45 students however most of the time classes are combined since there are only 10 teachers here including Dahlia and myself (meaning there are 90 or 130 kids in the class).  Anyway, on Fridays I have back to back first year classes.  Kikiva is a boy in the first one of those classes.  He takes such diligent notes and loves answering questions.  On Friday I taught his class and when I finished I moved into the other classroom.  Kikiva followed me and sat down in the back of the room.  (His class had a free period next because there aren’t enough teachers for every class every period.)  He sat through the same lesson twice and raised his hard to answer literally every question.  I let him answer a few and he was so excited! The pride that these students take in their work and their eagerness to learn continues to impress me.  

The One With The First Round Of Meetings (written 9/14/2012)

Yesterday was the first staff meeting and today I had my first department meeting.  I’ll start with yesterday’s meeting… all I can really say is it was LONG.  Meetings are conducted during the school day which means that we are pulled out of classes and the students either wait in the rooms or clean the school.  The meeting this week was 3 hours long and all in Swahili.  One of the teachers next to meet translated the headlines but from what I gathered there was not a whole lot of information given.  Graduation is coming up in a few weeks for the form 4 students (although I am not exactly sure how it works because the date of graduation is before their final exam).  Anyway, I guess the teachers plan the whole thing so committees were formed.  I got selected for the decorations committee (again, I have no idea what this will entail) along with Dahlia, and Grace, one of our fellow teachers.  I will let you know as plans progress!

This afternoon was a department head meeting run by Kivega who is the academic master.  It went really well! His English is great so he conducted the meeting in English for me.  He is super time efficient and very agenda oriented which is a rarity in Tanzania but certainly something I appreciate when it comes time for meetings.  We talked about exams and keeping our departments uniform (which clearly won’t be a problem for me as I am the only one in the department).  Overall it was a great meeting. 

Tonight our neighbor, Elizabeth, has invited us over for dinner.  Dahlia and I are both super excited not to have to cook after a long week of school.  And so the weekend begins! 

The One With The Debate (written 9/13/2012)

Each Wednesday classes end at 1:00 and for the last hour and twenty minutes of school the students hold a debate which they must conduct in English.  Apparently debating skills are very highly valued here in Tanzania.  The resolve this week was that multi-party political systems are better than mono-party systems.  The opposition won (but most of the points are awarded for things like English use, grammar, and presentation- not having hands in pockets, etc.).  Students moderate, keep time, and record; they run the entire thing! It was so fun to see the students work so hard together at something!

The One With The Differing abilities (written 9/13/2012)

My first days of teaching are going really well! I had a form 1 class (the lowest grade in secondary school) today where I got to teach my first lesson of new material.  It was great! There were a bunch of students participating, giving answers and coming to the board.  It is clear that there is a very wide range of student ability though which is definitely going to make teaching challenging.  The way the national exams work in Tanzania is that after certain grades each student takes an exam in each of the nine subjects taught here (math, physics, chemistry, civics, Swahili, English, geography, history and biology).  They must pass to continue on the next grade however in order to pass the exam a student’s average score in all 9 subjects must be above a certain grade.  This means that I might have students, even in my highest grades, who have never passed a math exam in their lives.  While walking around the room today while the student were working on problems it became clear that there are some students who had no idea what was going on.  But those students were definitely few which was encouraging.  And there seemed to be a lot of students who were really understanding the material.    

The One With The Cheer (written 9/12/2012)

After one of my classes today I began to pick up my bag and notebook to leave the room and the students began this cheer, “good (clap clap), better (clap clap), you are the best (clap clap), thank you madam”.  I am continually impressed by the students excitement about learning here.  

The One With The First Day Of Classes (written 9/11/2012)

Today was the first day of classes.  The students here are absolutely incredible! Each class stays in the same room all day and the teachers move from room to room.  Each time I walked into a class all the students stood up and said in unison, “Good morning Madam” and then stayed standing until I gave them permission to sit.  It seriously melted my heart every time. 

I did an introduction and review lesson today and will do the same tomorrow with the classes I have not yet met with.  Then Thursday I will start in with new material.  I am so excited to get started with actual lessons!  The students seem so eager to learn.  They clapped after each class and sometimes even for each other when someone got an answer right.  I know it is going to be tough teaching so many classes and so many students (learning their names alone seems a near impossible task at this point) but I am confident that it is going to be rewarding work!

