I’m listening to Christmas music as I write this. It’s March, that’s okay right? (I know Aunt Elaine and Uncle Bud would agree with me). I think these songs are feeling neglected on my iPod because they keep popping up. I gave in and switched to my Christmas playlist. Christmas music really is nice anytime of the year. Especially Charlie Brown’s Christmas album. I listen to that anytime I need a pick-me-up. It reminds me of my favorite times at home.
I had my last study skills class this week. I taught about how to use a dictionary (they know, but there are special things like the dots between the syllables that no one ever explained to them). I also did a following directions quiz. I walked into the classroom acting all serious and told them I’m giving them a “pop quiz,” but they didn’t know what that was, so I started telling them “I’m giving you an exam that you didn’t know about.” That’s not as much fun to say, but it scared them nonetheless. Mission accomplished. They all looked frightened and a little pissed. I put on this schpeel about how this exam was really important and they have to follow the directions closely.
I passed out the exams. They looked something like this:
Read this whole paper first, and then follow the directions given:
1. Put your name on the top right corner.
2. Put the date on the top left corner.
3. What is the name of the first Tanzanian president?
4. Write your age ___
5. Ask your neighbor what her/his favorite color is and write it here:
6. Stand up and shake 5 peoples’ hands
7. Add 2003+3532+3995: _____
8. When completing number 7, shout “I found the answer!”
9. Put your shoe on your desk and leave it there.
…..
20. Don’t follow any of these directions. Do only #1 and #2 and sit quietly at your desk until time is called.
They were pissed until they started moving down the paper and saw that it was a little ridiculous. Of course, because I gave them a 10 minute time limit they rushed through without reading the whole paper first, but there were a few smart ones in each class that found number 20 and sat there laughing with me at the silliness of the others. At the end I walked around proclaiming who passed and who failed. They thought it was really fun. And I thought it was hilarious.
Recently Sean and I started getting serious about helping our students with really poor English. We teachers have been neglecting them a little in my opinion, not giving them the extra English attention they really need. They have a 30 minute tutoring session with Sean, Madam (the English teacher), and I but the students weren’t really utilizing it and honestly, 30 minutes can’t even give you enough time to introduce yourself if you don’t know a smidge of English.
It’s really a pity these students aren’t in their own English remedial class – they could really use it. But I made an announcement reminding them about tutoring and since then the students have been seeking us out a lot for extra help. It is a wonderful group of about 15 students. Most of them have really, really little English comprehension, but there is one or two really sweet kids who are there and know more. They have helped Sean and I translate things that are really difficult, or helped the other students find the correct English words when trying to speak. I think we’re making progress.
I’m coming to realize how much I love English. In high school I absolutely loved my Grammar and Composition class with Mr. O’Neil (and all those with Mr. Daransky), and in university I had Dr. Pace who was an extremely tough English professor but he completely transformed my writing. It is kind of fun to go back to the basics and help these kids understand. Part of me wishes I were teaching English here, which I was out rightly against when I first arrived. Go figure.
These past few weeks I have been doing a lot of work in our library. Fr. Marty registered our school on “Books for Africa,” a US organization that takes donations and sends books to schools in Africa. The school did fantastic through Marty’s efforts, and they send over boxes and boxes of subject books, Encyclopedias, dictionaries, and tons of story books. Our library is still under construction, so we’re setting up the books temporarily in one of the classrooms. Teacher Bonaventure is the official librarian because he was in charge of the library at the last school he worked at (St. Ignatius, the Jesuit primary school in Dodoma). Bon has been taking the books from the boxes and putting them on shelves, and I’ve started a database where I register all the books into the computer. It is taking a while, but I don’t mind the work. So far I have registered up to 800 different books (many books come in duplicates of 20, 30, or 40), and I still have maybe another 3-400 to go. These kids are really lucky. Hardly any schools in Tanzania have libraries like this one.
