Sicknesses of the Human and Laptop Variety

I know I haven’t written in a long while again, but I actually do have quite a bit to write about.  I even have the time to write now, as the girls are all on break for all of December and I have pretty much spent my recent days alternating lying around being nauseous from my second round of giardia meds and painting.  But more on all that later.  I do actually have a valid excuse for why I haven’t written—my laptop has decided that Tanzania isn’t a suitable climate for it to continue carrying out basic functions.

Basically, that means it just randomly decides that it has had enough and shuts itself off.  It can stay on for hours at a time or it can decide it’s had enough after 10 minutes.  Definitely not conducive to sitting down to write a long blog post when I am nervous it might shut off and I lose all my work at any moment.

But, I will save often and try and break this up into more frequent small posts so that I can avoid the oft-occurring laptop meltdown.  I am warning you though, as the speed at which I need to get down information increases, the post quality will undoubtedly decrease.  Anyone who has tried to write a paper the night before it’s due knows what I am talking about (if any of my past high school teachers or college professors are reading this... I promise I never did this in your class sorry).

And here’s a poorly drawn supporting graph of this phenomenon for the visual learners in the room… on the blog… whatever.

You probably can't really tell, but I actually do spend a lot of time editing these because I tend to go on frequent tangents that require me to explain things via shoddy Microsoft-Paint-created illustrations.  Before now those have all just been edited out.  You're welcome.  But rejoice (I know I am)! I will be back to my regular well-edited posts in January when my new laptop from the states arrives.   Shout-out to dad for the incredible Christmas gift, to mom for taking the time to load up all the software and sending it to Dana, and to Dana for agreeing to bring a bigger carry-on so she can lug it back to Tanzania for me after winter break. 

But, anyways.  First things first.

Giardia Medication Induced Nausea and Headaches: a Cautionary Tale.

My first round of giardia meds didn’t work.  Despite being really strong and giving me some seriously wonky side effects, a few days after I stopped I was still having some of the same symptoms I had before starting the meds.  Apparently this isn’t uncommon—if you have it for a long time like I did there can be a lot of it in your system and it can take more than one round of meds to get rid of it all.  So, after consulting the nice lady in the pharmacy, I got a second round of meds.  Well, a different medicine, but for the same purpose.

So, the first day of taking my new medicine, I got a really killer headache and was nauseous.  It was one of the possible side effects of the medicine which is no surprise considering there was a small war going on in my stomach (side note, my roomies told me that I reminded them of the movie Osmosis Jones: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeSpW75M2w8).

I shrugged it off and grabbed two advil.  This is a weird place to say this, but LOOK UP DRUG INTERACTIONS ONLINE before taking anything.  I was about to take the advil for the headache when I decided I should make sure that there weren’t any weird interactions.  Good thing I did, because it turns out if you take NSAIDs (like advil) at the same time as the antiparasitic meds I was on it can cause convulsive seizures.  It didn't say that in any of the warnings included in the box.  In all likelihood, that's because it probably doesn't effect most people and nothing would have happened to me. But, those aren’t risks I really want to take. I’ll ride out the headache, thanks.      

UP NEXT: The Circle of Life.  And don’t worry; it’s not a video of me singing the Disney classic.  I have a singing voice that’s really only fit for the shower or the car when the music is loud enough to mostly drown me out. 

Peace, Love, and (hopefully) No More Stomach Parasites,

Carolyn

Graduate Check-ins: Problems and Perks of Being a Mzungu Travelling the Tanzanian Way

I have recently been joking that I have many different hats here at Sega.  I’ve talked about my gardening hat and my art teaching hat… but one of my hats that I wasn’t really expecting to be wearing was my career counselor hat.  I’m not sure if this will be a permanent position for me here—it’s not exactly my cup of tea and it isn’t something I feel like I really know anything about—but it’s a big part of what I am doing for now.  Which lead to my most recent adventure—a weeklong trip all around Tanzania to check in with the girls that graduated last year.

First, a little background.

A huge part of what I’ve been doing is managing the continuing education scholarships for these graduates.  These girls are mostly in either colleges in a 1-year certificate program, or in “A-Levels” which is form 5 and 6. Managing their scholarships means I frequently have girls text me in all caps that they have run out of money and can’t pay for things like food.  Or toothpaste.  Or notes.  At first, this really stressed me out, as one could imagine. 

I’ve pretty much got the process down now:

1. Receive urgently worded text that they need money THAT DAY.  Sometimes at 6 AM or 8:30 PM.
2. Check the three different files we keep on these girls to see if one of those costs is covered somewhere or if we’ve already given them money for that thing.
3. Ask Pauline (the school’s counselor, and my amazing boss and officemate) if I should give the student money.
4. Ask Polly (the school director and my other amazing boss) based upon Pauline’s recommendation.
5. Fill out a form to request money from Geoffrey (the school’s accountant).  Probably have to redo it at least once because I consistently mix up what part of the form to write in the amount and what part to write in what it’s for.
6. Receive the money.
7. Go into town, and use a system called m-pesa to send the money to the girl’s cell phone at which point she can go withdraw the cash from a number of little shops in whatever city she is studying in.

I still would not say that it is something I enjoy, particularly when I have to tell the girls that, no, we already paid them and they don’t get another payment until X date.  But at least it doesn’t drive me to go on long, solo, stress-relief runs at the end of the day every time it happens.  It also takes a sometimes crazy amount of time and it has definitely limited my involvement in doing a lot of environment stuff which is pretty unfortunate, but that will hopefully be resolved within the next few weeks.

But anyways, at the end of October, Pauline told me one day that I would need to do check-ins with all of the graduates at their schools.  After convincing her that if I did it alone I would probably end up getting incredibly lost and never make it back to Sega, she agreed to come with me.  Which, seeing how our trip went, was definitely best.

It started off in much the same way that these things always seem to—ending up working out but in the most stressful way it could.

