I have made it to site! I am a sworn in Peace Corps Volunteer, I live in a village on a mountain, and its great!
Right now I am celebrating Christmas with fellow PCVs in town. We had a secret santa gift exchange, where the presents included peanut butter, cookies, pasta, and plastic buckets. Its funny what you come to appreciate most living in this country. You can never have enough buckets. Never. You need as many as you can get in order to horde water, wash dishes in, shower out of, wash clothes in, sit on, store food in, make bucket wine in... Its also really useful to keep a bucket in your room in case you have to pee in the middle of the night and your choo is too scary to use after dark. This happened during homestay, only I didn't have a bucket. I used a candy container instead. Peeing in your room is an interesting experience.
I can already see how living in Tanzania is changing me. I have become so much more aware of my water usage, and how much fuel it takes to cook my food or heat water. Taking a hot shower is such a luxury. I haven't taken one since I came to Tanzania. A cold shower is super safi, because it isn't out of a bucket.
Before joining the PC, my friend told me a story about a Volunteer who, early on in her service, had to deliver a baby, and ever since then I have been certain that that would happen to me. I researched how to deliver a baby, what to do in the case of certain complications. Its all written down in my big black book of knowledge. So, on my first night at site, when a woman came to my door speaking rapid Swahili that I couldn't understand, I should not have been surprised to find a woman in labour at the clinic and me expected to help her deliver the baby. Let me tell you, its completely different when its in Swahili. There I am, alone with this woman, and I am stuck on the fact that I can't tell her to breath, because I don't know how to say that in Kiswahili. Luckily, she had done this before and was very calm. Eventually, the nurse for the clinic arrived, and then immediately the baby came out! I stand there, see the baby slide out, hand the nurse the clamp, string, scissors, then I'm wiping the baby down and rubbing its chest to get it to cry. The nurse is helping the mother to deliver the placenta. I am holding this floppy new born baby. Oh my god. Birthing a baby is disgusting.And really cool. This is my life right now.
So, everything else at site has been normal and slow and after that. I go on walks. Talk to people. I have already gotten really good at staring out my window for entertainment, or watching the cows and goats eat out of the garden in front of my house. Things are pole pole (slow). I have a really annoying cat that the previous volunteer left behind. She cries all the time and is really high maintenance; how she has survived this long in Tanzania is beyond me. It makes me miss my cat in the States, her sassy independence, how she talks to birds, how she will yell at you. Brandy, are you taking care of her?
I'll let you know if I deliver any more babies.
Merry Christmas and happy holidays!
Sunday, December 25, 2011
Friday, December 2, 2011
Shadow Week or Maisha wa Voluntia
I'm not sure if that is proper Kiswhili, but I am shadowing a PCV this week in Mbeya region, in southern TZ. Mbeya could not be more different from Tanga- cold, mountainous, evergreens. I have gotten to see what life as a volunteer looks like. Some highlights:
I met a man named Flamingo Body and a girl named I don't know.
Full grown men and women sat on me during a 4 hr bus ride.
I baked 3 loaves of bread on a charcoal jiko using pots in one day.
I watched a Tanzanian drama, which is surprisingly similar to Asian dramas, just in Swahili.
I saw a pig be born.
Shadow has made me much more excited about living at my site. Living with a host family is a good experience, and the best way to learn about Tanzanians, but it is not indicative of what life will be like at site, so, future PCTs, if you are having a hard time in training, know that things will change. If you are in Turkmenistan and stay with a home stay family for 2 years, pole sana.
Some other recent habari is that we got our site announcements! I will leave the process of site announcements shrouded in mystery and anticipation, as it was for me, but I will tell you that I am going to be in central TZ, in Dodoma region, near Kondoa. Dodoma is a desert, but my site is in the foothills, so it should be a little cooler, I will be by a health clinic, and should have solar power to my house, which is a BFD. Swear in and installation is in about 2 weeks!
My cross country trip to Mbeya from Tanga for Shadow enhanced how grateful I am to be in this country. It is beautiful and diverse here. Every PCV I have talked to has emphsized the importance of not making generalizations, how every village is different, how culture can change across just a few kilometers. In the States I think we make broad assumptions about other peoples and countries, especially about "Africa." The people- and landscape- in Tanzania are so diverse, with different languages, religions, clothing, food... there is no way to make bblanket statements about an entire continent. This is something that I have to work on- I catch myself talking "Africa" based on what I have seen here, but I don't know anything about "Africa." I barely know anything about Tanzania. I know I am in the right place when my coworkers tout diversity over generality.
