Today (September 21st) was a crazy day. Keep in mind that I only officially arrived at site on Thursday and today, Saturday, I helped chaperone a field trip (really I was just along for the ride). Mwalimu Mathias (Teacher Mathias), whom I call Daniel because that is his first name and much easier for me to remember/pronounce correctly, invited me to go along on the field trip he organized for FEMA Club. First, Daniel is one of the teachers at the school I was placed at. He teaches English and is also the academic master of the school, so he is in charge of laying out the schedule each year. He has been the most helpful and nice during my site visit as well as my first few days here and has also been slowly teaching me more Swahili. Now, on to FEMA Club. When I agreed to go on this trip I didn’t even know what FEMA Club was. All I knew was that Daniel was taking group of students to Lushoto for FEMA Club. The evening before the field trip was supposed to take place I found Daniel to gain more information (what time were we leaving, how many students, what is FEMA Club). I was told that the car would be here at 7:00am and we would be leaving by 7:15. He informed me that FE stands for female and MA stands for male, hence FEMA. The FEMA club at my school is one branch of a country wide Femina Hip organization. The vision of Femina hip is “a gender equal society in which youth are confident and competent change-makers with healthy lifestyles who actively participate in the development and well being of Tanzania.” As I write this post I am on the femina hip website (feminahip.or.tz) and am learning so much more and becoming more and more excited to take on a role in helping Daniel lead this club. Femina hip and each individual FEMA club (over 2,000 throughout Tanzania) has four main topics in which youth can engage in conversation: sexual and reproductive health, economic empowerment, citizen engagement and youth connect. I would highly recommend checking out their website! Most of this, however, I didn’t know when agreeing to go, when I got there, or even when I left. I learned some about when our club at school does from Daniel but I didn’t realize just how big of an organization it was until arriving at the event and then doing my own research once I got home. Now, for a summary of the day. I leave my house and walk the 200 yards to where the Noah (an 8 passenger mini van, a common form of transportation between villages) was waiting at 7:00 like promised. Some students were gathered, a few had signs and Daniel was running around to different offices and classrooms to find, what I later realized, was tape. They had made signs saying, “Malibwi Fema Club” “Sema na fema” and various other things. The signs were for the car to signify that this was a private Noah and we would not be picking up other people along the way. In a way it felt like high school, decorating the car when going to a game. There are very limited resources in Tanzania and apparently tape is one of those that is limited. I didn’t realize he was on the search for tape until he eventually emerged with a glue stick to try and glue the signs to the car. At that moment I offered to grab the duct tape I had brought to country as a solution. After the tape ordeal and a couple students being late we finally loaded the car, only to all get back out for a picture and then back in again. Normally this wouldn’t be too much of a problem, but in this case it was a process. Remember how I said a Noah is like an eight passenger mini van? Well, in Tanzania transportation is one of the biggest challenges. Most people cannot afford their own vehicles and because of that the public transportation is very crowded. It is not uncommon to see people piled into noahs (8 passenger vans), costas (mini buses), daladalas (buses), bajajis (3 wheeled taxi), and even on pikipikis (motercycles). Back to today, because of the fact that it is extreamly common to pile people into all sorts of transportation, we had one noah for myself, another teacher, and 14 students. That made for 16 of us plus the driver. Part way down the road we gained a different driver and the original one climbed in the back with some students, another one of the many questions I have that will never be answered. So for the majority of the trip we had 18 people piled into this noah (8 passenger van). Now I’m sure many of you are wondering how this feat is even possible. Well… In most noahs the middle console between the driver and the passenger had been removed (or never there in the first place, I’m not sure) and there is a wooden stool for another seat. You can also fit at least 4 sometimes 5 across on the bench seats in the 2nd and 3rd rows. We had 3-4 people in the trunk at all times, and there were also a few people sitting on laps. Oh and I shared the front passenger seat with a student. While this may sound absolutely insane to most of you reading this, what I just described is a common occurrence in Tanzania. Today was not the first time I have been in a noah with 18 people (and last time there was also a person holding a live chicken). Looks like this is going to be a very long post being I am a whole page