The Trip
The night before I was supposed to leave, my stomach woke me up at 2 am for an urgent trip to the restroom.  This had been happening a few times a week since about 3 weeks after arriving in Tanzania so, as uncomfortable as it was, I figured it would be fine by the morning.  And it was, except that I was exhausted from being up half the night and so I slept in late.  I had to meet Pauline at the bus station and had told her to text me when I should leave to meet her in the bus station in Morogoro.  I missed her first text and it wasn't until she called me from 10 minutes away that I realized I was supposed to have left already.  Thank goodness for one of the Sega drivers—he rushed me to the bus station and I literally ran and jumped on the bus just as it was leaving.  I was exhausted and would have slept, but buses in Tanzania do this fun thing where:

1. They drive insanely fast on not so great two lane roads and aggressively pass each other so you’re white-knuckling it the whole way
2. They play a fun mix of Justin Bieber, Jay Z, and Bongo Flava (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttdU19Kwce8) at earsplitting volumes
3. When they aren’t playing music, they show poorly dubbed, cinematic masterpieces like “Jurassic Attack” (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2303110/) at the same earsplitting volumes

It is definitely all part of the experience, but I was still really happy to get off that bus in Iringa.  Now, getting OFF the bus is an adventure in-and-of itself.  Because, waiting at the door of the bus is a crowd of people trying to convince you to buy soda or nuts or cake or a ticket on their bus or a ride on their motorcycle or taxi.  Basically, I would hold onto my bags tightly in one hand and Pauline’s hand with the other as we weaved through the crowd of people shouting “MZUNGU!”  Despite the shouting, which happens pretty much anywhere I go in Tanzania, I really enjoyed Iringa a lot.  It’s a bit smaller of a town than Morogoro, the people are pretty friendly, and the weather is a bit cooler so that you aren’t perpetually sweating.

I also liked Iringa because, despite my initial nervousness at the bus station there, people really didn’t try to mess with me too much.  I found out the next day that it was because of a story called Mzungu’s Bag.  Mzungu means “white person” in Swahili, and pretty much anywhere you go in Tanzania that isn’t on the tourist circuit you are guaranteed to hear a few shouts of it come your direction.  I wouldn’t say that it’s enjoyable—a part of me is tempted to respond with sarcasm and go “WHERE?!?!” and look around dramatically—but it isn’t threatening or anything.  Honestly, I think they’re just surprised, more than anything.  Pauline also informed me that they think that because I’m white, I have a lot of money and so I should be able to buy anything.  I told her the joke is on them—I’m a volunteer and spent all my money on the plane ticket getting here. 

But, anyways.  Mzungu’s Bag.  So, the morning we were leaving from Iringa to go to Mbeya a woman from one of the buses offered to carry Pauline’s suitcase, but gave me one nervous sideways glance and didn't offer with my duffle.  I was fine with that—it wasn't heavy and I was still pretty wary about my belongings.  Turns out I didn't need to be.  We got to the bus station and upon seeing the woman carrying Pauline’s suitcase and not mine the bus conductor busts out laughing and turns to Pauline to tell this whole long story in Swahili.  I stood there quietly, with no idea what was going on, as per usual.  At the end of it Pauline busts out laughing and as we get on the bus she explains it to me—

Apparently, about a year ago, there was an American travelling on the buses in Iringa and her bag was stolen.  She reported it to the police and the police showed up every day for 3 weeks looking for the bag, checking all the buses, and generally giving everybody a rough time and delaying things.  It’s now a longstanding joke at the Iringa bus station that nobody should ever touch mzungu’s bag.  It certainly worked in my favor.

Unfortunately, one bad thing about being mzungu is that I am not used to the germs here—our first night in Mbeya I got really sick again.  I was then fine again for a day, and got really sick again the next night in Dodoma.  At this point, Pauline told me that I really needed to go to the doctor as soon as I got back to Morogoro.  She was also nice enough to let me skip out on one of our interviews so that I could sleep in the hotel for a little while.  Unfortunately, this sleep was interrupted when one of the ladies from the hotel front desk came into the room and told me I had to check out.  She spoke about as much English as I spoke Swahili, so there was a lot of confusing gesturing and I ended up sitting on the front stoop of the hotel waiting for Pauline to return. 

When she got back she sorted out our room situation so that we could leave our bags at the hotel and have a room in Dodoma when we got back.  We then had to rush to get on a bus to Singida—it was only supposed to be a 3 hour bus ride and it was before 11 am at this point.  We were sure that we would be able to make it to the girl’s school and back without any problems.  But, when we got to the bus station, we found that the only buses for Singida weren't leaving for another hour.  So we bought tickets and cookies (which ended up being the only thing I ate that entire day) and waited.  One hour, then two.   Finally, at around 2, the bus shows up.  And the ride ended up taking closer to 4 hours than 3.  So we arrived at around 6, interviewed this poor graduate across the street from the bus station, and rushed back to try and get a bus that was returning to Dodoma. 

There was only one bus.  It was leaving at 8.  And there were no seats left.

But, (A) our bags were in Dodoma, (B) we had already paid for our room there, and (C) neither of us had brought enough money to pay for a hotel in Singida.  We would have to go back that night.  And we would probably have to stand in the aisle the entire 4 hours.  After waiting for an hour and a half, a miracle happened—another bus had broken down en route to Dodoma, so they were sending a different bus from our station to pick those people up.  And there were seats on this bus.  AND it was a really nice bus.  So we boarded and off we went.  Now, if I thought being on buses in the day was terrifying, night is a beast of a whole ‘nother color.  I won’t go into it, but at one point I just put my head down and tried to sleep because flinching every 30 seconds was exhausting.  After around an hour and a half, we made it to the bus that had broken down.  It took about 20 minutes for those people to shuffle onto our bus, find their seats, and settle their luggage.  And then OUR bus wouldn’t start.  After another 20 minutes, they finally got the engine to turn over and we were on our way. 

