I sit in awe. My back is propped up against a sun-warmed rock while the tips of my toes dangle off a 50....100...500...1500 foot (?) cliff. Below me lies the green blanket of dense forest broken only by the dusty well-worn paths of those who travel it daily. Silver ribbons of smoke twist and curl into the twilight sky as if dancing their way up the heavens and ultimate freedom from their ember foundations. I breath in. The long day of heat is radiating back up from the rocks. Although a good thunderstorm attempted to keep it down, the dust still swirls about on the breeze. The high elevation makes breathing harder, but causes my heart to skip as it gradually slowes down. I listen. On the right-hand ridge comes the swaks and calls of villiage folk, probaby enjoying some homebrewed sugarcane beer. A hourse ragged moo echos out from below me, although it is is hiden from view. High in the ever changing sky, swoops and soars a giant black bird (less likely an eagle; more likely a vulture) calling all below to pay attention to his glory. As the clouds bubble ontop of each other making and breaking formation, the sun's tired rays shine beneath them as it slowly goes to bed. Soon the sky folows and turns off it's soft peaceful colors of gold and pink to turn into a deep bedtime blue. A day in Lushoto is coming to a close.
This past weekend (Fri. 17 - Mon. 19) we gathered as a collective group for a workshop/break at the edge of Lushoto's rim. This is the first time since the Maasi villiage two weeks ago that the whole group has been together since despersing for internships and homestays. Here we were able to enjoy five star meals, hot showers, mosqueto free nights, exploration, but most importantly talk with Steve and Suzan Vincent about their last 30 years working with Villiage Schools International around Tanzania. From talking about adapting to culture to seeing how important it is for the community to be involoved, the weekend really was a great break to set aside God time, friend time, and just think. (Thanks to Steve and Suzan's son Jonathan I was able to do alot of this at the location described above.) Here are some of the things I've been pondering.
First, in what ways has this trip influenced me? In short: every. Can I explain it yet? Honestly? Nope. Spiritually, mentally, emotionally, physically I feel like....I've popped my head out of the water after diving in really deep. From having a completely new and different diet, language, people group, living environments, and atmosphere in general I'm not sure how I've shifted...but I have. I really wonder how I will be able to leave here...a place that is feeling more and more like home every day with children and people I care deeply about. Yes, I love and miss you all back in the states, but....sigh, there is just so much. Which leads me too...
Second, what am I going to do when I get home? I have limited myself to not daydreaming about May 10th and 11th, but this weekend my brain (both waking and dreaming) set up plans that I now have mixed feelings about. I get home on the 10th around 7:30p.m. (according to the current schedule) where I hope to be picked up by my grandparents, taken to the lake for stories, popcorn, spoonfull of crunchy peanut butter on vanilla icecream, hot showers, and a big comfy bed. Then waking up somewhat early (I am determined NOT to have jet lag!) to a breakfast of scrambled eggs (no salt) with cheese, slice of toast (or pancakes) and a big glass of super pulpy OJ, before heading off to Whitworth in jeans, crocs, shirt, sweatshirt?, and toe socks that have not been worn for the past 4+ months to catch up with anyone done or out of finals. Then on Sat (if Philip could please wait that long) driving down to Mill City where I can finally paint nails with Mom, bike with Dad, walk in the middle of the road, cook, and just have tons of fun. Those right there are my current dreams; however, like I said before, I have mixed feelings about these. What if I jump back into American fast-pace society too fast? It is still weird just to wear jeans around the house after school once every other week or so! Am I going to be able to feel confident and safe about driving after dealing and growing accustomed to being on the "wrong" side of the road where there really are no traffic inforcements? How is the food going to taste after being accustomed to stuff totally different? Can I get used to the constant talk, music playing, texting...busyness of life?
Third, how amazing of an experience this trip has been!!!!! (No questions asked about it!) Everyday things still kindof feel both familiar and unreal. Walking to the bus stop the other day I got hit in the head by an avacado (I better understand Newton now:). Doladolas drive by with sayings like "God's Yes is stronger than Any one's No" and "Proud to be Muslim" and "B' Real" posted on them are more recognizeable then the Hollywood ones that take me a minute to think what it says. Donkeys, cows, dogs and chickens still get in the way of foot and motor traffic. Dinner is eaten on the couches while watching Bollywood with English subtitles that don't always line up with speaker's timing. Walking into a classroom and having the whole class stand and say "Good morning, Teacher." warms my heart. Walking over, around, through forests in Lushoto is fantastic...AND THIS HAS ALL BEEN IN THE LAST TWO WEEKS! Yes, I have mixed feelings about coming home home and not being able to share all stories to the depths which they should be, but I am even more eager and excited to see how the next 50 some odd days pan out.
