Let the teaching begin!

Look how peaceful he is...

So things have gotten a little bit more exciting around here.  The weekend before school started, me, Scott, Laura, Sarah, and Liz went on another safari since it was Sarah's birthday and Laura had never been on one.  Two safaris in two months… I really do love Africa!  And this time was amazing; along with hundreds of elephants, giraffes, and zebras, we saw a male lion basking in the sun.  Our driver Abdallah actually drove so close to him, we could have literally reached out and touched him!  He was monstrous but really beautiful.. we were hoping to see him chase after an animal and tear it limb from limb with his razor sharp teeth, but no such luck.  He just yawned and continued sleeping, paying us no attention.  It was still really cool though.

Me and Scott by the hippo pool.

A little family of elephants!

After a full day of searching for and staring at all the incredible animals, we stayed the night at a nice hotel in Morogoro (the town two hours from the village where we go to get supplies).  We were so thankful to take a long, nice hot shower and to eat a delicious meal that we didn’t have to cook.  I also got my first package since being here!  I was so excited! Sue D. sent me so many wonderful things, including school supplies, shoes for the kids and for me, and some spiritual literature I really needed.  Thanks Sue!!  I’m so grateful to have wonderful friends like you in my life who support me and the work I am doing here.  Keep those packages coming!  It’s really nice to have something to look forward to.  If you do send something, be sure to write ‘donations’ on the box so the Tanzanian government doesn’t keep the contents for themselves… I have heard they do that..  

Farida and Joan say hello and thank you for the shoes Sue D.!  We love you!

A couple of the village kids.  See the difference?

Most of you know I am working here as a teacher in a private school that was started by a wonderful non-profit, Hands4Africa.  I want to explain a bit about the school system here in Tanzania.  It sucks.  The government schools are abysmal, the classes are full of about 100 children because there aren’t enough teachers, the teachers that are there hardly show up because there is no accountability, and if the teachers do make the children work its to memorize their books- there is no creative thinking whatsoever.  Did I mention they also beat the children?  The whole system is a failure.  Only about 60% of children have the option to even start school because they either cannot afford it or there is not a school anywhere near them.  The students who do get to start school hardly ever get to finish.  Primary school is Standards 1-7, after standard 7 (about 7^th grade) the students must take a test to get into secondary school (equivalent to high school).  After secondary school, you take a test to enter into a university. The passing rate is 40%, and more than half of all students cannot pass to get into secondary school and less than 1% actually go on to university!  With the majority of children forced to leave school at the age of 12, they must settle for a village job (where they make about $2 a day) and submit to a life of poverty.  Most young boys join workers at the farm, growing maize or tending to cows, while the girls must become house servants.  They cook and clean and take care of children for another family.. it also means the man of the house they are working for gets to use her for anything he wants, including sex.  No wonder there are so many young teenage girls who are HIV positive and pregnant. Without an education, there are no viable options for these children. So good schools are absolutely essential!!   With a good education and the ability to speak English, students are ten times more likely to go to a university and get a meaningful, well paying job.  If they get a good job, they can pay for basic necessities like clean water and health care.  Then maybe, they will wait to start a family until they can afford it (instead of continuing to have babies that they can’t feed).  And when the time comes and they do have children, they will be able to send them to a good school too so then their child can have a meaningful life. These students could be part of the agent of change for this place and it all starts with an opportunity for a good education.  That is what we are doing here.  We may not change all of the world, but we could change the world for the children at our school.

The kids trying to take our test.. if you can't tell they don't have a clue.

To see how our school measured up to the government schools, me and Liz held an experiment a couple weeks ago.  We had a few of our students gather ten of the kids who go to a normal village school, we promised them cookies so it was easy to find kids to participate.  First of all, you can just tell the difference between our kids and them.  Our kids are decently clean, well behaved, and respectful.  The village kids are filthy, don’t wear any shoes, push each other around, and act like hoodlums.  We gave them each a test that our students had taken at the end of the school year in June (on which we had an average of 75%) to see how they did compared to us.  It was a massacre.  Most of the children could not even spell their own names, they couldn’t count to ten, none of them knew any English…and they just stared at the test, completely unable to even answer one question.  We felt it was mean to continue so we took the tests away and gave them their cookies, knowing that those kids were doomed.  And there wasn't a thing we could do about it.  For the first time, I realized the gravity of the work I am here to do and how important our school is. 