I’ve been allowing the students to come into the library while I’m working to browse if they have free time (i.e., their teacher is MIA). They keep asking when they can check out books. Some pick up Goosebumps or other story books, but many go for the subject books to help them with Geography or book-keeping or other things that are hard for them. A few were even flipping through Encyclopedias. I’m really excited for them to be excited about reading. I keep hearing that there is definitely not a reading culture here in Tanzania, so maybe this library will spark a new interest.
This week will be midterms. They have 2 or 3 exams per day, Monday through Friday. Next week is midterm break. Sean and I are planning to travel with David to his home village in Uganda. It is an 18 hr bus ride to Kampala, and then another 3-4 hours south to his village. It will be a rough travel, but David said it is usually a pretty cool drive (temperature wise). And I’m excited to meet David’s family. He always talks so affectionately about his mother and grandmother. It will be great to meet them.
That’s all for now. Take care at home.
28 March 2011
21 March 2011
The Bishop and Bata Mzinga
Things around here have been pretty normal. Most of the Jesuits are away right now for business or other meetings, so our community nights are a little small but nice. We have community nights at the Jesuit community every Monday – they invite the volunteers, calling us the “other house,” meaning they consider us just an extension of their community. It’s really nice to feel fully incorporated into their life and not just visitors or guests.
Dodoma has had an exciting week. There has been a new bishop just appointed to the city and so banners have been hung all around. He was to arrive on Thursday. His bus passes our school and so we decided to greet him as he passes. Fr. Kizito made a grand banner proclaiming “St. Peter Claver Welcomes Your Lordship” and many tiny yellow and white flags for the students (the flag of the Vatican), and Sr. Maria grabbed a few kids to pick wild flowers from around campus to throw at the car and the bishop as he arrived. He was supposed to arrive around 3pm, so all students gathered in our multi-purpose hall for instructions, but he ended up being about and hour and a half late. We eventually took a long walk to end of the road and waited in the grassy area for his arrival. It was quite the commotion. The students were so excited to reach the other side of the campus’ fence. There were a few random cars that passed with the yellow and white flag hanging from the window and our students cheered them as they passed. I think that really built up the suspense of his arrival.
Finally we saw a caravan of maybe 30-40 vehicles coming down the road. The students started cheering and jumping (don’t forget that about half of our students are Protestant or Muslim, and they were still just as excited). The bishop’s car pulled to the side of the road and he came out to greet us. It was really exciting. They threw flowers and started singing loudly our school anthem (“We are students of St. Peter Claver. Our motto is, to learn to love to serve…”). He said a few words in English that I could barely hear because of the students’ voices, and shook a few hands and returned to his car. The students again cheered him on. This was a little after 5:30pm, so those of us returning to town boarded our bus immediately and waited for the caravan to pass to join the journey to town. The students cheered every car sporting the Vatican flag, and cheered us too as we left. It was a lot of fun.
Going home took about 45 minutes longer than usual because of the bishop’s caravan. I hardly noticed though because there were people lining the road the entire way home cheering, waving flags and tree branches at the cars ahead of us and our bus as well. (There were many unhappy trees at the end of that day.) It was quite the experience.
The whole city was invited to attend the bishop’s consecration on Saturday morning, but I decided not to go. It was bound to be endless hours and I was up late the night before so I thought it best to sleep in. Plus, Sean and I were going to the Cheshire home with our students the next morning at noon. But apparently it was huge. Probably everyone except Sean and I (and our students who had to take exams) were at the Cathedral downtown. Even the president of Tanzania made an appearance (and a 25 minute speech!). The president of Tanzania is a Muslim – I think it is amazing how religion is not at all something that separates the people of this country. Though it would have been neat to see the president, I got word that he will also be attending St. Peter Claver’s “grand opening” this coming June, so I suppose I will be meeting him then!
