Thursday, January 27, 2005
I’m not sure I like this new year. I am doing what I don’t want to do --- writing stuff on the blackboard for students to copy without thinking. Today I began my best class by asking them “What is a mineral.” The answer – “The crystalline part of rocks” – was in the FIRST SENTENCE I put on the board in our last period. Even when I told them where it was in their notes, they could not come up with that simple answer. On top of that, they were rather unruly. I just lost it, and really blew up at them. That did not help either them or me.
The first class of the day had been a washout. It was a dark and gloomy day. There was no electricity in the classroom – you literally could not see any writing on the blackboard, much less see to take notes. My emergency fallback, the laboratory, didn’t have electricity either. I took the class over to the Dining Hall. They did have electricity there, but the blackboards were so bad that you couldn’t read what I wrote on them. So we talked in generalities about the history of metals (The Stone Age, the Bronze Age, the Iron Age, etc). Then the rain started pounding on the steel roof so hard that you couldn’t hear, either. End of class. Shudda stood in bed!
On the other hand, I just heard today that the Peace Corps has APPROVED the funding request for my Economic Empowerment project. And while I was in Dar es Salaam over the weekend, I met with Atiba from the NGO that is supporting me (TechnoServe), and he wants to come out to Mwanza to meet people and talk to the schools involved, maybe as early as Tuesday of next week! Now we will have to get our ten instructors fired up to go to Iringa for a week’s training course about the end of February. That will be a two-day bus ride, each way. Maybe we can break it up though, and spend the night in Arusha on the way. That would make it a lot easier.
So I guess you win one and you lose one. I find that I care less and less about the teaching. I want to do a good job, but it does not feel like something that makes a difference, and the system is so constraining that I don’t feel like I have any freedom of action.
Reading the newspapers in Dar, I came up with a new perspective on the opposition to condoms. With my friends, I’d always simply laid it to Evil Religious Fanatics (condoms encourage sex, condoms have holes in them, condoms can’t stop the AIDS virus, condoms are only sold to make money for imperialists, the Bible doesn’t allow condoms, etc). But this article was talking about the strength of traditional village culture, and the submersion of the individual in the community with the trust and faith that goes with that.
The article took as an example the changing official Ugandan Anti-AIDS campaign, from the original “Be Faithful” to “Love Carefully” and then, finally, to “Use a Condom Every Time to Prevent AIDS.” The authors see this as a breakdown in trust, from trusting your partner implicitly to caution and, finally, to every individual for him/herself and don’t trust ANYONE, even your most intimate partner. “Instead of addressing how Africans can rebuild trust, the West has promoted condoms.” Condomization!
But what then? The authors call for a holistic approach to combating AIDS – poverty reduction, education, public health and wellness training, and a return to traditional African values and morality, with condoms as only one part of that. Interestingly, one author compares AIDS in Africa to obesity and diabetes in the US: “The latter is seen as diseases of excess in a land of unjust excess, while AIDS is a disease of deficiency in a land of unjust deficiency, and both diseases hit the poor preferentially.”
I’m not sure what I make of all this, but it is surely interesting to consider. Of course, these sacred “African Village Values” are pretty much destroyed anyway by now – Africans would claim by the Dreaded Colonialists.
Incidentally, in Dar it turned out that the Radiologist who did my ultrasound was Guatemalan. He agreed with me in the similarity of Tz and Guate climates, but was much less willing to see cultural similarities, apart from things resulting from the level of poverty. And Guate has too many guns. But he readily agreed that there is a much higher energy level in Central America, when compared to Africa. Interesting to get that confirmation of my initial impressions.
The first class of the day had been a washout. It was a dark and gloomy day. There was no electricity in the classroom – you literally could not see any writing on the blackboard, much less see to take notes. My emergency fallback, the laboratory, didn’t have electricity either. I took the class over to the Dining Hall. They did have electricity there, but the blackboards were so bad that you couldn’t read what I wrote on them. So we talked in generalities about the history of metals (The Stone Age, the Bronze Age, the Iron Age, etc). Then the rain started pounding on the steel roof so hard that you couldn’t hear, either. End of class. Shudda stood in bed!
