Busy, busy, busy

It has been awhile since my last post, and a lot has happened! To start, I have some very exciting news! In my last post I shared the issue with obtaining work visas to legally work and volunteer here in Tanzania. Well, 8 months since arriving in Tanzania, we have finally received our work permits!!! Now I am officially able to stay here and serve my full 2 years of Peace Corps service!

Now for a summary of what has taken place since my last post. My last month and a half has included a trip to Singida with my counterpart, Daniel, and four students for LEAD conference, a visit to the Lushoto District Hospital (first hospital experience in country…don’t worry I’m okay!), and a trip to Dar es Salaam to the Peace Corps office. It has been a busy past few weeks. It’s hard to believe that it is already the middle of March!

LEAD conference in Singida was amazing and exhausting all at the same time. LEAD Conference is an entirely volunteer run conference. Jordan on USAWA committee planned and organized the event and all the funding was through a grant. All the volunteers who applied and were accepted to attend with counterparts and 4 students were required to plan and lead 2 sessions on various topics. My school lead a topic on team work and team building and then we had a student lead session on gender equality. Not only was I responsible to planning for and leading two sessions with my counterpart and students I also felt like I was a camp counselor for a week. For the conference 3 different guest houses (similar to hotels) were rented out. The counterparts were all staying in one, all the female students and two rooms of male students with a couple rooms for Peace Corps volunteers were in the guest house where the conference was held, and the rest of the male students and two Peace Corps Volunteers were in the third guest house. I was in the guest house where the entire conference was held. The entire week we were there, I left the guest house complex only once and that was with the students for sports and games time. Other than that I was there with them 24/7. Eating meals 3 times a day with everyone, having chai and afternoon break together, sitting through/leading sessions all day and then partaking in the evening activities scheduled for the students. From the time I woke up to the time I went to sleep each day I was with the students. As exhausting as the week was it was completely worth it. My students got to travel outside of Tanga region (some students had never done so before) and meet students from other parts of Tanzania.

There were sessions on skill building and leadership, HIV/AIDS, malaria and relationships, equality and self-care, nutrition and business, and goal setting and future planning. Each day was packed full with sessions and activities for the students. They learned from the sessions but probably more importantly they learned from each other. Many of the students in attendance had never left their region or even district. So for them to travel such a long way to attend a confrence with students from different schools around Tanzania they were able to learn so much from each other. They shared about their schools, their regions and their lifestyles and cultures. Many people may think all of Tanzania is the same so there aren’t many differences but that just isn’t true. Tanzania has hundreds of different tribes and cultures each with their own native language and traditions. The lake zone regions are different than the central desert areas, which are then different from the mountains where I lived in Lushoto. My favorite part of the week was watching the students go from being shy and sitting in their separate groups by school on Monday to mingling and making friends with one another throughout the week. By the end of the week one of my students was best friends with another student from a different school. The two had jokes, were laughing and going everywhere together. It was cool to see them blossom and come outside their comfort zone and learn from one another.

Even myself. I met other Peace Corps volunteers I hadn’t met yet. I talked to many students from other schools and got to learn about and meet students from different regions. With my own students I got to know them on a different level beyond what I have been able to at school. I got to sit and talk with them in the morning before sessions, while playing sports and games, I saw their personalities come out during our photo shoot at the lake during sports and games, I spent time with them during the evening doing activities outside of lessons and studying. In the one week I spent with them in Singida I got to know them better than I had during the past 5 months as their teacher at Malibwi Secondary School.

After returning from Singida I had one of my students come up to me and tell me that he will never forget this week. He had an amazing experience and would never forget what he learned. He also on a separate occasion came up to me saying, “Madam, I want to be close to you to practice English everyday to get better.” And he stuck to his word. From the day we got home from Singida, everyday at school he would come up to me just to chat, to practice his English through sharing stories, asking me about a vocabulary word he had learned or asking me to teach him new vocabulary. He and some other students at school formed an English group where they would just sit around and talk, only in English. I told him I would join them some days to help with vocabulary and grammer. I also suggested that we go to the school library and find a story book for them to read in their club. To practice reading and as a way to learn vocabulary and sentance structure. The week in Singida pushed him to work harder and be motivated in his studies and strengthen his English because he hopes to visit the United States one day. Overall, the week in Singida was a large success, the students learned so much both in and out of the planned sessions.