Week in Kondoa 4 (and final)!

Sunday morning we had tickets for the 10 a.m. bus back to Arusha (for me; Sarah stopped off in Magugu to observe one of our student teachers there for a day or two). We had breakfast at our guesthouse....

Oh, just have to add a paragraph about meals this week! We ate lunches at school, and pretty much bananas and a Fiber 1 bar (for me) for breakfasts, all but the Immigration Morning. Dinners we ate at our guest house because we didn't want to be walking around Kondoa after dark by ourselves. Albert cooked and served our meals, so we got to know him very well! Sarah had sat beside his mother on the bus to Kondoa, so she knew who he was. He just finished high school (Form 4, the first 4 years of HS; if you do well on that exam, you can on for 2 more years and qualify for university. If not, you can still go to college, just not university. I know - what?) and was waiting for results of his exams, so they had him working in the restaurant. Pretty much every meal was chicken and ... chips (French fries) or rice. Or we could have chips mayai, which is French fries and eggs, sort of like an omelette and one of my favorites. That got old pretty quickly, so sometimes we just had rice with veggies! Any way, we prayed before every meal, even though this is a 98+% Muslim village, and after the first time, Albert said, "I notice you pray. Can I listen?" We had also prayed that we would be a blessing to him since we would be spending so much time with him, and I told him that we prayed for him, too. From then on, he stayed to listen to us pray at every meal, including him and our prayers for God to bless him and use him. When we were telling him good-bye, he said, "I will miss you." Very sweet.

So, our 10:00 bus finally left at 10:30, and shortly after leaving, a ticket-taker gave me a new ticket on a different bus lne for the second half of the trip. Going to Kondoa, it had been one bus the whole way, so this was different. After about 3 and 1/2 hours we got to Babati, the half-way point. Sarah was only a few km from Magugu, and they told her to stay and wait for the same bus I was going to get on, then she could just get off in Magugu. However, after an hour, my bus had not come, yet, so she took a smaller local bus (dala-dala, like a mini-van or old VW bus that holds 12-20 people, depending on how many you can pack in!), and I stayed on. There were several others waiting with me, only 1 of whom spoke English, but everyone sort of bonded through the exasperation of waiting together.

After the next hour, people started getting restless! Finally, after about 2 and 1/2 hours, people, including me, went to see the policeman, whose job is, apparently, maintaining order at the bus depot. A heated discussion followed, and he finally put us on a dfferent bus line altogether, where we waited another 30 minutes! Just as we were finally pulling out, our "real" bus arrived, so we all had to get off and back on again. One mama had taken me under her wing, so she made sure I was following the plan! We were finally off and doing well, and about 20 minutes later, had a flat tire! That was a good time for a toilet break, so everyone who needed to (me included) found bushes or clumps of grass and took care of that business. Back on the bus and off we went. At some point a man a few rows up bought some peanuts from a vendor on the side of a road, shared some with the girl next to me, who shared some with me. We had become a family, I think.

As we approached Arusha I called a taxi driver we use and asked him to pick me up at the bus stand because it would be dark and not safe for me to take a dala-dala, then walk, to En Gedi. The mama who had been taking care of me got off the bus, and we held hands, and I said, "Mungu akubariki," which is God bless you! She just grinned and said something similar back to me, then she got off the bus. A few stops later and we were at the main bus stand in Arusha, which is a busy place. I sent Dickson a message, and soon he was walking over to greet me and whisk me away home. So 10 hours from when we left Kondoa, I was finally home!

A very full week!

Week in Kondoa 3

Believe it or not, we also got to observe our student teachers last week! That was the best part of the week. We would each go observe a student for a period, write observations, suggestions, feedback, etc., then meet with them later and discuss it all. Another day, we would go back, sometimes to a different class, sometimes the same one, check on progress, new observations, etc. In between, I did my favorite thing - played with children! I taught several of the girls London Bridge and a version of Duck, Duck, Goose, which, in TZ, we call Simba, Simba, Swala (or Lion, Lion, Gazelle). I also played with some kindergartners, threw a frisbee I'd brought with me (thanks, Linda Hudson!), ate lunches and morning tea with them, and just had such fun. I had met the older children, classes 4 and 5, when they were in kindergarten, and it was fun to see them "grown up!"