On the other hand, I just heard today that the Peace Corps has APPROVED the funding request for my Economic Empowerment project. And while I was in Dar es Salaam over the weekend, I met with Atiba from the NGO that is supporting me (TechnoServe), and he wants to come out to Mwanza to meet people and talk to the schools involved, maybe as early as Tuesday of next week! Now we will have to get our ten instructors fired up to go to Iringa for a week’s training course about the end of February. That will be a two-day bus ride, each way. Maybe we can break it up though, and spend the night in Arusha on the way. That would make it a lot easier.
So I guess you win one and you lose one. I find that I care less and less about the teaching. I want to do a good job, but it does not feel like something that makes a difference, and the system is so constraining that I don’t feel like I have any freedom of action.
Reading the newspapers in Dar, I came up with a new perspective on the opposition to condoms. With my friends, I’d always simply laid it to Evil Religious Fanatics (condoms encourage sex, condoms have holes in them, condoms can’t stop the AIDS virus, condoms are only sold to make money for imperialists, the Bible doesn’t allow condoms, etc). But this article was talking about the strength of traditional village culture, and the submersion of the individual in the community with the trust and faith that goes with that.
The article took as an example the changing official Ugandan Anti-AIDS campaign, from the original “Be Faithful” to “Love Carefully” and then, finally, to “Use a Condom Every Time to Prevent AIDS.” The authors see this as a breakdown in trust, from trusting your partner implicitly to caution and, finally, to every individual for him/herself and don’t trust ANYONE, even your most intimate partner. “Instead of addressing how Africans can rebuild trust, the West has promoted condoms.” Condomization!
But what then? The authors call for a holistic approach to combating AIDS – poverty reduction, education, public health and wellness training, and a return to traditional African values and morality, with condoms as only one part of that. Interestingly, one author compares AIDS in Africa to obesity and diabetes in the US: “The latter is seen as diseases of excess in a land of unjust excess, while AIDS is a disease of deficiency in a land of unjust deficiency, and both diseases hit the poor preferentially.”
I’m not sure what I make of all this, but it is surely interesting to consider. Of course, these sacred “African Village Values” are pretty much destroyed anyway by now – Africans would claim by the Dreaded Colonialists.
Incidentally, in Dar it turned out that the Radiologist who did my ultrasound was Guatemalan. He agreed with me in the similarity of Tz and Guate climates, but was much less willing to see cultural similarities, apart from things resulting from the level of poverty. And Guate has too many guns. But he readily agreed that there is a much higher energy level in Central America, when compared to Africa. Interesting to get that confirmation of my initial impressions.
Monday, January 24, 2005
Monday.
Coming and staying in Dar es Salaam has always been a bit of an ordeal. The hotel where we typically stay is not air conditioned, comforable enough but spartan, and tucked away in the middle of an appaling alley in dusty, dirty, confused downtown Dar.
This trip I've been staying with Dr. Lori Peters and her 4 mo. old baby Izzy - originally because she wanted to watch my vital signs, and then just because I was there so why not stay. It has been a totally different experience. Staying on the peninsula with all the landscaped, fancy, walled large homes. Parquet tile floors throughout, cook, housekeeper and security guard, comfortable furniture and amenities, private car. This is how the ex-pats live, and you could live here very comfortably and never have to come into contact with the gritty side of Dar or Tanzania at all. And many people do.
I'm glad for this insight and it has felt wonderful to luxuriate in a hot shower every morning, but it is also a bit disorienting. I'll be glad to return to the "real" Tanzania back in Mwanza.
I don't have much to do today, except wait for Lori's final, confirming blood tests to confirm that I am completely fit, and then work with the office to secure a place on the late afternoon flight back to Mwanza. Nice guilt-free vacation.