I was pretty convinced that nothing else could possibly happen on that bus ride.  I was wrong.  At around 12, the police pull us over.  After some frantic conversations between the police and the driver, the conductors, and other bus patrons we are still stopped.  Pauline told me to stay in our seats as she went to figure out what was going on.  She came back and told me that the police said that it was too late and that the bus wasn’t allowed to be on the road this late.  They wanted us to pull over and spend the night on the bus in the middle of nowhere.  Meanwhile they let another half dozen trucks and cars pass through.  Pauline said it was probably because they wanted us to pay them off.  

At this point I was exhausted, hungry, delusional, and I needed to pee.  So we got off the bus and Pauline was nice enough to hold up her kanga (piece of Tanzanian fabric) for me while I peed.  I was not in any rush to get back on the bus (there were a lot of crying babies on there) so we stood outside and joked about how insane this trip had been.  As we stood there, I noticed the police officers kept glancing my direction and talking between themselves.  A few minutes later they went to go talk to the driver and they had changed their tune—we were allowed to leave.  Pauline looked at me and told me thank goodness I was there.  Turns out the police are a lot more worried about leaving a bus on the side of the road when there’s a mzungu on board. 

We were about half an hour from Dodoma at this point, but that didn't stop two more groups of police officers from trying to get us to stop.  We didn't make it back to our hotel until 2 AM.  We slept in late and headed back to Sega the next morning.  Thankfully, this bus ride was much smoother and incredibly uneventful.

Our meetings with students were definitely the things that made all of the crazy trips worth it.  Most of them were so excited to see Pauline, and a lot of them are doing really well and working really hard in classes.  Generally speaking, they are extremely grateful for the opportunity that they have been given and they really understand that Sega’s support is giving them a chance at a better future.  They’re motivated and driven to succeed.   Not all of the girls are like that, but enough are that it makes it feel like what I am doing is worthwhile. 

P.S.  In case you were worried about my health, don’t be.  On Monday I went to a really good doctor in Dar to try and figure out what was wrong with my stomach.  Upon hearing my symptoms, he told me I probably had giardia.  So I’m on the last day of these anti-parasitic meds that make my abdomen twitch and my pee highlighter yellow.   Good times.   

In the Art Room with Preform Students

My apologies for the long break in between posts—it’s been a busy and sort of crazy few weeks.  I wanted this next post to be a sort of “overview” of my daily schedule at Sega so I was waiting, hoping I would settle into a routine.  But, I can’t really say that I have a set daily or even weekly schedule—things come up last minute a lot and there is constantly something new.  Instead I decided I would talk about the thing I most enjoy here—teaching art to the preform girls.

Before I get started, I should probably explain a little bit about how the Tanzanian school system works and where the girls I teach lie in this.  First is seven years of primary school, which is taught in Swahili, divided up into what are called “standards”, and is mandatory for all children in Tanzania.  Because it’s mandatory, girls don’t usually drop out until secondary school, which is where Sega comes in.  Although Sega is technically a secondary school, girls are selected during their Standard 6 year based upon how likely it is that they might drop out once they reach secondary.  They arrive at Sega at the end of their Standard 6 year and take all of Standard 7 at Sega which helps them get adjusted to Sega but also ensures there isn’t a gap between the time they stop primary and start secondary school.  At the end of Standard 7, all students take a national exam which they need to pass to get into secondary school.  This exam is taken in September and, usually, primary school students have a break until the next January when they return to school. Secondary school is 6 years total, divided into what is called “forms”, and is split into O-Levels (Form 1-4) and A-Levels (Form 5 & 6).  Sega is an O-Level secondary school so (not including the primary school girls) there are students from Forms 1-4.

The Preform students (the ones that I am teaching) are girls that already took their Standard 7 exam but are waiting for their national exam results.  Because secondary school is taught in entirely in English, Sega uses these few months for an English-intensive program which is mostly taught by me and the other U.S. volunteers.  This is both good and bad.  Since most of us speak very little Swahili, they’ve definitely been completely immersed in English.  However, there’s no curriculum for these girls, a lot of them are at very different levels as far as their English, and they don’t really have any exams to study for so they can be pretty undisciplined.   It’s been a challenge for a lot of us.  

Although I had taught a lot of craft classes via girl scouts throughout middle and high school, teaching art to 31 34 middle school aged girls who don’t really speak the same language has been… well it has been a lot of what you would probably call “trial-and-error” teaching.  This basically means that I have been figuring out how to explain things using mostly gestures, what skill level they are at, and how to manage supplies.  It’s also a lot of remembering that these girls have really never had any art classes and probably have had really limited access to supplies.

It can be stressful, but it’s also really rewarding.  The girls do some really good work and many of them seem to really enjoy it.  Some things work better than others and it’s always sort of a surprise as to what works and what doesn’t.  Here are a few of the projects we’ve worked on:

Learning about primary, secondary, warm, and cool colors.

This was a really messy first project, but definitely fun.  We put different primary colored acrylic paints on each of our hands and then rubbed them together to learn about mixing primary colors to make secondary colors.  Also I had two visitors from the U.S. who came to help out in the class which was pretty cool.  I think they enjoyed the class and they took some pretty incredible pictures (some of which I already posted to Facebook, but here they are again).

As for warm and cool colors, the girls traced their hands and drew lines through them, breaking them into geometric shapes.  The object of the lesson was to do warm colors inside the hand and cool colors on the background, butttt that kind of got lost in translation and they just ended up painting them all different colors.    They still turned out pretty nice and they look really good hung up all together, in my opinion at least.

Learning about Value, Highlights, and Shading

This one was definitely tougher to explain with the language barrier, but I do think they turned out really nicely and they look pretty neat.  I also think that the girls got it by the end and I have seen some of them apply the things we talked about in this project to later projects.  Basically, I had premade sheets with different 3D shapes and they used colored pencils to shade their shapes depending upon the light source.  Then they used black sharpie to create a pattern in the background and pencil to create shadows on the background once they pasted on their shapes.  They turned out sort of like “op-art” and, again, looked pretty good all hung up together. 

