Tanzania: Kibaha and Zanzibar

I don't even know where to begin with these last few days. So much has happened. We started our first week of work in Kibaha on Monday. Talk about information overload. The establishment is relatively well-run and the children are adorable. I think I could dedicate my entire life to working with little kids in "third world" countries. They are so loving, so wonderful. After only a day or two with them, they had all started calling me "Dada" (sister) or "Teacher Hanna." I don't like that the school is English medium although I can understand why they feel the need to teach in English (given the global world that we live in, where English is the primary language spoken in many places). We've met some really awesome teachers, too. I observed the kindergarten 3 class on my second day on site and fell in love with the songs and games that they engage in to master different parts of the curriculum. I've written them all down in my personal log that I maintain on the side.

WIPAHS is beautiful, in terms of environment, as well. It has been well thought out. When Jaabir (the supervisor and educational coordinator or something fancy like that) was giving us a tour, he told us that there are four things to consider when building an establishment of such a large size: electricity, clean/running water, expansion, and proximity to the main road. I took copious notes. He is an interesting man, one who seems to know a little something about everything. He's working on his PhD in education administration; as you can imagine, I was glad to hear about this. Also, his wife is homeschooling their two children - in the Montessori Method! Everyone should spend their first three years immersed in that program. Sooo goooood. Anyway, the property is humongous. They are fully self-sufficient when it comes to green vegetables and most of the fruit, as well. There is plenty of wilderness and the stars are so bright at night. Nana Bashir / Tita (my mum's uncle) has promised to take us all stargazing next week / weekend. I remember when he took us when I was a young'n in Dubai. Can't wait to go again. The buildings are well-furnished and classrooms are spacious. They opened the primary school first. As the students in primary needed a secondary school to attend after they completed the program, they opened a secondary school. Then, they opened up the health center, teacher's training institute, high school, college, seminary, and started up the organic farms. At the end (a year or two ago), they opened up the orphanage. "People think that once you build an orphanage you are doing a good thing - and you are! You are clothing and feeding children! We didn't want to open up an orphanage until we knew that we had a system to put them through in terms of schooling. That's why we opened it last." That is a direct quote from Jaabir. Nugget of wisdom.

I have been disappointed, however, by the lack of structure in their volunteering program. There is no direction. It took my five or six days to sit down and meet with the coordinators and figure out what holes I could fill. I mean, what a waste of five days! Although, I suppose, in a way, it was good. Every day we started the day with breakfast at Jaabir's (anywhere between six forty five and eight), spent time with the kids in the classrooms in the mornings, prayed at home, and had lunch at Jaabir's (between one and two). At two thirty every day, I have been tutoring a few 18 year old boys in English. I don't understand why they have not been taught sentence structure yet. I understand that teaching a student sentence structure does not produce any gratification or tangible result, but I think it's important nonetheless. You need to know what your words are doing. Anyway, we've been working on that. Ahmed (my student) had good things to say about the class (what a fluke!) and so it's being turned into a full-fledged, intensive crash course in English. I'm supposed to have a full class of about 15 or 20 by Wednesday or Thursday of this week. We finish class at four, at which time Ally and I headed over to the orphanage to have "maziwa na biscuti" (milk and biscuits) with the kids followed by an hour of playtime! Usually, I give loads of piggy backs and play futbol, catch, jacks, and anything else that involves the outdoors. We've also done coloring and word games. There are 49 children in the orphanage. I'm slowly hoping to remember all their names. Such angels. At about five thirty or six, we head back home for evening prayers followed by dinner and long, late night discussions.

All in all, it has been a relatively good week. I hope this week will be better now that I have a schedule in mind. I want to continue the class at two thirty. I have been told that the girls in secondary need a lot of help. About a quarter of them came from the primary school, and their English is relatively solid. The rest come from government primary schools and don't speak a lick of English when they arrive so they are struggling against a total immersion curriculum. The other problem is that the teachers here speak Swanglish (Swahili-fied English), which doesn't help anyone whose trying to learn one language in its "purest" form. I think that's a priority as well, as it will assist the long term problem of English language mastery whereas tutoring the kids on a daily basis is more short-term / triage.

