A Day in the Life

The rainy season is here. Each night there is thunder, lightning, and rain that last quite a few hours. This has been coinciding with extended power outages, mud, and bugs everywhere. Despite this unfortunate weather, I am getting the hang of things. Teaching the vocations class is going well. I will give more details about my classes in the future, but I would first like to explain a “typical” day in the life of a GHTA volunteer.

(Of course, nothing is ever typical. Yesterday I saw a stork/vulture-esk bird that was at least FOUR FEET TALL. NEARLY MY SIZE. These are things I thankfully don’t see every day.)

7:30am- Wake up, make toast with Nutella/ peanut butter (yes, they have it here!) or eggs. Take malaria pill. Choose from collection of long skirts to fashion for the day.

9:00am- classes begin. For English and Business, the classes are 1.5 hours and then each switch for another 1.5 hour chunk. Vocations is taught in a three hour (full day) section. The students are divided into three groups (according to general English levels) and work on a rotating schedule between all three classes.

12:00pm- class is over. Students stick around to chat and practice English. Sometimes the volunteers help students set up Facebook accounts or work on homework. Somewhere in here we squeeze in lunch which usually involves last night’s leftovers or some kind of avocado/tomato/mango salad.

2pm to 4pm on Monday and Thursday- the kids arrive! Some of our students bring their kids and some neighborhood kids come over to practice English and most importantly, play! The highlights so far have been watercolors and balloon animals.

Every other afternoon, we usually walk into town (about 20 minutes) and do some errands/shopping, grab coffee, or visit the internet café. We may grab a drink at the local hotel or visit GHTA’s co-op and see how the women working there are doing.

7pm or 8pm- Dinner and Swahili practice. The current volunteers and I have been taking Swahili lessons with Herman, our flat-mate and a program coordinator. (More on how those lessons are going later.) Often times we lose power in the evenings, so dinner and chatting take place by candlelight/flashlight. There is also a good amount of time dedicated each evening to bug catching. Luckily current volunteer Yelena is an expert cockroach poacher.

And on the weekends, we try to plan local adventures and excursions. Last weekend we took a mini hike to the Marangu Waterfall. This weekend we road-tripped to the “big city” of Arusha. And next weekend we will tour a coffee farm on Mt. Kilimanjaro.  

Karibu

Karibu: Swahili for welcome or you’re welcome, and the first greeting you hear when you enter any home or business.

The moment the plane doors opened, and I stepped onto the stairs to the tarmac, I could feel it-- The heat, the air, the smells, the darkness. I have landed in Africa once again. I traveled to Ghana in 2010 for a month, so this is not a completely alien feeling. However Tanzania, and the Eastern region of this vast continent, will be a new adventure.

Monika, the fearless leader of Give a Heart to Africa (GHTA), picked me up with her safari-guide boyfriend Godbless (Gody for short) and unofficially adopted 7 year old Mko. We drove an hour from Mt. Kilimanjaro Airport to the volunteer house in Moshi town. I settled into the bottom bunk of a room I will now occupy for the next five months, pulled down and tucked in my mosquito net/canopy, and went to sleep.

That was day one. So far things have moved at a simultaneously slow and fast pace. The women’s school is attached to our house, and classes are Monday through Thursday from 9am until noon. On Mondays and Thursdays, the students (age range from 20 to 50) bring their children for after school play time and English practice. On Friday mornings, we visit a student in their home to meet their families and so their families can meet us. These are our main responsibilities as volunteers. It would seem like having every afternoon free would be relaxing and maybe a bit boring, but my free time has been filling up fast! While the general culture here moves “pole pole”—slowly slowly—the afternoons have flown by running errands, orienting myself to the town, and planning Swahili lessons (which start tomorrow!).

Most of the time, I feel hot, sticky, and dusty. My arms and legs are shocked back into summer bug bites and sun-kissed (or crisped) skin. My body is quickly forgetting the ruthless winter and first signs of spring I left behind last week. But I feel happy. It feels great to be abroad again and at the limits of my comfort zone. It feels great to have students again and to be in front of a classroom. In this new community, I overwhelmingly feel welcome. 

KB

P.S. Pictures to come soon. Getting fully "connected" still a work in progress. Stay tuned!

Passing the Torch on International Women's Day!

What better day to let everyone know that my daughter, Kate, will soon be on her way to Moshi, Tanzania  to volunteer at my favorite women's empowerment project, Give a Heart To Africa! After many years of putting up with me going on and on about how special GHTA is, and how she should volunteer there, Kate decided to do it.  I couldn't be more proud and happy about her decision.

Kate will be in Moshi from March to August and will be writing about her GHTA experience and Africa adventures here on "The Starfish of Moshi" blog. So please check out her posts!  Thank you! Asante sana!