Friday, February 20, 2015

The new school year

They. Love. Pictures.


I sit writing this as twenty of my sweet students dance and laugh around me, screaming out “Teacha Chaaleene, take a pitchaa!”  They braid my hair and sit on my lap and tell me they love me, and my heart is so full.  Sometimes I just cannot believe that this is my life right now.  But I also cannot imagine being anywhere else.


The rainy season made this place green and beautiful.



Well it’s been a while since I have written.  Scott and I went on vacation for a month and it’s been a whirlwind ever since.  Our Christmas and New Years’ was spectacular.  We ate on a boat overlooking the Eiffel Tower in Paris, walked through Westminster Abbey on Christmas in London, stared up at a monstrous Golden Buddha on New Year’s Eve in Bangkok, swam and bathed with elephants near a Thai beach to ring in 2015… it was the adventure of a lifetime.  I did get my wallet pick pocketed in Paris, which was and is very inconvenient, but I didn’t let that spoil even one day of my trip.  I just felt so thankful that I had the chance to travel to so many amazing places.  I honestly never thought that would have been possible (and those that used to know me would say they never thought it was possible either).  But God’s plans and designs usually exceed my own, and for that I am incredibly grateful.  I will admit, I felt a bit guilty for leaving the village for that long to spend so much money.  But I was encouraged again and again to go and refresh my spirit.  Sometimes I forget to take care of myself here because I am so invested in the children, and as worthwhile as teaching them is, I needed a break.  I had been getting burnt out there at the end of the school year.  By the end of our travels, I felt unbelievably rejuvenated and was ready to come back to Tanzania to work.
Where one of my students lives.


Goofy girl Gile, with the most precious smile.
Our journey to Europe and Asia was somewhat of a shock to my system.  To be around so many people, all those buildings, the traffic and the variety of food… it felt surreal after 6 months of dirt roads and mud huts.  It was difficult at times, comparing the affluence of such big, developed cities to the poverty ridden state of Berega.  How come there is such a disparity between the two?  Why are there hospitals and schools and clean water over there, while the people here struggle to survive?  When will more people start sharing their wealth and technology with this side of the world?                                                            These are some of the questions I couldn’t stop asking myself. 

 But I did force my mind to turn off sometimes so I could forget about the problems here and enjoy my holiday.  Analyzing and worrying it to death was definitely not the solution.  So I did have a wonderful time, experienced three amazing countries and met with lots of great people.  I am so so glad I took that opportunity to travel. That being said, I did miss the village life.  I missed my students, I missed my home, and I missed the simplicity.  Here, the only money I spend is $3 a week at the market for rice, beans, and vegetables, I don’t worry about my appearance or whether my clothes match, and I can walk everywhere I need to go.  There is a certain freedom in living in the ‘bush’, away from the grind and the expectations, the constant hustle of trying to keep up with those around you.  I don’t feel the need to be anything other than the best version of myself and that feels pretty good.  More than anything though, I missed my kids.  Those little ones hold the keys to my heart and no fancy vacation could compare to spending time with them.
Watching a movie at my place.. special moments.


It’s weird.. when I first got here, I felt like a year was going to be this astronomical amount of time, it felt like forever.  But now that I am more than halfway through my commitment, I realize that the time is literally flying by, so much faster than I want it to go.  Since I’ve gotten back, I have made a conscious effort to savor every moment of my life here.  I used to get so caught up in day dreaming about America, cheeseburgers, medical school, my friends and family.  Now I remind myself that in six months, when I’m back home complaining about iphones and gas prices, I’ll be dreaming of being back in Tanzania, wishing I could play with my students and eat rice and beans for dinner.  One of the most important things I have learned here is how to live one day at a time.  I used to say it all the time back home but now I actually try to live it.  Because I know that this is one of the most defining experiences of my life, and I don’t want to waste a single moment thinking about things I can’t control.  For the first time ever, I’m not trying to plan and fix what hasn’t happened yet; I just sit back and enjoy whatever is happening at the time, because it’s special and won’t last forever.
Sweet Abby wearing my glasses wr
Standard one improving their English with storybooks.



Sometimes I think I am becoming desensitized to many of the day to day events that occur here.  But then there are moments that amaze me and blow my mind, and then I know I’ll never get completely used to it.  Like the time I threw a bag of beans in my yard because they were infested with hundreds of bugs… a few minutes later I found three women scraping them out of the dirt and putting them into a basket.  In my limited Swahili I explained that there were bugs in them, but they just begged me to let them have the beans.  Of course I said yes, and as they walked away I felt a mixture of amusement and sadness.  I’m sure they thought I was nuts for throwing any kind of beans out, insects or not. 

