Hello everyone, I know it has been a few weeks since my last post but a lot has been happening. After many unforeseen delays I finally started my internship teaching! I teach Form 3 (high school junior equivalence) Biology and Form 1 (high school freshman equivalence) Chemistry. The school where I have my internship teaching is a private boarding school so itʼs much smaller than most public schools. I have 38 students in my biology class and 25 in my chemistry class. Being it is a private school, many of the students speak fairly good English which is super helpful in teaching. Yes, the medium of instruction for Secondary Education (high school) is English, however, most teachers supplement with Swahili to make sure they are understood. Students are taught in Swahili up until secondary school when everything switches to English. Because of this, many students struggle with understanding not only the content, but also having it presented not in their primary language. Due to all the delays, I have only taught Biology three times and Chemistry once, but all my classes went great! The students at my school are all well behaved and enjoy having a different teacher for a change. Another thing I have seen is that the mode of instruction used by most teachers in Tanzania is lecture. Students write in their notebooks what the teacher writes on the board and they listen to the teacher lecture. In many classes there is very little, if any group work or activities. Because of this, it is always a big hit when I do something different to make the class more interactive.
I have internship teaching three days a week and then three days I go into Korogwe to the teachers college for technical, medical or safety training. These trainings can be anything from safe cooking practices to classroom management techniques to sexual assault awareness. Sundays are usually our “free day” which is filled with a mix of chores. Every Sunday I pick up, sweep and mop my room, wash my clothes from the week, and usually one or more other chores. Those have been, cleaning the chooni (bathroom), sweeping the yard, carrying water from the creek, shucking corn, or helping cook. Cleanliness is of high importance to many Tanzanians. My family sweeps and mops the floors in the house and outside in our little courtyard every single day. Bathing is also a frequent occurrence, many Tanzanians bathe twice a day. It is expected that clothes are washed frequently and if they show wrinkles, they need to be ironed before wearing them. This is especially true for teachers, who are seen as high professionals.
Some of the training sessions we have are on topics that are difficult to discuss. This week one such topic was the “white savior” complex. I became aware of the concept prior to my study abroad trip to South Africa last spring and have thought about it often through my application process, acceptance, and the first couple months in country. I have thought about everything I say and post and how it can be perceived to those around me. Another topic was the danger of a single story. If anyone is interested there is a TED talk that we watched on the danger of a single story. One thing I want to share is that all of the experiences that I have written about and will write about in the future are just one story. They are one story of my experiences and do not represent all of Tanzania or all of Peace Corps.
This week also brought my first real emotional hardship in country. I received some very sad news from home and it really hit me one afternoon. I felt for the first time like I wanted to be home and hug my family and friends. It was the first moment in country where I realized that I was away from everything and everyone that gave me comfort. All the people I would normally reach out to, all the activities I would do to cheer me up in the states…I didnʼt have any of those. I found myself sitting in a room with my fellow volunteers trying to pay attention to an activity but both my mind and heart were back home with those I loved and cared about. I quietly left the room, found a quiet place, and called mom (because mom always knows how to make me feel better). After a half hour talking with mom, two of my closest trainee friends, PJ and Melissa, came to find me and sit with me for a little bit. Eventually we went to join the group again to participate (or try to in my case) in the activities. Throughout the rest of the afternoon I had many other volunteers coming up to me to check on me because they noticed I was down. Some came to ask me what was wrong or if there was anything they could do, others came to see if I wanted to talk, and still others simply came to give me a hug. Even into the evening, after we had all gone home to our host families, I still had people sending me messages just checking in to make sure I was okay because they had noticed I was down. Although the day was one of the most challenging I have experienced so far, I was blessed by all those who came to me to offer their support, whether or not they knew what was going on. I had people supporting me and backing me in more ways than I realized. People who I hadnʼt even gotten to know that well yet were checking in on me to make sure I was okay. I realized even more today that my cohort, the trainees that I came to Tanzania with, the people I have spent the past seven weeks with and only met one day before leaving for Tanzania were going to be my main support system in country. This was the first big challenge I faced and I was overwhelmed by the amount of support I received from my cohort. I had heard past volunteers say that their cohort became their second family but today I felt it. This week I felt like I gained another family within my 50 fellow volunteers.