I also find it strange to be in the midst of development work. I was a biology major, I know nothing about development, yet I find that I have very strong opinions about how development should be done, especially in this place where development is such a hot topic. A man came into the village of the PCV I am shadowing a month ago and built a bunch of pump wells, which is great, except that now they are all broken, and no one knows to fix them. Where was the education or training for the villagers? Why didn't he contact the other American living in the village? Electricity is slowly working its way up the mountain to her village now, too, which will improve life and is great, but why not bring supplies for using a renwable energy resource instead, like solar? It probably would have been easier to carry a bunch of solar panels in a truck than build giant poles all up the mountain for electrical wires, which still need to be connected to each house.
I read this National Geographic article on how the Earth's population is at 7 billion, and how fertility rates and population density correlate to amount of resources used. Much of the Earth's population is condensed into developing countries, but it is the devloped countries- which have fewer people and lower fertility rates- that are taxing Earth's resources most. Most devloping countries are reducing fertility in an effort to increase economic development- or maybe decreased fertility is a byproduct of development, kind of like the chicken and the egg. There aren't necessarily resources sufficient to support 7 billion people, and counting, but people also shouldn't continue living without sanitation and infrustructure when other people have private jets and yachts.
Development is interesting, and frustrating, and difficult, and there is definitely a better, more sustainable, way to do it. I hope I can do it the better way.
I met a man named Flamingo Body and a girl named I don't know.
Full grown men and women sat on me during a 4 hr bus ride.
I baked 3 loaves of bread on a charcoal jiko using pots in one day.
I watched a Tanzanian drama, which is surprisingly similar to Asian dramas, just in Swahili.
I saw a pig be born.
Shadow has made me much more excited about living at my site. Living with a host family is a good experience, and the best way to learn about Tanzanians, but it is not indicative of what life will be like at site, so, future PCTs, if you are having a hard time in training, know that things will change. If you are in Turkmenistan and stay with a home stay family for 2 years, pole sana.
Some other recent habari is that we got our site announcements! I will leave the process of site announcements shrouded in mystery and anticipation, as it was for me, but I will tell you that I am going to be in central TZ, in Dodoma region, near Kondoa. Dodoma is a desert, but my site is in the foothills, so it should be a little cooler, I will be by a health clinic, and should have solar power to my house, which is a BFD. Swear in and installation is in about 2 weeks!
My cross country trip to Mbeya from Tanga for Shadow enhanced how grateful I am to be in this country. It is beautiful and diverse here. Every PCV I have talked to has emphsized the importance of not making generalizations, how every village is different, how culture can change across just a few kilometers. In the States I think we make broad assumptions about other peoples and countries, especially about "Africa." The people- and landscape- in Tanzania are so diverse, with different languages, religions, clothing, food... there is no way to make bblanket statements about an entire continent. This is something that I have to work on- I catch myself talking "Africa" based on what I have seen here, but I don't know anything about "Africa." I barely know anything about Tanzania. I know I am in the right place when my coworkers tout diversity over generality.
I also find it strange to be in the midst of development work. I was a biology major, I know nothing about development, yet I find that I have very strong opinions about how development should be done, especially in this place where development is such a hot topic. A man came into the village of the PCV I am shadowing a month ago and built a bunch of pump wells, which is great, except that now they are all broken, and no one knows to fix them. Where was the education or training for the villagers? Why didn't he contact the other American living in the village? Electricity is slowly working its way up the mountain to her village now, too, which will improve life and is great, but why not bring supplies for using a renwable energy resource instead, like solar? It probably would have been easier to carry a bunch of solar panels in a truck than build giant poles all up the mountain for electrical wires, which still need to be connected to each house.
I read this National Geographic article on how the Earth's population is at 7 billion, and how fertility rates and population density correlate to amount of resources used. Much of the Earth's population is condensed into developing countries, but it is the devloped countries- which have fewer people and lower fertility rates- that are taxing Earth's resources most. Most devloping countries are reducing fertility in an effort to increase economic development- or maybe decreased fertility is a byproduct of development, kind of like the chicken and the egg. There aren't necessarily resources sufficient to support 7 billion people, and counting, but people also shouldn't continue living without sanitation and infrustructure when other people have private jets and yachts.