“Stained Glass” Flowers

For this I was really just trying to figure out a way to re-use toilet paper tubes.  This was definitely pretty tough for them and probably too complicated of a project, but I still think it turned out okay.  I had the girls draw a series of geometric shapes onto tracing paper in colored markers and then trace them with black sharpie.  I had cut and put together all of the cardboard tube flowers earlier that week, so the girls just had to trace around the flower, cut them out, and then we taped them together.  Taping was definitely a challenge and required me to help everybody individually which is always problematic with such a big class.  I think they look cool, but maybe better suited for a Pinterest-y DIY preject than for an art class.  You live and learn.

 

Figure Drawing

In our most recent class we practiced figure drawing.  Again, not an easy concept to describe to the girls.  Despite that, they really enjoyed the lesson.  I think their favorite part was getting to be “models” for the rest of the class.  We had 8 different models come up and I gave them about five or six minutes to draw each person.  They didn’t really get it at first, but I stressed that you focus on drawing the general pose or position of the person and not on the details and they seemed to catch on by the end.  

Student modelling for figure drawing practice.

Despite the challenges, I really do enjoy teaching these girls and I do enjoy teaching art.

Until next time,

Carolyn

“I Don’t Know, Probably a Four-Legged Mammal”

The trusty Noah.

The volunteers went on our first “big adventure” last weekend—camping in Mikumi Wildlife Park.  Saturday afternoon we packed everything up into the trusty “Noah” and were on our way.  As with most cars here, the Noah is trusty in the sense that you can trust it pretty much always has something wrong with it and will potentially break down and/or not start at any point in time.   Right before we left, we were informed that it probably had an oil leak.  So, following the rule that “if you have it you won’t need it” we stopped at a gas station and were directed to the fundi (translation: mechanic) across the street where we got oil (which came in an old 1.5 liter plastic water bottle).  And then we were on our way.  Mikumi is an easy hour and a half drive down the road from Sega and has all the perks of the big northern parks without the big crowds, so we were all pretty excited.

The Noah was pretty trusty after all, and we ended up getting to Mikumi all in one piece and without problems.  After paying our entrance fees we drove through the park to our campsite which was well-equipped and super nice.  Polly, the director of our program, had a bunch of tents and camping gear for us to use, so we hurried to set up our tents before dark.  As I went to set up the tent I would share with one of the other volunteers, Dana, she told me that this would be her first time camping.  And what a first time it would be.

We set up camp pretty quickly and still had some light so we jumped back in the Noah and did a quick mini game drive out to the hippo pool.  As soon as we pulled up we saw a pair of elephants drinking from the pool.  No matter how many times I see elephants, I think I will always get excited and this time was no different.  We jumped out of the Noah to walk around and get some pictures.  With the sun setting, the silhouettes of the two elephants, and all of it reflecting in the hippo pool it was quite a beautiful sight and a really nice note to start out our trip.

We got back to camp and fixed the fire and had our dinner of rice and beans (what else) and a few bottles of red wine that Polly had brought for all of us.  As it got dark we talked for a while, played a few card games, listened to music, and enjoyed the fire.  At one point we looked up and noticed a glow in the distance—a brush fire.  There were a few trees that were blocking the view and it was hard to figure out how far away the fire really was from our campsite.  We walked around the group of trees to get a better look.  It was still hard to tell exactly how far away it was, as the land is so incredibly flat and tree-less you can see for a lot further than any of us are really used to.  But it looked big.  And it looked like it was moving our direction.  We were all a little nervous about going to sleep with the big brush fire, so we decided to try and stay up for a little while to keep watch.  And then we started hearing animals. 

Now, last year when I camped in the Serengeti with my study abroad program, we heard hyenas at night sniffing around our tent, lions making their strange yelping calls, and even a big cape buffalo snorting.  But there were 40+ of us and we had askari (guards).  So, when we sat back down and heard a loud animal noise that sounded fairly close, the six of us jumped up from the table and scuttled towards the car.  We all stood there, staring intently in the direction of the noise, pointing our headlamps into the little woods to try and find the source, but not wanting to go any closer.  I had told the story about hearing hyenas the previous year and everybody was asking what kind of animal it could be.  I had no idea so, jokingly, I said “It’s probably a four-legged mammal.”  In reality, it was probably a baboon and it was probably not as close as it sounded.  But after a few minutes of us standing close to the car “just in case”, we settled back down at the table.   

Polly and Alice (the outgoing Peace Corps volunteer) went to bed, but the four of us other volunteers stayed up playing cards and talking.  The animal noises seemed to occur more frequently after that: hippos, birds, bats, and other unidentifiable four-legged mammals.  At one point Dana and I heard something that sounded like a dog howl and I was pretty convinced it was wild dogs.  Wild dogs are virtually extinct in Northern Tanzania, but they do have them in Mikumi.  Despite common conception of lions as the “kings” of the jungle, wild dogs are actually much more successful hunters.  While lions have a kill rate at around 60%, wild dogs are somewhere closer to 90%.  Not thinking, I shared this statistic and definitely freaked poor Dana out.  Quite the first camping experience.  We went to check the brush fire again and, thankfully, it had died down by then so it was off to bed.  It was around 2 AM at that point and, apparently, within the hour Polly and Alice woke up when lions started roaring relatively close to our campsite. But, we all woke up the next morning no worse for wear and excited to make another trip soon.  I see a lot of fun camping adventures with this group in my future. 

Water, Water, Everywhere... Sort of

One thing that I really wasn't too sure about before coming here was how my drinking water situation would be.  I knew we had running water and a toilet but, besides that, I didn't really know too much.  It turns out we’re pretty spoiled as far as that goes.  We have running water, I can brush my teeth with water that comes from the tap, AND we have a shower.