What else – it has been raining all week! It is COLD here! Like, cold as in I wore pants and a long sleeve shirt to school every day! It usually rains only at night, which is really lucky because it is no fun to be at school when it rains. You get wet going anywhere! Actually, I pulled out the wool blanket for my bed last night, and I didn’t get hot at all. It is beautiful. It reminds me of April showers in the States – it’s only a month off. Not too bad!
Another funny story – I cooked a turkey (bata mzinga) this weekend. Yes me, as in I cooked a turkey by myself. It’s okay to raise your eyebrow here, I did too when Fr. Lucas asked me to do it because his cooks have never prepared one before. Turkey isn’t eaten often here, and the Jesuit community got one as a gift (a frozen one, thank goodness. I wasn’t about to kill/gut that thing). He was sweet when he asked if I knew how to prepare it, knowing Americans eat turkey at least every year. Part of me wanted to say no – which is the truth – but I watched and helped my Mom and aunts do it for so many years, I could figure it out, right? Thankfully my Mom was ready with directions for our weekly phone call, and she sent some more helpful tips in an email on Sunday.
I went to the Jesuits on Saturday afternoon to do an emergency thawing of the bird. The first time I saw it I thought it was huge so there was no way it would thaw in a day. But after weighing it, we found it was only 4 kilos (about 9 lbs.). Oh yeah, everything is in the metric system, so not only did I have to figure out exactly how to cook it, but I had to convert everything to kilos and degrees Celsius. I never turn down a challenge! I ended up soaking the thing in warm water and it thawed out fine.
The following morning I joined the cook after Mass. It was well before the time we should start cooking it, so instead I helped her make lunch and showed her how to make banana cake (most cakes made here are just a plain white sugar cake, made from scratch of course). The time finally came to make the bird. I was stressed out all day, not wanting to ruin it. Turkeys can get really dry, you know? Thankfully I didn’t have to remove any weird insides, but we did have to cut off a really long neck.
After following all the steps (well, actually forgetting a few) and trying to speak in Kiswahili to Agnes the cook when I needed her help or to find something, we put the ndege kikubwa (big bird) in the oven. At that point, I tried to write the directions in Kiswahili for Agnes. That was a challenge all itself.
Two and a half hours later (after forgetting to take off the lid to brown the top), the turkey was done! And JUICY! It was really peppery because Agnes sprinkled the pepper as I rubbed and turned the bird, but it tasted amazing. I’m crediting the bird – like all animals here, it was free range and ate food normal for turkeys, rather the industrial feed we Americans give our birds. I also made real mashed potatoes with milk (the Jesuits have milk, we usually don’t)! Sean said it tasted like Thanksgiving. I took that as a compliment! And Br. Vincent exclaimed, “Laura it is really good,” and we all decided that he speaks only truth. Truly it was a miracle. Moral of the story: I really like cooking. We’ll see how long that sentiment lasts…
That was all the excitement for this week. Hope things are well at home. Missing everyone constantly!
Dodoma has had an exciting week. There has been a new bishop just appointed to the city and so banners have been hung all around. He was to arrive on Thursday. His bus passes our school and so we decided to greet him as he passes. Fr. Kizito made a grand banner proclaiming “St. Peter Claver Welcomes Your Lordship” and many tiny yellow and white flags for the students (the flag of the Vatican), and Sr. Maria grabbed a few kids to pick wild flowers from around campus to throw at the car and the bishop as he arrived. He was supposed to arrive around 3pm, so all students gathered in our multi-purpose hall for instructions, but he ended up being about and hour and a half late. We eventually took a long walk to end of the road and waited in the grassy area for his arrival. It was quite the commotion. The students were so excited to reach the other side of the campus’ fence. There were a few random cars that passed with the yellow and white flag hanging from the window and our students cheered them as they passed. I think that really built up the suspense of his arrival.