in and we haven’t even left yet. So we finally got pictures taken, everyone situated in the noah and off down the road… at least for a couple minutes. As soon as we picked up speed the signs on the car started to come off so we had to stop and tape them on better. A few more miles down the road and the car broke down (another common occurrence in Tanzanian transportation). Somehow they were able to fix it quickly and we were on the road again. Eventually we made it to Lushoto (where I thought the event was) and we all pile out of the car, but instead of going to the event we all file into this tiny restaurant for chai. Somehow this restaurant rounded up extra chairs for everyone and had a cup of chai (tea) and 2 chapati in front of every person within minutes. Everyone downed their food and chai and all 18 of us were back in the Noah and on the road within 15 minutes. It was crazy. One thing I have learned quickly in Tanzania is to just go with the flow. Eventually we pulled into where the event would be taking place. Another secondary school in village outside of Lushoto. That is when I found out that a bunch of other schools from Lushoto District also brought groups of students. The hall where the event was held had to have over 800 students in it, and its not just transportation where people are packed in. It is also in classrooms, houses and this hall where the event was taking place. Students were piled in, sharing chairs, sitting on laps and standing in the back. The event was scheduled to start at 10:00 and that is about the time we showed up. Shortly after we arrived different student groups from different schools were called up to do a performance. There was singing, dancing, a drama, a group did a rap. Everything was very entertaining and the students all did a great job. About an hour into the performances I was informed by Daniel that the Guest of Honor (who in this case was someone from the District… District Commissioner maybe, I am not entirely sure) had not yet arrived. The performances were all being done as time filler while we waited for the Guest of Honor. Around 12:30 Daniel told me that the Guest of Honor was unable to attend. Around 1:00 the District Executive Officer arrived and he took the place as the Guest of Honor. All this time that we waited there were different student performances taking place. Now, I’m sure many of you are thinking, “how disrespectful that the guest of honor never showed up and the replacement was late.” Trust me, that’s how I felt in the moment also, however the culture of time is very different in Tanzania. It is common that if a meeting is “supposed” to start at 9:00am, most people would show up between 9:30-10:00. That is just normal Tanzanian culture. Another example is at my house in my village. During my site visit almost 3 weeks ago now I was told that the fundi (name used for basically any trade, ie: tailor, carpenter, electrician) would be coming “either today or tomorrow” to build a gate for my courtyard. As of today I still do not have a gate and he has still not come to even give an estimate for the cost of it. Now in the United States each of these situations would be very frustrating to almost anyone, but in Tanzania I have learned to respect the culture around me and to be resilient in understanding that time is just not a priority here like it is in the U.S. Nobody seemed even the slightest big fazed that the Guest of Honor was 3 hours late. It was no big deal and there was entertainment while we waited. Once the new Guest of Honor arrived the program started. The program consisted of various speeches, songs, a fashion show, and a dance. There were speeches from the Guest of Honor, various teachers, and a motivational speech from a student. The majority of the program was in Swahili so I only understood bits and pieces but each of the speeches were on the topics FEMA Club focuses on, the main one being sexual and reproductive health. One of the challenges faced in Tanzania is that of early marriages and teenage pregnancy and so that is one of the main topics of FEMA Club. They raise an awareness of the problem as well as makesure students are informed of the risks and challenges surrounding it. After the event was over we all piled back in the van, only to get out again for more pictures (many Tanzanians love taking pictures). We finally got on the road only to stop a couple miles later in town to give the students a chance to get out and walk around town. We took a walk through a couple streets, the bus stop and stopped by a bridge where you could see a beautiful valley and small waterfall. After pausing for a few minutes to take in the view we walked back and piled in the car. On the ride back to the school we had the music blaring in the car and everyone was singing along and dancing. Daniel was even singing along and dancing with the students. It was so fun to watch and hear everyone so happy and having a great time. It would have been even more fun if I knew the songs and could sing along too! All in all it was a very long and tiring day but it was also interesting and exciting. I never knew what to expect next and I learned a lot throughout the day.