The One With The Constitution Meeting (9/10/2012)

After school I got to go to a community meeting.  In 2005 Tanzania revised their constitution for the first time, however there was no input from the citizens.  Apparently this has caused a lot of frustrations so for 6 months government officials are traveling around the country and hosting these meetings where they allow people to state what they life and would like to see changed about the constitution.  It was absolutely fascinating! It was such a great was to get more insight into the Tanzanian mindset.  Some of the big issues that came up were care for the elderly, AIDS education, higher teacher and doctor salaries, are more checks to the presidential power.  There were a lot of mixed feelings about whether or not Tanzania and Zanzibar should remain one country and if they do remain together how much representation Zanzibar should be given.  The government will take and compile all of this information and in 2014 they plan to release a draft of a new constitution that will then be voted on by the public.  People seem very passionate about the opportunity to be a part of the change and it seems like and effective and sincere way to bring it about.  

The One With The First Day Of School (written 9/10/2012)

Today was the first day of school.  At the beginning and end of every school day there is an assembly where all the students gather and announcements are made.  The students are to arrive at school at 7:10 and clean the grounds.  Assembly is to begin at 7:30.  Dahlia and I thought since it was our first day that we should get there early; so we arrived at 7:15.  Students gave us very quizzical looks as we walked up to the front doors to the office, which we found to be shut and locked.  At 7:32 the first teacher arrived and assembly began at 7:45.  Apparently time is relaxed even on the first day of school.  Dahlia and I each introduced ourselves at assembly (I got a huge round of applause when I said that I was going to be teaching math!)  And then uniform inspections were made.  I will spare you the details but punishments were given accordingly.  I don’t know that I am ever going to get used to that aspect of life here. 

The students spent the rest of the day cleaning and I got to spend time with my fellow teachers.  They showed us around some more and explained more of the responsibilities I will have.  I was also named the mathematics department head today (before you get too impressed, keep in mind that I am the only member of the math department here) so I will have a few extra meetings and responsibilities.  Tomorrow we begin teaching.  I am really looking forward to finally getting into the classroom with my students!

The One With The Special Church Service (written 9/9/2012)

Evidently the church services in Kafule are exceptionally short by Tanzanian standards (to the disappointment of many of the teachers whom I talked to about it).  They usually last about 2 hours or so.  But this is apparently a weekend for celebrations because there was a special church service which included a bunch of people from neighboring villages.  Dahlia and I went with Makala, a fellow teacher, and stayed for about 4 hours… apparently these special services can last for 6-7 hours! But the part that we did see was a lot of fun!  There is a children’s choir that led about half of the worship and it literally brought tears to my eyes! The kids were unbelievable joyful, so full of life and energy, dancing their hearts out in front of the church.  I was able to get a Swahili Bible before arriving in Kafule so I could follow along for the scripture readings.  The pastor asked Dahlia and I to get up and introduce ourselves which we managed to do all in Swahili.  I am really looking forward to attending church here regularly!  Tomorrow starts school so I am headed to bed early tonight and looking forward to writing about the first day tomorrow!

The One With The Harvest Celebration (written 9/9/2012)

Once a year in Kafule there is a traditional harvest celebration.  Yesterday I got to go and watch.  There were probably 400 people who came out to celebrate with drumming and dancing.   There were two groups wearing traditional clothing that went back and forth in a kind of dance off for about two hours.  They had drums and horns and whistles and the rhythm of their stomping feet.  It was totally captivating to watch and the drumming was amazing! What a blessing to get to experience the celebration during my first week here!

The One With The Pictures Of The House

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The One With My First Walk To The Market (written 9/6/2012)

Yesterday afternoon two of the teachers at Kafule, Stela and Kivega, came by to take us to the market.  It is about a 45 minute walk down a very steep hill but it is gorgeous the whole way.  Food here is seasonal so we were able to get avocados, bananas, yams and tomatoes.   We walked past one the district fields where a soccer match was going on.  Kafule has soccer, netball, and volleyball teams.  Kivega asked is I have ever played volleyball.  I told him I never have competitively but that I have played for fun.  He asked me to coach the team…

When we got back to Kafule Stela and Kivega dropped us off at our house.  Stela felt so bad to not coming in and helping is make dinner but she has a cold a needed to get home.  She made sure we were all set though, asking what we were going to make, how we were going to make it and if there was anything else that we needed.  We managed our first dinner on our own just fine.  Later that night we got this text message from Stela, “Don’t feel lonely this night, I’m praying for you and there is the blood of our Lord behind to protect you all the time, call His name at night.  Lala salama (sleep peacefully).”  I cat even tell you how blessed I feel to have this incredible teaching staff here. 

Stela was back this morning to help us with breakfast.  I then did some laundry and after lunch Dahlia and I are going to walk over to the school where we will get to see the class schedule and look over where the students are in the syllabus.   