Finally we saw a caravan of maybe 30-40 vehicles coming down the road. The students started cheering and jumping (don’t forget that about half of our students are Protestant or Muslim, and they were still just as excited). The bishop’s car pulled to the side of the road and he came out to greet us. It was really exciting. They threw flowers and started singing loudly our school anthem (“We are students of St. Peter Claver. Our motto is, to learn to love to serve…”). He said a few words in English that I could barely hear because of the students’ voices, and shook a few hands and returned to his car. The students again cheered him on. This was a little after 5:30pm, so those of us returning to town boarded our bus immediately and waited for the caravan to pass to join the journey to town. The students cheered every car sporting the Vatican flag, and cheered us too as we left. It was a lot of fun.
Going home took about 45 minutes longer than usual because of the bishop’s caravan. I hardly noticed though because there were people lining the road the entire way home cheering, waving flags and tree branches at the cars ahead of us and our bus as well. (There were many unhappy trees at the end of that day.) It was quite the experience.
The whole city was invited to attend the bishop’s consecration on Saturday morning, but I decided not to go. It was bound to be endless hours and I was up late the night before so I thought it best to sleep in. Plus, Sean and I were going to the Cheshire home with our students the next morning at noon. But apparently it was huge. Probably everyone except Sean and I (and our students who had to take exams) were at the Cathedral downtown. Even the president of Tanzania made an appearance (and a 25 minute speech!). The president of Tanzania is a Muslim – I think it is amazing how religion is not at all something that separates the people of this country. Though it would have been neat to see the president, I got word that he will also be attending St. Peter Claver’s “grand opening” this coming June, so I suppose I will be meeting him then!
What else – it has been raining all week! It is COLD here! Like, cold as in I wore pants and a long sleeve shirt to school every day! It usually rains only at night, which is really lucky because it is no fun to be at school when it rains. You get wet going anywhere! Actually, I pulled out the wool blanket for my bed last night, and I didn’t get hot at all. It is beautiful. It reminds me of April showers in the States – it’s only a month off. Not too bad!
Another funny story – I cooked a turkey (bata mzinga) this weekend. Yes me, as in I cooked a turkey by myself. It’s okay to raise your eyebrow here, I did too when Fr. Lucas asked me to do it because his cooks have never prepared one before. Turkey isn’t eaten often here, and the Jesuit community got one as a gift (a frozen one, thank goodness. I wasn’t about to kill/gut that thing). He was sweet when he asked if I knew how to prepare it, knowing Americans eat turkey at least every year. Part of me wanted to say no – which is the truth – but I watched and helped my Mom and aunts do it for so many years, I could figure it out, right? Thankfully my Mom was ready with directions for our weekly phone call, and she sent some more helpful tips in an email on Sunday.
I went to the Jesuits on Saturday afternoon to do an emergency thawing of the bird. The first time I saw it I thought it was huge so there was no way it would thaw in a day. But after weighing it, we found it was only 4 kilos (about 9 lbs.). Oh yeah, everything is in the metric system, so not only did I have to figure out exactly how to cook it, but I had to convert everything to kilos and degrees Celsius. I never turn down a challenge! I ended up soaking the thing in warm water and it thawed out fine.
The following morning I joined the cook after Mass. It was well before the time we should start cooking it, so instead I helped her make lunch and showed her how to make banana cake (most cakes made here are just a plain white sugar cake, made from scratch of course). The time finally came to make the bird. I was stressed out all day, not wanting to ruin it. Turkeys can get really dry, you know? Thankfully I didn’t have to remove any weird insides, but we did have to cut off a really long neck.
After following all the steps (well, actually forgetting a few) and trying to speak in Kiswahili to Agnes the cook when I needed her help or to find something, we put the ndege kikubwa (big bird) in the oven. At that point, I tried to write the directions in Kiswahili for Agnes. That was a challenge all itself.