Fourth, what's to come? This week has been pretty chill. I taught about the calendar on Tuesday, which was a little more interesting then expected when I wrote the date "March 20, 2012" and was promptly told by 36 geniouses that it wrong. Trick question of the day is it? (To them yes; dates are written English style with day then month then year.) Wednesday - Friday is end of term testing which means I have been in the library making tangible teaching aids or proctoring tests. Saturday and Sunday are catch up on homework days which includes writing a ton of reflections and getting a jump on my policy paper about punishment tactics at school. (Sneak peak: It's about the fact that a resent law states that only the headmasters and administrators of a school are alowed to cane a student; however, teachers have not been trained in other ways of dealing with misbehaviors and continue to do so. My paper is about educating the educators on proper management that is now lawful.) Monday is a day of parties for the end of semester. Tuesday I may be teaching English at Juvie or grading papers till Thursday. Friday is my last day at the school and where I have to turn stuff in. On the 31st we say good-bye to host families (Not wanting to think about how sad this is going to be) before heading off on an 8 day safari. Plans have changed so we aren't hiking Kili, but I do get to go to an elephant research/wildlife place so that's a plus.
Then off to Dar for a month of learning and exploring before leaving Africa on the 8th, lay over in England for 22 hours, then home home. Yes, the homework deadlines are cruching closer, but don't worry, I got it all undercontrol, colour coded and getting conquered daily.
So, this is where I stand right now. I love God. Am trying to understand life. Care for family and friends around the world. Have passion for teaching including the spontaneous moments. And just plain ol' happy.
PS. Sorry about lack of sunset photos...I do have them....just on the camera that is at home and not with me at the hotel...ooops)
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Buses, Chalkboards, and Fun
Yellow buses still take students to school. Homework is still assigned and received with groans from students. 9003.3 miles away from Whitworth University in Spokane, Washington, USA students are learning at St. Margaret’s English Medium School in Kisongo, Tanzania right out side of Arusha. It has been very interesting to learn about how the location, school and classroom dynamics influence this learning environment.
St. Margaret’s English Medium School is located outside Arusha in Kisongo. With the backdrop of baby blue sky, puffy white clouds and the sky stretching Mount Meru standing proud, around 500 students and twenty faculty ride twelve packed school buses over concrete, dust, and gravel to attend school. This school is located about 20 miles outside of heavy populated Arusha, and practically out in the middle of nowhere. When it rains bus drivers have to worry about hydroplaning on clay-saturated mud, and when it’s dry dust cakes everything. Local herdsmen (typically from the Maasi tribe) heard cows, donkeys, goats and sheet along the roads and pass the school. It’s not uncommon for a donkey to interfere with a recess game of soccer. :)
Students, teachers and administration make up the school demographics. As mentioned previously there are about 500 students enrolled in primary and grades 1 – 7. Each number grade is divided into two sections (cliché named A and B). Throughout the school English is strongly enforced and monitored. However, in the teachers’ break room and on the bus kiSwahili is slipped back in. All students are African, but come from different places around the continent. There is also one young student who is Albino. The staff is completely African, including the two student teachers. Mama Tesha established this school in 1996 and moved it out to its current location in 2003 after great sponsorship by the Friends of African Association based out of Minnesota. Many of the students attend school thanks to the sponsorships mainly based out of America.
I have been placed with Mr. Mwendo who teaches Class 3 English. This includes IIIA that is comprised of 36 students with 6 that admit to not reading English and IIIB with 35 students and 15 that admit to not being able to read English. Class is taught primarily in English, but Teacher Mwendo use kiSwahili for clarification, or to tell the students to behave sometimes. The classroom is very untypical from any in the states. There are no posters, books for fun, student work posted on the concrete walls just the examination results which are glued on with Elmer’s. There is a chalkboard with a duster that floats between the two third grade classes. Students stand up when they give an answer, great you with scripted welcome, or getting the cane. They spend lots of time just sitting in their desks waiting for a teacher to come in and teach. These are my classroom demographics. Our class day is broken up nicely with me teacher IIIB before tea, IIIA for after tea/before lunch, and then plenty of time to grade or "mark" up the exercise books that I assigned. I also have had time to go help out in the library last week primarily when students were taken (late) end of the month tests.