Of course each of those positives has their caveats:

(1)  We have running water.  Except when we don’t.  Which happens for a couple of hours 4-5 times a week for various reasons.  One common one (particularly when it’s cloudy) is that the power goes out at some point during the night.  No power means the pumps don’t bring water up from the big cistern at the bottom of the hill which, in turn, means I frequently bumble around my room trying to find my giant bottle of hand sanitizer in the dark after using the bathroom in the middle of the night.  The power can also be a problem when it comes back on—a few particularly sunny days last weekend the power turning back on in the morning shorted out something in the control panel on the pumps and, again, no water.  Thankfully, my colleague Daniel is pretty awesome and, in addition to being knowledgeable about organic farming, he’s handy with electronics (and getting nests of baby owls out of roofs, and building shelves for our storage room, and basically everything we need…).

Our well-loved "mama" and "baby" kettles.

(2) I can brush my teeth without getting sick from it.  This was a huge positive that I am pretty darn excited about.  Anybody who has traveled to a country where you have to use a water bottle to brush your teeth every night knows what I am talking about.  But, we do have to boil all of our drinking water.  We have the set-up to have a UV light treat all of our water but, unfortunately, the light burnt out a couple of weeks before I arrived.  Despite efforts, the contractor who installed the system is being incredibly slow about sending a new bulb and he won’t tell us another place where we could buy a suitable replacement.  So, for now, we boil water before going to bed, let it cool overnight, put it into 1.5 liter plastic water bottles, and stick those in the fridge.  Not the most energy efficient system (we have a gas stove that isn't the best and it sometimes takes a long time to get a rolling boil going), but it works. 

Filling up the wash bucket for a shower.

(3) We have a shower.  But no hot water.  So, again, our two giant kettles come in handy here.   We fill a wash tub half way up with cold water, pour in the boiling water, and there you have some warm water to wash your hair with.   It’s actually not a bad system.   We have a pitcher to take the water from the tub and pour over our head, and I think I’ll actually enjoy the cold water once we get into the warmer season.  It’s “winter” right now and while the nights and mornings can be a little chilly, the afternoons are pretty hot. 

Our "emergency" backup water.

Although some of this may seem a bit absurd, it really hasn't been too tough of an adjustment.  It pretty easily becomes a part of your routine and you figure out how to deal.  We have two big buckets we keep filled with water for washing up when the water goes out.  I take fewer showers and generally take them in the afternoon after classes are done.  If we know we have water dirty dishes don’t sit in the sink for long, we don’t leave the water running long, and we’re sure to fill up both our kettles.  It’s not inconvenient, honestly.  It’s just something you’re more conscious of.  And that’s part of the point in being here—challenging assumptions and changing the way I think.  Even in small, daily ways.

And speaking of water, next Wednesday Dana and I are taking 30 of the perform girls (think 6^th or 7^th grade-ish) to the pool in town to learn how to swim.  I will talk more about the preform girls in another post, as they are the students I will be teaching in art and environmental studies for the next 2 ½ months and I am going to get to know them quite well.  It’s only been a few weeks and I can already tell they are quite the cast of characters.

Putting on another pot to boil while I make my art lesson plan for Monday,

Carolyn  

I Guess I'm a "Real Farmer" Now

One of the things I am doing here at Sega as part of my environmental work is working in the organic garden with the girls.  The main garden is basically right in the front yard of the volunteer house, but the guy in charge of the organic gardening program as well as most of the grounds stuff at Sega (Daniel) was away at a conference on organic farming the first few days I arrived at Sega.  Meaning that, this past Saturday evening, I got my first taste of my gardening responsibilities.

The girls that work in the garden are the pre-form and form one students (think middle school and freshmen in high school).  Generally speaking, these girls have the least English so I am extremely thankful that I’m working with Daniel on this one because (a) my Swahili at this point consists of names of animals and basic greetings and (b) I don’t know much about gardening to begin with.  You want me to classify the soil type or label the soil horizons?  No problem.  Write out the equation for photosynthesis?  Can do.  But the specifics of planting seeds, making organic pesticides, or knowing when to harvest… not so much.  So, I’m eager to learn and to get my hands dirty (literally). 

And the girls definitely know that.  After the initial period of me standing there awkwardly waiting around to figure out what we were supposed to be doing and the girls staring at me and being incredibly shy any time I looked in their direction, they were eager to watch me mess things up.  There were frequent calls of “Madam!  Come help!” and then incessant giggles as soon as I tried to water, plant, or swing a pickaxe.  But it was all in good fun.  Our first session ended rather abruptly as a rain storm blew in while Daniel was explaining an interesting technique called “basket composting” to me and the students. 

From what I gathered before the downpour, it’s a way to aerate, increase soil fertility, and decrease erosion and runoff.  Basically you dig a hole, fill the bottom three quarters with straw, put a thick layer of either green vegetation or compostable kitchen waste on top of that, and then cover it with topsoil.  The hole itself was a square and you plant it sort of like the five on dice—one in the middle and one in each corner.    

Drenched and covered in mud, but still one happy farmer.  

The next day I was in the shower when they started working but, when I realized they were working, I went out to join.  It promptly started raining again but we hadn’t finished planting a new row of tomatoes and spinach.  So, two of the girls and I finished the planting in the pouring rain.  By the end of it I was soaked to the bone and my hands and flipflop-clad feet were covered in mud.  Daniel, Kini, and Dana were out on our front porch and all laughed at me as I goofed around in the mud and rain.  Daniel joked that I was a “real farmer” now and told me I need to figure out where I’m going to put my farm when I go back to the states. 

My next task: helping Daniel find someone who’s willing to donate cow poop to the school so we can make charcoal.  