Two and a half hours later (after forgetting to take off the lid to brown the top), the turkey was done! And JUICY! It was really peppery because Agnes sprinkled the pepper as I rubbed and turned the bird, but it tasted amazing. I’m crediting the bird – like all animals here, it was free range and ate food normal for turkeys, rather the industrial feed we Americans give our birds. I also made real mashed potatoes with milk (the Jesuits have milk, we usually don’t)! Sean said it tasted like Thanksgiving. I took that as a compliment! And Br. Vincent exclaimed, “Laura it is really good,” and we all decided that he speaks only truth. Truly it was a miracle. Moral of the story: I really like cooking. We’ll see how long that sentiment lasts…
That was all the excitement for this week. Hope things are well at home. Missing everyone constantly!
Worms
I am really enjoying the fruits of Tanzania. As the days go, new fruits are in season and become very cheap. For a while it was mangos, now we’re in passion fruit season and it looks likes pears are on their way! PEARS! I never thought I’d be so happy to bite into a pear. It wasn’t even that ripe yet, but the crunchiness of it was to die for. There are really no apples here, and the ones that are here are really expensive. It was nice to eat a crunchy fruit again. OH! And it’s date season! Ever eat a fresh date? Me neither. They taste like pure candy, by far one of the most interesting and lovely tasting things I’ve ever eaten. Oranges are also everywhere right now. These oranges are definitely different from the ones at home, though – much more sour. We bought five for 500 Tanzanian shillings the other day, which is less than 50 US cents. Sounds really cheap, eh? It is cheap for right now, but you have to remember how relative the term “cheap” is. When (lucky) service workers are happy to make only 80,000 TZ Shillings a month, you realize the magnitude of “wealth.” It also makes clear the gap between the US and other countries.
But I have finally discovered the worms that I'm supposed to be looking out for in the fruit I eat. The other volunteers warned me, but I just thought I was always so lucky to never have any! Well, I think I "never had any" in my fruit because I never realized these little devils are clear - i.e., you never really see them because they are tiny and take on the color of the fruit. EWWW. I found them for the first time in a mango and I freaked out. Gross. And since, I've found them in the pears. Now I am uber paranoid about my fruit and I cut it up into tiny pieces to fully inspect every inch for worms. I'm not about to eat that. Ew. I was also cooking the other day with one of the cooks. They always seem to sift the flour, but I thought it was just a fancy culinary tactic that wasn't really necessary. Well, little did I know they were also sifting out worms from the flour. Nope - I've never done that since I've been here, but trust me, next time I go to the market I'm buying one of those. Sure, bugs may be protein, but I'll find my protein elsewhere, thank you.
What else. I’m missing tea a lot - well at least the fancy kinds we used to drink every night in college (right Alex??). There is a great black tea here called “Kilimanjaro” which we drink all the time, but it has too much caffeine for me at night. We buy fresh ginger (tangawizi) a lot for cooking, so we’ve been cutting that up for a nice nighttime tea. We haven’t bought any in a while though, so I’ve improvised using ground cinnamon (mdalasini) as tea, you know like the stuff you use in cakes or cookies? I wasn’t sure it would work at first, but it is actually quite sweet, or as we say here in Tanzania, “tamu sana.”
Mosquitoes are leaving me alone for the most part, but sometimes I don’t tuck my net into the sides of my bed, so my feet find their way out. Occasionally I’ll wake up with about 10 bites per foot which become so itchy while I’m standing all day at school, or walking around our hot and dusty campus. No malaria yet – I take those pills religiously. I’m not messing around with that. Though I do need to say, malaria isn’t as scary as people in the States think it is. Symptoms compare to the worst flu ever – but as long as you get the proper medication (which is very available, at least to those who can afford it), you will recover in a few weeks or few days.
One of our teachers at school is really sick, something is wrong in her belly. She’s been out of school for the past few weeks, and in and out of the hospital since. The first hospital she was staying at couldn’t diagnose anything and sent her home. She was feeling a little better for a while, but then things got worse. She is now at another hospital and they are considering doing surgery, though I’m not sure they know for what. Healthcare is lacking here, especially considering this is supposed to be the capital of the country. I visited Tr. Esther with some other teachers the other day. The hospital has beautiful grounds, a little Chinese looking, but we walked into one of the halls that houses at least 30 female patients. Here was our poor teacher Esther, looking very unwell, and there were 30 others in this same room. Could you imagine that? Feeling so horrible and not knowing why, and then sharing a space with not just one other, but 30 other people. I count my blessings.
