Last day in Berega

Well, here it is.  My last blog post of my time here in Berega.  If you have been reading any of these since I got here a year ago, you’ll know that this experience has been a crazy whirlwind of an adventure.  Lots of extreme highs and even more extreme lows, but overall the most incredible and rewarding time of my life.  The last week has been filled with packing and cleaning, and cherishing each moment I have left with my kids.  I’m pretty scared about returning to the ‘normal’ world, what things will be like without my school, my students, and everything else about this place I’ve fallen in love with.  Going home and attending school seems like the most boring thing ever compared to the continuous excitement I’ve had over here.  I would honestly stay forever, if I didn’t truly believe it was God’s plan for me to go to medical school so I can be of more use to Him in the future.  But I never know what is in store for me, maybe I’ll come back to Berega one day as a doctor!

Getting ready to leave has been a bit stressful to say the least. Because exams are this week, I’ve spent most of my time writing, correcting, and printing off tests in 10 subject areas.  I gave my English and Science tests on Thursday and I am so proud of my students. More than half passed with a 70 or higher in every class!  And it’s only the midterm so those who didn’t pass have 6 more months to study for the final.  It’s been the most incredible thing, to teach these kids and see them learn and grow, and to know that I have played a role in this fundamental stage of their lives.  Some of these kids could barely write a sentence when I first met them, now they are writing full paragraphs and imaginative stories.  I can’t imagine anything more rewarding than being a part of these students’ education. 

So the day after my tests I threw a huge party for my Standard 1, 2, 3, and 4 kids. To say this was chaotic would be an understatement, but it was so much fun.  We did relay races, played games, had a football match, ate snacks, gave away prizes, and took lots of pictures.  Then that night, I invited the older kids to come sleep over at my house…  we had a blast!  We watched movies and had pillow fights, talked til late into the night and snuggled on the floor.  It was wonderful.  If anything, I’ll come back to Berega just to have another sleepover!  Seriously, those kids are the best. 

Today was my last day of school, I gave back my graded tests and explained to my students the things they got wrong.  Then we hugged and kissed and cried the rest of the day.  My heart completely broke to see my sweet kids crying and then having to say no when they asked if I would please stay in Berega.  I just can’t believe I won’t see these children whenever I want to, that I won’t hear ‘Teachaaaa Chaween’ anymore, that kids won’t be knocking on my door all afternoon hoping to play with me.  I know I’ll come back but not knowing when is the hardest part.  I think of these children like my own and going back to America after all we have been through feels like I’m abandoning them.  I hope they know how much I truly love them and how much they have inspired me, and that I’ll think of them always for the rest of my life.  They have given me more joy, contentment, and love in these past twelve months than I’ve ever felt, and I hope I’ve given the same to them. 

If you have ever thought about volunteering abroad I highly recommend it.  It will open your eyes and fill your heart and enrich your life in ways you can’t imagine.  I’m so grateful for the things I have done here and the people I have met, but I know it’s time to move on to the next chapter- medical school!  So take care everyone, until next time!!  Oh and the internet isn’t good enough for pictures this time, but I promise a whole bunch of them when I return to the land of fast wifi!!!

Visitors from America

The kids playing with all the fun stuff Laura and mom brought.

Only eight weeks to go… it’s so hard for me to believe that in the nearby future, I will be back in America living the same life I was before I got here- well plus medical school.  Tanzania seems like home to me now.  The people, the food, the culture, the language.. it’s what’s normal.  But I try hard not to think about where I will be in a few months, and focus more on what I am doing now.  The school is going great.  All the students are so wonderful, and are learning more every day.  My students are particularly awesome.  Sometimes they ask questions I don’t even know the answer to so I have to go look it up, and then I get to learn something new!  I feel like I learn more as a teacher than I ever did as a student.  I’m learning how to set boundaries, what behaviors I can and will not put up with, the most effective ways of getting my point across, what I know and what I want to know more about… I’m learning how to be patient, disciplined, loving, tolerant, trusting, and committed, even when things aren’t going my way.  This has helped me to grow in ways I never would have been capable of in America, and though it isn’t easy, it’s been incredibly enriching.  I think I’m learning more than my students are!

Oh yea, she was feeling the love.

So my mom and good friend Laura came to visit me a little while back and they had such a blast.  I

split the classes so they could teach too, and just like I figured they fell in love with my students.  What’s not to love though?  The innocence, the joy, the laughter… no one is a stranger to those children.  I was so grateful to share this part of my life with people from back home, it’s not easy to explain this place to those who have never been to Africa.  Now I think they understand more of what’s special about Tanzania and why I chose to come here for a year.  Laura taught my classes how to do the hokey pokey and now it’s their favorite thing to do!  They especially loved meeting my mom, most of the kids call me ‘Mom’ so they started calling my mom ‘Grandma’ and she loved it!  It was really such a great time. We were at the school for four days, and on the second day we went to dinner at a Tanzanian teacher’s house.  Mom actually killed and de-feathered a chicken!  I’m sure their whole family thought we were ridiculous because we were all screaming and jumping around when we were trying to catch it, but to them it’s just a normal day.  Everything here is fresh, straight from the ground or the animal.  And even though there wasn’t as much meat on that chicken, the flavor was better than anything I’ve had back home.  We all sat around the fire while it was cooking and watched the sun go down.. it was a very African experience.  After a few days at the school, we went on safari to Mikumi Park (where we saw TONS of animals!) and then to Zanzibar for two days, we had so much fun!  Overall it was a very nice little vacation.