Meanwhile, I have arranged a lunch meeting with TechnoServe. Atiba's last email indicated that they WILL help underwrite the cost of shipping 12 instructors to Iringa for training in how to present the Small Business Program. He also provided dates, finally. Looks like February 21-25. I definitely want to be there, but since the course will be given in Kiswahili, I hope I can use the opportunity to also visit some of the other PCV sites in Southern Tanzania. It may be my only chance to see the southern part of the country.
Coming and staying in Dar es Salaam has always been a bit of an ordeal. The hotel where we typically stay is not air conditioned, comforable enough but spartan, and tucked away in the middle of an appaling alley in dusty, dirty, confused downtown Dar.
This trip I've been staying with Dr. Lori Peters and her 4 mo. old baby Izzy - originally because she wanted to watch my vital signs, and then just because I was there so why not stay. It has been a totally different experience. Staying on the peninsula with all the landscaped, fancy, walled large homes. Parquet tile floors throughout, cook, housekeeper and security guard, comfortable furniture and amenities, private car. This is how the ex-pats live, and you could live here very comfortably and never have to come into contact with the gritty side of Dar or Tanzania at all. And many people do.
I'm glad for this insight and it has felt wonderful to luxuriate in a hot shower every morning, but it is also a bit disorienting. I'll be glad to return to the "real" Tanzania back in Mwanza.
I don't have much to do today, except wait for Lori's final, confirming blood tests to confirm that I am completely fit, and then work with the office to secure a place on the late afternoon flight back to Mwanza. Nice guilt-free vacation.
Meanwhile, I have arranged a lunch meeting with TechnoServe. Atiba's last email indicated that they WILL help underwrite the cost of shipping 12 instructors to Iringa for training in how to present the Small Business Program. He also provided dates, finally. Looks like February 21-25. I definitely want to be there, but since the course will be given in Kiswahili, I hope I can use the opportunity to also visit some of the other PCV sites in Southern Tanzania. It may be my only chance to see the southern part of the country.
Saturday, January 22, 2005
| I spent the first session with each of my classes outlining how I would present the syllabus material this year. And in my last class, a student raised his hand: "But sir, if you don't follow the sequence of the syllabus, how will we prepare for the Mock Examination?". "Hmmmm. I'll look into it." I replied.
The Mock Examination, it turns out, is given in about the middle of the year in preparation for the National Exam (NECTA) at the end of the year. But the results are important enough so that the scores are sent to some National Education Board where they are tallied and ranked. So they do matter. Then why is it a MOCK Exam? And yes, my students WOULD be left up the proverbial creek by my plans. There is in addition, by the way, a separate Pre-NECTA Exam that comes later and is ranked regionally. But we are still expected to give our "normal" Mid-Term exams and the First Term Final. I have no idea how all these various test scores are computed into the final grades - I had thought it all simply rested on the NECTA this year, anyway. So I will follow the Syllabus. In the second class I opened by telling them "That schedule I talked about last period? Forget it, we are following the syllabus." Then I wrote out the whole damn topic on the board: Extraction of Metals. Listed the main questions and the new words / terms I would cover. Then outlined the lesson and wrote out the lesson, sentence by sentence - Ext'n of Metals consists of (1) Concentration, (2) Reduction, and (3) Refining. Now, the methods of Concentration are ... (yawn) ... Density (examples), Magnetism (examples), Floatation (examples, and diagram of a Floatation Chamber). The Reduction methods are ... YawwWwwn... etc etc The kids LOVED it. I practically got an ovation at the end of the period, they didn't want me to stop! I was now teaching like a Tanzanian, and they didn't have to think or correlate ANYthing, just copy stuff down to memorize. So much for innovative teaching methods. But otherwise, it got a little dicy this week. Back on New Year's Eve I had caught some kind of virus, who's main symptom was a high fever. Now I woke up on Wednesday with a fever of 102 again, plus some abdominal pain that radiated to my right shoulder. I taught my classes, but otherwise spent the day sleeping. Things didn't really get better on Thursday, so on advice from Headquarters, I saw a doctor in Mwanza who decided that my liver was enlarged and I probably