Our School Site near Lushoto, Tanzania

Onga!
(KiSamba for greetings)

We are now in Lushoto at our new home and school. This in in the Usamba Mts and the local people are Samba. It is very beautiful
and there are lots of fruit out our back door-- also a garden with vegetables to
tend to. Most nights there are folks drumming and singing us to sleep from somewhere across the valley from our house. I am practicing my native american flute in the
evenings, so I wonder what they think when they hear this. Because we are
separated by the valley and can only see each others lights, their
fire and our kerosene lantern.

There is a Kilimanjaro marathon coming up and some of the other Peace Corps Volunteers are participating. I am hoping to go watch and cheer from Marangu Hotel where I stayed two years ago to climb the mountain!

We start teaching in January-- Biology and Chemistry for me, John will teach Math. We have a school with a lot of growing success in national exams over the last 4 years. It is all girls boarding and so we will have time to socailize and have clubs arter the school days. We are told the staff likes to work together and that is
what we have seen so far. We are in paradise!
Our house had a pile of food and basic furniture when we arrived -- the community is very welcoming. I have been cooking ugali, beans, rice and more with all the fresh vegetables available. When it rains, I go out and dig up a little bit more space to plant a few more things we would like handy such as leeks and garlic, matembele and pumpkin.

We have 4 bedrooms and a living area then an open courtyard with a sink that separates this from the kitchen, storage area, toilet, and bathing area. We have water to the house but no electricity. We use kerosene for cooking and lights. We have charcoal stove as a back=up. The school has electricity (a km away) to charge our phone, ipod and computer. We have a solar cell. We visited a Benedictine Mission and one of the Brothers gave us a battery and a flouescent light that works great with our solar collector for light!

Yesterday we hiked to a view point that was incredible. There was a place that made cheese so we bought some for a treat at home. You would like it here. Lots of up and down and beatiful views (but hard on the knees). I rode my bike once.
Not hard to find mountain bike trails. That is all we have!