Development is interesting, and frustrating, and difficult, and there is definitely a better, more sustainable, way to do it. I hope I can do it the better way.
Friday, November 4, 2011
PST or Why Am I Doing This?!
I have been at my CBT (community based training) site for two weeks now. I live in Kilulu, a village near Muheza town in Muheza District. I live with a host family, who speak no English, have no running water and no electricity. The night I got to my host family, I was terrified. I was soooooo nervous. I had spent the last week in Dar, spending every moment with my 40 other PCTs, speaking English, enjoying electricity, drinking beers in the gazebo in the evening, and really having no interaction with Tanzania at all. My mama came out to the car when we pulled up, a tiny worn woman, and carried my bags in for me- bags that I have trouble carrying, and I have multiple inches on this woman. She walked me through her dark little house to the courtyard in the bag, sat me on a stool, and continued making dinner on a wood fire in a hut outside, in traditional TZ style. I was immediately surrounded by silent children, staring at me. I know how to greet in Swahili at this point, that's it. One little girl hands me a baby she's holding, so now I am holding someone's baby, being stared at, with nothing to say. That was basically my first night in homestay.
In TZ, people use the choo, which is a structure usually unattached from the house, with a hole in the floor, where people do their business and shower. Its basically a bathroom. Choos are terrifying places. And I have a nice choo. The top of the structure is roofed by some kind of dried veggitation, and spiders like to inhabit it. I don't like spiders. I don't like little spiders in the States. Spiders in TZ.... you could put a leash on them and take them for a walk. There are seven in my choo. My solution is to crouch as low as possible without actually crawling on the floor so as to put as great a distance between me and the giant spiders.
I have a very nice room. I actually feel really bad because I have a huge room to myself, and the rest of the family- mama, baba, kaka, and dada wawili- all sleep in one room. I have a lock on my door and bars on my window, to PC standards, and I have an insecticide treated net over my bed- which I religiously keep tucked to keep bugs off of my bed. There are cockroaches. We cohabitate very well I have found. I found one of the giant spiders on my wall though one night. I walk into my room, see it, and stop. I can't just leave it there. I am not going to sleep with that thing on my wall. But I cant squish it either because it is bigger than my shoe. So I got the kids. I bring them into my room and point at the spider, and they look at me, like, whats the big deal? They eventually killed it, which caused me to scream, and everyday they make fun of me for my fear of ndudu, bugs.
I go to shule Monday- Saturday with my 3 CBT mates to study Kiswhili. Our language instructor is a brilliant Tanzanian nicknamed Big Boy, and he knows more American slang than I do. I read on a blog once about how PCVs talk about three things: sex, shit, and food. Its true. There isn't any real habari (news) so we just make it up, hypothesizing on who will hook up with whom, who already has, what the drama in other CBTs is. Everyone knows when someone has the runs, or when someone hasn't pooped in a week, color, consistency, etc. And we talk about American food and Tanzanian food constantly. About how much we hate ugali. About how we are always full. About how salty the mchicha is. About how much we are craving peanut butter and pizza.
On Sundays I do housework- TZ style. I wash my clothes by hand. I walk ten minutes to get water, and carry it back in a bucket on my head. I cook on a wood burning stove, and by stove, I mean three large rocks arranged in a circle. I have seen my mama pluck and tear apart two chickens with her hands already. These are chickens from our front yard. I think that when I get to my site, I am going to be a vegetarian. The inside of a chicken is disgusting. I would, however, eat my rooster. I would eat every rooster in Kilulu, because roosters do not just make their screaming cockle-doodle-doos when the rises, but all night, and all day. I really hope we eat the rooster someday.
Really, I am living the idyllic American in Africa fantasy. I am surrounded by barefoot children, who follow me everywhere, yelling my name. They pronounce it like "caught," but very sharp and short. It is beautiful and lush and green, and everyone is friendly, and everyone knows everything I do.
Training is hard, but I am so glad I am here.