had a gall bladder problem that should be investigated right away. When PC Medical heard these results, they called me to Dar es Salaam ASAP, packed to be ready for Medical Evacuation to South Africa. Fortunately I don't teach on Friday, so I caught the first plane out of Mwanza on Friday morning. Naturally my fever was almost gone by now and I actually felt fairly good. But I underwent a full battery of blood tests and ultrasound at the Aga Kahn Hospital yesterday and got the results back today (Saturday). I feel a LOT better today, I am glad to report, and according to the testing, everything is normal, definitely no enlarged liver, and definitely no stone or anything unusual about kidney or gall bladder. Or spleen or pancreas or anything else inside there. Good news! Well, OK, my white blood cell and platelet counts were low. But that sure sounds a lot better than being a walking time bomb for a gall bladder attack! Unless something strange happens, I'll stick around until Moday and fly back to Mwanza, having missed only one day of teaching. While I am here I have been staying with Lori Peters, MD, the head of the PC Medical Staff. We went to dinner with other PC staff and had a very interesting evening last night, a wide ranging discussion of Tz, the Peace Corps, Life... And it was pure luxury to sleep on a good bed in an air-conditioned bedroom and enjoy a hot shower. |
Tuesday, January 18, 2005
Sunday Morning. Jan 16
The school opens tomorrow, and I feel quite unprepared. I’ve looked over the syllabus, decided the order in which I want to cover the topics and all, but have not actually thought through what material I will cover in class tomorrow, or what information I want them to absorb.
I am teaching the next higher grade this year, so I will be teaching the same students I had last year. But this year it counts! The year ends with the National Exams (NECTA) that really determine the future of these kids. So my task is not only to teach chemistry and – hopefully – make it interesting and topical, but to prepare them for the exams, which is a very different thing. On top of that, the guts of this year’s syllabus is deadly dull. It proceeds from How are Metals Extracted to Reactions of Metals, Reactions of Metal Compounds, Reactions of Non-Metals and Reactions of Non-Metal Compounds. Yawn. Then at the end they throw in the topics of Soil Chemistry, Pollution, and a substantial introduction to Organic Chemistry.
From what they told me at the end of last year is that they want more demonstrations and laboratory time, more exercises in class and interim quizzes, better identification of what they should take notes on, and Tanzanian-style test formats. That last means they want Definitions, Matching, and Multiple Choice. They still won’t get much of that from me – Sorry, kids.
So – I plan to spend a quarter of the year on Soil and Pollution (throwing in Toxicity to boot), a quarter of the year on Organic Chemistry, another quarter on the Dull Stuff that they will just memorize, and then the last quarter going over all the questions from all the previous National Exams that we can find. I guess that sounds like a plan.
But now, for my classes tomorrow after the introductory discussions and stuff? ??? Well, I do plan to demonstrate a siphon, using a tube and two water bottles. Try to get them to tell me how it works.
Hodie is a nice companion. Wants to be near me all the time, but not obsessively. Just wants her ears scratched now and then. When I leave or go for a walk, she comes along – staying about ten feet from me. That is nice, but kind-of a problem when I don’t want her along. But she doesn’t seem to object too much to being penned into the courtyard, so it seems workable.
She ignores everybody we meet when we are out walking. But she is territorial about our home turf. She growls at visitors if they are Tanzanian, and chases people away if they get too close to the house. She runs at them, and then chases them if they run. If they don’t run, she ferociously charges up to them, stops, trots back to the house, then wheels around and gives them as second run. If they still don’t run, she comes trotting back and gives me this look of “Well, at least I TRIED, OK?”
She curls up on the rug while I am reading or doing stuff in the evening. Then at bedtime she wants to go outside. If I don’t put her out, she comes to my bed and starts pawing at me. She stays out all night and in the morning she is sitting or standing right in front of the door, ready to come back in.
The school opens tomorrow, and I feel quite unprepared. I’ve looked over the syllabus, decided the order in which I want to cover the topics and all, but have not actually thought through what material I will cover in class tomorrow, or what information I want them to absorb.