But I have finally discovered the worms that I'm supposed to be looking out for in the fruit I eat. The other volunteers warned me, but I just thought I was always so lucky to never have any! Well, I think I "never had any" in my fruit because I never realized these little devils are clear - i.e., you never really see them because they are tiny and take on the color of the fruit. EWWW. I found them for the first time in a mango and I freaked out. Gross. And since, I've found them in the pears. Now I am uber paranoid about my fruit and I cut it up into tiny pieces to fully inspect every inch for worms. I'm not about to eat that. Ew. I was also cooking the other day with one of the cooks. They always seem to sift the flour, but I thought it was just a fancy culinary tactic that wasn't really necessary. Well, little did I know they were also sifting out worms from the flour. Nope - I've never done that since I've been here, but trust me, next time I go to the market I'm buying one of those. Sure, bugs may be protein, but I'll find my protein elsewhere, thank you.
What else. I’m missing tea a lot - well at least the fancy kinds we used to drink every night in college (right Alex??). There is a great black tea here called “Kilimanjaro” which we drink all the time, but it has too much caffeine for me at night. We buy fresh ginger (tangawizi) a lot for cooking, so we’ve been cutting that up for a nice nighttime tea. We haven’t bought any in a while though, so I’ve improvised using ground cinnamon (mdalasini) as tea, you know like the stuff you use in cakes or cookies? I wasn’t sure it would work at first, but it is actually quite sweet, or as we say here in Tanzania, “tamu sana.”
Mosquitoes are leaving me alone for the most part, but sometimes I don’t tuck my net into the sides of my bed, so my feet find their way out. Occasionally I’ll wake up with about 10 bites per foot which become so itchy while I’m standing all day at school, or walking around our hot and dusty campus. No malaria yet – I take those pills religiously. I’m not messing around with that. Though I do need to say, malaria isn’t as scary as people in the States think it is. Symptoms compare to the worst flu ever – but as long as you get the proper medication (which is very available, at least to those who can afford it), you will recover in a few weeks or few days.
One of our teachers at school is really sick, something is wrong in her belly. She’s been out of school for the past few weeks, and in and out of the hospital since. The first hospital she was staying at couldn’t diagnose anything and sent her home. She was feeling a little better for a while, but then things got worse. She is now at another hospital and they are considering doing surgery, though I’m not sure they know for what. Healthcare is lacking here, especially considering this is supposed to be the capital of the country. I visited Tr. Esther with some other teachers the other day. The hospital has beautiful grounds, a little Chinese looking, but we walked into one of the halls that houses at least 30 female patients. Here was our poor teacher Esther, looking very unwell, and there were 30 others in this same room. Could you imagine that? Feeling so horrible and not knowing why, and then sharing a space with not just one other, but 30 other people. I count my blessings.
07 March 2011
Nothing (much) New
I wish I had another really interesting story to share with you this week, but to be honest, I bummed around my house this weekend – a lot. When Saturday afternoon rolled around, I just didn’t want to move from my room. And so I didn’t. But I’ll allowed to have one of those weekends every so often, right? Plus, it was raining a little bit Saturday and down pouring Sunday so I kind of had no choice. I wrote a few letters and read a book.
OH!! AND! Greg and Kate sent me this AWESOME puzzle for my birthday. It’s a map of the world with hundreds of little details about culture and history, etc. etc. I couldn’t resist, so Jana, Sean, and I pulled it out Sunday afternoon and worked on it a long time. We almost finished it. It was really fun. I’m looking forward to sharing it with our students (still trying to figure out a good, organized way to do that). Thanks Greg and Kate – awesome present! It came in a big box, but surprisingly I didn’t have to pay anything to receive it. Want to know why? Because they cut open the side and couldn’t find anything worth while to charge me for (or steal). Thank goodness! Getting an opened box like that is a reminder of where I am (not the States, that’s for sure).