My first science quiz... the average was an 80%

My students taking the quiz.

Well school finally started a few weeks ago and besides getting disgustingly sick for two days during the second week, everything has been going great.  I finally have a set schedule again- those of you who know me know I don’t do well with lots of idle time!   Not to mention, I absolutely love my job.  It is truly the most rewarding, incredible feeling I have ever had to teach these children, I feel like I was meant to be here all my life.  Their love, their joy, their willingness to learn... lifts my heart in ways I have never experienced.  Plus it’s really fun!!  They love learning, and I love teaching!  I have mostly been teaching English and Science.  We talk about why cleaning our bodies is important, what germs are, what diseases are caused by, why we brush our teeth, why we clean our foods before we eat them, why we boil water before we drink it… its all related to science, but it’s also really necessary for the way they live here.  Most people don’t know why when they drink the river water, they get sick with typhoid.  Or why their teeth are black and broken by the age of 12.  Or how to prevent disease- many people believe only a witch doctor can cure them.
As much as I love teaching them these things, it can be really hard too because all the knowledge in the world still can’t change their current circumstances.  I talk about why it’s important to drink clean water but many of my students will never have access to it.  There aren’t any dentists here so even if they brush their teeth, cavities can still grow and decay the teeth til there isn't anything left.  And though they may learn about diseases, there is such a lack of medicine and health care that even when they do get sick they may not survive.  I try not to think too much about these things because it makes me feel so sad and hopeless...  but all I can do is pass on the knowledge I have and do the best I am capable of, hoping and praying that it will somehow make a difference.  Also I have to keep in mind that it’s not up to me to save these children, that is God’s job.  I am just His instrument, trying to obey His will for my life. But that does not mean it's always easy.

It’s difficult to talk about some of these things, and it may seem that I am being harsh or bleak.  But it doesn’t do any good to hide the truth of what is going on over here and awareness is the first step in making a change.  There are many wonderful, beautiful things about this country- the people, the culture, the language.  But there is definitely a lot of progress that needs to be made.  And though it is hard living without many of the comforts I am used to, the children make it all worthwhile.  I am so grateful to have this opportunity and to do something for once that is not all about me.  God has truly blessed my life.  And I hope God blesses all of you!  Take care.

At the end of each day, the children pray together out loud.  Cutest.  Thing.  Ever.

P.S.  I read all the highlights from the Georgia/Clemson game and all I have to say is... GO DAWGS!!!!

A house wife from the 1800's

Are you impressed yet??

Well hello again, since my last blog post I have been living in Berega, getting used to village life, but because school doesn’t start until Monday I have not had much to do.  Hence, the title of this post.  This has pretty much been my every day life:  cooking, cleaning, and…well that’s about it.  Every week on Monday, I go to the market to buy fresh fruits, vegetables, and spices for our home.  Then I usually stop by a neighbor’s house to pick up some freshly made bread, cooked right over an open fire.  I then go home, do the dishes from last night’s dinner, use the water from the dishes to wipe off all the kitchen and bathroom surfaces, sweep the entire house, and then use the dishwater again to mop (conservation of water is really important!).  The first two weeks I even washed our own clothes by hand just to see if I could do it… never again!  Rubbing the clothes made my hands so raw and trying to get the water and soap out of the clothes took all day, it was the hardest work I have ever done.  So now we are paying a girl to wash our clothes.  I’ve definitely taken having a washer and dryer for granted!  Every night I cook dinner from scratch using fresh ingredients, and for those of you who know me as the queen of frozen meals, this should be pretty surprising.  I have been able to make homemade spaghetti (after lots of peeling, cutting, and smashing of tomatoes), stews from scratch using lots of veggies and potatoes, fried eggplant parmesan, and my favorite rice and beans (although it does take an hour to pick out all the sticks and stones..);  I have also made my own French bread (see pictures), banana bread, brownies, and chocolate cake.  I hope these things are healthier for us since we don’t use anything that is pre-packaged or canned.. but even if they aren’t we can’t afford to be picky! There is a lot of repetition here since food is so limited. Scott helps some in the kitchen, but mostly with the meat.  We eat a lot of goat and it’s as fresh as meat can be… straight from an animal that was killed that day or the day before.  Preparing the meat takes forever because all the bone and connective tissue has to be cut out, but after its been marinated and sautéed it it is actually really tasty.  So I am positive by the end of this year we will both have mastered the art of preparing and cooking our own meals from the simplest of ingredients.  Maybe I'll even get rid of my microwave!  (Just kidding...)  

