My babies :)

It takes approx. 6 months to load pictures on this computer so this is probably all you will get until I get home! Things at the school are going really well! The kids have learned their numbers up t0 50 since I've arrived and have of course accumulated numerous art projects to take home on their last day of school. Bridge goes on holiday starting this firday the 31st so I only have 2 more days with the kids. I'm certain to loose it! Next week, Mama Minja is having students from other schools who are also on holiday come in for extra tutoring so I will get a chance to work with kids up to age 12. It should be a big difference from my little guys! Since Friday is their last day of school, I'm preparing cards for each of the kids with their "school picture" inside which I will give out at a little "graduation ceremony" of sorts. Only 3 of them are starting primary school in the fall so most of them will be back for their second year of Nursery School/ Kindergarten but it will still be fun to celebrate the end of their school year! I'm going to stock up on PiPi (swahili for candy) so I can get them nice and hyper before sending them home to their parents :)

Picture Day!

Picture day at school is apparently an American tradition but I think it's a good one! The kids here don't often get pictures of themselves and I noticed in the past few weeks that whenever I take a picture of them they want to look at it immediately. I thought it would be fun to have a picture day at Bridge where each child could get their "school picture" taken. Today was the big day and it was so cute! Each of my 11 kids came out one by one to pose for their picture and they were so excited. I used my own digital camera and I have put the pictures on an external hard-drive which I'm going to take to the kodak store in town to have developed. I plan on making each child a card out of construction paper which says "Bridge Nursery School 2009" on the front, with their picture, name, and age on the inside. I'm really excited about it and so are they. Next week we are going to do an entire class picture which I will print and give to the head teacher Mama Minja (who has declared herself my African mom and has offered for me to live in her house so I can come back and teach). I really love it here and am so sad to think of leaving in 2 weeks. It's hard to believe I have already been here for a month! There are things I miss about home but leaving here will be unbelievably hard. Life here is very different but it is a place in which I have found myself very happy.

Kilimanjaro Coffee Hike

This past Sunday, 5 other volunteers and I went on a coffee plantation hike on Mt. Kilimanjaro. It was so fun and so cheap – only $25! Our guide, Oscar, was born and raised on the mountain and his family has grown coffee for generations. Oscar is only 23 and the youngest son in his family. He took us to his family home where we met his sisters and nieces and nephews (they were adorable!) and he took us on a tour of the coffee trees on his property. We made coffee with no electricity and totally from scratch! We picked the beans which look like berries, cranked them through a machine to get the shell off, washed them, dried them, pounded them to get the skin off (like peanut skin), sifted them, roasted them, pounded them into powder, boiled them in water and voila! It took well over an hour but it was a really cool experience and it was the best coffee I’ve ever had. To make things even better, Oscar had never heard of Starbucks. It’s a beautiful day in the world when you meet someone who has never heard of Starbucks! After coffee and lunch we hiked from Oscar’s house down through the mountain where there is an amazing waterfall. It was over 300 ft. high! The hike was so beautiful – you could see forever off of the side of the mountain and as we were hiking back we passed by a funeral where people were singing hymns in perfect harmony. It was a very cool moment. Apparently I don’t work my butt muscles too much though because I was very sore when I woke up Monday morning! I’m going to have to take up hiking when I get home – I’ve never hiked so much as I have since coming here and it’s a really good workout! It’s probably not as cool to hike in Maryland as it is in Africa but I’m willing to give it a try. Before we headed back down the mountain, Oscar thought it would be fun to stop off and try Banana Beer. It’s a Tanzanian specialty and is much nastier than it sounds! Basically, people brew it by themselves from fermented bananas and finger millet. You drink it the day it’s brewed and to make things worse they serve it by taking an old dirty(ish) bucket and dunking it in an even bigger, older, and dirtier bucket. I don’t really know how to describe it except that it’s sour and grainy from the millet. There are huge chunks of it floating around. It kind of looks like and has the consistency of cream of wheat with the flavor of old, stale, sweet beer - I’ll just leave it at that.

