continuing on a theme
so to pick up where i left off, i dont want to paint a picture of tanzanian village life as this desperate, hungry life that is shown in a christian's children commercial. not that it does not exists but because there are so much more to the people that live in the village than desperation. i merely just want to point out the strong dichotomy between village and urban, and i dont know if i have the ability to do that with words or even pictures. i guess you all will just have to come and visit me to see for yourselves!
in the mean time i have received several questions that have been repeated in emails and thought it easier to answer them here...the first is what i bought on my shopping trip. i hate to disappoint those expecting anything exciting, but coming to town is more of a supplies trip. while it is incredibly exciting and a sensory overload for me, it will probably look more like a grocery list for everyone else. mostly i bought stuff to help me become the successful tanzanian chef i hope to be. i bought some essentials for making my favorite food...chapati. which is a rolling pin and tray. then some pots to use just for boiling water and for making beans. i have found that it is important to keep these two separate. as i have drank several bottles of bean flavored water! but the most exciting thing about coming to the city is the groceries. they have some safi stores here that have foods that i can only dream about in the village. yesterday not only did i stumble across cheese, but i even found a block of gouda!!!!! it costs $8 USD...but it is now in my possession! there is also spices like cinnamon and things that are difficult to make on an open fire, like bread. there is also a huge fruit market here where i can buy pineapples and tangerines. i found a store yesterday that sells ragu pizza sauce and pasta. oh and ever so important....chocolate!!!! these are the things that when you are sitting in your kitchen stirring beans, that you daydream about eating. as far as local crafts, i did pick up some maasai beaded jewelry. this area is also known for its great colorful woven baskets...they are tightly woven to hold flour or just about anything.. and the same bright weave are put into rugs. they are beautiful. expect to see a bunch upon my return. my big search today before leaving is looking for a spatula.
so another question was to expand more on my daily life in the village. i have found that having a schedule is essential. i wake up 6:30 (when the school kids start arriving to school) and make coffee and uji...this corn meal version of malt-o-meal. quite tasty. then i do some yoga/floor exercises. then usually i have visitors that come by the house and i greet them and make tea. then i make lunch and do dishes and clean my house and wash clothes and sweep the yard (yes the dirt yard). then i leave my house for a couple of hours. as i am not supposed to start any projects for three months, i am supposed to be getting to know my villagers and performing a needs assessment in the high-context, indirect communication that is culturally acceptable in the village life. so every afternoon for at least 2 hours i walk around my community. i tend to leave my house with a small goal...e.g. try to find the village office, or see if you can find some garlic. and while i usually am not too successful in achieving these goals, the adventures of exploring the community is much more valuable. another thing is that i set personal goal for each day. these include: making rice for the first time with firewood, or washing the walls of my house, or finding the closest place that sells matches. just something that when i go to bed at night i can say, "well at least i did this today." then it is time to cook dinner. i start by heating water to bathe then usually put on a pot to boil while i do my bucket bath and then cooking something, rice, pasta, ugali, something. then i put a large log on the fire and turn on the radio and sit by the fire and eat my dinner. sometimes i boil water to have a foot soak. i have found that i have become extremely sensitive to the sun with the doxy (anti malarial) and regardless of the amount of sunscreen i put on i still have sun/wind burns on my feet hands and face. my feet have become so bad that i have blisters on the tops of all my toes from being wind chapped. i have never lived at such a high altitude before and it is taking some small lifestyle changes to figure it out. such as for the first time in my life i am using lotion (THANKS TO SHERRY for leaving behind such wonderful products while she was here visiting!!!!!) so anyway the other night, i was sitting by the fire having a cup of coffee (instant but not too bad) soaking my feet and listening to a howard zinn interview on the radio. i felt like i was on a luxury camping vacation. as my time hopefully will become more filled as i start projects i will probably hire house help for one or two days a week to cook a pot of beans and carry water and scrub my pots (pine and eucalyptus produce a LARGE amount of sap that stays on the pot and has to be cleaned)and collect firewood but in the meantime i enjoy doing all these activities to help me fill the day and stay busy.
