A Change of Plans! (Monday 6/1)

A room with a large bed to myself meant a wonderful night of sleep for me. I set an 8 hour timer on my watch (simple Casio watch) to make sure I woke up on time. With all of the time zone changes and how my watch is set up, I don’t know how to best figure out the alarms. On a side note, I’m very thankful to have my watch here as it’s been a great tool to make sure I get up in the mornings and let me know what time it is back in Colorado with the press of a button! 

I think this entire trip it will be hard for me to understand that while my day is over, everyone in America has just begun! Getting up was still very difficult, but I took the extra time to get up and organize all of my stuff. After all, I'd be in Bukimau for a good month so I might as well get comfortable. For once in my life I didn’t rush in the morning and got ready in a relaxed manner. I simply brushed my teeth, got dressed, and walked to the main office building with Joseph. 

The weather here in Bukimau is dryer and a bit warmer which is nice. I got situated with my stuff (mainly my laptop) and had many good conversations with others in the building. The staff and teachers here speak English, but it can be hard to decipher what they’re saying. In order to be understood it is best if I speak in very simple English and in a lower tone. Swahili is naturally a language that does not have many high tones unlike our American English. After a long day of talking in a lower, simpler way, I have to talk to myself to make sure “regular” English still works in my mouth. Additionally, Tanzanians are taught how to speak British English which is different enough from American English which can make it difficult for us to be understood. Nevertheless, I made some good friends, specifically Peter, a chemistry teacher who loved to learn about America and the difference between American education and Tanzanian education. 

Eventually it was time for me to have a meeting with Jonathan to discuss my project and the reason I’m out here. We went over my project (look at my “Volunteering & Impact Goals” section in my blog) and the team I would be working with. I then got to meet my team and organize what time would work best to get together and work on the project. We decided after lunch for 2 hours. I have a TON to teach and overestimated the technical skill level of those on my team. It’s not to say that they don’t know how a computer works but in America our digital literacy is far ahead than here in Tanzania. What I might find easy might take an hour for someone on my team to understand. I love a good challenge and hope that I can be a good teacher! 

Only two out of the eight people are from IT and the rest are teachers. Additionally, they have a million other things going on which makes it even more important to not waste their time. Realizing this, I asked Jonathan if I could have an extra day to prepare so I could make sure that I have everything put together in a way that is conducive to good teaching and learning. I mainly needed to put together more comprehensive guides with lots of pictures so when I leave, the project can live on. 

After being dismissed, I began working on said guides and charging a few things thanks to the free outlets in the main office. Before I knew it, it was tea time (a marker of British rule long ago). This happens a little after 10 for about 30 minutes where a small snack and tea is shared. Rosa prepared very good tea and lots of sweet potatoes for us! They are not orange like in America and rather look like a regular potato. There were a lot of potatoes so I got quite full! We shared an orange and some leftover beans and rice as well. Tea time usually functions as breakfast most days. 

After getting back from tea and coming to a stopping point in my work, I needed to grab my phone from Jonathan (he still had it!) and ask a couple questions. Being the head of VST’s IT department he had many meetings to conduct and it took awhile to get his attention. However when I finally did get his attention, he told me that he first needed to get Eli and Miraclin in the room to have a meeting with just us. I thought it was just to discuss our projects and ask how we’re enjoying Tanzania, but instead it was another unexpected surprise. 

Very little details were given, but the gist of the meeting was to tell us that we were heading back to Madisi. A student had died in the village which means that LOTS of police would be there very soon (as there should be) to conduct an investigation. Unfortunately that means for us foreigners, we’re subject to tons of extra questions and opportunities for bad things to happen (while the police here aren’t horrible, it isn’t uncommon for officers to be corrupt). To save us from the trouble, it’s best for us to go back to Madisi where it’s safe. A million questions rushed through my mind, but I kept my mouth shut, grabbed most of my stuff (we were originally told that we would be back in a day), and packed back into a car to drive back to Madisi. 

Joseph and Rosadina among many others said goodbye to Eli, Jonathan, Miraclin, Isaac (our new driver), and I. Fortunately Isaac was a lot faster of a driver and we got home in good time. I spent most of the trip talking to Jonathan and asking him all sorts of questions. We had oranges on the way and here they are not orange. I learned the reason why oranges are orange is because a special chemical reaction happens to oranges when they get at or just below freezing to turn them orange. Here in Tanzania, it is way too warm for that to happen. 

We finally got back and were greeted by my Mzee. He was very pleased with how we handled the entire situation and told us that very often such rapid and quick change is met with opposition by us volunteers. I think we were all in too much shock to be a problem. Mzee then followed up his praise with a story, as he does, but this one was very interesting. He began to talk about how many years ago his wife worked with an orphaned child named Brazo that could not stop stealing. Typically one learns not to steal at a young age by being reprimanded by the village and parents. Unfortunately for Brazo, he could not stop this habit and bad things happen when you steal. Mzee is very particular about his stories and it seemed as if he was insinuating that there was foul play involved with the death of the boy at Bukimau as he was around 16 years old. Of course it’s extremely sad to have a death and I could tell Mzee was very saddened by the entire situation. 

