Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Tanzania in March
Hello Family and Friends:
It has been a long time since I have had time to write. Since school has started in January we have been as busy as teachers at home… but sometimes in different ways.
We just finished midterm exams and the students have gone home for Holiday break. Classes start the week after Easter again. The students take 2 ½ hour exams in every subject. It took 4 days to finish exams. For a student to pass on to the next Form, they must get a score of 30% or better for Form I and II, 20% or better for Form 3 & 4. Eighty percent of their grade is based the final exam. So, practicing taking huge exams is very important. It is also important to take exams to get used to reading and writing in English. Kiswahili is their national language but all secondary education is in English. Accomplishing a 30% score is not easy for this reason. For students here, education is not free and to fail means a lot of money to families and few options to continue your education.
As I have told you, I have three different subjects, Biology Form I, Biology Form II, and Chemistry Form I. The Form I students have two streams meaning 2 classes of 51 students. Form II has two streams of about 45 students. John teaches Form III Mathematics which has three streams of about 35 students.
Each stream has their own classroom where all their classes are taught. So, the teachers move each period and the students stay put. It is nice in that they do not carry books and supplies around. Teachers need to transport books and supplies around but, the students willingly assist with carrying things. Their help is almost excessive from the perspective of this American teacher. The students insist on carrying everything for you where ever you go. For science experiments there is a laboratory that seats 48 students (12 lab groups). My Form I students exceed this number so they have lab groups of 5 students and some stand. I am known as the teacher that uses the lab and have even earned the privilege of carrying the lab key. The first month of classes I spent as much time hunting down the key as preparing the lab materials. The academic master had the key locked in his desk and I would have to find him to get the key to his desk to get the lab key.
This opens another conversation about school keys. All rooms and buildings have locks except for the toilets, although I have noticed that during holiday these have padlocks. What is most amazing is that the key to every room/building is available to anyone at any time, including students except for the laboratory, the headmaster’s office and any padlocks that teachers or students put on their personal trunks or desks. I was told that they used to leave the lab “open” but the national inspectors visited and said that the lab key had to be kept from students.
One day John set his watch down on his desk and left. When he returned it was gone. He searched his desk but could not find it. Finally he told another teacher. The teacher was so surprised. She told John that the students would never dream of taking anything from a teacher. She told him to look again in his desk. Sure enough, it was buried in the back of his desk. SO… we have learned that although everything is open it is safe with 400 students watching over us and our things. There have been cases where students take things from each other but teachers are different as we have learned.
Our school is built on the side of a small mountain. This means that every trip is either up to a class or an office …or down. My legs are getting a work out. Especially when I run to get forgotten supplies for a class or when we get electricity. It seems we have electricity about half the time. When there is umeme everyone runs to plug in their cell phones, the office madly makes copies needed and a few of us charge our computers and ipods.
A similar kind of mad-dashing around happens when it rains. I was astonished when my whole class jumped up and ran out the door the first time it rained hard during class. After the herd of students passed, puzzled, I asked a teacher standing under the eaves. She calmly stated that they needed to bring in their clothes so they wouldn’t get wet. The students hang their washed clothes and kangas (a large cloth used to wrap-up in the morning and evening to and from the shower and toilets) outside to dry during the day.
Well, this made sense. Then later in the day, I passed the student dorms. The dorm windows have bars on the outside and shuttered glass windows that close from the inside. I saw that the dorm windows had clothes stuffed between the bars and the glass. Socks and kangas were tied around the bars and shirts and panties were stuffed in-between. I thought a minute, then remembered that the dorms are locked during the day. The clothes were stuffed in the windows, under the eaves, to keep dry in the rain, of course!
The food at school is simple but nutritious. Students eat porridge in the morning (6am) porridge at tea time (10:45am), ugali or rice and beans and cabbage at lunch(1:15pm) and the same or mkande for dinner (6:30pm). Mkande is a thick stew made from cracked corn and beans. If available there will be onions and tomatoes added. Porridge can be made of many things but the school uses mostly corn. The school has a farm that grows corn, beans, sugar cane, cabbage, onions, bananas, and mango. The students get fruit that is in season from the farm and on very special occasions, meat or fish. The school has chickens, goose, turkeys and cows in moderate numbers. The school soil is good because of the manure and composting. Fish is easy and relatively cheap to get. It is dried so all the fish dishes are made from dried fish.
We can make just about all the African dishes because Mama Flora taught us. I had two of the school nuns over for lunch and made vegetable coconut soup and chapatti. They said that because I can cook African food and know how to wrap kangas like an African mama, they were going to give me an African name . It is really nice to have such fresh food. My garden has fresh greens, carrots and fruits such as some kind of apple with lots of seeds (sort of like pomegranate) and papaya. Our neighbors give us bananas for eating and cooking regularly. The local vegetable stand has tomatoes, onions, coconut, fish, and mango regularly. Other stuff we buy in Lushoto. We eat little meat because John doesn’t like fish and meat is hard to keep without refrigeration. We buy pork and goat meat to cook as a treat. When shopping in town, we usually have chicken at a restaurant.
