Mikumi National Park

This weekend Peace Corps trainees got a taste of freedom!  We left our host families and Peace Corps staff to travel to Mikumi National park.   This is the Africa I dreamt about since watching the Lion King as a small child and I was not disappointed.  We saw a bunch of animals including zebras, giraffes, hippos, crocodiles, impalas, etc.  And we even got to witness a lioness devouring a giraffe for dinner.   Unfortunately, my camera suffered a painful death on the day the picture of my hair was taken and I promise to go on another safari and take pictures before leaving Tanzania.  Luckily, I have some great PCT friends and will share their pictures with you. 

We spent the night at Mikumi so that we could enjoy the animals at sunset and sunrise.  We had a lot of fun.  There was a lot of drinking and dancing and it has been the highlight of training so far. It was definitely the break I needed!

                                 

The First Week of Internship Teaching!

I LOVE teaching!  I have never taught before, and the jury is still out on whether I am any good at teaching English, but I enjoy it.  Mostly I enjoy my students and their desire to learn.   Throughout training we have been doing a lot of language study and gaining technical training on teaching.  This past week we were finally able to put those skills to use!  All of the Peace Corps trainees were divided based on where their homestay family lives.   There are about 5 students and one Language and Cultural facilitator for each village or community, and everyone has a school where they will teach as part of our internship.  In the morning we teach and in the afternoon we learn Kiswahili.  

I teach 6 periods a week (4 hours) to two different streams: 1B and 3C.  Now you are probably wondering what a stream is?  In Tanzania, secondary schools are divided into 4 forms:  1, 2, 3, and 4. Forms are comparable to how American high school students start as freshman (Form 1) and then become seniors (Form 4).  Within each form, students are divided into streams (usually A through E I think). My understanding is that generally the streams are divided based on student ability.  For example students in 3A are considered more advanced than students in 3D.  It is too soon for me to give my opinions on the Tanzanian education system, but I will tell you some observations that I have made… 

Not enough teachers!  The students are divided into different streams, however, Tanzania has a shortage of teachers (especially in the public government schools) and often students will not have a teacher for certain subjects.   I have noticed that students in the lower streams often seem to be the ones without teachers.  There is a belief that students in the lower streams are difficult and as a result, teachers are less interested in teaching them.  For example, the academic master did not want us (PCTs) to teach below stream C because the students were “bad.” I know for a fact that stream 3D has no English teacher because my dada Esta is in that stream.  This makes my heart break a little.  While I may not be an experienced teacher, I figure I must be better than no teacher! 

Tanzanian teachers use Kiswahili in Secondary school.   In Tanzania, the official language is Kiswahili.  However, all national exams in Secondary school are in English.  Students must be taught all subjects in English because their exams are in English. If they do not pass the exams they cannot further their education.  The problem is that many teachers are not confident in their own English skills so they teach subjects in Kiswahili.  This does not help students because they must pass the national exams in English.  That is one of the reasons why Peace Corps volunteers are important. Our site locations are generally in poor rural villages without electricity and running water.  Tanzanian teachers have no interest in teaching in these communities, and often times we will be the only native English speaker our students interact with.   

Limited Resources.  Tanzania is a poor country and many students are poor.  They must pay to attend school.  While government schools are cheaper than private schools they still must pay for them.  The schools cannot afford to give text books to students and most of the students cannot afford to buy them.  As a result, notes from class are the only resource students have!  When they prepare for exams, they read their exercise books and class notes.  As teachers, we must write everything on the chalk board (including paragraphs we may want students to practice reading) because they will be writing small text books in their notebooks.  Also, some students come to class but cannot afford to buy a pen or paper.  When I get to site I may try to figure out a pen lending system, however, we may have 80 students per class.  Supplying everyone with pens and notebooks may not be realistic on a teacher’s salary.   

Punishment.  In Tanzania, students are beaten with a stick if they behave badly.  If you are late to class you could get three lashes on your hands.  Children line up every day to receive punishment from the teacher on duty and you can sometimes hear them yell in pain.  Often times their hands are so sore from being hit with a stick that they cannot hold a pen and take notes in class.  I find the students to be very well behaved, so maybe there is some method to the Tanzanian method of discipline.  However, this is a cultural practice that I am struggling to accept.  