Besides being a housewife, I have been able to do a few other things in the village.  I talked to some people at the hospital about doing alcohol abuse education and they asked me to give a presentation on it for all the doctors, nurses, and students.  So I made a powerpoint on what alcoholism is, and what negative physical, emotional, and circumstantial consequences can occur.  I talked about the difference between a normal drinker, a hard drinker, and an alcoholic, and what the symptoms are of each one.  Then I talked about AA and how it has been able to help thousands of people get sober.  When it was over, you should have seen their faces…. People were shocked that I would even discuss such an issue.  The thing you should know about Tanzanians is that no one really talks about anything.  They have this idea that if everything looks good on the outside, everything is good- so people don’t ever mention things like alcoholism, unprotected sex, or HIV. Everyone knows it happens but no one acknowledges it, either because they are too afraid or too uneducated to know anything about it.  Especially in the villages where there aren’t TVs, newspapers, radios, or billboards, people don’t get exposed to really important sociological issues so it just keeps snow balling until it becomes a huge problem.  Anyway, the people who watched my presentation were pretty surprised by the information but the good thing is that they also had several questions. I don’t think anyone has ever approached the subject of alcoholism before so they all wanted to know more about it.  My goal is to start an informational session once a week to discuss important problems in this area, alcohol abuse being one of them.  If enough people show interest, I want to start an AA meeting.  Just like everything else here, it may or may not work and it may not produce anything substantial, but if a seed is planted for one person who may be able to get help in the future then it will be totally worth it.  Also, the great thing about educating the medical staff is that they will hopefully be able to recognize signs of alcohol abuse in their patients and talk to them about it.  Oh well, we will see what happens and I’ll keep you updated! 

I did also want to mention that before I went on vacation, I noticed that the children’s ward had a very poor scale made of a rucksack and a hook attached to a dial- very inaccurate and not effective for weighing children who are unconscious.  One of the doctors said they needed another one so while I was in Arusha, I bought a manual scale that children can lie on that gives really good readings and is useful for children who are not awake.  The weight of a sick child is very important so this is a significant contribution to the hospital.  I was able to pay for this scale because of the wonderful Camille Morgan!  Because of your generous donation Camille, these children will get weighed properly and be given the right amount of medication or nutrition in order to nurse them back to health.  You have no idea how much this means to the people of Berega, so we all say thank you very much.

The scale they used to weigh babies in

The new scale donated by Camille

I did say I would talk about the orphanage here so this would be a good time.   We went to a fundraiser at the orphanage last week and that was really good.

The fundraiser.. Six.. hours... long!