how close am i to other wazungu (foreigners)? well the i have one volunteer neighbor that is only about 10-12km away.(in case rhea or ellen are reading this...this is bonnie, strangely enough we were put right next to each other!!!) then another about 20-25km and another about 35-40km. these guys are easily accessible to meet up with for lunch in a neighboring town or for the one closest to me we can visit each other's houses and return back in the same day with out sorry of it becoming dark. or when i get my bike, it will be easier. however, all of them are closing service in december and heading back to the states. after that i will be only volunteer in my district. there are some education people arriving in september, but doubt any will be going to village areas like mine. so right now i have several neighbors (though i have not seen any of them, it is comforting to know they are there if i need them, and i have been communicating with them) but in december i will be more like 70-80km to the next volunteers i am estimating. HOWEVER, i just found on one my exploratory walks that in the next village over there is a Unilever tea field. unilever is one of the worlds largest food manufactures and is the parent company of Lipton teas. SO in my fascination in corporations and their affects on developing nations, i will be visiting the unilever fields soon and i am sure there will be some brits or americans hanging around there. i also believe they have a unilever ran hospital that i think is the closest peace corps approved medical facility for me.
as far as having any tanzanian friends...well i am still having a language barrier. there is no one in my village that speaks any english (well the headmaster of the school speaks about as much english as i do swahili..so it doesn’t help much) there is the staff of peace corps that is almost completely tanzanian and our training staff that i have made some great friends. as far as IN the village, well there are a couple of teachers that i get along well with. one in particular. the other day i was bored and wanted to go get a coke and did not want to go by myself so i went to her and asked if she wanted to go and we went...so it was like calling up a friend and saying "hey lets get out of the house for a sec" and it was great...the are great pauses in the conversation due to my limited communication, but so much communication can be done without words!
well i better log off and get back to my research. hope all is well on the home front. i am still trying to get a po box, but in the mean send any mail to the dar address on this site!
in the mean time i have received several questions that have been repeated in emails and thought it easier to answer them here...the first is what i bought on my shopping trip. i hate to disappoint those expecting anything exciting, but coming to town is more of a supplies trip. while it is incredibly exciting and a sensory overload for me, it will probably look more like a grocery list for everyone else. mostly i bought stuff to help me become the successful tanzanian chef i hope to be. i bought some essentials for making my favorite food...chapati. which is a rolling pin and tray. then some pots to use just for boiling water and for making beans. i have found that it is important to keep these two separate. as i have drank several bottles of bean flavored water! but the most exciting thing about coming to the city is the groceries. they have some safi stores here that have foods that i can only dream about in the village. yesterday not only did i stumble across cheese, but i even found a block of gouda!!!!! it costs $8 USD...but it is now in my possession! there is also spices like cinnamon and things that are difficult to make on an open fire, like bread. there is also a huge fruit market here where i can buy pineapples and tangerines. i found a store yesterday that sells ragu pizza sauce and pasta. oh and ever so important....chocolate!!!! these are the things that when you are sitting in your kitchen stirring beans, that you daydream about eating. as far as local crafts, i did pick up some maasai beaded jewelry. this area is also known for its great colorful woven baskets...they are tightly woven to hold flour or just about anything.. and the same bright weave are put into rugs. they are beautiful. expect to see a bunch upon my return. my big search today before leaving is looking for a spatula.
