November 17th
Tomorrow morning I will be waking up at 3:15 in the morning to begin my long journey to Dar es Salaam! Tomorrow I will travel to Mbeya and then early Saturday morning I will take a 14 hour bus ride to Dar es Salaam. I am not looking forward to the long bus ride but am excited to see my mom and Jenn! They will visit for two weeks which should be a lot of fun.
Things have turned around in Kafule since I last wrote. The rain stopped and we’ve had gorgeous hot weather over this past week. On Saturday I decided to walk to Katengele. Katengele is a village at the top of a mountain that has a big market every Saturday. Before departing I called Enea (my new best friend who is a nurse at the hospital) and she wanted to join me on the walk. She has never walked to the market though and I knew it would be a very long, difficult journey. She called everyone that she knew with a car or motorcycle while we walked to Isoko. No one was traveling to the market. We decided start the climb. She was a little out of breath but I wouldn’t say she was struggling. She told me it was too much and she needed a pikipiki (motorcycle). As we continued going up the shortcut I heard a pikipiki on the road and ran up to stop them. It was my friend Kapesa from school and he told me he would go to the market and then return for Enea. We continued walking but stuck to the road. Enea was breathing much easier on the road (it is not a straight up the mountain climb like the shortcut). Many pikipiki passed and offered us rides but we declined as we waited for Kapesa. He returned with no gas and had to return to Isoko. Enea was pretty upset but was able to get a ride shortly after. She jumped on the pikipiki while I climbed the short cut. We met at the top and walked the flat part together. We didn’t stay long and caught a ride back to Isoko with the hospital car. Enea had me promise when I return to walk with her every Saturday to the market. She wants to wake up at an ungodly hour to do the walk though and I don’t think I can handle that!
On Sunday I went to church, did some house work, had many student visitors, and then went for my daily walk around town. I didn’t quite enjoy the walk as a drunken man decided to hold my hand and invite me to his home. We exchanged numbers and he has called me every day multiple times a day. I don’t pick up, but he keeps on calling! My daily walks have been more eventful and less enjoyable this week which makes me a little sad. Too many men walking the roads!
This week the students had their final exams. Mathematics was first on Monday morning which made me very happy. Unfortunately I also had to proctor all the exams because there weren’t enough teachers. I was very worried about finishing grading in time. I finished yesterday though and everything has been smooth sailing.
I’ve got my bags packed and am ready for the morning departure! My computer will stay in Kafule so you probably won’t be hearing from me for a while (I am sure you are used to that by now!)
Love,
Gretchen
Thursday, November 17, 2011
mvua sana!
November 10th
My test results came back negative a second time for amoebic dysentery. I found that it wouldn’t have mattered by that point because it would be worse if I switched medicines. The drive home from the hospital was very long and exhausting. As I walked up the mountain shortly before 8 PM I was praying that Lindsay prepared something for dinner. I was very disappointed when I opened the door to find not only did she not prepare anything for dinner, she didn’t even have the jiko (Swahili word for our little cooker) heated up! I quickly prepared some rice while filling Lindsay in with the details of the hospital visit. She believes they took me off the medicine for amoebic dysentery too soon and it never went away. I am not too concerned about the past procedure at the hospital; I just want to have normal bowel movements again!
Due to lack of rainfall, the electricity (which is run on hydraulics) in Isoko has been turned off for the past three weeks. It has been back on for the last three days so my laptop is finally charged! I celebrated by watching a movie which I spread out through two days. It has been a pretty dreary week. The rain finally began on Saturday and we have had rain each day thereafter. The rain isn’t as bad as I had in Samoa but I am told it gets much worse come February. In Samoa when it rained the sun also shone, not so much here. Today was nice but it has been overcast every other day this week. When I go out for a walk everyone must stop me to tell me, “mvua! (rain!)” I reply with an exaggerated, “hapana! (no!)” and keep walking. Hopefully they will learn I don’t care and will let me walk in peace. I’ve concluded this will never happen though because everyone must stop and ask me where I am going.
Lindsay left yesterday. On Monday she will be flying home to Oklahoma where she will stay for three weeks before returning to Tanzania. Usually when she leaves I don’t mind, but her leaving and this crappy weather has made me hope that I was heading out of here as well. I do have much packing and cleaning to do before next Friday which will keep me plenty busy as I begin grading exams next week. Once I am done grading I am free for about two months. Very exciting!