I am teaching the next higher grade this year, so I will be teaching the same students I had last year. But this year it counts! The year ends with the National Exams (NECTA) that really determine the future of these kids. So my task is not only to teach chemistry and – hopefully – make it interesting and topical, but to prepare them for the exams, which is a very different thing. On top of that, the guts of this year’s syllabus is deadly dull. It proceeds from How are Metals Extracted to Reactions of Metals, Reactions of Metal Compounds, Reactions of Non-Metals and Reactions of Non-Metal Compounds. Yawn. Then at the end they throw in the topics of Soil Chemistry, Pollution, and a substantial introduction to Organic Chemistry.
From what they told me at the end of last year is that they want more demonstrations and laboratory time, more exercises in class and interim quizzes, better identification of what they should take notes on, and Tanzanian-style test formats. That last means they want Definitions, Matching, and Multiple Choice. They still won’t get much of that from me – Sorry, kids.
So – I plan to spend a quarter of the year on Soil and Pollution (throwing in Toxicity to boot), a quarter of the year on Organic Chemistry, another quarter on the Dull Stuff that they will just memorize, and then the last quarter going over all the questions from all the previous National Exams that we can find. I guess that sounds like a plan.
But now, for my classes tomorrow after the introductory discussions and stuff? ??? Well, I do plan to demonstrate a siphon, using a tube and two water bottles. Try to get them to tell me how it works.
Hodie is a nice companion. Wants to be near me all the time, but not obsessively. Just wants her ears scratched now and then. When I leave or go for a walk, she comes along – staying about ten feet from me. That is nice, but kind-of a problem when I don’t want her along. But she doesn’t seem to object too much to being penned into the courtyard, so it seems workable.
She ignores everybody we meet when we are out walking. But she is territorial about our home turf. She growls at visitors if they are Tanzanian, and chases people away if they get too close to the house. She runs at them, and then chases them if they run. If they don’t run, she ferociously charges up to them, stops, trots back to the house, then wheels around and gives them as second run. If they still don’t run, she comes trotting back and gives me this look of “Well, at least I TRIED, OK?”
She curls up on the rug while I am reading or doing stuff in the evening. Then at bedtime she wants to go outside. If I don’t put her out, she comes to my bed and starts pawing at me. She stays out all night and in the morning she is sitting or standing right in front of the door, ready to come back in.
Wednesday, January 12, 2005
We keep losing people. Now Steve is leaving Mwanza. Bwiru actually, but Bwiru is as close to downtown Mwanza as I am, here in Nyegezi. Steve had been teaching at a Government Technical School and the Government is closing its Technical Schools. So he is going to another site in southern Tanzania for his second year. We will miss him. He had recently moved into a very large house, and collected a lot of the supplies and stuff that accumulated from several other PCVs when they completed their service. A lot of stuff builds up over two years, even when it has been on a Peace Corps subsistence stipend.
So this afternoon a Bwiru truck appeared on the soccer field outside my house, and I became the possessor of a bunch of Steve’s accumulation. Boxes of books that should be returned to HQ. A mattress. Bicycle supplies. Assorted kitchen pots and pans for other Kathleen and Kim. Speakers and a lamp for Ryan. A huge bookcase, stocked with an amazing array of subject matter. A dog!
A NICE dog. Better looking than most Tanzanian dogs and fortunately, is no longer a puppy. This dog, I am told, began life in Mwanza and then went to Sengerema with some Franciscan volunteers, then came back to live with Steve when they left, and is now here. Steve said the dog is low upkeep – that he never fed it, just let her forage outside for herself. I can believe it. I made some mush for Hodie tonight, spiked it with some fish, and put it on the floor for her. She would look at it and lick her chops, but would not touch it. I had to cut up some bread and leave a trail of chunks leading to the bowl, with more bread in the bowl to get her to eat. We walked up the hill to watch the sunset tonight, and it was fun to watch Hodie run ahead to sniff and discover the world.
Wonder if the dog rules out the new chicken that Paul had promised to give me.