From the three characteristics of the school listed above, it has been interesting to see how they influences the education as a system. Due to the location and the need to take school buses to and from school, teachers do not have the ability to stay after to work on projects. Whatever they want to do they must do the majority of it while at school. This leads to many breaks for both them and the students. The school demographics of being relatively new paired with location means that there are not abundant resources for teachers and students to use. All work is copied off the blackboard which takes time and lots of chalk. The classroom set up is one based on the principle that students are “blank slates” that need to be filled. All answers are recited without much creativity or leeway for answers. If something is not perfect or if they are lazy in any sort of way, they could get caned. All of this makes up the learning environment for the students and where I teach.
I have had the pleasure of teaching quite a bit starting on day one when I was told I would just be observing. Prepositions, spelling words, clock, and reading are just some of the activities that we have done. I try to keep students moving and learning with fun, but it is hard with 36 students and a slight language gaps, and not many resources to use. All in all I am loving it and can't wait to keep teaching. Unfortunately I don't have very many more days, but it has been such a blessing. I don't know how I will be able to leave at the end of the month as there is so much I want to do here, but will see what happens. For now though I continue to ride a bus that is packed full with students, write on chalkboards and have tons of fun!
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
A Maasai Weekend
We drive along a central highway leaving the busy Arusha life behind for a fees days. The hills of green start to fold upon eachothwr as we drive on. On the side of the road. Hildren are picking up rocks into a bucket. Others are sweeping a road. Still others are making a ditch for sewer. We drive on. Heards of cattle graze about. The bus swerves to avoid a ram pet black cow which has decided it will out do any chicken and cross the road. We drive on. With the wind polishing checks smooth, children wave to us and I wonder if it is the first time they have seen white people.... It would be easy to see how they rarely do. We turn off of the road and are soon very thankful we are in a safari cargo vehicle. What little water is in these parts as created small trenches through the dry heavy clay filled lands. We weave our way this way and that wondering where we are going or how our driver knows the way. Eventually stop under a big acacia tree and get our. We have arrived at a Maasai village.
Although there are hundreds of tribes in Africa, the Maasai of East Africa are one of the most commonly known. These tribesmen are known for their red cloaks, bead work and cows. In their eyes all cows belong to the Maasai tribe and not to others. Look up some of the ledgens of why this is if you'd like. Cows provide a crucial part to their culture. Not only to the sled their days leading them to greener pastures for meat, milk and dung are also crucially needed. The huts are pastered with cow dung instead of mud as dung is easier to get and works just as well. (Truthfully you can't smell it as it dries hard so don't get too gross out by this.) they are also occasionally used as fuel for the fire like pioneers on the Oregon trail did.Besides having cows they also have plenty of goats and sheep to make for an abundant herd.
It is tradition for Maasai to honor the visit of a guest by slaughtering a goat and then having a feast. They were more than overjoyed to have 14 wazungus (white people) come to their village and wanted to show us all their traditions (skip reading paragraph if you don't want to learn about this tradition). First thing we did was walk out where some animals were grazing and picked out a healthy not too fatty white goat. We then took him away under a different tree. Interesting fact: the Maasai suffocate animals instead of spearing them or taking a knife. This way more blood and nutrients stay in the meat. So after that was done they started to carefully skin the animal (who one girl on our group named Gene). Then pretty much it was like dissecting a biology project to get sections of meat ready for roasting. Nothing ever goes to waste in this tradition. One of the common drink is blood as it has plenty of nutrients. A coffee cup was soon brought over and filled from the animal. Although the elders thought we wazungus were whimps, the offered us the cup. So, yep I can say I have tasted goats blood. It tasted pretty much like a bloody nose... GROSS!!!! But hey I live in the moment and want to experience everything! Then the animal was roasted on a fire and we were offered pieces. I don't know if it was the mode of cooking or the suffocation, but the meat tasted way too similar to the blood for me to eat alot of it.
