A New Start

My first few weeks back in Dodoma were incredibly busy with so many unexpected happenings. I walked into my house to find everything under construction – a complete surprise. The Jesuits decided to turn our unnecessary “reception” room into another bedroom, and add a functioning bathroom to the dormitory that sits next to our house in our compound (I believe it was originally a small chapel for the priest who used to live in this house years ago, but has recently acquired many beds for housing guests). That was a little chaotic because there were always many people walking around (and through) our house, and the house collected gallons of dust from the construction. I'm actually much luckier than Jana and Sean who were living here throughout the whole thing and had to keep up with the cleaning. Yuck!

During this week I got back there was also an international gathering of Jesuit educators taking place at Peter Claver, coordinated by Fr. Marty and Fr. Martin Schreiber. Simultaneously, the remedial English workshop for our struggling English language learners at Peter Claver (that Sean and I planned for) was continuing. So Sean and I spent our mornings with the folks from the States and some East African Jesuit educators at school for half of their seminar, and the afternoons we spent with our students at the Youth Centre.

The seminar was great; we had the chance to reflect on what Jesuit education is supposed to be, and compare successes and struggles in this endeavor. One of the strangest things I realized during our conversations is how different (and challenging) my task is as an American Volunteer teaching in a Tanzanian school. I'm not an East African, who belongs to this culture, this school system, this history, and I'm not an American educator with any kind of education-education, or teaching in a system I'm more familiar with, with students in which I can better understand their personal stories. This realization has made me stop identifying with both crowds and realize that I have to figure out my own way to navigate this teaching experience – a task I am probably more ready for this time around.

Unfortunately I only spent a few days with our ELL learners, because the workshop actually started two weeks prior to my return. But these kids have improved immensely from this extra attention, speaking much more confidently and asking helpful questions. I was so happy, because of all our students at Peter Claver, these ones appreciate their education and want so desperately to do better, to understand English.

I came down with a fever on Thursday morning, and missed the outing with the other teachers and later the time with our students. I stayed in bed praying it wasn't malaria. I was sick for about two days and then felt pretty normal on Saturday. This quick fever thing has happened to me once before (when I thought I had malaria) so I'm assuming it wasn't malaria again, but who knows. I'll probably get tested three years from now and the doctor will find malaria! But I was grateful for the quick recovery.

That weekend after I felt better, I did a serious cleaning of my room to get rid of all the dust and decided to rearrange a little. I moved my desk, my bed, and my bookshelf and put up an inspiration wall of sorts full of cards from home and pictures drawn by my students. A new room was my metaphor for a new start. It felt good.

We soon found out all the remodeling for the dormitory next door was for a group of English high school boys who would be staying there for a few days. The Jesuit primary school here has a partnership with a Jesuit high school in London. This school brings it's students here (and also an incredible donation to the school) for a two-week immersion where the boys stay with families during the week but stay in our dorm on the weekends. It was fun having their group around. They boys were really excited and very polite, and their teachers were fun. They stayed with us two weekends before they went on safari and headed home.

This week also brought a new volunteer to our house – Nelly from Germany. She's a “gap-year” student; in Germany, after high school students have one year (the gap year) before they continue to university. Many students do volunteer work during this time. She'll be staying with us for one year and will work at the primary school and Cheshire home like Jana. Jana only has a little time left here – she'll be returning home in mid-September.