I must add that Tanzania is a very peaceful country in comparison to the countries that surround it. Violence and anything adjacent to violence is rare. In fact, all guns are strictly prohibited here in Tanzania. The only crime that one has to worry about here in Tanzania is theft which is only most common in large cities or towns like Dar Es Salaam. Nevertheless, we were then told that many others would be coming back to Bukimau as well so I figured we would be in Madisi for a bit. Seeing that we didn’t have lunch, Mzee's wife whipped us up a delicious lunch of fruit, scrambled eggs, and bread. Being back meant that we could sit in on the training that was still going on for Henry and Micheal. They went over a story called Ilungu’s Harvest which was a fantastic piece. Our training manual has fascinating pieces that really spell out the history of volunteer work and how we should act in places where we don’t know the culture.

With training done, we all hung around and played hacky sack. Eli spent the past spring in Spain and is very good at it. For some reason, no one else but him and I wanted to play, but we had a good time. I’ve come to find I really enjoy hacky sack! Of course right when I was enjoying it the most I managed to kick the sack too high and landed it on the roof where it subsequently fell into the gutter. We got it down with some great teamwork! Henry and I each held one of Eli’s feet and hoisted him above our heads while Micheal, standing on a chair, held Eli's hand for balance. We made quite the ruckus and could see all of the students laughing at our rescue mission. 

Even though we were back on extremely short notice, we were to stay with our original hosts. It was time to bring my bags down to Paul’s house where my heaviest bags were carried by Ferista who insisted that she help me. I felt bad but understand that they are very certain that the guests do not do too much work. Eli came with me as no one could find his host Luka and Paul was gone too! 

When we arrived at Paul's house with a large dish of potatoes covered in delicious sauce made by Ferista. Both of us were not that hungry but made the effort to finish each and every potato there. Honestly it was brutal to all get down  but tasted very good. We were stuffed. It was just Eli, Ferista, and I. We sat outside and admired the beautiful forest and talked with a neighbor named Peter and his baby son Arisha (Elijah in English) about everything. 

photo taken 6/5

One question that I’ve been asked many times after I tell someone my age is, “How is your body so big when you are so young?”. I assume and hope they mean my general stature and height rather than me being fat. Here in Tanzania, either genetics or nutrition or both, most people aren’t very tall. There are very few people here who are taller than me. Besides making me question my eating habits back home, at one point we were teaching Peter Spanish! Eli eventually left when Luka arrived and I continued to talk to Peter about anything and everything. 

While we were talking, we were given some maize! Maize is a starchier corn that isn’t very sweet and has larger kernels. I enjoyed it! Peter is a physics and mathematics teacher and had a night study session that he had to attend to. That left me with Farista while she made dinner. Turns out beans take a lot of time to cook over the fire. I feel like the same pot boiled beans for several hours (probably what makes them so good!). We talked a little bit but our language gap made it difficult. I learned that pot is “sufria”. 

As the night crept in, it got chilly! Sitting outside is finally when I began to feel cold as the temperature dropped to around low 50s, high 40s. I assume the high humidity drops the temperature some too. It’s hard to guess the temperature here because when you ask anyone around here, they answer in celcius! Fortunately, Jonathan during the car ride reminded me that you take the temperature in celcius, multiply by 1.8, and add 32! The same goes for meters as it’s just not a unit we use in America! 

Anyways, if I wasn’t beside the fire, I would have been cold. Of course the smoke kept following me and I smelt like a campfire by the end of the night! Around the fire a neighboring mother came and sat with us with a child wrapped on her back. Turns out it was Arisha! The mother was on her phone and angled the phone in a way so I too could watch her TikTok page. Watching her phone made me realize I still never got my phone back when I asked for it earlier that morning from Jonathan! The videos made me laugh and dinner was finally ready. A very large plate with rice and beans, very delicious! 

Next on the fire was my bucket bath water. I should mention that fires here in Tanzania are very different from how we do fires. Because they are mainly to cook food and not keep one warm, they are built in a way to maximize coal production. Three rocks in a circle serve as the holding device for a pot and in the middle will be the fire. Instead of stacking wood on top in the middle, wood is pushed in at ground level into the fire to keep it going. This ensures that the wood is consumed slowly and maximizes heat generation! The water heated up quickly and it was ready for me to use. 

Turns out instead of Paul who was in a neighboring village for the night, I was staying with Isaac, our driver from earlier, in Paul’s house. Isaac carried my water in which ended up being a TON of water. I felt bad only using half of the water as there’s so many cups of water you can pour on yourself before you’re just avoiding the inevitable cold when you stop. I enjoyed the bucket bath and changed into warm clothes. It was nice to just lay in bed, no phone, and just think about the adventure this trip has been so far. I ended up sleeping with the lights on which means that the rat doesn’t climb on the bed! I still got great sleep so it was a sacrifice worth making in my opinion.