Bridge Nursery Update

So I haven’t written much lately about my wonderful nursery school kids and I wanted to give you all an update. I can’t really describe what teaching here is like. After coming from a brand new school at home with unlimited resources and a fully stocked and brand new facility, its eye opening to work at a place where having sharpened pencils is a treat. I didn’t realize how much I took advantage of luxuries such as having a Xerox machine down the hall or an electric pencil sharpener. That being said, Bridge nursery is much better off than many of the nursery schools in Tanzania. It’s a concrete building with outdoor plumbing. There are no windows or electricity but the weather is warm enough here year round that it doesn’t really matter. It does get pretty dark in the room on rainy days but other than that I don’t really miss having florescent lights. The kids are pure joy. I have eleven students – two named Rose, Witness, Winstone, Gabriella, Salma, Sabra, Honest, Zadock, Anolld, and Hagai. They are all between the ages of 4 and 6 and are all on different intellectual levels. Both Roses and Salma are very bright and ready to start primary school next year. They know the alphabet very well, can do basic math, and can do a little bit of reading. They can count pretty much to 100 and do most of their work completely on their own. There such bright little girls and they love school, it really makes me smile. The rest of the group is a little bit behind them but they are also a little younger so I have confidence they will get there. Children aren’t particularly encouraged to be creative here which I think is such a shame so I have taken it upon myself to include a good deal of arts and crafts which they are loving! I’m using the crayons and construction paper that I brought nearly every day. We did self-portraits the other day and then I cut them out and taped them to pop-sickle sticks to make masks – the kids ate it up and were so excited. Today I gave them all construction paper that I had drawn their names on in bubble letters. The kids colored them in and decorated them and we’re going to put them up on the wall of the classroom. I did one myself that says “Teacher Elyse” so they will have it to remember me by when I leave (which I can’t even think about!) A couple of weeks ago I had them trace and color their hands which I then cut out and made into a big tree with their hands as the leaves. I hung it up in the classroom and they loved going up to find their hands on the tree. I think this week we will make puppets but I’m not exactly sure how I’m going to pull that one off yet. Tomorrow I’m testing the kids to see how much has actually sunken in. In Tanzania they have to test into Primary school and if you don’t pass the test you basically stay in Nursery school until you do. It isn’t unheard of to have 9 and 10 year olds in Nursery school. The 3 girls I mentioned earlier are sure to pass but I think the test tomorrow will be good preparation for them. Since I’ve been here I’ve taught a good deal – mostly numbers (30-50), and counting by 10’s to name a couple. The teacher that’s there likes to teach reading because the kids don’t understand my accent sometimes and it’s good for her because she learns as well as she teaches. I’ve only had to correct her spelling or pronunciation a few times – she’s pretty much fluent which I am very grateful for!
I know I’m no t supposed to pick “favorites” but I have one little girl named Witness who just breaks my heart. I love her so much. If Tanzania was open for adoption I would be bringing this kid home in my suitcase. She pretty much can’t stand to not be holding my hand all day which drives the other kids mad with jealousy. I just don’t have enough hands for them all to hold. Witness came running up to me today as I was leaving and gave me a big hug which she does several times a day but this time she gave me a kiss on the cheek and I almost cried .She is just so sweet, I can’t stand it!

“I almost peed my pants” doesn’t begin to cover it…

I often use the phrase “I seriously almost peed my pants”. I use it to describe how funny something was or how badly I was startled. This time, I can’t impress how serious I am! We all know I’m not the biggest fan of the camping, being dirty, bugs, etc. but I’m trying to broaden my horizons and try new things, damn it! I was really looking forward to “being one with nature” and all of that and now that I’ve had my authentic camping experience I think I’m good for a while! Saturday night after dinner we were all pretty much exhausted and freezing so we decided to head to bed really early. I grabbed my flashlight since it was pitch black and started to head to the bathroom which was, of course, all the way across a huge field on the other side of Africa. I was mostly concerned with not stepping in one of the giant piles of animal crap so I wasn’t really paying attention to what was in front of me until I, no joke, nearly walked into a zebra. I flashed my light up just in time and saw an entire herd just hanging out in our campsite eating grass. This was the first of many “I almost peed my pants” situations I had that night. I made it back to my tent and drifted off to sleep relatively quickly despite the early hour, the freezing cold, the herd of zebra, and the herd of drunken Europeans yelling loudly in various languages. I would say I fell asleep around 9. At around 2 AM, I awoke to something loud outside my tent. It was definitely a sound I had never heard before – I have no reference for wild African animal sounds. The wind was blowing our tent pretty fiercely as well which in a half-asleep state of mind translated into stampeding elephants. My tent mate and I slowly worked up the courage to peek outside and found only grazing zebra about 2 feet away. I’m mildly OK with the Zebra being there but this is also the point where I remember that I have an open bag of cookies in the tent with me and something sounds suspiciously like warthogs in the distance. I convince myself it is probably just someone snoring and I try to go back to sleep. The wind is whipping, the zebra are munching (loudly!), and the snorer/warthog is getting louder (and possibly closer?). Of course, I now realize that I have to pee. Obviously. I’m regretting the two cups of hot tea I had before bed to keep me warm! I’m lying awake, trying not to think about the increasing pressure of my bladder when the snorer/warthog sound definitely sounds nearby. Now I’m freaking out. You would think not having open containers of food in your tent on safari would be common sense but apparently I didn’t get that memo. By this point it’s nearly 3 AM and I absolutely have to go to the bathroom. I make the very wise decision to trek to the bathroom and take the bag of cookies with me to throw them away. At least then they won’t be in my tent, right? I grabbed my flashlight and my shoes and ventured out. This time I am careful of both piles of poo and grazing zebra and I’m moving slower than molasses for fear of startling something and causing a stampede. I’m flashing my light ahead of me, checking things out, when I see two huge yellow eyes staring back at me from 30 or so feet away. So there I was, in the middle of the African wilderness, surrounded by God knows what, being watching by any number of flesh eating predators, about to actually pee my pants and holding a bag of cookies. I actually laughed out loud at the absurdity of my situation and then I did the only logical thing I could think of. I said “Oh hell no!” dropped the cookies, and booked it back to my tent. I didn’t get to pee until 5:30 when the rest of the camp woke up at which point I found my abandoned stash lying in the field right where I left it.