I don’t have anything life changing that happened this week, so I guess I’ll just share little bits and pieces of my week…
Things at school are business as usual – well, for the most part. Fr. Marty recently returned to the States for a fundraising trip in a bunch of different cities. Things are going along fine, but I think the school is missing him. The organization of the school is definitely missing his authority.
Update on my rooster: HE RAN AWAY. I saw a chicken that looked a lot like Ignacio (his new name, more manly than Lola) in the brush across the street from our house a few days after we got him. I was walking home from work and though he looked EXACTLY like him, I wasn’t sure – I don’t know anything about chickens. They all kind of look the same! Plus, the neighbors always let their chickens run free around the neighborhood to look for food, so I just thought he was someone else’s – because WHY would my chicken be out of our yard? So when I finally got into my yard, I searched everywhere and my fear was confirmed. He must have flown out, which is really impressive because our fence is pretty high and covered with bushes. I thought about going to catch him, but how the heck do you catch a chicken? No idea. So I let him go, hoping he’d just come pecking at our gate in a little bit to be let back in. That was a silly hope though, he’s only been here a few days so why the heck would he return? When everyone else came back home, Ignacio was long gone, and we haven’t heard from him since. I’m positive he is now comfortably tucked in our neighbors’ tummies. Bummer. We may try again and get a few hens; at least two – we think Ignacio escaped because he was lonely. We’ll see.
Saturday service is up and running at SPC. Each stream is responsible for a different service project every Saturday afternoon. As it turns out, three of the four streams do service around their campus, cleaning the classroom block and toilets, the dormitories, or the multipurpose hall and other things around campus. The last stream, on a weekly rotation, boards the school’s new bus and takes a trip into Dodoma town to the Myuji Cheshire Home – a two-year boarding school for children with special needs. Myuji Cheshire gives these children a place to get special care and education in hopes that they can eventually be reintegrated into other Tanzanian schools. As a Jesuit school, service is very important for the formation of it’s students (our motto: to learn, to love, to serve). Many of our students have never experienced service (or meaningful, reflective service), and definitely have never come into contact with the young students of the Cheshire Home.
Sean is the official coordinator of service, so he will probably go every week. I really enjoy the Cheshire Home and getting to know our students a little less formally, so I will probably go along most days, too. I had been there a few times before with Jana and Thomas who volunteer there weekly, so I know the Sisters and a few of the returning students.
Last weekend we took Stream One. They all basked in the historical moment – they were the first Stream to ride the bus at St. Peter Claver. That’s huge, right! Our first day there went a lot better than I expected. The St. Peter students were a little shy of the Cheshire kids at first, but a few of ours “figured it out” (went to a kid, took their hand and started talking and playing) pretty quickly, and became good examples for the others. We stayed close to two hours and then headed back to the bus. Stream One seemed to really have enjoyed themselves and the students of Cheshire. It was really energizing to me to be there with them.
The second weekend with Stream Two was a little rocky to be honest. I think this stream has less “go-getters.” Also, it rained as soon as we arrived so that put a little damper on our playtime. We were all stuffed in a room instead of warming up to each other on the playground like last time. It may take this group a little longer to warm up to Cheshire, but I think they will eventually. We have four streams, so each stream will end up visiting once a month.
Alright, I’m ending here so I can make time to upload some pictures. (P.S. my new picture on this blog is from the Cheshire Home!). I also have videos that would be great to send along, but I haven’t figured out yet how to do so. Coming soon!
