New region, who dis?

What am I up to? Oh you know. I am just living life. Getting used to a new job, putting together my new house, figuring out how to carry a bucket on my head when I am getting water from the well. I have been coking on a tiny charcoal stove top, speaking a new language, and learning how to sit in a small van with 15 other people for thirty minutes when I want to go into town.

It has been quite a few weeks since I updated you all. So sorry about that. I have made a goal this month to write at least once a week. Not just because I want to remember what things I have been doing here in the beautiful country of Tanzania, but also I want to practice writing. I really like to write, and I like to think that I am pretty ok at it! Now that college is over there is less of an excuse to write. 

Since we last spoke I really have begun to move into my new home. I am far from being done with the set up and slight renovation of the house. As of right now, it is still pretty dirty. I need to clean the walls and add some decorations. I am also planning on building some shelves to put up my things and to stop living out of suitcases. I have lightbulbs to replace and to add, and water collection systems to install, but I think within the next month or two I can get it done.

I just finished my first unit after a month about the excretory system. It took a lot longer than it should have. Lets just say that schools here sometimes will not have class some days because they’re planting seeds, or having pregnancy testing, or a staff meeting for teachers. So many reasons that broke up my limited teaching time. I only have 6 periods a week, 4 of which are on Mondays, so missing a monday can push back everything for the week. This week I am really pushing to get a lot done so my students have all of the information that they need for their exams next week. I am pushing all the information that they really need into a short period of time.

One thing that may fall to the wayside is the sex ed that happens at the end of the year. I am trying to see if there is any way that I can add it to the end of the year after their done with their tests. I was talking with one of the teachers at my school and one thing that we discussed was how there is a major problem with women learning about their sexual health. It is generally not something that parents will teach their children, leaving them unknowledgeable about their own bodies and the consequences that can come from not understanding what sex is or how to be safe when doing it. 

I have also been talking about other projects that I may be able to do here. I want to do environmental based projects, and I learned recently that this region has a government innitiative to plant trees. There has been massive deforestation of trees here caused by people not understanding the ecosystem services (the economic, social, and other benefits that come from our ecosystems) of this region. 

There is also a kubwa sana water problem in my vilage. One of my teachers even moved out of the village and into town because he kept getting sick from the water. Students will drink straight from the water sources, which is incredibly dangerous, and stomach illnesses are now the most common health problem of students here. I would love to see what I can do to begin to tackle these problems.

My relationship with water here is complicated. I do boil and filter my water when I use it, but I can’t use the well water to do that because the water is so full of calcium that it clogs my filter. Rain water works well, but there is just one problem with that: It barely rains here. It is the rainy season and we haven’t had rain in over a week. So I have used more bottles of water here than I think I have used in my entire life. It is really starting to open my eyes as to the privilage I have in the states. I have access to clean water all the time without worrying. In my house, at a restauraunt, anywhere I go I can pull out my water bottle and refill it. I can’t do that here. I will expand upon this dillema in the future in its own post because it is something that I think about frequently. 

I’m doing ok at integrating, but it is certainly difficult and mentally taxing. I have spent a lot of time alone because I am getting very overwhelmed when it comes to integrating into this community. I go to the village center once or twice a week, but I am working on bumping that up slowly. People around here tembea tembea a lot meaning they walk around aimlessly a lot of the time and just talk to people. One man I talked to today when I asked him what he did as a job he said he just talked to people in the village center. That is not something that we do in America… ever. I mean, when was the last time you went alone somewhere without a purpose and just walked around? We need to have reasons to go to do things. We need to be invited out, invited over. Even when we go out to have a night on the town, we usually go with people and don’t venture outside our flock. It is a totally different culture, and I am still working on getting used to it.

Slowly I am working towards a goal of accepting, interacting and embracing this new culture kabisa.