The One Where We Were “Warmly Welcomed” (written 9/5/2012)

Monday morning my alarm went off at 4:15.  It was time to get up and get to the bus station.  The bus went from Dar Es Salaam to Mbeya and took a total of 13 hours but the 4 of us living in the Mbeya area made it through.  We were met by a man (although now I am convinced that he is an angel) named Kita.  He is a Tanzanian who grew up in a village near Kafule and he has worked with WorldTeach before.  He now lived with his wife and two sons in Mbeya.  Ashley (our field director) asked him last week if she could give out his phone number so that if we were even in Mbeya with questions we could call him.  He took it upon himself to meet us at the bus stop, take us to our hotel, show us where to get dinner, and then accompany us all the way to our villages. There is no way we would have made it without him; he truly is an angel. 

The ride from Mbeya to Kafule was also long and interrupted by the fact that we had to stop at about 10 district officials’ offices to sign their guest books and introduce ourselves.  We also had to drop off Sarah and David at their house (they will be living about 3 hours from us).  The last few hours of the drive were truly breathtaking! We drove through the mountains, paralleled the river that divides Tanzania and Malawi, and then arrived at Kafule Secondary School.  Breathtaking is the only word that comes close to describing the view from the school.  It is absolutely incredible! Mountains in every direction, the most vibrant green trees (banana and evergreen right next to each other, who knew?), red dirt, blue sky; it’s gorgeous!   I got to meet a handful of students (who were there studying, this is school vacation after all, certainly not a time to fall behind in your studies).  They were so polite; Madam Carly is what they called me.  I told few of them that I was here to teach mathematics; their response: “thank you.” So sweet and sincere!!

Then we finally made it to our house.  I was a little confused when we pulled up because there were about 8 people here already.  I introduced myself to them and they said that they are fellow teachers at the school and that they were here to drop off groceries and cook us dinner.  They had pots of warm water ready so we could shower, candles for us and a bag of bottled waters.  We arrived at the house at 6 and they stayed until about 10.  Their English was good but they spoke mostly in Swahili.  I didn’t care.  This house was so full of laughter and joy! They all seem to be about 20-30 years old, pretty evenly split between guys and girls and they seem to have so much fun together! I am so excited to get to know them better. 

After they left Dahlia and I went on a spider killing rampage throughout our house.  They are enormous here! I have a feeling I am going to be getting over my fear of spiders over the course of this year.  And then we finally made it to bed. 

Shortly after we woke up this morning Stela, one of the school teachers, came by to bring us eggs and help us light the jiko so we could cook breakfast.  After breakfast we spent most of the morning unpacking and then Kita came by to make sure we were settling in alright.  He helped us hang our mosquito nets and a clothes line and then he gave us a bunch of practical advice on living here.  I was thanking him for everything that he has done for us and he looked at me and said, “we have this proverb: birds of a feather stick together.  So of course I am here to help you with whatever you need” he is planning another trip back in 2 weeks to make sure we are doing alright.  That is the attitude that everyone here seems to have in Kafule.  Everyone we meet tells us that we are “most warmly welcomed” here in the southern highlands.  I am getting the sense that life here is going to be challenging but the people seem incredible and if nothing else, I am surrounded by the most beautiful environment.

The One With The Farewell Dinner (written 9/2/2012)

First, for those of you who are still wondering, my second day of teaching in Iringa went really well! The activity we tried was great! The students all participated and seemed to have a lot of fun with it! It was a super encouraging day and a joy to be in the classroom again.  I know I have said it before, but I can’t wait to get to Kafule and meet my own students!

We left Iringa yesterday and traveled back to Dar where we will spend the day today.  The bus ride was long but gorgeous!  We got to drive through the mountains and then through game reserve again.  What a blessing to be able to cheer up a long drive with scenery like that!

We went out to an Ethiopian restaurant last night for our farewell dinner.  The food was amazing and we got to sit out on this patio under the stars and moon (which was full by the way and absolutely beautiful!) I guess they are assuming we are all fully oriented at this point though because today we have a free day in the city to run all of our last minute errands and then tomorrow I begin the two day trek to Kafule.  I will be traveling with my roommate Dahlia and, for most of the trip, Sarah and David, who will be living about three hours away from us also in the Ileje district.  We will be taking a bus to Mbeya tomorrow (which should be about 14 hours… but again, it should be a beautiful ride).  Then, Tuesday morning we will be met at the hotel by a district official who will take us to our sites.  The long travel days are a little daunting right now considering we have to keep track of all of our luggage and get it to and from the bus stop, but knowing that I finally going to get to Kafule is super exciting!