The orphanage is run by Mama Ute, a German lady who has been here for 14 years so she really knows what she is doing by now.  This orphanage is not like the one I was at in Arusha where kids just live by themselves with hardly any supervision or care.  The one here in Berega is really unique because it takes children whose mothers have died, and raises them for the first two years of their lives.  After this time, a relative like a sister or aunt or grandmother takes the child home, that way the child does not permanently stay at the orphanage (in the big cities, children just roam the streets and no one knows who they belong to, but in small villages, it is easier to know who the child is and someone usually steps up to take responsibility).  The reason for taking care of them the first two years is because without proper formula or care after birth, the child will likely die without the mother.  So the workers at the orphanage feed the babies, change their diapers, and care for them until they are at the right age to eat solid food and go home with their relatives.  It’s a really good system and the children are pretty well taken care of, but I really enjoy going and playing with all the sweet babies.  They were short on clothes and shoes when I got here so I was also really glad to get to donate many of the items I brought from America (thank you so much to everyone who donated, especially Aunt Kim and Nancy!  Now the kids will get to brush their teeth everyday :)).

Maranda hard at work in his Sesame Street book

Another productive thing I have been doing with my time is teaching English to a very nice man named Maranda.  Me and Scott met him at the beginning of our trip and have gotten quite close to him.  He expressed a great interest in learning English and eventually going to America to make money for his family.  So for the last three weeks I have been teaching him English, starting from the very beginning.. This has been difficult because when you have been speaking a language so long, you don’t realize how the little things add up to the big things.  Like the ABC’s, I learned that so long ago I forget its importance, but Maranda is having the hardest time learning each letter and the sounds that go with it.  It can be frustrating but it is really good practice for teaching the kids.  He is slowly getting better and starting to piece words together, I really hope over the course of this next year he will be speaking in full sentences.  This has been nice too because he has helped me with my Swahili and I am almost able to have a whole conversation with him now!  More on my developing Swahili later.

Other than that, me and Liz (the other American teacher at St. Mary's) have been talking about strategies for the school, what classes we are teaching, and ways of helping the children learn.  Unfortunately, two teachers have quit (one of them waited until 5 pm the night before school started to tell anyone she was not going to return).  This was so frustrating because now we are even more short staffed. There is absolutely no accountability for workers here in Tanzania, they show up when they feel like it and stay home when they don't.  If they do show up, they may work or they may talk on their phone outside the classroom letting the students run wild.  If they get a new job, they don't feel there is any reason to give notice. And when they do teach, they teach the wrong information because they haven't had much schooling themselves!  This is probably a big reason why the educational system here is such a failure, it is impossible to find teachers who are well educated who will actually teach the children, so they end up getting a crappy education and then can't get into secondary school (even though the passing grade is 40%), and with no education beyond the 7th grade there is little chance of them ever finding a decent job... and the cycle of poverty continues.  But I guess that's the reason St. Mary's was started in the first place and the reason I am here in Berega!  We hope to give these kids a shot at healthy, meaningful lives... and the way you do that is through education.

Well that’s about all that has been happening around here, things are getting more exciting now that school is about to start..  I have never been more ready to be back to work!  Hope everyone is doing well, I miss you all!  Can’t wait to tell you about all my precious students!

A few of the students I will be teaching!

The good and the bad of vacation

Yay!  Electricity and internet access!  We have been out of power all week and it has been so frustrating.  I swear, when I get back to the states I will never take reliable Internet for granted again.  On the one hand, its nice to be somewhat disconnected from social media.. no constant checking of texts, facebook notifications, email, etc.  Its kind of freeing to not be so dependent on technology, and it allows me to be fully engaged in the every day life I am experiencing, rather than constantly having my face buried in an iphone or laptop.  On the other hand, its REALLY hard to get used to the lack of connectivity.  If I want to call my mom or friend, there is no internet to call with.  If my phone dies and I want to listen to music, the power goes down and I can’t charge anything.  If I want to clean or cook past 6:30, there are no lights so I just have to go to bed.  It has taken me three days alone to upload this blog post... But I guess that is life in rural Africa.  Its an adventure, that’s for sure!