so another question was to expand more on my daily life in the village. i have found that having a schedule is essential. i wake up 6:30 (when the school kids start arriving to school) and make coffee and uji...this corn meal version of malt-o-meal. quite tasty. then i do some yoga/floor exercises. then usually i have visitors that come by the house and i greet them and make tea. then i make lunch and do dishes and clean my house and wash clothes and sweep the yard (yes the dirt yard). then i leave my house for a couple of hours. as i am not supposed to start any projects for three months, i am supposed to be getting to know my villagers and performing a needs assessment in the high-context, indirect communication that is culturally acceptable in the village life. so every afternoon for at least 2 hours i walk around my community. i tend to leave my house with a small goal...e.g. try to find the village office, or see if you can find some garlic. and while i usually am not too successful in achieving these goals, the adventures of exploring the community is much more valuable. another thing is that i set personal goal for each day. these include: making rice for the first time with firewood, or washing the walls of my house, or finding the closest place that sells matches. just something that when i go to bed at night i can say, "well at least i did this today." then it is time to cook dinner. i start by heating water to bathe then usually put on a pot to boil while i do my bucket bath and then cooking something, rice, pasta, ugali, something. then i put a large log on the fire and turn on the radio and sit by the fire and eat my dinner. sometimes i boil water to have a foot soak. i have found that i have become extremely sensitive to the sun with the doxy (anti malarial) and regardless of the amount of sunscreen i put on i still have sun/wind burns on my feet hands and face. my feet have become so bad that i have blisters on the tops of all my toes from being wind chapped. i have never lived at such a high altitude before and it is taking some small lifestyle changes to figure it out. such as for the first time in my life i am using lotion (THANKS TO SHERRY for leaving behind such wonderful products while she was here visiting!!!!!) so anyway the other night, i was sitting by the fire having a cup of coffee (instant but not too bad) soaking my feet and listening to a howard zinn interview on the radio. i felt like i was on a luxury camping vacation. as my time hopefully will become more filled as i start projects i will probably hire house help for one or two days a week to cook a pot of beans and carry water and scrub my pots (pine and eucalyptus produce a LARGE amount of sap that stays on the pot and has to be cleaned)and collect firewood but in the meantime i enjoy doing all these activities to help me fill the day and stay busy.
how close am i to other wazungu (foreigners)? well the i have one volunteer neighbor that is only about 10-12km away.(in case rhea or ellen are reading this...this is bonnie, strangely enough we were put right next to each other!!!) then another about 20-25km and another about 35-40km. these guys are easily accessible to meet up with for lunch in a neighboring town or for the one closest to me we can visit each other's houses and return back in the same day with out sorry of it becoming dark. or when i get my bike, it will be easier. however, all of them are closing service in december and heading back to the states. after that i will be only volunteer in my district. there are some education people arriving in september, but doubt any will be going to village areas like mine. so right now i have several neighbors (though i have not seen any of them, it is comforting to know they are there if i need them, and i have been communicating with them) but in december i will be more like 70-80km to the next volunteers i am estimating. HOWEVER, i just found on one my exploratory walks that in the next village over there is a Unilever tea field. unilever is one of the worlds largest food manufactures and is the parent company of Lipton teas. SO in my fascination in corporations and their affects on developing nations, i will be visiting the unilever fields soon and i am sure there will be some brits or americans hanging around there. i also believe they have a unilever ran hospital that i think is the closest peace corps approved medical facility for me.
as far as having any tanzanian friends...well i am still having a language barrier. there is no one in my village that speaks any english (well the headmaster of the school speaks about as much english as i do swahili..so it doesn’t help much) there is the staff of peace corps that is almost completely tanzanian and our training staff that i have made some great friends. as far as IN the village, well there are a couple of teachers that i get along well with. one in particular. the other day i was bored and wanted to go get a coke and did not want to go by myself so i went to her and asked if she wanted to go and we went...so it was like calling up a friend and saying "hey lets get out of the house for a sec" and it was great...the are great pauses in the conversation due to my limited communication, but so much communication can be done without words!
well i better log off and get back to my research. hope all is well on the home front. i am still trying to get a po box, but in the mean send any mail to the dar address on this site!
posted by Jane at 1:03 AM
2 Comments:
Internet comes into its own as aid during storm and aftermath
On the site of New Orleans station WWL-TV, you could summon video replays of the station's news coverage - including a seemingly despondent Mayor C. Ray Nagin talking of "a state of devastation" - and read a ...
That's all she wrote!
GlennEllen Ross
ibs diet
I really thought the planting tulips thing was a joke from Jane's bro Jerome!! plant tulips... on my a$$ Sorry Jerome, that just sounded like some of the things Jane has told me have come out of your mouth.
Anyway, that's really nice that someone wants to show you how to plant tulips.
Sarah
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