African fashion varies but there are some rules that I have made for myself to help me know how to dress in a culturally appropriate manner and to “fit in”.
Rule I
A dress or skirt below the knee is a must. Longer is better.
Rule II
Wear outfits that have matching top and bottom as well as a matching head wrap. Beads that match and dress sandals are even better. This assures you look “smart”.
What to do if you do not have matching components… go to Rule III.
Rule III
If it doesn’t go with anything, it goes with everything.
Rule IV
If your skirt or shirt has a spot or you have a bad hair day, cover it with a kanga. If you can’t decide which kanga to choose… refer to Rule III.
Other news is that I walked in the Kilimanjaro ½ Marathon on March 3rd. We were in Moshi for a Peace Corps training on HIV/AIDS and permaculture the week before, so I decided to join some other PCV to do the ½ marathon. Most ran but a few of us walked. It was so fun to be with some amazing Tanzanian and Kenyan athletes as well as those just out to do it, just like us. Definitely years at the Birke ski race and coaching made me the loudest cheering fan. Because I was walking, I got to see everybody looping back and I had plenty of energy and breath to cheer. And, I have learned the African women’s celebration call to use, too! (This sound is made with a high pitch “who” while moving your tongue side-to-side, back and forth quickly, between your lips).
We had our first overnight guests. Two PCV’s that had come to run in the marathon followed us home to see the Lushoto area. One was from Iringa, TZ and one from Zambia. Both were environmental volunteers and we had fun learning about the things we could do here at Kongei to encourage the community to make environmental improvements.
It looks like my sister, and brother-in-law will be visiting in June. We have a break in June and start teaching the second week of July through November. Right now we are having BIG rains that come about one a day or every other day. I need my mud boots to get to school and I am learning all the Kiswahili words for mud, slipping, falling, dirty, BIG rains, and weeding the garden. (Last month I was learning to say “watering the garden”--- no more watering! June starts the dry season, so it looks like a two more months of rain.
Palm Sunday was a one hour hike up a steep mountain to the one church having a huge service with special music and of course, palms cut from the surrounding trees. It was worth the hike. On our return the rains made for deep mud and a wait under eaves of a goat barn until we were invited in by the children of the home to wait in warmth. I went with one of the school Sisters, and I was amazed to watch her climb through the mud trails and rain in her white habit. No problem she says.
We hope to get two of the non-working computers at school going and we finally got a modem to try to get internet at site. Don’t hold your breathe. This is Tanzania.
I enjoy just imagining spring in Minnesota. Your days are getting longer, spring green colors. We have the full moon but our days will stay the same.
Peace to all,
Randee
It has been a long time since I have had time to write. Since school has started in January we have been as busy as teachers at home… but sometimes in different ways.
We just finished midterm exams and the students have gone home for Holiday break. Classes start the week after Easter again. The students take 2 ½ hour exams in every subject. It took 4 days to finish exams. For a student to pass on to the next Form, they must get a score of 30% or better for Form I and II, 20% or better for Form 3 & 4. Eighty percent of their grade is based the final exam. So, practicing taking huge exams is very important. It is also important to take exams to get used to reading and writing in English. Kiswahili is their national language but all secondary education is in English. Accomplishing a 30% score is not easy for this reason. For students here, education is not free and to fail means a lot of money to families and few options to continue your education.
As I have told you, I have three different subjects, Biology Form I, Biology Form II, and Chemistry Form I. The Form I students have two streams meaning 2 classes of 51 students. Form II has two streams of about 45 students. John teaches Form III Mathematics which has three streams of about 35 students.
Each stream has their own classroom where all their classes are taught. So, the teachers move each period and the students stay put. It is nice in that they do not carry books and supplies around. Teachers need to transport books and supplies around but, the students willingly assist with carrying things. Their help is almost excessive from the perspective of this American teacher. The students insist on carrying everything for you where ever you go. For science experiments there is a laboratory that seats 48 students (12 lab groups). My Form I students exceed this number so they have lab groups of 5 students and some stand. I am known as the teacher that uses the lab and have even earned the privilege of carrying the lab key. The first month of classes I spent as much time hunting down the key as preparing the lab materials. The academic master had the key locked in his desk and I would have to find him to get the key to his desk to get the lab key.
This opens another conversation about school keys. All rooms and buildings have locks except for the toilets, although I have noticed that during holiday these have padlocks. What is most amazing is that the key to every room/building is available to anyone at any time, including students except for the laboratory, the headmaster’s office and any padlocks that teachers or students put on their personal trunks or desks. I was told that they used to leave the lab “open” but the national inspectors visited and said that the lab key had to be kept from students.
One day John set his watch down on his desk and left. When he returned it was gone. He searched his desk but could not find it. Finally he told another teacher. The teacher was so surprised. She told John that the students would never dream of taking anything from a teacher. She told him to look again in his desk. Sure enough, it was buried in the back of his desk. SO… we have learned that although everything is open it is safe with 400 students watching over us and our things. There have been cases where students take things from each other but teachers are different as we have learned.
