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!
No comments:
Post a Comment