Then there was the time I was in the shower and the electricity went out, so I called Scott to hold a flashlight so I could finish my shower.  Then as I was all nice and soapy, the water ran out too. I stood there freezing in the dark while he ran to get water from another house. I was furious but couldn’t help but laugh at the ridiculousness of the situation.

Then there’s the day my sweetest student Abby asked to go outside during a quiz.   I said no, and then she whispered in my ear “I need to go pollute the air”. I was stunned into silence, and then we both burst out laughing like it was the funniest thing in the world. 

And of course, there was the week when I was chased by a bat from one class and then a squawking chicken flew into my other classroom, creating all sorts of chaos among the children and shrilling screams on my part.  These are the times when I truly love and appreciate where I am and I hope, wish, and pray that I remember each one forever.
Standard two working hard in their extremely cramped room.

Well we are in the fourth week of school and things are going well.  It started out rough, one of our teachers who said she was on her way to Berega never showed up.  We called her and she was still at home in Dar es Salaam, and said she changed her mind, she had another job.  Well thanks for being so considerate as to tell us the day before school started!!  So we had to re-hire the teacher who had been beating the kids because he was our only other option.  We weren’t happy about this but there is a serious lack of good, reliable teachers in this country.  Also, because we don’t have room for the Standard 4 students, we had to put them in a room at the church.  Someone failed to tell us that the pastor who had the key would be out of town, so we couldn’t get into the room and had to have class outside for a week.  And then, another teacher said he had to leave for two days to go pick up his certificates in another town.  He didn’t come back for 10 days.  I was left trying to control and teach two classes, which as you can imagine was exhausting.  In America, if you leave work for that long and told the boss you would only be gone two days, you’d be replaced in an instant.  But again, there’s a lack of good teachers here so we do the best we can with what we have.  All this nonsense can be summarized with the phrase “This is Africa.”
My standard three boys.

With all the struggles aside, the students are doing fantastic.  I got a new group of kids for Standard 1, straight out of pre-school, and it was pretty intimidating at first.  They didn’t speak hardly any English and it’s incredibly difficult to teach 25 children who don’t understand a word you are saying.  But those kids are like sponges, after just a few weeks of listening to me and doing a few simple English games, they are starting to get it.  They are answering questions and reading words and starting to make sentences.  It has been incredibly rewarding to see such an improvement in them in such a short amount of time.  To know that I am helping to lay the foundation for their education, teaching them the language and the skills that will hopefully lead them to a higher standard of living, is the most rewarding feeling I’ve ever had.  Plus they are just too cute!  My standard 2, 3, and 4 classes are also doing well.  Standards 2 and 3 are really starting to put the pieces together, figuring out how to speak and write well, actually remembering the things they learned last year.  Standard 4 is the most fun though.  They aren’t just learning what, they are asking why.  They want to know everything so we have the most awesome conversations about life and science and the world.  Their usage of the English language is just amazing.  We talked about the word ‘committed’ one day, the next day they were all using it in their conversations. They completely astound me.
Saturday afternoon walk with the girls.

 I didn’t realize how great our kids were doing until we got a new student, Phaustine, from another private school in Dar es Salaam.  He was in Standard 4 there, but as soon as we tested him we knew he had to go back to Standard 1.  He got maybe 10 points on the English and Math exams (the one our kids had an 85% average on), he can’t spell a word or say a complete sentence, and he cannot read to save his life.  This made me so incredibly proud of our school and our students, that we have raised the bar so high that other schools can’t even compete.  But it also made me pretty sad to think that he came from a nice, expensive private school and yet, cannot even read a sentence of English off a page.  What are they even teaching there??  So I feel really grateful that I get to be a part of a school that is producing such remarkable results and educating children that are the brightest of any others I’ve ever met.  I am positive that our students are the future of this country; they are going to be the doctors, lawyers, pilots, and politicians that are going to make the changes this place needs.  And I get to be a very small part of that.  What a gift. 
Life long memories in the making.

I think this thing is long enough, please comment here and leave me your feedback!  Also, please no more packages.  It's actually very expensive to pick them up and the boxes can get lost/stolen/damaged easily.  But please still consider donating at hands4africa.org.  That way we can support the local economy by buying supplies and can start building our new school..  Construction should start soon and we need all the help we can get.  Until next time!