I visited Umoja again today to start getting a feel for the place and what happens there - also to make sure I can find it on my own and get there by dala dala.
The dala dalas were still suffering from morning peak when I squeezed on to one heading for Njiro. There is no such thing as a full minibus! I alighted at the correct spot and walked down the dirt path to the centre. The askari on duty this morning is originally from Bukoba district so he and I had a chat about how lovely that part of the world is.
Umoja centre was bustling and cheerful. Some students were still finishing their morning porridge, others were waiting in classrooms for lessons to begin. One class was missing a teacher because other duties had taken her away so I was asked would I like to step in and teach intermediate World Studies. Wow! Of course I would! What exactly is World Studies? I was told the class had been learning about continents, and latitude and longitude. Ah, I reckoned I could handle that! The students were encouraging and quite enthusiastic so we made it through the hour long lesson and I think all of us learned something!
I walked back to the Njiro Complex, near to where I will be living. The total walk was about 35 minutes including time to chat. This will be good! I'll save using dalas for rainy days, though I'll still have to slosh down the muddy paths at each end of the journey.
Back here at the Tulip the Ethiopian contingent had packed up and were waiting to head to the airport. We'll miss them, but we head to TCDC for three weeks kiSwahili language training on Sunday. Here is a photo of us all as we said "kwaherini" and "safari njema".