I hope to spend this next week peacefully at my home but many people are concerned and think a student should live with me—not looking forward to that happening!
Love,
Gretchen
My test results came back negative a second time for amoebic dysentery. I found that it wouldn’t have mattered by that point because it would be worse if I switched medicines. The drive home from the hospital was very long and exhausting. As I walked up the mountain shortly before 8 PM I was praying that Lindsay prepared something for dinner. I was very disappointed when I opened the door to find not only did she not prepare anything for dinner, she didn’t even have the jiko (Swahili word for our little cooker) heated up! I quickly prepared some rice while filling Lindsay in with the details of the hospital visit. She believes they took me off the medicine for amoebic dysentery too soon and it never went away. I am not too concerned about the past procedure at the hospital; I just want to have normal bowel movements again!
Due to lack of rainfall, the electricity (which is run on hydraulics) in Isoko has been turned off for the past three weeks. It has been back on for the last three days so my laptop is finally charged! I celebrated by watching a movie which I spread out through two days. It has been a pretty dreary week. The rain finally began on Saturday and we have had rain each day thereafter. The rain isn’t as bad as I had in Samoa but I am told it gets much worse come February. In Samoa when it rained the sun also shone, not so much here. Today was nice but it has been overcast every other day this week. When I go out for a walk everyone must stop me to tell me, “mvua! (rain!)” I reply with an exaggerated, “hapana! (no!)” and keep walking. Hopefully they will learn I don’t care and will let me walk in peace. I’ve concluded this will never happen though because everyone must stop and ask me where I am going.
Lindsay left yesterday. On Monday she will be flying home to Oklahoma where she will stay for three weeks before returning to Tanzania. Usually when she leaves I don’t mind, but her leaving and this crappy weather has made me hope that I was heading out of here as well. I do have much packing and cleaning to do before next Friday which will keep me plenty busy as I begin grading exams next week. Once I am done grading I am free for about two months. Very exciting!
I hope to spend this next week peacefully at my home but many people are concerned and think a student should live with me—not looking forward to that happening!
Love,
Gretchen
Driving in Tanzania
November 1st
Dr. Kitta made arrangements to pick Lindsay and I up at our home at 1 PM last Sunday. At 12:30 he called me as I was in church. Around 2 I thought the service was close to ending (as we were on the last prayer) and texted Dr. Kitta to come at 2:30. After each church service we walk outside for another song, prayer, and a short auction of various grains before departing for home. For some reason there were many songs played and the service wasn’t officially over until 2:25. Because church can typically last this long I went in with the plan to leave early. That was quickly erased when they saw me and made me sit in the front with the guests. I was trapped. At the end of the service they told me I must go eat at the pastor’s house. I explained that the doctor was coming and I could not, but there was no way to get around it. I was seen as a guest because I was sitting in the front, it would be beyond disrespectful to not go to the pastor’s home. They ended up running me to his house to scarf down food while the doctor drove up and waiting a half an hour for me. I felt like such an idiot and beyond rude. The doctor seemed a little annoyed but got over it. In his car we drove to Isoko to his home where his wife cooked us a huge feast. After the feast he thought it would be a good idea for us to go to ngoma (local drumming) in a village fifteen kilometers away. We reached Dr. Kitta’s car and he asked if I could drive. I thought it was a big joke but he gave me the keys and I drove to ngoma and back. It was a lot of fun driving on the unpaved roads of Isoko. This week the doctor offered to give me his car to go to Mbeya. I like to drive, but Mbeya actually has police officers and that scares me.
