It is pretty special to be submersed into this culture and experience
the interaction between people here. Although extreme poverty is
prevalent, most people are very happy. Everyone is outside and there
are literally thousands of kids running around through the villages and
streets with smiling faces. The women are still carrying the fruit/water/ etc. around on
their heads and there is really not too much technological advancement,
at least where I am. There are
TV's, but they have to use an antenna to
pick up signals. All they get is
ITV. Wrestling like the
WWF is on all the time and they
love it here, makes me laugh every time and none of us volunteers really
still know if they know its fake.
I'm borderline filthy at this
point in an Internet cafe. Everyday the foreign smell becomes more and
more normal, I will never say I am dirty or starving again. We have a
shower, and I have hand washed
some clothes once but it is still quite muddy here.
Today my students were
going a bit crazy so I took them outside to play soccer and throw the
ball around (a flat ball maybe 10 years old). I took them out because
they were fighting, chanting "teacher" "teacher" "teacher" (pretty much
all the English they know at this point) and grabbing and hanging on to
me. They only do this when the main teacher "Moma Leah" leaves the area
because they know I wont hit them. Moma Leah will hit them hard with
her hand and a stick, kinda crazy but just the norm here.
I bought
tons of school supplies for the classroom, photocopied English lesson
plans, took a professional class photo and laminated it for the
classroom wall, bought cleaning supplies, etc. I also got a high quality door
put up on a classroom so she can lock things safely in there. The gate might be put on hold because it will cost $320.
The
soccer team is going well! They love the training bibs, and have used
them everyday this week. Myself and 2 other volunteers play with this
local team and they welcome us with open arms.
I am planning some amazing things to do: Want and actually doing are
two different things but here are things volunteers and I are
considering. I am planing to visit the church and Mosque here, visit
and sit in on the Rwanda trials in Arusha, go Forrest trekking in Moshi to see the tree monkeys and strange creatures, Go to the mt. kili waterfalls, I could climb Mt. Kilimanjaro but it is around $900, 4 day safari through the Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater, Lake Manyara
and some other park I cant remember at the moment. I am still in a
stressful stage of extending my flight so i can visit Dar es Salaam and
volunteer there for a while as well as visit Zanzibar. lots have been
planned there as well
Anyway, I am exhausted and out of time but I will continue to keep this updated as much as possible.
Cheers,
Chris