Unrelated but still fun: I taught the new Mkundi 6 (think like 5th/6th grade) girls the Hokey Pokey yesterday and how to fold origami paper frogs this morning.  They don't know much English, but we're already using art as a teaching tool there-- today we learned "We fold green paper frogs" and went over shapes, colors, and other English vocab.  Also they got a huge kick out of making their frogs "hop" and were super excited that I let them keep them.

Until next time,

"Farmer" Carolyn  

Hello from Sega Girls School!

The view from our front stoop!

On Tuesday night I arrived in Morogoro after a warm and bumpy 3.5 hour drive.  We picked up another volunteer, Kini, from the Dar airport beforehand and then headed out with our two drivers Mudi and Robert.  The constant banter of Swahili going on between the two of them made me really wish I knew more of the language.  Something to definitely work on.

We made it to the school just before dark and a bunch of the girls helped us bring our bags to the volunteer house where we’re staying.  I didn’t quite know what to expect, but was pleasantly surprised—the beds are comfortable, there is a fridge and a stove in the kitchen, a nice shower, and a western toilet!  And, biggest pleasant surprise of all, we have Wi-Fi!  

There are four of us living in the volunteer house right now.  Dana—the volunteer coordinator—has been showing Kini and me the ropes around here, introducing us to staff and the girls, and making sure we don’t get too overwhelmed.  She’s super friendly and sweet and has definitely made me feel at home here so far. 

Veronica is a Peace Corps volunteer who starts teaching here in October.  She’s from California and will be teaching bio and English classes.  She’s been in Tanzania for almost 2 months as well, but most of that time was spent in Peace Corps training, so she only arrived on campus a couple days before Kini and I arrived. 

Kini is going to be teaching English as a foreign language to the “non-form” girls (basically the younger ones—I’ll explain the Tanzanian school system in another post once I understand it a bit more fully).  She’s from Vermont, played field hockey goalie (!), and will be here for 10 months. 

My bunk.  Settled in and feeling right at home.

Right now Veronica, Kini, and I share one room with Dana in another.  The room I am in is pretty spacious (a lot bigger than my “triple” from freshman year at Davidson).  I kind of packed a lot, so fitting it all into one cabinet was tough—there’s a lot of my “extra” stuff still in my suitcase under the bed.  I’m actually going to probably end up moving into the brand new “staff house” when they get the electricity run to that house, but unsure how long that will take, so I’m here for now. 

Speaking of electricity, that’s been a kind of interesting adventure here already.  The school is completely off the Tanzanian power grid—everything here is run via solar power.  It’s pretty awesome as far as sustainability goes, and I am definitely all about it and it is super exciting to see alternative power in action at a really workable scale.  However, it does mean that, especially on cloudier days, the power can go out pretty early in the evening.  There are a few different sets of solar panels on campus, and last night the girl’s dorms and common space lost power at around 5 pm.  Unfortunately, two of the grade levels have their midterm exams this week so that meant that around 7 when the sun went down they didn’t have light to study by.  The volunteer house still had power so, at around 7:30 a group of a few girls asked if they could study on our front stoop.  Within the next 10 minutes there was a group of 20+ form 1 girls there, all studying for their exams.

It seems weird that today was only really my second real day here.  I won't say that the days have been really packed, because we've had a good mix of down time and activity.  I haven't had any real jobs so far, but I'm working on doing inventory for all of the art supplies which has been cool.  That in combination with seeing the awesome, brand new art classroom has made me really excited to get started.  30 new girls are arriving on Saturday  for their orientation and I planned out some fun art activities to do with them over the next week while the rest of the older girls are home on break.  Really excited about that!

Bye for now from a cloudy and windy Morogoro!

Care 

One Book, a Half-Asleep Request for Egg Salad, and a Really Long "Quick Nap" Later: I've Arrived.

That's right, me and my two three checked bags made it to Tanzania.

After standing in line to check into my flight for over an hour on Sunday morning (everyone in line had about 4 huge suitcases per person) I found out that there was a weight limit on your carry-on luggage-- 20 pounds.  Unfortunately, my duffle weighed around 30 and I knew there was no easy way for me to shuffle around that weight between the three bags.  So, we had to pay the fee for a third checked bag.  Which, while it was nice to not have to lug around the duffle with me through Dulles, was actually pretty annoying.  Especially because there were a lot of people who brought bags that looked way heavier than 20 pounds and didn't have to check them.  Rude.
Although a little more rushed than I usually like, I still had time to grab a Chipotle burrito, eat some of it before boarding, and shove the rest of it in my bag.  We actually boarded a little late and ended up leaving about an hour late.  I wasn't really paying attention, so I don't actually even know what caused the delay, but I'm guessing that it was the crazy amount of time it took everybody at check-in and that they were waiting for passengers to get through security.  I had a 4 hour layover in Ethiopia so I wasn't overly concerned.
A nice, older couple sat next to me.  They were friendly, but the kind of friendly I like to sit next to on 12 and a half hour flights-- they smiled, said hello, and then we did our own thing with no painful small-talk required.  The woman who sat next to me was nice enough to wake me up when the flight attendants came around with food at three really oddly timed intervals (not timed with U.S. meals or with east African times...) which led to the whole egg salad deal.

Either a bunch of ice or some really low clouds...

I had napped, finished my first kindle book, taken pictures of clouds (ice?), and eaten some of my leftover Chipotle so I could take my malaria meds with a meal.  So, I napped again.  I was asleep for about an hour when the woman next to me woke me up.  The flight attendant asked me "chicken or vegetable" but I thought she said "chicken or egg salad".  It led to a very confusing 30 seconds where I kept asking for egg salad and the flight attendant just stared at me clearly very confused and then we both just burst out laughing.  In the end the vegetable sandwich was surprisingly good anyways.


But, anyways, the second flight was uneventful, I got through getting my visa without issue, and was happily surprised to see all 3 of my checked bags waiting for me on the other side, no worse for wear.  I got to my hotel which is pretty nice and have been enjoying the shower, wifi, and mostly the bed.  In fact, last night, after I checked and made sure nothing in my bags had broken or exploded (success-- no toiletry disasters there), I laid down for what was supposed to be a quick nap before grabbing dinner but ended up sleeping until 11 pm.  I woke up for about an hour to shower and eat a quick power bar, then went back to sleep til this morning.  I guess I was tired.