There wasn’t much news at school last week. I worked many hours and returned home late every day. My garden is finally sprouting though so all my watering is finally paying off!!!! On Saturday Lindsay and I woke up at 3 AM to catch the Toronto bus to Mpemba. From Mpemba we caught a bus to Mbeya. We needed to check out the immigration office and get our passports signed off. I am not too worried because I don’t plan to leave the country any time soon. Since Lindsay is leaving next week for America she needs to get everything checked out. The immigration office was closed. Lindsay returned to Isongole with Nicole while I stayed in Mbeya with Lisa for the night. Lisa was quite tired and I spent the day shopping and met up with a friend from Isoko. My friend (who I call the Pastor but just found out his name is Umbege) was attending some religious conference and dragged me along with him. I thought after an hour I could depart but he thought it would be better for me to hear the sermon. Luckily I showed him a text from Lisa that said she wasn’t feeling well and we left early. Lisa threw up twice on Saturday and started getting chills. We needed to check for Malaria. I walked from pharmacy to pharmacy and could not find a Self Malaria Test. I finally found a clinic and dragged Lisa out of bed to get a Malaria test.
The Malaria test came back negative so I convinced her to get her urine tested. It came back heavily infected with bacteria and with a yeast infection. Ciproflaxin would kill everything and she decided to wait until she returned to Isongole to start taking it. The next morning she woke up with blood in her stools. We decided to go to the hospital in Mbalizi that I know so well. I called my doctor friend to tell him we were on our way. He was really excited. When we arrived there weren’t many people around. We sat around and waited. Lisa was very weak and needed to go on an IV but they just weren’t admitting us for some reason. I told the doctor and she told me not to worry and then just sat down socializing with her buddies. After an hour my friend came and he got us the same room I stayed in and quickly got Lisa hooked up to an IV. After two IVs her energy was restored and she was ready to get out of the hospital. Since my diarrhea has returned off and on and I have had it every day for the last ten days I also got my stools tested. Both of our stools came back negative. It was impossible that I didn’t have anything wrong with me. They don’t have a test for bacterial dysentery but said they could clinically diagnose it for me. Since amoebic dysentery is known to reoccur and can hide in samples I have ordered a retest today. After eight bowel movements yesterday they put me on medicine which is good for both amoebic and bacterial dysentery. It is strong though and I am hoping not to be on for long.
Today we are waiting for my test results and Lisa’s discharge paperwork. I hope to return to Kafule today but it will be challenging.
Love,
Gretchen
Dr. Kitta made arrangements to pick Lindsay and I up at our home at 1 PM last Sunday. At 12:30 he called me as I was in church. Around 2 I thought the service was close to ending (as we were on the last prayer) and texted Dr. Kitta to come at 2:30. After each church service we walk outside for another song, prayer, and a short auction of various grains before departing for home. For some reason there were many songs played and the service wasn’t officially over until 2:25. Because church can typically last this long I went in with the plan to leave early. That was quickly erased when they saw me and made me sit in the front with the guests. I was trapped. At the end of the service they told me I must go eat at the pastor’s house. I explained that the doctor was coming and I could not, but there was no way to get around it. I was seen as a guest because I was sitting in the front, it would be beyond disrespectful to not go to the pastor’s home. They ended up running me to his house to scarf down food while the doctor drove up and waiting a half an hour for me. I felt like such an idiot and beyond rude. The doctor seemed a little annoyed but got over it. In his car we drove to Isoko to his home where his wife cooked us a huge feast. After the feast he thought it would be a good idea for us to go to ngoma (local drumming) in a village fifteen kilometers away. We reached Dr. Kitta’s car and he asked if I could drive. I thought it was a big joke but he gave me the keys and I drove to ngoma and back. It was a lot of fun driving on the unpaved roads of Isoko. This week the doctor offered to give me his car to go to Mbeya. I like to drive, but Mbeya actually has police officers and that scares me.
There wasn’t much news at school last week. I worked many hours and returned home late every day. My garden is finally sprouting though so all my watering is finally paying off!!!! On Saturday Lindsay and I woke up at 3 AM to catch the Toronto bus to Mpemba. From Mpemba we caught a bus to Mbeya. We needed to check out the immigration office and get our passports signed off. I am not too worried because I don’t plan to leave the country any time soon. Since Lindsay is leaving next week for America she needs to get everything checked out. The immigration office was closed. Lindsay returned to Isongole with Nicole while I stayed in Mbeya with Lisa for the night. Lisa was quite tired and I spent the day shopping and met up with a friend from Isoko. My friend (who I call the Pastor but just found out his name is Umbege) was attending some religious conference and dragged me along with him. I thought after an hour I could depart but he thought it would be better for me to hear the sermon. Luckily I showed him a text from Lisa that said she wasn’t feeling well and we left early. Lisa threw up twice on Saturday and started getting chills. We needed to check for Malaria. I walked from pharmacy to pharmacy and could not find a Self Malaria Test. I finally found a clinic and dragged Lisa out of bed to get a Malaria test.