Our beautiful resort

Ok rant over, I am just thankful I am able to update everyone on what has been going on lately.  As most of you know, I will be teaching at the private school here in Berega (i.e. the only non-government school, and therefore the only acceptable one) but the children go on summer break from July 1 til the middle of August, so me and Scott took this opportunity to travel for a bit.  We first went to Zanzibar, a small island off the coast of Tanzania, and it was INCREDIBLE!  After months of planning for my year in Africa, stressing about money, traveling nonstop, and adjusting to life in Tanzania, this was a very welcomed vacation.  The water in the Indian ocean is the clearest blue I’ve ever seen, the sand was so soft, the ocean breeze wonderfully relaxing, not to mention the food was delicious.... we had legit homemade Italian pizza almost every day. It was true paradise.  I spent my 26^th birthday on the island (yikes!) and for the best birthday gift ever, Scott and I went swimming with dolphins at the southernmost tip of Zanzibar.  These were wild, bottle nosed dolphins and they were everywhere, swimming and dancing and playing with their young.  We got so close to them we could reach out and touch them!  It was seriously a dream come true, so amazing.

Me and Scott standing in the middle of the ocean at low tide

The water at high tide

Full moon at sunset!

We also went on a spice tour; for those who don’t know Zanzibar is a huge hub for naturally grown spices.  We saw where they grow cinnamon, vanilla, cardamom, lemon grass, and lots more.  It was really neat and we got to buy a ton of spices for home, which should hopefully add some flavor to our standard meal of rice and beans.  Lastly, we visited Stonetown which is a very historic and beautiful town right near the ferry port.  Overall, we had a blast in Zanzibar and cannot wait to go back!

Me drinking from the biggest coconut ever

He's cutting cinnamon bark off this tree,
it smelled so good!

Scott and I were made King and Queen of the forest,
complete with crowns made out of banana tree leaves

Home of Freddie Mercury, y'all!

Unfortunately, this is one reason why Zanzinbar is historic

Market in Stone Town

I’m going to add a side note here to talk about the transportation in Africa.  Up until our vacation, we had been getting around by the Hands4Africa driver, Abdallah, who is wonderful.  He took us to Dar Es Salaam, where we flew to Zanzibar (only a 20 minute flight).  On the way back, however, we took a ferry… the cheaper way to go and for good reason.  It. Was. Awful. The boat was going so fast it literally flew over waves and rocked so hard, people were falling out of their seats.  I ended up getting so sick I blacked out and someone nearly carried me to the back of the boat to throw up for the remainder of the ride.  Needless to say, I will NOT be taking the ferry again...  When we got off the ferry port, we were bombarded with 50 taxi drivers trying to pull us into their cabs and yelling Swahili at us.  We tried to escape them but I still felt sick and didn't feel like walking, so we agreed to have one of the drivers take us to the bus station.  Well at first, he was only going to charge 10,000 tsh (about $6) which was fine, but when we got to our destination he demanded 30,000.. and we said no, we agreed on 10,000 but he would not leave us alone until we gave him the money.  Everyone just wants money from us here!!  And when you refuse they can get kind of scary... It isn't like that in the village though, just in the bigger towns.  To get from Dar to Arusha, the best way is to take a bus.  We knew the state of buses in Africa is less than acceptable, so we even paid 10,000 extra shillings to get the ‘luxury’ bus.  Let me tell you what luxury is here in Africa.  Hot air blowing on us that was supposed to be air conditioning, absolutely no room between seats so I had to fold my legs in half and push them against the seat in front of me while a metal bar stuck into my shins the whole ride, BLARING African Christian music in Swahili that was so loud Scott couldn't hear me in the next seat over, and stale snacks for sale that were twice as much as the store.  This was how we got to Arusha, almost 11 hours later.  But I guess its part of the experience!  Once in Arusha, the main way to get around was by dala dala (mini bus) or by piki piki (motorbike).  The dala dalas, as we knew from last summer, are the cheapest way to get around but are so crowded, you are likely to have someone’s butt in your face while you are smashed between multiple people's armpits (and they don't wear deodorant here) and five people are hanging out of the door.  Personal space is definitely not a concept in Africa. The dala dala  also stops every 3 minutes to let someone on or off so everyone has to pile out to let one person off and somehow find a way to let six more people in.  After awhile, this got exhausting so the last few days we used piki pikis which can be quite dangerous but are way more fun and comfortable.  They drive so fast and there aren’t many traffic laws in Africa, or any that I can see, but as long as I don’t open my eyes too often its fine. Man do I really miss driving my own car...