Our school is built on the side of a small mountain. This means that every trip is either up to a class or an office …or down. My legs are getting a work out. Especially when I run to get forgotten supplies for a class or when we get electricity. It seems we have electricity about half the time. When there is umeme everyone runs to plug in their cell phones, the office madly makes copies needed and a few of us charge our computers and ipods.
A similar kind of mad-dashing around happens when it rains. I was astonished when my whole class jumped up and ran out the door the first time it rained hard during class. After the herd of students passed, puzzled, I asked a teacher standing under the eaves. She calmly stated that they needed to bring in their clothes so they wouldn’t get wet. The students hang their washed clothes and kangas (a large cloth used to wrap-up in the morning and evening to and from the shower and toilets) outside to dry during the day.
Well, this made sense. Then later in the day, I passed the student dorms. The dorm windows have bars on the outside and shuttered glass windows that close from the inside. I saw that the dorm windows had clothes stuffed between the bars and the glass. Socks and kangas were tied around the bars and shirts and panties were stuffed in-between. I thought a minute, then remembered that the dorms are locked during the day. The clothes were stuffed in the windows, under the eaves, to keep dry in the rain, of course!
The food at school is simple but nutritious. Students eat porridge in the morning (6am) porridge at tea time (10:45am), ugali or rice and beans and cabbage at lunch(1:15pm) and the same or mkande for dinner (6:30pm). Mkande is a thick stew made from cracked corn and beans. If available there will be onions and tomatoes added. Porridge can be made of many things but the school uses mostly corn. The school has a farm that grows corn, beans, sugar cane, cabbage, onions, bananas, and mango. The students get fruit that is in season from the farm and on very special occasions, meat or fish. The school has chickens, goose, turkeys and cows in moderate numbers. The school soil is good because of the manure and composting. Fish is easy and relatively cheap to get. It is dried so all the fish dishes are made from dried fish.
We can make just about all the African dishes because Mama Flora taught us. I had two of the school nuns over for lunch and made vegetable coconut soup and chapatti. They said that because I can cook African food and know how to wrap kangas like an African mama, they were going to give me an African name . It is really nice to have such fresh food. My garden has fresh greens, carrots and fruits such as some kind of apple with lots of seeds (sort of like pomegranate) and papaya. Our neighbors give us bananas for eating and cooking regularly. The local vegetable stand has tomatoes, onions, coconut, fish, and mango regularly. Other stuff we buy in Lushoto. We eat little meat because John doesn’t like fish and meat is hard to keep without refrigeration. We buy pork and goat meat to cook as a treat. When shopping in town, we usually have chicken at a restaurant.
African fashion varies but there are some rules that I have made for myself to help me know how to dress in a culturally appropriate manner and to “fit in”.
Rule I
A dress or skirt below the knee is a must. Longer is better.
Rule II
Wear outfits that have matching top and bottom as well as a matching head wrap. Beads that match and dress sandals are even better. This assures you look “smart”.
What to do if you do not have matching components… go to Rule III.
Rule III
If it doesn’t go with anything, it goes with everything.
Rule IV
If your skirt or shirt has a spot or you have a bad hair day, cover it with a kanga. If you can’t decide which kanga to choose… refer to Rule III.
Other news is that I walked in the Kilimanjaro ½ Marathon on March 3rd. We were in Moshi for a Peace Corps training on HIV/AIDS and permaculture the week before, so I decided to join some other PCV to do the ½ marathon. Most ran but a few of us walked. It was so fun to be with some amazing Tanzanian and Kenyan athletes as well as those just out to do it, just like us. Definitely years at the Birke ski race and coaching made me the loudest cheering fan. Because I was walking, I got to see everybody looping back and I had plenty of energy and breath to cheer. And, I have learned the African women’s celebration call to use, too! (This sound is made with a high pitch “who” while moving your tongue side-to-side, back and forth quickly, between your lips).
We had our first overnight guests. Two PCV’s that had come to run in the marathon followed us home to see the Lushoto area. One was from Iringa, TZ and one from Zambia. Both were environmental volunteers and we had fun learning about the things we could do here at Kongei to encourage the community to make environmental improvements.
It looks like my sister, and brother-in-law will be visiting in June. We have a break in June and start teaching the second week of July through November. Right now we are having BIG rains that come about one a day or every other day. I need my mud boots to get to school and I am learning all the Kiswahili words for mud, slipping, falling, dirty, BIG rains, and weeding the garden. (Last month I was learning to say “watering the garden”--- no more watering! June starts the dry season, so it looks like a two more months of rain.
Palm Sunday was a one hour hike up a steep mountain to the one church having a huge service with special music and of course, palms cut from the surrounding trees. It was worth the hike. On our return the rains made for deep mud and a wait under eaves of a goat barn until we were invited in by the children of the home to wait in warmth. I went with one of the school Sisters, and I was amazed to watch her climb through the mud trails and rain in her white habit. No problem she says.
We hope to get two of the non-working computers at school going and we finally got a modem to try to get internet at site. Don’t hold your breathe. This is Tanzania.
I enjoy just imagining spring in Minnesota. Your days are getting longer, spring green colors. We have the full moon but our days will stay the same.
Peace to all,
Randee
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