In TZ, people use the choo, which is a structure usually unattached from the house, with a hole in the floor, where people do their business and shower. Its basically a bathroom. Choos are terrifying places. And I have a nice choo. The top of the structure is roofed by some kind of dried veggitation, and spiders like to inhabit it. I don't like spiders. I don't like little spiders in the States. Spiders in TZ.... you could put a leash on them and take them for a walk. There are seven in my choo. My solution is to crouch as low as possible without actually crawling on the floor so as to put as great a distance between me and the giant spiders.
I have a very nice room. I actually feel really bad because I have a huge room to myself, and the rest of the family- mama, baba, kaka, and dada wawili- all sleep in one room. I have a lock on my door and bars on my window, to PC standards, and I have an insecticide treated net over my bed- which I religiously keep tucked to keep bugs off of my bed. There are cockroaches. We cohabitate very well I have found. I found one of the giant spiders on my wall though one night. I walk into my room, see it, and stop. I can't just leave it there. I am not going to sleep with that thing on my wall. But I cant squish it either because it is bigger than my shoe. So I got the kids. I bring them into my room and point at the spider, and they look at me, like, whats the big deal? They eventually killed it, which caused me to scream, and everyday they make fun of me for my fear of ndudu, bugs.
I go to shule Monday- Saturday with my 3 CBT mates to study Kiswhili. Our language instructor is a brilliant Tanzanian nicknamed Big Boy, and he knows more American slang than I do. I read on a blog once about how PCVs talk about three things: sex, shit, and food. Its true. There isn't any real habari (news) so we just make it up, hypothesizing on who will hook up with whom, who already has, what the drama in other CBTs is. Everyone knows when someone has the runs, or when someone hasn't pooped in a week, color, consistency, etc. And we talk about American food and Tanzanian food constantly. About how much we hate ugali. About how we are always full. About how salty the mchicha is. About how much we are craving peanut butter and pizza.
On Sundays I do housework- TZ style. I wash my clothes by hand. I walk ten minutes to get water, and carry it back in a bucket on my head. I cook on a wood burning stove, and by stove, I mean three large rocks arranged in a circle. I have seen my mama pluck and tear apart two chickens with her hands already. These are chickens from our front yard. I think that when I get to my site, I am going to be a vegetarian. The inside of a chicken is disgusting. I would, however, eat my rooster. I would eat every rooster in Kilulu, because roosters do not just make their screaming cockle-doodle-doos when the rises, but all night, and all day. I really hope we eat the rooster someday.
Really, I am living the idyllic American in Africa fantasy. I am surrounded by barefoot children, who follow me everywhere, yelling my name. They pronounce it like "caught," but very sharp and short. It is beautiful and lush and green, and everyone is friendly, and everyone knows everything I do.
Training is hard, but I am so glad I am here.
Just Put A Kanga Over It or Tanzania's Multitool
In Tanzania, knees are very provocative, so to ensure maximum coverage women will wear an extra piece of fabric over their skirt, called a kanga. This is not the only use for a kanga, however, so it is essential that one must have multiple. I have two, and its a struggle. These uses include, but are not limited to...
skirt, dress, shirt, swimsuit cover, shawl, towel, sunshade, yoga mat, cushion, pillow, rug, hat, curtain, wall decoration, table cloth, water filter, bag, scarf, and I have even seen khangas used to keep a car's hood attached to the rest of the car.
Personally, my mama insists that I have an indoor kanga, an outdoor kanga, and that I wear two kangas to the choo when I shower.
Kangas are more multi functional than my Gerber.
I will post a picture eventually, promise.
skirt, dress, shirt, swimsuit cover, shawl, towel, sunshade, yoga mat, cushion, pillow, rug, hat, curtain, wall decoration, table cloth, water filter, bag, scarf, and I have even seen khangas used to keep a car's hood attached to the rest of the car.
Personally, my mama insists that I have an indoor kanga, an outdoor kanga, and that I wear two kangas to the choo when I shower.
Kangas are more multi functional than my Gerber.
I will post a picture eventually, promise.
Monday, October 10, 2011
STAGING!
I am in Philidelphia for Staging, which is one long day of ice breakers, meeting other future volunteers, and final preparations for leaving for service. The most comforting and affirming thing we covered today was the PC mission statement. Being my cynical self, I have frequently questioned my going oversees as a representative of the US, sent to spread democracy and promote how fantastic the US is, not feeling comfortable with that role. By covering the mission and goals of the PC, though, I decided that the intention of the PC really is to promote peace by increasing understanding between different peoples. I like peace, I can be a proud PCV.