The student teachers are working hard, but they are really loving having their own classes for a change, not just borrowing someone else's class. They are establishing routines and relationships and "owning" what they are doing.

We also did two really fun things with them. One was we took them out to a "hoteli," which is really a little cafe-type restaurant, for Elijah's birthday. I had gotten one of the lady teachers and a former JTTC student of mine, Suzanna, to go with me to get "birthday cakes" and a card for his b'day, and we shared those with all of the teachers at morning tea, and he sent me a text later telling me how loved he felt!

The other fun thing, which I wasn't sure was such fun at the time, was to take them on a "field trip" to a town about 20 km away to see some historic, actually prehistoric, cave paintings. They'd studied these in their history books but had never seen them themselves. (Thanks, Rocky, for the Christmas money - that helped pay for the drive and entrance fees and water and snacks we provided!) Unfortunately, I don't think they'd ever done anything like this before, and only Agaba was dressed appropriately in jeans and t-shirt. The other guys had on dress slacks and shoes, and the 2 girls were in dresses! Suzanna looked like she had on a bridesmaid dress and strappy sandals with heels! I'll post pictures when I download them in the next day or two. However, they all did better with the actual climb than Sarah and I! We thought several times, why did this sound like a good idea?! However, it was well worth it, the paintings were definitely worth the trek, and it was a geat bonding experience. We weren't even sore the next day! (Maybe the hour walk we did every day, 30 minutes to and from school) helped us get ready for it!

Week in Kondoa 2

So, the afternoon after all the Agaba drama, Sarah and I finally got around to fillng out the check-in sheet at our guesthouse. Neither one of us had brought our passports or work permits with us, as we hadn't left TZ and saw no reason to carry those with us. However, in retrospect, I do remember always having to write those numbers down at the guesthouse there, but that's been a few years, and I just forgot. So we left the places for those blank on the registration form. BIG mistake!

Tuesday morning, Obbo came and said, "Miriam, immigration is in my office, and they want to see you and Sarah. You go on up, and I will find her and come." Sure enough, 2 young men, Steven and Abdon, were waiting. They asked to see my passport and permit, and I told them the amusing (!) story of how we had forgotten to bring them, so sorry, we would bring them next time. Sarah arrived, and it started all over again. People here do things in such a circular way that we had to hear, repeatedly, that since we had no proof of who we were, we were in violation of the laws of immigration, subject to various penalties, fines, etc. I really didn't know what they expected us to do, but Sarah had the idea that we could call Magreth at our Joshua office, and she could scan and email copies of our permits to them. Sounded good to me, but they decided to take us to ther office, instead, so Obbo and both of us, along with Abdon, got in the back of a pickup and went to their office, where we had to repeat the entire story to their boss. I'm still not sure why, but instead of having the documents sent to them, they wanted them sent to Sarah, us to print them off at school, and bring them to them the next day. (That is the short version of this since that took several more trips of a circular nature to get to that point!) They told us to come back first thing the next morning and not to go to school first.

So, the next morning, we actually slept a little later (or as late as the 5 a.m. Muslim calls to prayer would let us, and the 5:30 one, and the 6:00 one!!!), stopped off for breakfast, and met Obbo at 8:30 to go their office. This time was the same thing all over again. They were just incredulous that we had come without any proof of what we were doing there! At one point they realized that they knew Alan Stephenson, the director of The Joshua Foundation, and that they wanted to talk to him to verify what we were saying. (Because I'm sure many illegal aliens come to TZ to work in village schools!) Alan spoke with Abdon for ages, then asked to speak to me. He told me that he had been imformed that they "could" charge us $600 EACH for our various felonious activities, arrest us, take us to court, etc., but that they would settle for the copies of our permits and passports this time as long as next time we do the following: bring a letter of introduction from Imara because we are working in an Imara school, bring a letter from Joshua saying that we are doing this on behalf of Joshua, bring our passports and permits (even it's just copies), and come see them time we get to town, not going to school first. I also had to dictate a written statement, with everything we'd been talking about for 2 days, sign it, and put my fingerprint on it! They then asked Obbo if he was willing to "carry this load" on our behalf, which he agreed he was. (Don't even know what that meant!)