This morning I put on my first skirt of the trip (this is still going to take a little getting used to) and went to breakfast.  I would say it has all felt a little surreal so far, but sitting down to breakfast, drinking tea and eating a lot of the same stuff I ate daily last summer I had a weird sort of "Oh yeah, this is where I am" moment.  I guess it's because I didn't spend very much time in Dar es Salaam last summer, so it's not as though the sights of this area were super familiar to me.  Until I sat down to my breakfast of watermelon, chapati, baked beans, and tea with milk and sugar, I could have sort of been anywhere.
I get picked up around noon to go back to the airport and pick up another volunteer, then it's off to Morogoro.  Not sure how soon I will have the internet situation settled there, so bye until then!

Suitcase Tetris

Hello again and sorry it has been so long!  I have been making slow but steady progress on my checklist of things to do before I leave.  Most of it would make for a dull blog post, which is why I haven't written.  But, I promised one on the crazy feat that is packing for two years in two suitcases, so without further ado I bring you:

Suitcase Tetris: The Method to My Madness 

The mountains of toiletries have been purchased, the spiderwebs dusted off the suitcases and I am again effectively taking over the entire computer room with my things.  Sorry, Mom, but it's all part of the process.  A process at which I am lucky to have gotten a lot of practice.  And I've gotten pretty good.  Good in the sense that I always find a way to make everything fit and I very rarely forget things.  As far as efficiency goes... lets just say there's a reason I've already been "packing" for a week now.  I'm not sure why anybody would want to be this obsessive about packing but, if you do, here's a guide on how to pack like me.

Step One: Lists.

Packing lists are a necessity.  I think that's a pretty universal rule (even for the non-obsessive).  It will also help you think through what it is that you really need and also prevents you from forgetting something crucial.  It's best to do this a few weeks ahead of time because there are probably a lot of things you need to buy and/or locate in your house and you don't want to be panicking trying to find it last minute.  

Watercolor painted headings are optional but fun when you've already got the paints out and are enjoying a freakishly mild August day on the screen porch.

Step Two: Floor Closet

This is probably where we depart from normal and enter the obsessive.  Lay all of your clothes out on the floor so you can see everything.  Keep in mind you're going to get dog hair all over everything.  Don't try and pick it off because you will probably be weirdly appreciative of it later when you're feeling maybe a little homesick and you realize you still have Shelly fur on your polar fleece.  

Be incredibly stubborn and picky about what clothing you bring.  Spend more time contemplating which tee shirts you want to bring than you should.  Also when your mom really wants you to bring another skirt and an extra polar fleece don't relent.  Embrace the fact that you're going to be wearing the same 8 skirts every day for the next two years.  Also embrace the fact that you're probably going to be wearing an absurd number of layers on top whenever it's cold.  It's okay though because you can rock the layered look.

Step Three: Single-Handedly Keep Ziplock in Business

Everything gets packed in a ziplock bag.  A relic of the camping years with Girl Scouts, you will pack bags to the brim and use your perfected kneeling-on-bag method to essentially vacuum-seal all of your clothing.  You will then spend a sort of ridiculous amount of time trying to figure out which bags still have a fresh enough seal so that they don't slowly refill with air and expand within the next few minutes.  But, on the plus side, this saves a ton of space and reduces the impact of the inevitable exploded-toiletry-disaster.  Speaking of which, you  pretty much individually seal all toiletries in their own ziplock because you can never be too careful.  Shampoo-splosions are serious.

Step Four: Piles, Piles, Piles

Essentially the "floor closet" but for everything else.  Toiletries, art supplies, and electronics all go through the same intensive scrutiny.  It is at this point you remove all the excess packaging you possibly can and transfer the contents into ziplocks.  That cardboard packaging on cold meds is dead weight anyways.  Cross check with your packing list, marking out which bag each item needs to be packed in.  Consider that weight is probably going to be the biggest issue with the two suitcases, especially since you're bringing big, heavy art books and around 10 pounds just in power bars and protein powder.  Which brings me to...

Step Five: Weight is Just a Number... 

Except When you Have a 100lb Weight Limit

Which means a scale becomes your best friend and you end up obsessively weighing everything to figure out how to best distribute that weight between bags.  It also means that once you've tried packing things in two big suitcases and can't seem to make it under 50 lbs a bag you have to reevaluate. And empty out the two big suitcases you spent the past day packing.  Once you take everything out and weigh them empty you'll realize they're both over ten pounds a piece.  SO you'll end up looking for lighter, but smaller options.  Including a really old rolling duffle bag and your 55 liter backpack.    

And now back to the regularly programmed, non-instructional portion of this blog:

After all of that, I got it all to fit! Well, I guess I can't really say that yet. I still need to fit a few odds and ends.  Like a container of Gatorade powder and my iPhone charger... and my first 10 months of malaria medication.  But, I have no doubt I will figure out how to fit it.  I have a week to figure it out at least (my flight leaves at 10 AM on the 31st).  The next time I write I will likely have started the adventure.  

Until then!

-Carolyn

"So What's Next For You?"

Over a month since walking across that stage at graduation and I, like every other recent college graduate, have gotten very used to fielding this question.  Granted, when I say I am going almost 8000 miles away to teach secondary school in east Africa for the next two years a few more eyebrows raise than usual.  So, I thought it was only natural that the first post on this blog should be a sort of FAQ about what the heck I'm going to be doing and why.  I'm sure I'll forget something, so be sure to let me know if there are any more questions you have!

Wait, where are you going?