This is a very basic overview of my thoughts on Tanzanian schools after one week. I am sure I will write much more about this topic in the future.  I love all of my students and admire them so much.  This is not a culture of praise and my students were shocked when I told them that they were a very intelligent class and I felt lucky to teach them.  I am focusing on interactive teaching because in Tanzania, students watch the teacher lecture and take notes.  That is it!  Class participation, group work, discussion, asking questions, playing learning games, etc. are foreign concepts to these students.  They literally sit in the same classroom for hours and teachers walk in and out of the room.  Sometimes there is no teacher and yet students come to school every day, sit in the same seat, and hope that someone will come teach them.  Often, students will teach each other (especially higher streams and forms).   The students have such a burning desire to learn and they are a constant reminder of why I joined the Peace Corps!

This is a picture of all the English teachers in our training class.  You can get a general idea of what a Tanzanian classroom looks like.  Lots of desks and one chalkboard!

My Host Family!

Tanzania is a socialist, collectivist society where the notion that “It takes a village to raise a child” dictates the family structure.   Positive relationships within the family and with neighbors are considered vital to survival, and Tanzanians never want to be perceived as selfish.  The mantra “What’s mine is ours” dominates the Tanzanian psyche and people are expected to share money and possessions with family and friends.   That being said, if you are middle class or upper middle class and someone you care about stumbles upon tough times, it is normal for you to welcome them into your home for an extended period of time and share limited resources.   I cannot emphasize enough the importance of relationships in this culture. People tend to avoid confrontation or conflict and speak in an indirect manner.  Also, as I said in an earlier post, everyone is considered brother, sister, mother or father.    Now why am I explaining all of this in a post about my host family?  The reason is because I do not always know who is in my family or how they are related. 

I should start by saying my family is considered middle class in Tanzania, so there are always people coming over.  We have electricity and running water occasionally, and my Baba (or father) works out of town to provide for the family.  He visits home every two weeks and is very nice. My Momma is only 32 and is a lot of fun.  She is very social and is always visiting friends or entertaining guests.  They have two children.  Ester is a very intelligent 10 year old girl who often acts as a mini-Momma.  She loves to learn and help me with my Kiswahili.  Junior is a very stubborn six year old boy who loves to whine until he gets his way; however, he does have a very sweet and loving side.  I believe those are my Momma and Baba’s biological children.   There is another 11 year old girl named Adijah who lives with us and I thought she was a sister just like Ester; however I recently found out that she is actually the daughter of my Momma’s little sister.  My Momma is raising her and I consider her another dada (sister).   Now it gets more complicated…

My Momma has a friend who has been living with us.  She has two children; one boy and one girl.  The girl’s name is Mariam and she is good friends with Ester and Adijah.  The little boy is around Junior’s age (I always forget his name) and they are friends.  We also have a house girl named Happy who we call sister.  A house girl is someone who does the household chores (cooking, cleaning, laundry, etc.) and lives with us until she can save up enough money to move out.  Recently, another girl moved in with us.  Her name is Esta and she is 16 years old.  I think she is a cousin and I know she will be living with us for a few years but the reason is unclear. Everyone is called sister or brother so trying to figure out familial relationships is complicated.    I love having Esta live with us!  She is a very shy teenager and goes to school where I am internship teaching.  I do not teach her class but I teach her level.  Since she does not have an English teacher, I am going to teach her English privately and she is going to tutor me in Kiswahili. I must admit her language skills are far better than mine and she is often my Kiswahili translator. 

My Host Momma with my Kaka (brother) Junior.

A picture of our living room

As soon as I took out my camera, all of the children nearby wanted to be in the picture. Junior is leaning on Ester, Adijah is next to Ester in the back row, and Miriam is next to Adijah

My Momma's friend who lives with us is cooking!

That was a basic summary of my family.   If you have any specific questions, please leave a comment and ask.

A day in the life of a PCT....

Perhaps you may be wondering what an average day in the life of a Peace Corps trainee looks like….well if you do not care, stop reading.  

My day starts 5:30am when I wake up.  I am not a morning person and love to sleep.  However, there is something about roosters in the morning that just prevents me from sneaking in that extra hour.  In our community, chickens just roam everywhere.  I am not sure how people keep track of which chickens belong to them but they are EVERYWHERE! So normally I force myself out of bed by 6 am.  Sometimes I will just finish up a lesson plan or study Kiswahili during that 30 minute period when I seem to be the only one awake, but as soon as I hear noise around the house I wake up.  Our house girl is very nice about boiling some water for me in the morning so I do not have to start my day with a cold bucket bath.  And I appreciate it so much!  We are in the cold season so cold water is not fun in the morning.  After I take my bucket bath and use the choo, I get dressed, get my lesson plan and everything together, and have chai (breakfast).  What happens next depends on the day…