My fears of not being able to make friends has been assuaged- everyone wants to make friends, and I must have a lot in common with these people if we all decided to give up running water and electricity for two years of bucket showers and eating caterpillars! But really, we talked about how to deal with people feeding us caterpillars. It could happen.
I had my final dinner in the US tonight with my burgeoning group of friends at a fancy Italian returant, complete with calamari and the best Riesling wine I have ever had- I had not only two sips, but two glasses, are you proud of me, Brandy?
The real excitement will begin after my 18 hour flight tomorrow, when I finally land in Tanzania! Get ready for Traaaaaaaainiiiiiiiiiinnnnggggg!!!!!!!!!!!!!
BTW, no worries if there is no word for a while; I will not have internet access imediately after landing in country.
My fears of not being able to make friends has been assuaged- everyone wants to make friends, and I must have a lot in common with these people if we all decided to give up running water and electricity for two years of bucket showers and eating caterpillars! But really, we talked about how to deal with people feeding us caterpillars. It could happen.
I had my final dinner in the US tonight with my burgeoning group of friends at a fancy Italian returant, complete with calamari and the best Riesling wine I have ever had- I had not only two sips, but two glasses, are you proud of me, Brandy?
The real excitement will begin after my 18 hour flight tomorrow, when I finally land in Tanzania! Get ready for Traaaaaaaainiiiiiiiiiinnnnggggg!!!!!!!!!!!!!
BTW, no worries if there is no word for a while; I will not have internet access imediately after landing in country.
Sunday, October 9, 2011
I am Packed! or I Swear It All Fit Before!
I have finished packing! Which is good, since I leave tomorrow morning and, whereas other departing volunteers have no doubt been working on packing for the last month, I started this afternoon.
The useful information: I have one carry on backpack, one large duffel bag, and one large hiking backpack. Everything is labelled with my Tanzanian address, and they are just shy of the cumulative 80 pound maximum. Now to hoping US Airways doesn't charge me a fortune to check my bags. This is why I love Southwest (shoutout!)
The not so useful information: I am pretty sure the bulkiest thing in my pack are the 40 pairs of underwear I am bringing. Overkill- mayhaps- but I refuse to budge on underwear. I can't manage to get laundry done more than once a month when I have a washing machine, I most certainly won't do it more often when I have to do it by hand. I left socks at home to make room for the undies, instead. I also bought a bug hut before making sure it would fit, but its pretty boss, so I made some room for that by leaving out some clothes and shoes. East Africa is a giant thrift shop, right? I will be fiiiine.
Now that everything fits into my bags, the next hurtle is seeing if I can can actually carry all of it to Tanzania. Bon voyage!
The useful information: I have one carry on backpack, one large duffel bag, and one large hiking backpack. Everything is labelled with my Tanzanian address, and they are just shy of the cumulative 80 pound maximum. Now to hoping US Airways doesn't charge me a fortune to check my bags. This is why I love Southwest (shoutout!)
The not so useful information: I am pretty sure the bulkiest thing in my pack are the 40 pairs of underwear I am bringing. Overkill- mayhaps- but I refuse to budge on underwear. I can't manage to get laundry done more than once a month when I have a washing machine, I most certainly won't do it more often when I have to do it by hand. I left socks at home to make room for the undies, instead. I also bought a bug hut before making sure it would fit, but its pretty boss, so I made some room for that by leaving out some clothes and shoes. East Africa is a giant thrift shop, right? I will be fiiiine.
Now that everything fits into my bags, the next hurtle is seeing if I can can actually carry all of it to Tanzania. Bon voyage!
A Grand Adventure or You Don't Have to be Rugged to be Accepted to the PC
Two days before departing for Staging, I return from a 3 day camping trip in the Grand Canyon. This was my attempt at being outdoorsy and "roughing it," while accomplishing something on my Photo Scavenger Hunt of My Life List.
In case of flash floods...
Yeah, I climbed that.
At Mooney Falls, named after a prospector that fell the 200 feet when his rope broke and died...
This trip also provided an opportunity for growth as a budding backpacker...
Lesson learned: you do not have to be rugged or outdoorsy to be accepted to the Peace Corps. Wink wink, Phanny.
In closing, here is a PSA from Brandy (aka Goose):
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