On my last night in Dar es Salaam, Atiba from TechnoServe and I went out to a fabulous Ethiopian restaurant (Addis in Dar) to discuss our plans to teach small business principles to Mwanza students this year. Good meeting! He can provide Kiswahili books to supplement his limited supply to English workbooks, will include all our instructors in his training program in February, and will come out to Mwanza to meet with us in late January. So far, things are shaping up as well as they could.
Classes for the new school year begin on the 17th. Not much will happen the first week, but by now it is time to get serious about what material I will want to present this year, and in what order. Wish I knew my teaching schedule.
So this afternoon a Bwiru truck appeared on the soccer field outside my house, and I became the possessor of a bunch of Steve’s accumulation. Boxes of books that should be returned to HQ. A mattress. Bicycle supplies. Assorted kitchen pots and pans for other Kathleen and Kim. Speakers and a lamp for Ryan. A huge bookcase, stocked with an amazing array of subject matter. A dog!
A NICE dog. Better looking than most Tanzanian dogs and fortunately, is no longer a puppy. This dog, I am told, began life in Mwanza and then went to Sengerema with some Franciscan volunteers, then came back to live with Steve when they left, and is now here. Steve said the dog is low upkeep – that he never fed it, just let her forage outside for herself. I can believe it. I made some mush for Hodie tonight, spiked it with some fish, and put it on the floor for her. She would look at it and lick her chops, but would not touch it. I had to cut up some bread and leave a trail of chunks leading to the bowl, with more bread in the bowl to get her to eat. We walked up the hill to watch the sunset tonight, and it was fun to watch Hodie run ahead to sniff and discover the world.
Wonder if the dog rules out the new chicken that Paul had promised to give me.
On my last night in Dar es Salaam, Atiba from TechnoServe and I went out to a fabulous Ethiopian restaurant (Addis in Dar) to discuss our plans to teach small business principles to Mwanza students this year. Good meeting! He can provide Kiswahili books to supplement his limited supply to English workbooks, will include all our instructors in his training program in February, and will come out to Mwanza to meet with us in late January. So far, things are shaping up as well as they could.
Classes for the new school year begin on the 17th. Not much will happen the first week, but by now it is time to get serious about what material I will want to present this year, and in what order. Wish I knew my teaching schedule.
Saturday, January 08, 2005
Tanzania is classified as a multi-party democracy. It has been at peace since it clobbered Idi Amin in Uganda in, I think, 1997. That is about as good as it gets in Africa. By way of reference the leading party, CCM, won 96.6% of all seats in civic polls. This is a multi-party democracy?
The front page story in The Citizen today leads off with "President Benjamin Mkapa has assured the international community that the ruling CCM does not need to rig this year's general elections in order to retain power. The President ... said that his party stands to gain more by winning peacefully, fairly and squarely."
So are we to assume that if the CCM was NOT sure of the election results, vote rigging would be in order?
I've been in Dar es Salaam all this week. It is the mid-point of our service, and all the Education volunteers have been here this week for medical exams and two days of meetings to review how things have been going, with suggestions on how we might work HIV/AIDS education into whatever else we are doing. It has all been pretty low-key but relaxing, and good to spend time with friends not seen for a long time. I'm surprised at how many volunteers we've lost - 23 of our original 87 education volunteers - 26%.
Last night another couple, Deena and Kent, and I were invited to dinner by Nancy and Mike. Nancy is the PC Financial Officer, really outgoing and witty, and her husband spends his time managing the money he has made, and writing. They have traveled widely, have two fabulous kids who are very welcome participants in the dinner conversation, have two homes in Costa Rico. The both are tremendous fans of Africa and life here. The food was as interesting and delicious as the conversation.
One of the things I really wanted to do this week was to meet with Atiba, of TechnoServe, the NGO that says it will provide the books and training of trainers instruction for the economic empowerment program I've been promoting. We finally were able to set up an appointment, for dinner at Addis in Dar this evening. Addis is a fabulous Ethiopian restaurant here, and my mouth waters just thinking about it. Hopefully we will have a chance to work out a lot of the loose ends on who will do what, when, over the savory smells and tastes.