On Friday, Ally and I left Kibaha for Dar. We got into the city at about two, came home, packed, and left for Zanzibar on a 4 PM ferry. The waters were relatively calm and they were playing Mr. Bean on the television inside for the entirety of the two and a half hour journey. Getting on and off the ferry is madness. SO MUCH RUSH. And people here don't believe in lines (not a bad thing, but in this case it could help). The island here is terrific. I wish I could keep up with the blog on a daily basis just because I feel like when I do end up having time to write, there's just so much to say that I have to skim over things or leave things out accidentally. On Friday night, we met up with my uncle Hassan Boga who had arranged for us to stay at his nephews place in Zanzibar. Ironically, his house is on the same street as where my grandmother and father used to live. We spent the night out on the beach, chatting and having some laughs. On Saturday, we toured the dental clinic that he is opening here in Zanzibar and then took a trip out to Unguja Ukuu and Kizimkaazi. When we saw the government school in UU, I was devastated. The chairs were missing bottoms and backs. It was basically outdoors because there were no doors (just doorways) and no windows (just gaping holes in the walls of cement). It was heartbreaking. The committee meeting was happening when we arrived and they invited us to sit in. These parents / teachers really want things to change; it scares me, though, how dependent Tanzania appears to be on foreign financial aid. Bah. Not a fan. Kizimkazi was GORGEOUS. When they say white sands, crystal blue waters, they are not joking. Wow. I have never seen such a beach in my life!!! We went home that evening and then left an hour later for the opening of ZIFF (Zanzibar International Film Festival), which we had VIP tickets to somehow. There was a poetry performance that blew me away as well as a short film that had been put together nicely. The longer movie, however, was two and a half hours too long. It highlighted the journey of Youssou N'dour, a musical artist from Senegal. Inspiring story, I suppose, but way, way too long. Can't remember what it's called right now as it's five thirty in the morning here and I need to sleep-o soon-o.

On Sunday, we took a spice tour. They made us jewelry out of banana tree leaves! I have a bracelet, a ring, a crown, and a necklace. They called me the Queen of Spices. Not exactly sure what I did to deserve that name, but, hey, I'll take it! I learned a lot. The one thing I will share with you is this. I always called lemons "ndimu." Turns out "ndimu" means lime and "malimau" means lemon! I have been living a lie. They, then, took us to the bath quarters of the princess during the time of Sultan Barghash as well as to Manga Puani (another gorgeous beach, this time in the north) and the Slave Caves (where they hid slaves before shipping them out). The people here are great and super friendly. The spice tour was amazing. I also learned that, if you're not sure what spice tree / plant you're looking at, crush the leaves in your hand and take a sniff. You'll know exactly what it is. There's also an "All Spices Tree," named thus because of its ability to confuse those who are smelling it. To me, its flower smelled of black pepper. To the American couple next to me, it smelled like cloves. To the Indian girls across the path, it smelled like turmeric. Good one, All Spices. Good one.

On Monday (today? yesterday?), we went SCUBA DIVING. Wow. Super duper cool. The certification course is four days. I didn't have time for that so we did something called Discover Scuba. They put you in a pool for about half an hour, semi-train you to dive, and then send you down into the ocean with an instructor. We were 12 meters underwater and I was fascinated. I wanted to dive in Pemba originally, but due to time constraints, ended up settling for something right here in Stone Town, Zanzibar. They took us on two dives. I was totally wiped out afterwards and ended up falling asleep on the beach with my uncle and Ally for two hours. So ridiculous. We woke up and his shoes had been stolen! Oh!! Our car got broken into on Saturday and our window openers (the little panels on the sides of all the doors) were stolen. Damage also included a broken window. Adventurous. It'll make for a good story one day.

I wish I could write more about scuba diving but I think I have a minute left on the wireless card here at Uncle Hassan's place. I'll close with this: LONG LIVE SPAIN, new defenders of the FIFA World Cup. I hope this cup doesn't produce more cups with people using animals to tell them how to play (you know what I mean). I do love how Nadal and Spain took Wimbeldon both this year and two years ago in the Euro. I felt especially awful for Sneijder, though. Oh, man. And when Forlan's last free kick (GER v. URU) HIT THE POST, my heart went out to him. I do believe Germany is a better futbol team, however, so good for them. As for Iniesta, I think he was totally off side, but I also think that Spain deserved the win (this is not me speaking as a fan). Their passing is beautiful, and they play a sick technical game. I wore my flag out in town that night. We went to watch the game in The Old Fort. I think there were at least two hundred people there. Most were NED supporters, but, hey, I can't blame them. I am sad the cup is over, though. Adios, futbol ..

I leave for Dar on the 9:30 ferry today (in four hours) and should catch a few hours of sleep before it's time to get up and go. I should be back in Kibaha on Wednesday morning. I don't think I'll be leaving campus very much more. I need to spend time there and do what I came to do. I think I'm most excited about the pilates course I'll be teaching. Mm mm.

Last thing. Zanzibar, by the way, is totally impoverished and totally filthy. Trash lines everything. I thought Dar was dirty. I came here and realized that Zanzibar town is a total mess. Flies, wild cats, rotting food - all of it just hanging out on the streets. I'm glad these things don't bother me or I wouldn't have lasted a day. Also, the rich-poor disparity here is the worst I've seen it anywhere. I'm not sure what can be done about Tanzania's poverty situation. I suppose I'll use my brain power to mull that over once I'm back in the States with no excitement in my life.

Okay, this is the real last thing. There is no such thing as a cellphone contract here in TZ. You have to buy prepaid cards and load the money / "minutes" onto your phone. My uncle has been here all his life and he still has to get up every morning and load his phone up with credit. It's insane. And it's all so expensive! We don't even call people and can go through 5,000 shillings in like two days! How on earth is it possible that Tanzania is costing me more money than Spain did?! Ridiculous.

Anyway, I'm not sure when I'll have internet to write again, but I do hope you are all splendid. Farewell for now :)