The Malaria test came back negative so I convinced her to get her urine tested. It came back heavily infected with bacteria and with a yeast infection. Ciproflaxin would kill everything and she decided to wait until she returned to Isongole to start taking it. The next morning she woke up with blood in her stools. We decided to go to the hospital in Mbalizi that I know so well. I called my doctor friend to tell him we were on our way. He was really excited. When we arrived there weren’t many people around. We sat around and waited. Lisa was very weak and needed to go on an IV but they just weren’t admitting us for some reason. I told the doctor and she told me not to worry and then just sat down socializing with her buddies. After an hour my friend came and he got us the same room I stayed in and quickly got Lisa hooked up to an IV. After two IVs her energy was restored and she was ready to get out of the hospital. Since my diarrhea has returned off and on and I have had it every day for the last ten days I also got my stools tested. Both of our stools came back negative. It was impossible that I didn’t have anything wrong with me. They don’t have a test for bacterial dysentery but said they could clinically diagnose it for me. Since amoebic dysentery is known to reoccur and can hide in samples I have ordered a retest today. After eight bowel movements yesterday they put me on medicine which is good for both amoebic and bacterial dysentery. It is strong though and I am hoping not to be on for long.
Today we are waiting for my test results and Lisa’s discharge paperwork. I hope to return to Kafule today but it will be challenging.
Love,
Gretchen
got my dancin' shoes on
October 23rd
Last night was one of the most enjoyable nights I have had in Tanzania. Before we get to that, you need some knowledge of the week.
On Monday, with the help of a student, I started a garden. Hopefully in a couple of weeks I will have some eggplant and green peppers sprouting! On Tuesday, I was escorted to my student, Nisile’s, home. While we were there she reminded me of the “send off” celebration for her sister. We sat and spoke more about it. I wanted to understand why these celebrations always occur. She told me a couple of things about her various sisters so I don’t know which one the celebration was for. What I gathered was that her sister would be moving to Mbeya. I am not sure whether she is starting university or getting married. I am leaning on the marriage answer, but the celebration yesterday did not have a male in attendance (besides the village men)! I was at her house until after 7 PM. While eating I heard Mr. Mbughi’s voice in the back yard. When I finished eating I greeted him. He was surveying the land for the celebration. He was building a structure to house Nisile’s sister. I decided to use the opportunity to go home and asked Mr. Mbughi to sindakisa (escort) me. I didn’t know that we were going to stop at various homes on the walk. A lot of the church folk that I see every Sunday live very close to Nisile and Mr. Mbughi. Now that I have been to many of their homes I can match up couples and children. Everyone wanted me to eat of course. Maybe they think I am looking too thin, not really sure. I believe I have gained weight though so I don’t know why they want me to eat so much! I finally arrived home close to 10 PM carrying my gifts of eggs and peanuts.
On Wednesday my field director, Ashley, arrived in Isoko. After a long school day Lindsay and I walked to Isoko to greet her. We ran into one of our student’s parent’s right after leaving Kafule and he escorted us to Isoko. I was really tired from teaching each period at school that day and did not care for the escort. He was very violent, but didn’t realize it as he continued to slap our back’s and pull on our arms. I was not a fan. I also did not enjoy the warm soda he treated us to when it was in the high 80’s and we just walked for forty minutes. As we were finishing up the soda he kept offering us food but luckily we saw the bus and ran off to greet Ashley. After dropping off her things at the guest house, Lindsay wanted to prepare her food at our home. We walked back up the mountain and after dinner Lindsay escorted her back and stayed at the guest house for the night.
Throughout the week I have had a full schedule at school. I am now teaching every student and have every period of every day that I teach. Things change all the time, but I am typically not found in the staff room anymore. If someone else wants to teach the class that I was intended to teach then I would just go to a different room to teach. I am trying to stay loyal to my form 3 students and teach them as much as before but that will be difficult in the coming weeks. I do enjoy my younger students though. Most of them attend class and do their work. For this week I have kept them in their separate streams (or classes) for each level because I hate teaching larger classes. This will be difficult to continue with as I will need time to rest my brain as well. I used the same lesson for form 1 and 2 this week which made classes and planning for classes completely manageable.
