mpira neti

July 30th

A week later and I hope to update you yet again. On Sunday after I updated my blog I had a very interesting evening. Since my computer died I walked up to the school to see if a teacher could plug in my computer to a generator. In front of the school I found Philmore and the headmaster talking. The headmaster just arrived back from Mbeya after being gone all week. While I chatted away with the headmaster Philmore took my computer to his house to charge. The headmaster and I started the walk back to our homes. We approached his house first and he invited me in to talk. I sat and talked with him for over an hour and then realized that I must get home as it was getting dark and I hadn’t started to cook yet. A little before 7 PM I arrived home and went into the back to start the charcoal grill. Just after I lit the grill a gentleman started yelling “Mzungu, mzungu!” outside my house. I went into the front and opened the door. I walked onto the porch and greeted the gentleman asking how he was and his name. I was so excited that I didn’t mess up my greetings. After I said it was nice meeting him he starts to point two fingers at his groin area. I thought he might have to use the bathroom so I said, “Choo?” And then he points at me and then him again and the door. I got the point and said “Oh no no no” and closed the door in his face and locked it. I was very overwhelmed, nervous, and upset that I was home alone. I called Ashley and asked her if this was a common incident and she said it had never happened to her but has heard of it happening to others. She asked me if there was anyone I could go stay with until Lindsay arrived home and I let her know that I only know the male teacher’s around here and I really didn’t want a male around. She told me to call my headmaster since I was just with him. I called Isaac and he came right over. A few minutes after I got off the phone with him there was a knock at my door. Since I was still very uneasy I asked who it was and the person only spoke Swahili back. I figured it could be the little 9 year old boy that comes over occasionally but I didn’t want to take my chances and didn’t answer back. Eventually the boy left and a minute later Isaac started knocking. I let him in and informed him of the situation. He was very upset and sorry and told me he was going to call the leaders from the area. He sat and got on his phone while I went to tend to my cooking. He eventually talked to many people and informed them of the information and they set up a meeting for all the people of the area the next morning.

Isaac was worried that I would be alone until late since we did not know when Lindsay was to arrive and started calling for the house girl again. Luckily, Lindsay arrived before the house girl and Love was told to stay home. That night Lindsay filled me in with her exciting trip to Mbeya as I filled her in with the tales of my weekend. I slept a little uneasy that night but knew that I would be safe. The next day at school it was announced that you are not to come by my house unless asked. I thought some of the students would ask what happened, but they must have already known because none of them asked me. After school on Monday I just relaxed at home and started cooking as soon as I arrived. We had yet to cook beans and since I know they take a long time I thought it would be good to start them. I ended up staying at the house all evening cooking. Around 4 PM we receive a knock on the door. Lindsay walks out to find about thirty of the community members and our headmaster. Our headmaster enters the house and informs us that the locals would like to enter and offer an apology to me. We quickly tidied up the house and told them to enter. The group decided to stay outside so we went out and one by one they apologized. They felt very bad. They hired a gentleman to sit as a guard outside our house from now on. Philmore came by at 5:30 to assist Lindsay and I with cooking chapatti. We didn’t realize how long it would take and he was at our house until close to 9 PM that night! We felt bad because he didn’t even stay to eat in the end. He said it was very late and he must return home.

On Tuesday after breakfast Lindsay came from her room and told me she wasn’t feeling well and was going to stay home for the day. She slept maybe a total of two hours all weekend and it caught up with her. I arrived to school and informed the academic master and he said he was very sorry. The rest of the day was very busy as I taught all of my classes. When I did have a break I realized that Lindsay was supposed to teach English to form three at that hour and that was to be my next class. I walked in and gave them a very difficult math problem and told them to try it. When I arrived later for my class I realized they wrote on the problem but no one solved it. I told them the answer and said if they want to see the work then they must come see me in the staff lounge. No one ever showed up. I slowly need to win over them in order to get a response.

When I arrived home on Tuesday Lindsay seemed to be feeling much better. I went for a walk before preparing dinner. As the food was cooking, our headmaster and Philmore came over to see how Lindsay was doing. She sounded about ten times worse when she saw them and said she was planning on teaching the following day. After dinner, I locked myself in my room for an early sleep that night.

On Wednesday I had a short day at school and was done at 9:20. After class I spent a few hours working on an activity for the next day and then set off for the library. In October of a student’s form 4 year they sit for a national examination. If they don’t pass then they cannot advance any further in school. If they advance then they can move onto an Advanced Level or an A-Level school. The examinations are very difficult. I even have trouble comprehending some of the English exams. In the library at Kafule there are thousands of papers of past exams. There are thirteen different exams the students will sit for each year. The school receives a couple of copies of each of these and the students throw them around in the piles on the shelves in the library. My goal for the week was to go through all the piles and find the mathematics exams. It took all of Wednesday and Thursday but I finally sorted through the exams. This week I plan to go through the mathematics exams, arrange them by year, and then figure out the categories of math that appear most often. Mostly, I want to get comfortable with the exam to help the form 4 students. On Thursday I spoke with them and we will start a review session in two weeks. This next week I need to prepare for the review session. This week the form 4 students sit in on a mock examination and so I will have a lot of free time without teaching them.

Besides school I started playing more games in the village. After a run on Wednesday I went to watch a couple of girls playing net ball. Eventually I joined them and we did a bunch of drills until enough people showed up for a game. It was a lot of fun. It was very good to play as I am now recognizing some of my students and able to learn their names outside of school. I think and hope it will pay off in the classroom. I also realized how poor their English truly is when they couldn’t understand a single sentence while playing. Hopefully after a year things will turn around. On Thursday I went back and played netball later in the afternoon. This time we played a real game of netball and so I had to slow down and learn some of the rules. At the end of the game a girl brought me some sugarcane and they all laughed as they watched me attempt to eat it. Tanzanians use their teeth to tear off the outer casing of the sugarcane but I told them I could not do it. The casing is hard!! Eventually I received some help and I sat to eat with all twelve girls staring back at me! I enjoyed playing though and am excited to continue throughout the year.

Yesterday I was very moody at the end of the school day. The woman that usually brings tea up to school has not been present. Along with tea she brings porridge which I usually buy because it fills me up until the end of the school day. Since she doesn’t arrive we walk a little ways down to a village and order tea. Tea is good and all but it doesn’t fill you up too much. I eat breakfast at 7 AM, have tea at 11:20, and then school doesn’t let out until 3 PM! I was very hungry. I feel bad for the students because they don’t even receive tea and here I am complaining that I am hungry. I guess they are used to it, but my body is not. I was very sluggish and counting down the minutes until I arrived home. I finally reached home and had some food and lied down. A half an hour later, Kassim, the academic master, arrived and we walked down to Isoko with him. In Isoko we relaxed with some sodas for a good hour and a half before we walked the short street of shops. In the end we decided on chips mayai for dinner and then went back to more sitting and waiting. Chips mayai is an omelet with French fries in it. It is a local favorite and Linsday and I have yet to have it in Isoko. It was very delicious. By the time we received the food I was approaching my hungry mode once again!

We arrived home around 9 last night and I did some e-mailing before I went to bed for the night. Today Lindsay and I are planning on walking to a market about a two hour walk away so I must go and prepare myself!

Love,

Gretchen