Piki piki from last summer

As for our time spent in Arusha…well we were supposed to be there for two weeks but after one week we were so ready to get back to the village.  First of all, it was very expensive paying for the hotel room, transportation, every meal, and every bottle of water.  Second of all, Arusha is way too busy and fast paced.  Last year it had seemed so rural compared to America, but compared to Berega it was like New York City.  Besides the fact that there’s way more people to stare and point at you, there are also more people trying to get money from you, either by begging or trying to sell you something, or even just following you around acting as a tour guide even though you never asked for one.  After they walk with you for awhile, they will ask for 50,000 shillings and you are like….um noooo.  But because you are mzungu, they will try to take advantage of you. I guess they have just learned that white people are ignorant and will them all their money.

Even though Arusha was expensive and exhausting, I am so very glad we went for two reasons.  The first is that I got to go to three meetings while I was there!  All my good friends will know how incredibly important that was for me… a month without meetings and fellowship had been incredibly difficult, especially while going through so many changes all at once.  My first meeting there was about 10 people, half of whom spoke English, so it was half English and half Swahili.  I did not even care when they were speaking another language, it was just such a relief to be in a room full of people I could relate to and who understood how I felt.  I cried the whole time, I felt so blessed to be in that room.  There were also two women who were so wonderful and friendly to me, and gave me their contact information so I wouldn’t feel so alone in Tanzania.  I also managed to buy some literature in Swahili so hopefully, I can start a meeting or class on alcoholism here in the village.  Even just for educational purposes, I think it could be really beneficial.  Not just for them, but for me too!  I have to keep up that service work! :) 

The sweetest girl ever, Veronica

The other reason I was really glad to go to Arusha is because I got to visit the orphanage I volunteered at last summer.  Those children are the reason I fell in love with Africa (and all my fellow IVHQ volunteers, I miss you guys!) and I could not wait to see them again!  I was so surprised when I got there, the kids didn’t look nearly as ill as they did last year, they had decent clothes on, even electricity had been installed and they had a tv!  I guess one year of  volunteers had done them a lot of good, I was so happy to see how well they were doing.  So I went to the orphanage every day of the week, and played with them, brought them toys and books, read them stories about Jesus and how much He loves them, and I just hugged and kissed them over and over.  The thing those children need more than anything in the world is just love and affection. (They miss you Hannah Ring!)  The kids especially loved Scott, he chased them and threw them over his shoulder, they used him like a jungle gym- he was so great with them.  My favorite little girl, Veronica, would not leave my side the whole time I was there and it took all the will power I had not to take her back to Berega with me.  She is the most beautiful, loving child I have ever had the privilege of knowing, but I know God is watching over her and the other children, taking care of them.  I am just thankful I got the chance to see them again!  I think I will go back over Christmas on our next break and bring them something special….

Me reading stories about Jesus to the children

They kept begging Scott over and over to throw them around

So another 10 hour excruciating bus ride to Morogoro, a two hour ride in the car with Abdallah, and we arrived safely back in the village of Berega Saturday night.  We were so glad to be home..well my home here in Africa.  And Liz, the other teacher at St. Mary’s, gets back this week too and I am so excited to meet her!   There will also be two more English women here who will be working in the hospital for 6 weeks and I am looking forward to meeting them as well… as for right now though, me and Scott are the only wazungu in the village, but I couldn't be happier to be here.  Oh yea, I forgot to talk about the orphanage in Berega again.... oh well, next time for sure!  That’s all for now, will write again soon!