This week I was given the “Teacher on Duty” title and had other responsibilities to uphold on campus. Makhala, the second headmaster, worked alongside me (and did much of the work) so it wasn’t too awful. All the students had to talk to me if they wanted to leave campus. It was really depressing when ten students came up to me in the morning asking to leave because they are sick. Besides asking for permission to leave, I was also given the role of inflicting punishment. Each morning during assembly the students are hit with sticks if they did something bad or are dressed incorrectly. Sometimes I feel as though the other teacher’s make up excuses to hit the students. I told Makhala that there will be no piga-ing this week (strike-ing). He didn’t listen to me and many students were still hit. Each day he managed to give me a group of ten students while he hit the other 200+. I made the boys walk in laps around the grass at the front of the school like chickens while the girls gave me jumping jacks. The ones being punished did not enjoy it but everyone else thought it was comical. I was not given the group of ten students until the end of assembly which typically made me very late to class each morning!
Since I taught all the time and had to stay at school late for my “duties” I didn’t get the opportunity to hang out with Ashley very much on her visit. Lindsay took her around the town and introduced her to various people. After Ashley watched me teach on Friday I asked for permission and left school early to go to Isoko with the two of them. We enjoyed a big feast on Ashley’s last night before saying our goodbyes. She left at 4 AM Saturday morning so we had an early night!
I basically spent all of yesterday walking, eating, and dancing. I went for a long morning walk and got lost on the million trails that locals have created over the years. After my walk I ate before leaving for Nisile’s sister’s send-off celebration. When I arrived, they made me eat a massive amount of meat before walking up to the celebration. The celebration was in the middle of the woods. I sat next to a pine tree. Mr. Mbughi was the master of ceremonies and took it upon himself to constantly call me to the front to dance in front of everyone. At 6 PM we took a break to eat some more. I was offered a full glass of chunky milk. I quickly made the excuse that I was allergic (this to the only English speaker in the room). More rice, beans, and meat before returning to dance. At that point I was excited to dance and lose the tens pounds I gained from food. The dancing didn’t continue for long as the sun began to set and there were no lights in the woods. The party did continue at the church though! After going home for an hour of recovery I headed to the church until 11 dancing. I mostly danced with the younger women at church (in their late 20s maybe). The old women liked to join me and one kept competing with me about who could get lower to the floor. The church was jammed pack. It was nice to see so many of my students enjoying themselves. I especially liked how the old, middle aged, young, and infants could all be in one room dancing freely, enjoying themselves.
This morning, I am off to church and then one of the students is coming to bring Lindsay and I to her home in Isoko. Lindsay was not feeling well yesterday though so I might be going solo on this adventure…
Love,
Gretchen
Last night was one of the most enjoyable nights I have had in Tanzania. Before we get to that, you need some knowledge of the week.
On Monday, with the help of a student, I started a garden. Hopefully in a couple of weeks I will have some eggplant and green peppers sprouting! On Tuesday, I was escorted to my student, Nisile’s, home. While we were there she reminded me of the “send off” celebration for her sister. We sat and spoke more about it. I wanted to understand why these celebrations always occur. She told me a couple of things about her various sisters so I don’t know which one the celebration was for. What I gathered was that her sister would be moving to Mbeya. I am not sure whether she is starting university or getting married. I am leaning on the marriage answer, but the celebration yesterday did not have a male in attendance (besides the village men)! I was at her house until after 7 PM. While eating I heard Mr. Mbughi’s voice in the back yard. When I finished eating I greeted him. He was surveying the land for the celebration. He was building a structure to house Nisile’s sister. I decided to use the opportunity to go home and asked Mr. Mbughi to sindakisa (escort) me. I didn’t know that we were going to stop at various homes on the walk. A lot of the church folk that I see every Sunday live very close to Nisile and Mr. Mbughi. Now that I have been to many of their homes I can match up couples and children. Everyone wanted me to eat of course. Maybe they think I am looking too thin, not really sure. I believe I have gained weight though so I don’t know why they want me to eat so much! I finally arrived home close to 10 PM carrying my gifts of eggs and peanuts.