Later that night we we're offered the oreviledge to spend the night in the village. So after all the cows came home, we went to a hotel for real-er food, we came back ready for anything. Fur of us went to a hut where we had tea made from milk (either goat or cow) that we had watched them get earlier in the day. Besides being surrounded by smoke it was really good to sit and talk to them. They are surprised Americans only ever have two kids usually while they have anywhere from 6 to 11. They told us about having to fight off lions, hyenas, and elephants and we attempted to tell them about mountain lions. Did you know that a hyena can eat 59 goats in one day? That's a good chunk of change and life for the Maasai. After tea it was to sleep on a cow pelted bed next to the cow dung wall. I slept remarkably well dispute the fact that there were others in the room and a baby cow was also there.
The next day being Sunday and all we went to a church. Although it was suggested to be longer than 3 hours of a service it was relatively short and well done. The music was amazing with the African voices raising up tradition songs to God. Our host translated the message from Maasai to English for us which was really nice and also really cool. During the service there was a celebration for a child bring born to a mother and father that had experienced 5 miscarriages! A goat was brought in for some reason, and was then auctioned after church! It was really great to see how community oriented they are.
This weekend was amazing! Besides the fact that it looked like scenes from the Lion King, it was great to about in the wild and really know that God provides and takes care of His children everywhere. I also got to see into Kenya, meet really great people, and have experiences that are going to be forgotten any time soon.
Although there are hundreds of tribes in Africa, the Maasai of East Africa are one of the most commonly known. These tribesmen are known for their red cloaks, bead work and cows. In their eyes all cows belong to the Maasai tribe and not to others. Look up some of the ledgens of why this is if you'd like. Cows provide a crucial part to their culture. Not only to the sled their days leading them to greener pastures for meat, milk and dung are also crucially needed. The huts are pastered with cow dung instead of mud as dung is easier to get and works just as well. (Truthfully you can't smell it as it dries hard so don't get too gross out by this.) they are also occasionally used as fuel for the fire like pioneers on the Oregon trail did.Besides having cows they also have plenty of goats and sheep to make for an abundant herd.
It is tradition for Maasai to honor the visit of a guest by slaughtering a goat and then having a feast. They were more than overjoyed to have 14 wazungus (white people) come to their village and wanted to show us all their traditions (skip reading paragraph if you don't want to learn about this tradition). First thing we did was walk out where some animals were grazing and picked out a healthy not too fatty white goat. We then took him away under a different tree. Interesting fact: the Maasai suffocate animals instead of spearing them or taking a knife. This way more blood and nutrients stay in the meat. So after that was done they started to carefully skin the animal (who one girl on our group named Gene). Then pretty much it was like dissecting a biology project to get sections of meat ready for roasting. Nothing ever goes to waste in this tradition. One of the common drink is blood as it has plenty of nutrients. A coffee cup was soon brought over and filled from the animal. Although the elders thought we wazungus were whimps, the offered us the cup. So, yep I can say I have tasted goats blood. It tasted pretty much like a bloody nose... GROSS!!!! But hey I live in the moment and want to experience everything! Then the animal was roasted on a fire and we were offered pieces. I don't know if it was the mode of cooking or the suffocation, but the meat tasted way too similar to the blood for me to eat alot of it.
Later that night we we're offered the oreviledge to spend the night in the village. So after all the cows came home, we went to a hotel for real-er food, we came back ready for anything. Fur of us went to a hut where we had tea made from milk (either goat or cow) that we had watched them get earlier in the day. Besides being surrounded by smoke it was really good to sit and talk to them. They are surprised Americans only ever have two kids usually while they have anywhere from 6 to 11. They told us about having to fight off lions, hyenas, and elephants and we attempted to tell them about mountain lions. Did you know that a hyena can eat 59 goats in one day? That's a good chunk of change and life for the Maasai. After tea it was to sleep on a cow pelted bed next to the cow dung wall. I slept remarkably well dispute the fact that there were others in the room and a baby cow was also there.
The next day being Sunday and all we went to a church. Although it was suggested to be longer than 3 hours of a service it was relatively short and well done. The music was amazing with the African voices raising up tradition songs to God. Our host translated the message from Maasai to English for us which was really nice and also really cool. During the service there was a celebration for a child bring born to a mother and father that had experienced 5 miscarriages! A goat was brought in for some reason, and was then auctioned after church! It was really great to see how community oriented they are.
This weekend was amazing! Besides the fact that it looked like scenes from the Lion King, it was great to about in the wild and really know that God provides and takes care of His children everywhere. I also got to see into Kenya, meet really great people, and have experiences that are going to be forgotten any time soon.
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