All of that took an hour and half, and our students and the other teachers had been so worried about us but told us they'd prayed for us at staff devotions. Nothing else happened the rest of the week with them, and now we know!

Week in Kondoa 1

So much happened last week I think it will take several entries!

The first thing had actually started the week before when one of our student teachers, Agaba, did not show up when he was supposed to. When he finally did come, he and Obbo, the headmaster, had such a run-in that I got several texts and emails from both of them about how impossible it would be for them to work together! If Agaba can't do his practice teaching, he can't take his exam for certification, and he will have "wasted" a year and a half and countless money and investment. I got them to hold off till Sarah and I could get there, so first thing Monday morning (we had taken a 6 a.m. bus on Sunday morning and got there Sunday afternoon around 2), we were in Obbos' office discussing things. Our back-up plan was to send Agagba back to Karanse where he had been for the previous 15 months, but which he would, I was sure, want no part of going back to. Obbo was going to talk to Agaba after talking with us, but when we left him, he was adamant that he would not have Agaba working for him. I just prayed all morning, as I was observing,that God would work to soften his attitude. About 10, he found me in a classroom and said "Miriam, I want to think about Agaba.I told him we would meet at 1. Can you be there?" I was so shocked but agreed instantly and prayed even harder. The eventual outcome was that Agaba could stay for his practice teaching, but Obbo held out no hope of his continuing there after taking his exams in May. I decided we'd take one thing at a time, so we didn't tell Agaba part 2 of that decision, as I'm praying Agaba will prove himself to Obbo in the intervening months. Agaba started teaching first thing Tuesday morning to all 60+ second graders, as they'd been combined in the absence of a teacher for the previous week! He did a fine job, and Sarah helped them divide their classes, and we both observed him during the week. I thought he did a fine job, and I'm praying the oil and water of their beginnings won't adversely affect the rest of their time together.

Another momentous trip into town!

First, this really isn't meant as whining so I hope it doesn't come across that way. I had a friend who said my blog reminded her of the randomness of life in Africa. It makes me realize how much we take little things for granted back home; but mainly, I hope it just shows the uncertainty of life here and why I learn such lessons about trusting in God alone here, especially as nothing else can be counted on!

As I mentioned in my last blog, I had really enjoyed my water aerobics class and hoped to go back on Saturday. Sarah had things to do in town, so she said she'd go in with me and I could drop her off in town. I made the ultimate sacrifice in getting up before 8 on a Saturday (!), and we were ready to leave shortly after that. We have to open a gate to get in and out of the compound, and it's usually a passenger's job to do that, so Sarah got out. When she got back in, she said, "Your front tire is as flat as a pancake!" Providentially, there were guys working in the garage on base on a Saturday morning, so I turned around and drove straight there.Tzaiko (have no idea if that's how you spell it, but it's close to phonetic!) was already wheeling out the little jack as he saw me coming. He changed my tire,;thankfully, I had a functioning spare, and several other guys told me where to go to get it patched. It was a service station on the way to town, so we called in there (which is how my New Zealand friends would say we stopped there!), and a couple of random-looking guys fixed it and put it back on my spare rack. Cost about $2!

Oh, almost forgot the battery issues! I put my car in thre base garage for a couple of days last week (more shocks and springs!), and when they were done, they apparently left a door open because my battery was dead when I went to pick up the car! They jumped it off and told me it should recharge. Unfortunately, I didn't drive it enough to recharge, so it just went dead again. Friday night one of the teachers, Celina, had an emergency and needed me to drive her, her sister-in-law, her housegirl, her son, and eventually her husband, to her mother-in-law's house about 45 minutes out of town. By the time we left it was getting dark, and sure, enough, my car wouldn't start. Before I left the base, we'd had to get jumped off twice! I had a couple of places to stop and decided to stop with all of them so I'd have Swahili-speaking help if I needed it! At both places I stopped, I left the car running, but the security alarm went off, my car knowing something was wrong! When we turned off the alarm, it also turned off the car, and it died! The second man who helped determined that it wasn't so much the battery as the terminal, so I showed Celina how to hold the terminal while I started the car, saying, "Celina, we are women, we can do this!" Finally got them all home to "Mama" in the dark and rain and made it safely back to EnGedi!