Before internship teaching, I would walk with fellow PCTs who live near me to our school.  We would be picked up by a driver at 7:20 am and taken to another school to meet our entire training class for tech training, medical, or Peace Corps information.  During these first three weeks we did a lot of language study in our small groups, received several injections from our Peace Corps Medical Officer (PCMO) and learned policies regarding safety and security.  We also learned how to garden and the types of fruits and vegetables available in Tanzania.  I think I am going to attempt to start a garden when I get to site so that I can have a more balanced diet.  One of my friends took pictures of our group so I will post them later.  Thank you Athena!!  On an average day, we would finish training around 5 pm and then go back to our homestay families.  Sometimes the PCTs will go to a bar before heading home, but the sun goes down around 6:30 pm and our families want us home.  

This is a picture of the English teachers at our training location.  It is hard not to be distracted by the beauty of the country.

Learning how to use a hoe to garden.  I hope to have a garden of my own when I get to site.

We are learning about the different fruits and vegetables available in Tanzania.

Now that we have begun internship teaching the day is a little different.  PCTs all have different teaching schedules so we teach in the morning anywhere between 7:40 and 10:30 am Monday through Thursday.  Then we have a tea break and intense language study from 11 am until around 4 pm.  After we finish for the day, I may meet up with other trainees for a cold drink (soda), go to an internet café, lesson plan, or study Kiswahili.  On Fridays and Saturdays, we usually have large group training and learn tech skills, Peace Corps medical information, etc.  Our schedule on those days is similar to how it was before internship teaching.

When I get home I spend some time with my family.  We eat dinner and then I go study my Kiswahili and lesson plan.  I usually go to sleep around 9:30 pm because I need my sleep and with the sun down and no electricity, sleep is the most practical option.  I wake up and do it all over again the next day!  

Mzungu In Braids

I have always had a strong African American identity.  While I realize that I fall into the category of “pigmentally challenged,” I have never in my life been called a white person.  So imagine my shock this evening when my five year old kaka (brother) called me “Mzungu” (European or white person).  I looked around the room and said, “Wapi? Wapi?!” (Where? Where?!) He laughed because it was obvious that he was talking to me and while I knew he was calling me “white person,” I could not seem to reconcile the term with how I see myself.  Ethnically ambiguous, mixed, Dominican, etc. are all terms that I have heard from strangers searching for an answer  to the fated question, “What are you?”  My general answer to this question is, “I am a human…what are you? (with a puzzled look on my face).” But then I usually get the follow up question that I love because it is just so ridiculous!  “I mean, where are you from?” people may ask.  I usually say that I am from Michigan, and after I see the frustration I finally cave in and tell them that I racially identify as Black.  I find that in America, people like to be politically correct and not talk about race.  However, in Tanzania this is not the case.  

My skin is toughening because Tanzanians just call you what you are.  For example, my Language and Cross Cultural facilitator was trying to explain the difference between skinny and fat.  So he went around the room pointing at American trainees and categorizing them as either “mnene” (fat) or “mwembamba” (thin). We tried to explain that in America, we do not tell people (especially women) that they are fat because it’s considered a negative thing.  Of course we know they are fat, and they probably know they are fat, but we rarely say it out loud (at least not to their face).  In Tanzania, saying someone is fat is just like saying they have brown hair.  In fact, being heavy is a sign of power and wealth.  As a result, the term “mnene” can become a compliment.  Unfortunately, light skin is also valued and calling someone Mzungu is not considered rude. It’s just a fact, like mnene. Still, I cannot imagine going around to friends or strangers saying “Hello white person” or “Hello Chinese person” in America…

So now you must be wondering what I did to hopefully prevent unnecessary, wrongful Mzungu labeling…well I did like the African women do and got my hair braided!  (Think early Alicia Keys look).  I told my Kaka that Mzungu hair can’t hold braids and so I must not be Mzungu.   He seemed to buy this logic, but he is five.  I doubt this will be the last time I am called Mzungu in Africa, and the whole idea of race just makes me laugh.  It’s so arbitrary and clearly the lack of exposure to people of different races allows Tanzanians to use Mzungu easily.  I should add that a fellow trainee who is Mexican was also called Mzungu last week.  Sometimes race just makes no sense to me.  In one part of the world we operate by a “one-drop rule,” and in other countries, anyone lighter than those who live near the equator are “Mzungu.”  In Tanzania, we call people Dada (sister) or Kaka (brother) and my hope is that one day the rest of the world can follow this model.   The next time someone asks me, “What are you?” I will just say, “Don’t you know? I am your sister.”