They have the most amazing smiles in the world

First two weeks in the village

Hello everyone!  I haven’t been in touch that much lately because the power keeps going out here so we have had no internet, but wifi is currently on so I am going to update all of you on what has been happening.  Two weeks into village life and I am LOVING it!  Of course there are struggles- power goes in and out, limited water supply, no chocolate, and all the locals stare at us ALL. THE. TIME.  The children especially all gather around and point and yell “Mzungu, Mzungu!” (mzungu= white foreigner).  You would think they would get used to us after awhile, but it seems we sprout a new head every time we walk out our front door.  Oh well, that’s rural Africa for you.  So anyways, what have we been doing so far…. Two weeks ago we went on safari at Mikumi National Park.  We saw tons of zebras, giraffes, hippos, elephants, wildebeest, antelope, water buffalo, and my favorite- baboons!  Me and Scott were with Sarah and her two kids, Logan (another volunteer from the states), and Ema (a wonderful boy from the Masaai village who goes to St. Mary’s).  We had a great time getting to know everyone and seeing the beautiful terrain of Tanzania again.

Animals from Mikumi

Apparently you get fined $4900 if you hit a lion, good to know

         

                                                                                                            

Samweli showing off his shoes

The next day, I awoke to sounds of children calling my name (Teachaa Chaaaleene), I guess everyone found out where we live!  Farida, Joann, and Samweli came in and played with us, we took pictures and showed them a movie (Finding Nemo..they loved it).  They also found my stash of clothes and shoes I brought from the U.S. and were so blown away with everything, I told them they could each have one thing.  You would have thought I told them they won the lottery, the smiles on their faces were incredible.  So Joann chose a teddy bear, Farida a skirt, and Samweli took a pair of Nike shoes Sue Gammill bought at Goodwill (Thanks Sue!)  I could tell he had never seen a nice pair of shoes before, his were plastic and falling apart.  There’s no greater joy for me than seeing these children so happy.

The kids taking their English midterm

I started school at St. Mary’s on Monday to meet all the children I will be teaching come August.  It was the end of their school year so we handed out their Math and English midterms.  The kids are all so cute and sweet, I can tell I am really going to enjoy being here.  Because they are short on books, the walls have been painted with letters, numbers, and months of the year.  They are very resourceful here in Africa, because you have to be!! 

                                                                                                            

Every Monday, local vendors from around the village come to Berega and they put it all out for a market; they sell vegetables, fruit, clothing, straw mats.  Everything is super cheap, except when they give us the ‘mzungu price’ which is hard to escape from because everyone thinks that just because we are white, we are rich.  Well I guess we are compared to them, but it still isn’t good to be taken advantage of.  The market can get uncomfortable because of all the staring and people will just laugh when you try and talk to them.  Seriously, no tact here at all.  At least in America we wait til the person has left the room to start laughing at them, but hamna shida (no problem) you get used to it.  On the way home, Scott took me by the plantation where he is going to be working in the farm and doing construction.  We walked past all the mud huts and the children playing in dirt, and then came up to the best view of this gorgeous mountain range we are surrounded by, the sun was going down behind the mountain and beautiful pink and orange rays shone in every direction, then it started pouring rain while I was watching the sunset and I heard African music playing from nearby.. all of a sudden I was like “Holy crap..I’m really in Africa!!”  It was the most surreal and beautiful moment of my life.  I don’t think I realized where I was til just then.  The rain started coming harder so me and Scott ran home holding hands, dodging the giant mud holes in the road and getting filthy and soaked.  Probably the most fun I have had in a long time.

 Views from the village, pictures do not do it justice

                                                                                                        

The kids with all the stickers on their foreheads

I went to eat lunch with the kids for their last day of school.  They were all so excited, everyone wanted to sit next to me and talk to me and hold my hand.  We also played Simon says and Elephant, Elephant, Lion (or as we know it, Duck, Duck, Goose), they absolutely love playing games and I got super dirty (it is so dusty here!), but it was totally worth it to see their sweet smiles.  At the end, I took out my sticker book.. they acted like I pulled out a million shillings!  There were all stoked and kept pushing each other to get to me first.  But I made them stand in line and tell me one at a time what they wanted to be when they grew up- I got a lot of teachers, a lot of      doctors, and a lot of pilots.  They all wanted me to put the stickers on their foreheads, it was the cutest thing.  On the way home, I noticed one of the little girls had shoes that were torn to shreds, they were barely on her feet anymore.  I held her hand and brought her to my house where I had her put on a new pair of Mary Janes that she loved.  Those shoes were $2 in America but the joy it brought that little girl was priceless.  No better way to spend my afternoon!