OH!! AND! Greg and Kate sent me this AWESOME puzzle for my birthday. It’s a map of the world with hundreds of little details about culture and history, etc. etc. I couldn’t resist, so Jana, Sean, and I pulled it out Sunday afternoon and worked on it a long time. We almost finished it. It was really fun. I’m looking forward to sharing it with our students (still trying to figure out a good, organized way to do that). Thanks Greg and Kate – awesome present! It came in a big box, but surprisingly I didn’t have to pay anything to receive it. Want to know why? Because they cut open the side and couldn’t find anything worth while to charge me for (or steal). Thank goodness! Getting an opened box like that is a reminder of where I am (not the States, that’s for sure).
I don’t have anything life changing that happened this week, so I guess I’ll just share little bits and pieces of my week…
Things at school are business as usual – well, for the most part. Fr. Marty recently returned to the States for a fundraising trip in a bunch of different cities. Things are going along fine, but I think the school is missing him. The organization of the school is definitely missing his authority.
Update on my rooster: HE RAN AWAY. I saw a chicken that looked a lot like Ignacio (his new name, more manly than Lola) in the brush across the street from our house a few days after we got him. I was walking home from work and though he looked EXACTLY like him, I wasn’t sure – I don’t know anything about chickens. They all kind of look the same! Plus, the neighbors always let their chickens run free around the neighborhood to look for food, so I just thought he was someone else’s – because WHY would my chicken be out of our yard? So when I finally got into my yard, I searched everywhere and my fear was confirmed. He must have flown out, which is really impressive because our fence is pretty high and covered with bushes. I thought about going to catch him, but how the heck do you catch a chicken? No idea. So I let him go, hoping he’d just come pecking at our gate in a little bit to be let back in. That was a silly hope though, he’s only been here a few days so why the heck would he return? When everyone else came back home, Ignacio was long gone, and we haven’t heard from him since. I’m positive he is now comfortably tucked in our neighbors’ tummies. Bummer. We may try again and get a few hens; at least two – we think Ignacio escaped because he was lonely. We’ll see.
Saturday service is up and running at SPC. Each stream is responsible for a different service project every Saturday afternoon. As it turns out, three of the four streams do service around their campus, cleaning the classroom block and toilets, the dormitories, or the multipurpose hall and other things around campus. The last stream, on a weekly rotation, boards the school’s new bus and takes a trip into Dodoma town to the Myuji Cheshire Home – a two-year boarding school for children with special needs. Myuji Cheshire gives these children a place to get special care and education in hopes that they can eventually be reintegrated into other Tanzanian schools. As a Jesuit school, service is very important for the formation of it’s students (our motto: to learn, to love, to serve). Many of our students have never experienced service (or meaningful, reflective service), and definitely have never come into contact with the young students of the Cheshire Home.
Sean is the official coordinator of service, so he will probably go every week. I really enjoy the Cheshire Home and getting to know our students a little less formally, so I will probably go along most days, too. I had been there a few times before with Jana and Thomas who volunteer there weekly, so I know the Sisters and a few of the returning students.
Last weekend we took Stream One. They all basked in the historical moment – they were the first Stream to ride the bus at St. Peter Claver. That’s huge, right! Our first day there went a lot better than I expected. The St. Peter students were a little shy of the Cheshire kids at first, but a few of ours “figured it out” (went to a kid, took their hand and started talking and playing) pretty quickly, and became good examples for the others. We stayed close to two hours and then headed back to the bus. Stream One seemed to really have enjoyed themselves and the students of Cheshire. It was really energizing to me to be there with them.
The second weekend with Stream Two was a little rocky to be honest. I think this stream has less “go-getters.” Also, it rained as soon as we arrived so that put a little damper on our playtime. We were all stuffed in a room instead of warming up to each other on the playground like last time. It may take this group a little longer to warm up to Cheshire, but I think they will eventually. We have four streams, so each stream will end up visiting once a month.
Alright, I’m ending here so I can make time to upload some pictures. (P.S. my new picture on this blog is from the Cheshire Home!). I also have videos that would be great to send along, but I haven’t figured out yet how to do so. Coming soon!
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