So far, the prospects for the project look astonishingly promising. Peace Corps Tanzania has $12,000 for Small Project Assistance, and it sounds as though they will support my request for $3,100. I've been going to the low-end hotels to get prices on bringing 12 instructors here for a week's instruction in February.
Then tomorrow, early, I get myself to the bus station for the 26-hour ride back to Mwanza, via Nairobi, Kenya. By taking the bus instead of flying, I get to pocket the difference, and that will be a big help to me right now. I still haven't recovered from the trip to London and having had my VISA card blocked there by a hungry ATM machine.
When I get back to Mwanza I will have to find out what is going on at the school. I am pretty sure that I will be teaching Form IV Chemistry (equivalent to USA 11th grade), but I don't know my schedule, or even when the school opens for the New Year. Could be this Monday, or could be next Wednesday.
I'm going to have to re-think my social activities now. Without the constant communications with Myrna, I will be making many fewer bike trips to internet cafes in Mwanza, and I will replace my interest in Spanish with valid (instead of my previous halfhearted) attempts to learn Swahili. I have no doubt that efforts to organize my new chemistry course and promote my project will absorb my time and energy.
Onward and Upward.
The front page story in The Citizen today leads off with "President Benjamin Mkapa has assured the international community that the ruling CCM does not need to rig this year's general elections in order to retain power. The President ... said that his party stands to gain more by winning peacefully, fairly and squarely."
So are we to assume that if the CCM was NOT sure of the election results, vote rigging would be in order?
I've been in Dar es Salaam all this week. It is the mid-point of our service, and all the Education volunteers have been here this week for medical exams and two days of meetings to review how things have been going, with suggestions on how we might work HIV/AIDS education into whatever else we are doing. It has all been pretty low-key but relaxing, and good to spend time with friends not seen for a long time. I'm surprised at how many volunteers we've lost - 23 of our original 87 education volunteers - 26%.
Last night another couple, Deena and Kent, and I were invited to dinner by Nancy and Mike. Nancy is the PC Financial Officer, really outgoing and witty, and her husband spends his time managing the money he has made, and writing. They have traveled widely, have two fabulous kids who are very welcome participants in the dinner conversation, have two homes in Costa Rico. The both are tremendous fans of Africa and life here. The food was as interesting and delicious as the conversation.
One of the things I really wanted to do this week was to meet with Atiba, of TechnoServe, the NGO that says it will provide the books and training of trainers instruction for the economic empowerment program I've been promoting. We finally were able to set up an appointment, for dinner at Addis in Dar this evening. Addis is a fabulous Ethiopian restaurant here, and my mouth waters just thinking about it. Hopefully we will have a chance to work out a lot of the loose ends on who will do what, when, over the savory smells and tastes.
So far, the prospects for the project look astonishingly promising. Peace Corps Tanzania has $12,000 for Small Project Assistance, and it sounds as though they will support my request for $3,100. I've been going to the low-end hotels to get prices on bringing 12 instructors here for a week's instruction in February.
Then tomorrow, early, I get myself to the bus station for the 26-hour ride back to Mwanza, via Nairobi, Kenya. By taking the bus instead of flying, I get to pocket the difference, and that will be a big help to me right now. I still haven't recovered from the trip to London and having had my VISA card blocked there by a hungry ATM machine.
When I get back to Mwanza I will have to find out what is going on at the school. I am pretty sure that I will be teaching Form IV Chemistry (equivalent to USA 11th grade), but I don't know my schedule, or even when the school opens for the New Year. Could be this Monday, or could be next Wednesday.
I'm going to have to re-think my social activities now. Without the constant communications with Myrna, I will be making many fewer bike trips to internet cafes in Mwanza, and I will replace my interest in Spanish with valid (instead of my previous halfhearted) attempts to learn Swahili. I have no doubt that efforts to organize my new chemistry course and promote my project will absorb my time and energy.
Onward and Upward.
