Three months!

I’m sitting on the front porch thinking what has happened in the last 2 weeks that I can write about.  It all seems fairly mundane, but for you, family and friends in Australia, I hope it will seem interesting.

The first term for the current crop of students finished on Friday and they all return to their villages for a month.  I imagine it will be quite  a shock for them all.  They’ve had 6 months to get used to electricity, running water and sewered toilets.  They certainly won’t have that at home!  And they’ll miss the abundant food available here.

The students will also miss the medical care that comes with boarding at Olkokola Catholic Mission.  I’ve had quite a few trips with students to the local Selian Lutheran Hospital and also to the bigger Arusha Lutheran Medical Centre and NSK Private Hospital in town for more specialist tests.  Although everyone speaks English I find the system bewildering - noisy, crowded and chaotic - and have been glad to usually have the tailoring assistant teacher with me so I can just be the driver!  The waiting room is always good for ‘people watching’ - I love the traditional Maasai robes and beaded jewellery - and I don’t feel guilty about having a good look as you can be sure everyone is having a good look at me!

With the students on holidays, most of the staff will also be away at their home villages too.  I hope to do some work with those who are staying in the staff housing over the break on computer use and also get more idea of what maths skills they want students to master for my “Karatasi ya Hisabati” maths program.  Devising the maths worksheets is keeping me entertained - I have over 50 now.  I’m getting a bit more adventurous.  And adept at ‘borrowing’ images from the internet.  As you can see, I’m still more task oriented than people oriented.

Mostly money and measurement being practised.

Beginners - learning to add single digits

I have enjoyed the small maths classes I have been running.  I always say “no, I’m not going to Tanzania to teach students” but it seems this time I was wrong.  The small classes are divided by ability and I usually have groups of 3 - 5 working on the same task.  We have lots of learning aids - bottle caps, number cards and miniature Tz currency - and the students are keen and really enjoy the chance to improve their skills.  My swahili is improving as I struggle to give students practical examples of where the particular arithmetic would be used.  I have written down my script for “You buy … that costs … shillings.  You give the shopkeeper … shillings.  How much change will you get?” 

 On the home front we are no longer being bothered by the rat.  We suspect there is one that comes and inspects our kitchen after dark for food left out but we are very careful to put everything in sealed containers so his visits are fruitless and will hopefully stop.  We have the shopping sorted and can find most things we need locally.  It’s only meat and fish we need to go to Shoppers in town or Sable Square to buy and once a fortnight is manageable with the largish freezer in our fridge.  Steve’s bread making is progressing well.  We had a wholemeal, oatmeal and cracked wheat panini with our dinner last night which was very nice.

We can buy Vegemite (sometimes} but at an outrageous price!

Home is a peaceful and private haven from the chaos of Arusha.  We are always glad to come in the gate at the end of the day.  The trees mute the ‘shouty men’ from the local pentecostal chapel and the mosque - we hear them if we’re awake but they don’t wake us up or keep us awake.  Being a close neighbour to a church or mosque would be a nightmare!  Religion is sacrosanct here so it would do you no good to complain.  Tz is a quirky country - public holidays declared the night before; women in trousers refused service in public offices (and men in shorts!).

The view of Tengeru from the mountain.

One of the streams flowing down Mt Meru.

Getting exercise is an issue - I’ve lost all the aerobic fitness I’d gained swimming and walking at home in the months before we left.  A fortnight ago we did the Twende Hike - 5 hours of steep climbs and steep descents - which I’ve decided isn’t for me.  Last weekend we did a far less strenuous bird walk at Oldoinya Sambu with a group of locals.  I quite enjoyed that.  This weekend we hope to do the walk around Lake Duluthi again.  It shouldn’t be as muddy as it was on our list trip there - luckily we were in the Suzuki Jimny or we would have become hopelessly bogged.

Market day at Oldoinya Sambu

No longer an Acacia sp. (but don't tell the South Africans)

Three months also marks the expiry of our tourist visas.  I now have a stamp in my passport from Immigration saying my Residence Permit Class C - missionary volunteer - is ‘Under Process’ which gives me permission to be here until the ‘process’ is finished!  Steve was granted a ‘Work Permit’ on Friday, hopefully the Residence Permit will follow soon.  We are hoping these documents will give us access to cheaper entry to the national parks and ‘residents rates’ at the lodges.  We are planning a weekend at Tarangire NP next weekend - the subject of my next blog post I expect!

More soon, love Jenny