Me holding the chicken mom was about to kill.

Well we got a new teacher from America, her name is Lisa and she has been such a blessing.  I was starting to get worried about leaving my students without a ‘mzungu’ to make sure things run properly, but now she is here and staying for at least a year.  She is teaching remedial classes for the students who are really struggling.  This is wonderful for them to get that personal attention, but also great for the rest of the class who don’t want to wait for me to explain things a hundred times to the kids who are behind.  Remember I talked about Phaustine in the last blog post?  Well he has been in remedial and he is doing SO MUCH BETTER!  His English has improved and he can actually read a simple book cover to cover and only mis-pronounce a few words.  I am so impressed with how he is doing, and it’s only taken a few weeks with Teacher Lisa to get him up to speed.  So things have been running really smoothly, and it’s nice to have another American there to talk to and help me out.  I talked her into taking the Standard 4 English class so I could teach Standard 4 Science, this has been super fun!  Standard 4 has the most brilliant students, and most want to be doctors and nurses , so they are interested in all things science.  Lately we have been talking about infectious diseases and how to prevent/diagnose/treat them, we’ve talked about the digestive system and what foods our bodies need to survive, and now we are on plant and animal sexual reproduction (the giggling has almost died down..). I have loved every minute of it, not just because I love science but because I love how excited they get about science.  What I would do for a microscope for those kids… oh well, maybe next year. 

Mom de-feathering the chicken with T. Samson.

On safari!

Other interesting news about Standard 4, we recently went to another private school about an hour away to take a mock national exam.  In Tanzania, to go to Standard 5 (fifth grade) the students have to pass an exam covering every subject they have in school.  The problem is that the test is in English and most schools don’t teach English, mostly because the teachers don’t know it, so the majority of kids don’t pass and this is the end of their academic career.  But our school has had a native English speaking teacher since it began so our kids are fabulous at English, and most other things, so we really weren’t worried.  

We just thought it would be a good idea to have the kids take an exam similar to what they will take at the end of the year and see how they do.   The good news: since you only need a 45% to pass, most of our kids did well above that.  We enforce a 70% passing rate so even though a 50% didn’t seem good enough for me, it is good enough for Tanzania.  The not so good news:  the kids really struggled with the test because the English was not correct and they are used to proper English from us at all times, so they kept getting really confused. Also, they are not used to taking paper exams. We don’t have the money to print a hundred pages every time we want to test the students, we just use the blackboard to give them quizzes and see how well they know the material.  So they had a hard time, but from now on we will work on making more paper tests to prepare them better.  All the time and effort we have put into the school would be no good if our kids don’t pass this exam.  Overall, it was a great experience because now we know where our weaknesses are and what we need to focus on.  It was also really good for us to see how other schools are operating and what we can improve on.

A beautiful female lion resting under the shade.

 Well this last week was pretty stressful because all of our boarding kids and about half of the local kids got pink eye.  We found out that the water supply at boarding was extremely dirty and unsanitary; there were all sorts of bugs and worms in the well that they use to wash clothes and bathe in.  And because pink eye is very contagious, every day there were five or six new kids who showed symptoms.  There was nothing we could give them so we just said they need to wash their hands often and not touch their eyes, but they were sad when we had to send them home.  The church is supposed to be responsible for keeping the well water clean so they cleaned it yesterday and hopefully, this won’t happen again.  But that’s the thing about Tanzania, it’s all about reaction.  There is no prevention.  They just wait until someone is sick or dying before doing anything, instead of doing regular maintenance to make sure bad things don’t happen.  But what can we do?  We can educate our children so that when they grow up, they are more responsible than those that came before them.

Awesome herd of elephants at the watering hole.

Also last week, my friend Martha and her friend Lisa came to visit me… of course me and Martha both caught the pink eye, which was expected but still not fun.  Besides that, I think they had a really good time meeting the kids and seeing the school.  It was nice to have visitors again, I feel loved to have so many people come out here to see me!

Posing for the picture.

Well that’s about it.  Things are going well with the school and Berega.  Scott and his team of workers are finally getting started on building the new school.  Their goal is to have three classrooms built by the end of the year… but you know how that goes, nothing ever happens in a timely manner here. But the director of Hands4Africa, Dr. Brad Logan, is coming in a couple of weeks and he is sure to get things moving along. I am really looking forward to meeting the generous man who gave us this wonderful opportunity,  I hope that one day I can do as much good in the world as he has done for this place.  I really do miss my family and friends back home, thank you all for loving me and supporting me through this journey.  I can’t wait to see everyone in a couple months!  But for right now, I am just soaking in each moment and enjoying life to the fullest.  Take care.

Obviously, these monkeys were having more fun than we were.

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!