Back to Saturday morning! Where we had to go through the whole terminal-holding thing a couple more times! I told Sarah it was too late to go to water aerobics, so I'd drop her off anyway, then go to plan B, which was the Impala Hotel. I was meeting a friend for lunch, so I wanted to stay close. Had a great swim, then had to figure out how to get in the car since the door locks are attached to the battery-power system! I realized I could open my back hatch, crawl through and unlock the driver's door from the inside, pop the hood, then look for someone to hold the terminal while I started the car! That accomplished, I went to lunch.

Carly, who I was having lunch with, invited me to a movie they were taking some kids to that afternoon, and after a haircut at Aly's (more terminal-holding, etc) I joined them. Eventually made it home after a full day! One night later this week Don came over (Aussie handy man living here), and I got him to replace the terminal clasp. So, now my car starts every time! Moral of the story: you can not take anything for granted!

What's new this week

Mouse found in kitchen cabinets!

Caught in trap 2 days later! (Sure looked smaller in the trap. Hope it was the same one!!)

A couple of students came back to school and had to take their make-up exams. I still have to grade those, but exams are finally finished!

Saw another couple of student teachers who are back to teach here at Joshua Primary School for their block teaching practice. That was fun. It's been lonely here without them!

Went to water aerobics Wednesday morning. Brrrr! Class was supposed to start at 8:30 (a.m.), but the instructor was running late, and it started at 9. I, however, was in the water at 8:30, so I got an hour and a half of exercise. Boy, did my calves let me know yesterday morning. Was so good to have an actual class, though, as opposed to me dong my own thing at a local hotel pool. I like that, but I really like class, too. I'm going to go again tomorrow morning, hopefully.

We have 1 more week here at En Gedi before we start heading out to schools, so I'm trying to make the most of it - getting caught up on laundry, sleeping in my own bed, fixing my own meals, etc. My first trip will be to Kondoa, a 98% Muslim village, and prayer calls begin at 5. Since there's a mosque every couple of yards, there's no way to miss that! We'll stay at a guest house and eat all our meals "out," so I won't be able to determine much of what I eat. Variety will be limited. However, I am so excited to be getting back in schools and seeing our teachers and past teachers I taught when I was here before. Sarah and I will be there for a week, going there and back on a bus, about 6-8 hours each way! Better than taking my car, however!

The newest picture is of me in my Barack Obama kanga robe. I keep forgetting his picture is on the back, and it surprised Linda when I would walk by her. She took the picture on my balcony one morning after our morning tea together. I like the front better which is maps of Africa!

If you get invited to a Tanzanian wedding; things you need to know!

First, realize the time on the invitation is in no way related to the time the wedding will start! Sarah and I went to a wedding yesterday of one of my former student-teachers and the current head teacher of the primary school here on base at En Gedi. When we went to Magreth's wedding in November, it was an hour and a half later starting than the invitation said, so yesterday, we were in no hurry to arrive, getting there an hour and a half late. This time, the wedding was in full swing, the church was completely packed, and we stood outside for the remaining hour and a half!

Which brings me to my second point: this is an all day and, if you go to the reception, an all night event! The wedding may have started at 12, and we left the reception shortly after 8, and we weren't the last people to leave!

Thirdly, make sure you know where the church is! There were no directions on the invitation, just the name of the church. I asked at my church and got what I thought were fairly good directions, but after driving till the road we were on became little more than a track, we decided to call someone to find out. One of the parents of Sarah's student, Noel, lives in the area, so she caled him and he graciously gave us directons and met us to get us started on the right way. That's part of the reason we were late!

Fourthly, if you are the only 2 white people there, expect to be noticed, even if there are hundreds of other people! Needless to say, it's hard to blend in with the crowd! People here don't think staring is rude, so we smiled a lot, played with children, and had to get over the idea of not being seen!

Lastly, expect to be bored a lot (with hours in Swahili!), but also expect to have fun! I saw so many ex-students from when I was at Joshua before, several current students, so enjoyed seeing all the pretty, colorful clothes, was in a great outdoor garden setting as the sun set, finally ate a really good meal, and just smiled so much my cheeks hurt!

Sadly, forgot to take my camera when I changed purses, but I may get some pictures from Sarah.