Shoes before

Shoes after

                                                                                                                    

                                                                      Isn't she cute?!                                                                          

Since school is out for the summer and I am not able to teach, I have been volunteering at the hospital with Dr. Dave.  He is a retired pediatrician from the UK and allowed me to follow him around to see children at the hospital.  Of course, this place is really sad but super interesting for me since I want to be a doctor.  The hospital is very poor and has limited resources, but there are some basic medical supplies and intelligent staff members.  No one speaks very much English so of course, the language barrier is difficult.  The hospital is the only medical resource around and serves 400, 000 Tanzanians.  No one really comes to the hospital unless they are super sick because people cannot afford the transportation or there are no accessible roads to get here.  Most of the children we saw had a severe form of malaria (the biggest killer of children by far) and many had third degree burns because they had fallen into a fire (the primary way of cooking here).  Of course, many children were malnourished but we hope that the nutritional supplement Scott and I brought from the states will be helpful for that.  I also visited the maternity ward where I am sad to say many babies do not make it, and many of the mothers are 15 and younger, and what is even sadder is the high rate of babies with HIV.  But the babies are so wonderful and gorgeous, I am telling you there is something magical about the children here. 

Murals on the walls of the hospital, teaching the basics of health and nutrition

I am learning so much at the hospital and I am starting to think that I maybe want to go into international medicine…. Especially since I found out last week that I got into medical school at Mercer!!!!  AND they are allowing me to defer my acceptance so I can start next August when I get back from Africa!!!  Oh my goodness, I was so incredibly happy, I could not believe it.  I had pretty much given up hope of med school but God knew what He was doing all along.  This just reaffirmed my belief I am EXACTLY where I am supposed to be.  I am not sure if I would have came to Africa if I had gotten accepted before I left, but because I was accepted a week after I got here I didn't even have to make the decision!  God’s timing is so perfect. Now I can fully enjoy this next year teaching and loving on these children, knowing that when I get home I will start a new chapter where I will hopefully be able to help more people in the future.  God is so good and I am incredibly blessed!

Sarah and her two kids, Ayla and Jovi, went home this week so now me and Scott are the only Americans here, with the other four mzungu being from England and Germany.  This made our fourth of July almost nonexistent as you can imagine, but we had a lot of fun imagining all of you out on the lake, shooting off fireworks, grilling hotdogs and hamburgers with chips and potato salad and watermelon and cookies..mmmmhhh.. as you can tell, we missed out.  But hopefully all of you had an excellent time!!

With that being said, by far the biggest challenge here has been food.  There are not very many things you can get in the village so we have been living off of the vegetables we get from the Monday market, and the huge bags of rice and beans we got in Morogoro.  

Monday market

Cooking is really hard here too, there is only certain water you can use for boiling, the knives are worthless, everything has to be sifted because there are rocks and sticks in everything, and the food takes forever to cook.  Man do I miss microwaves.  But I am proud to say I succeeded in making my first African dish all on my own, fried eggplant with tomato sauce over rice, everything made from scratch and it was delicious!  Took me three hours to make it, but totally worthwhile.  Did I already say I miss chocolate?  Because I do.  So much.  But we are going to Zanzibar on Monday for our vacation (tropical paradise, here we come!) so it will be nice to eat some normal food and not have to worry about cooking.   Then we will be going to Arusha for two weeks to visit the children at the orphanages Scott and I volunteered in last summer, I am so excited to see those kids!  Which reminds me, I haven’t told you about the orphanage here in Berega but as this post is already really long, I will save that for later.  Hope everyone is well, please be thinking and praying for me here and I will do the same for you.  Until next time. Qua Heri!!

Just want to leave you with this incredible view of the African sahara