On Wednesday my field director, Ashley, arrived in Isoko. After a long school day Lindsay and I walked to Isoko to greet her. We ran into one of our student’s parent’s right after leaving Kafule and he escorted us to Isoko. I was really tired from teaching each period at school that day and did not care for the escort. He was very violent, but didn’t realize it as he continued to slap our back’s and pull on our arms. I was not a fan. I also did not enjoy the warm soda he treated us to when it was in the high 80’s and we just walked for forty minutes. As we were finishing up the soda he kept offering us food but luckily we saw the bus and ran off to greet Ashley. After dropping off her things at the guest house, Lindsay wanted to prepare her food at our home. We walked back up the mountain and after dinner Lindsay escorted her back and stayed at the guest house for the night.
Throughout the week I have had a full schedule at school. I am now teaching every student and have every period of every day that I teach. Things change all the time, but I am typically not found in the staff room anymore. If someone else wants to teach the class that I was intended to teach then I would just go to a different room to teach. I am trying to stay loyal to my form 3 students and teach them as much as before but that will be difficult in the coming weeks. I do enjoy my younger students though. Most of them attend class and do their work. For this week I have kept them in their separate streams (or classes) for each level because I hate teaching larger classes. This will be difficult to continue with as I will need time to rest my brain as well. I used the same lesson for form 1 and 2 this week which made classes and planning for classes completely manageable.
This week I was given the “Teacher on Duty” title and had other responsibilities to uphold on campus. Makhala, the second headmaster, worked alongside me (and did much of the work) so it wasn’t too awful. All the students had to talk to me if they wanted to leave campus. It was really depressing when ten students came up to me in the morning asking to leave because they are sick. Besides asking for permission to leave, I was also given the role of inflicting punishment. Each morning during assembly the students are hit with sticks if they did something bad or are dressed incorrectly. Sometimes I feel as though the other teacher’s make up excuses to hit the students. I told Makhala that there will be no piga-ing this week (strike-ing). He didn’t listen to me and many students were still hit. Each day he managed to give me a group of ten students while he hit the other 200+. I made the boys walk in laps around the grass at the front of the school like chickens while the girls gave me jumping jacks. The ones being punished did not enjoy it but everyone else thought it was comical. I was not given the group of ten students until the end of assembly which typically made me very late to class each morning!
Since I taught all the time and had to stay at school late for my “duties” I didn’t get the opportunity to hang out with Ashley very much on her visit. Lindsay took her around the town and introduced her to various people. After Ashley watched me teach on Friday I asked for permission and left school early to go to Isoko with the two of them. We enjoyed a big feast on Ashley’s last night before saying our goodbyes. She left at 4 AM Saturday morning so we had an early night!
I basically spent all of yesterday walking, eating, and dancing. I went for a long morning walk and got lost on the million trails that locals have created over the years. After my walk I ate before leaving for Nisile’s sister’s send-off celebration. When I arrived, they made me eat a massive amount of meat before walking up to the celebration. The celebration was in the middle of the woods. I sat next to a pine tree. Mr. Mbughi was the master of ceremonies and took it upon himself to constantly call me to the front to dance in front of everyone. At 6 PM we took a break to eat some more. I was offered a full glass of chunky milk. I quickly made the excuse that I was allergic (this to the only English speaker in the room). More rice, beans, and meat before returning to dance. At that point I was excited to dance and lose the tens pounds I gained from food. The dancing didn’t continue for long as the sun began to set and there were no lights in the woods. The party did continue at the church though! After going home for an hour of recovery I headed to the church until 11 dancing. I mostly danced with the younger women at church (in their late 20s maybe). The old women liked to join me and one kept competing with me about who could get lower to the floor. The church was jammed pack. It was nice to see so many of my students enjoying themselves. I especially liked how the old, middle aged, young, and infants could all be in one room dancing freely, enjoying themselves.
This morning, I am off to church and then one of the students is coming to bring Lindsay and I to her home in Isoko. Lindsay was not feeling well yesterday though so I might be going solo on this adventure…
Love,
Gretchen
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