Tanzania.  If you're not up on your African geography (and, no worries, I wasn't either until I sat down and played Sporcle's African geography quiz...) that's the east coast of Africa.  More specifically, I am going to be in a rural area in the Morogoro region which is about halfway between the tip of the arrow on the map and the coast.  That's about a two hour drive from Tanzania's largest city, Dar es Salaam.

When are you leaving?

My start date is September 1.  I haven't booked the flight yet (mentally prepping myself to purchase a one-way ticket is strange), but I will probably fly out the last few days of August.  I'm thinking the 27th or 28th most likely so I'll have a few days in Dar to get some errands done when I arrive.

Where will you live?

On the school campus.  It's a ways up the road from the main town.  I'll likely have a roommate (another volunteer) and share a bathroom and kitchen.  I'll have more specifics and be sure to post pictures when I get there!

What will you eat?

Rice.  Lentils.  Rice and lentils.  Lentils and rice.  I say that only half jokingly, really.  At least from my previous experience, I had a fairly lentil-heavy diet as it's not super vegetarian friendly in Tanzania.  But, it is possible especially if I decide to cook some of my own meals.  In all honesty, I am also considering weaning myself back onto chicken if I start to feel like I am turning into a lentil.  Particularly considering factory farming in the U.S. was a major reason why I decided to go veggie.  Not a whole lot of factory farming going on in rural Tanzania, meaning it'll be pretty obvious exactly where my dinner came from.  

What language do they speak?

Swahili and English are the official languages of Tanzania and secondary school is supposed to be taught solely in English.  However, girls oftentimes have much poorer quality English training in primary school (part of the reason more girls struggle to pass the entrance exam into secondary school).  So, although I am trying to learn a bit of Swahili this summer, I'm definitely anticipating a bit of a language barrier.

Alright, but what are you actually going to be doing over there?

A lot of different things, but basically teaching art and helping run both the environmental science and PE programs at the Sega Girls School.  The Sega Girls School is an all-girls secondary school (U.S. equivalent of middle and high school combined) for academically motivated girls from all over Tanzania that would otherwise be unable to afford secondary education.  If you're interested in learning more about the school click here!

More specifically, my official job title is Volunteer for Art and Environment.  My job description includes things like managing the student garden project on campus, teaching seminars on environmental topics, working on projects that address environmental issues on the campus, and creating and implementing an art curriculum for the students.

What's with the blog title?

That's definitely subject to change.  But, for now it's partly a reference to one of my biggest pre-departure challenges: figuring out how to pack for two years in just what I can bring on the plane with me.  This comes down to two big suitcases, a carry-on duffle bag, and a backpack.  And when I say I need to bring everything I need for two years, I'm not just talking about clothes, my laptop, my new ukulele, etc.  I'm talking about two years worth of contact lenses and solution, malaria medication, Advil, sunscreen etc.  From my experiences last year, I know that the postal system can be pretty unreliable (that means that, as much as it would be appreciated, no care packages, friends).  So, everything I need that I won't be able to get over there gets packed.  I'm sure I will have an entire post devoted to suitcase Tetris, so I'll bore you with more of that later. Good thing I love packing.

Why in the world do you want to do this???

In short, I went to Tanzania last summer and fell in love with the country.  Within a week or two of being there, I knew I wanted to go back.  The longer (and possibly a little cliche) answer is that I've always felt a strong pull to work that I feel makes a real, concrete difference.  When it came time to start thinking about my post-college life, I wasn't sure exactly what it was that I wanted to do, but I certainly hoped to involve my knowledge of environmental science.  I couldn't have imagined that I would end up with a position that not only involved that, but also my lifelong passion for art and my field hockey coaching experiences in physical education.

In addition to it being a job involving three things I am really passionate about, though, I am taking this on because I am eager for a challenge.  I am sure that there will be days that I feel as though I bit off more than I can chew. And, although I am supposed to be the one doing the teaching, I'm sure this experience will have a lot to teach me as well.  Which is another reason I am so excited for this opportunity.  I grew up on the wisdom to "Learn something new every day" (thanks, mom) and I certainly expect that will be easy to accomplish through this experience.

Lastly, when I thought about making the commitment to do this, one question kept creeping up into my mind-- if I don't do it now, when will I?  I fully recognize that, at this point in my life, I have the least responsibilities that I will likely have for a very long time.  With no job, bills, house, pets or significant others to tie me down, now really just seemed like the time.

How can we stay in touch?

1) This blog.  

If you want to generally know what I am doing, this blog is probably the place for that.  I'll do my best to keep updating this blog throughout my two years there.  I will try and post links to Facebook when I update (and I'm sure my mom will post the links to her Facebook as well).  I don't make any promises on how often I will update this, mostly because I have no idea what my schedule is going to be once I arrive in Tanzania.  BUT I will do my best to record all of my adventures, misadventures, funny stories, thoughts, and learning experiences here.  I would love to read any and all comments on my posts!

2) E-mail.

Honestly, this is the best way of direct communication with me.  Internet is limited and sort of expensive, so anything that's too internet-intensive (skype, etc) likely isn't going to be an option.  I admit that I am not great at responding to emails, so be patient with me and send me a reminder if it's been a while-- I promise I'm not ignoring you, it probably just got lost in the inbox.

3) Calls.

I will have my phone in Tanzania and will be getting a sim card for it so I can make international calls.  The cheapest way to do that is for you to call my TZ phone number using Skype.  You have to set up an account and calling does cost money, but it's way cheaper than a call would be otherwise.  I don't have any of the details on my phone number or anything yet, but if you email me I can send you that information once I arrive.  Also note that Tanzania is 7 hours ahead of the U.S. east coast, so the time difference will probably make it a bit tough to schedule things.  

4) Mail.

As I said before, packages probably won't arrive, BUT if you want to send me snail mail, here's my mailing address:

Sega Girls School

PO Box 273

Morogoro, TZ

That about covers the bases.  Again, I'd be happy to answer any other questions!  Excited to start this blog and to see where this incredible adventure takes me.