Asante Sana, Squish Banana

So now for my crazy African Safari blog. After leaving the Maasai village on Friday we headed back to our campsite which was just your typical fenced in camping area. It was no different than any campsite in the US and I was secretly relieved. I slept really well for it being my first night in a tent since I was 16 years old. We woke up before the sun and hastily ate breakfast so we could make it to Lake Manyara as early as possible. The first animals we saw were tons and tons of monkeys and baboons. I couldn’t stop saying “Asante Sana, Squish Banana” like Rafiki in “The Lion King”. The monkeys are actually pretty annoying and one actually jumped into the front seat of our truck at one point later in the trip. I was pretty much over them after the first hour. Luckily, we soon saw tons of giraffes, elephants, zebra, buffalo, impalas, flamingos, hippos… basically everything aside from large cats since there aren’t too many of them near the lake. The best thing we saw that day was a Mama elephant with her baby. They crossed the path right in front of our car and the baby was really curious so it stopped and poked the car with its trunk while its mom patiently waited on the other side of the road. At one point she poked it with her trunk to hustle it along and it got all playful and started to jump around. I’ve never seen anything so cute! I got it on video and I’m so glad I did. After lunch we drove up to Ngorogoro crater which is a caldera pretty high up in the mountains. It was a really clear day so we could see all the way across the crater to the other side and it was beautiful. We set up camp on the rim of the crater and this time it was no fenced in campsite. As soon as I saw the piles of animal crap two feet from my tent, I knew it was going to be an interesting night. It was so interesting, in fact, that it deserves its own blog entry and so I will just skip to Sunday morning. We set out early again and since we were up at the top of a mountain walking through clouds, it was pretty cold and wet. We drove down into the crater and immediately saw Wildebeests, Zebra, and Buffalo. A few cars ahead of us said they saw a couple of cheetahs but they were camouflaged and lying down in a ditch so we couldn’t make them out. We drove around and finally saw what we were looking for – two female lion’s right on the edge of the road with two baby cubs. I couldn’t believe how close they were! Soon after that we saw a whole den of female lions hanging out on a hill and within minutes came across a fully grown male lion with a few females lounging around a recently killed buffalo. There were hyenas and jackals all circling around the kill, trying to get in on the action but the female lions kept running them off. We watched them for a long time; it was like watching animal planet live. We headed back up to pack up our car and as we were waiting to leave, two huge elephants wandered right into our campsite and started drinking from the well. It was a very groovy weekend and I even though I’m not much for the camping; I would do it again in a heartbeat!

Crossing boundaries...

This past weekend a group of 9 of us went on safari to Lake Manyara and the Ngorogoro crater. Because we have to squeeze the trip into a weekend, we didn’t really have time to the Serengeti which is about 6 hours away. In a way, I’m glad. Our trip was much more authentically “African”. We were picked up by our guides Emma (pronounced ee-mah), and Funk, and our cook Good-Luck. FYI, Those are their actual given names. We left Friday afternoon after school and drove about 2 hours south to the Lake Manyara area. Friday night was the coolest night I’ve ever had. After dropping our stuff off at our camp site we drove out to a local Maasai village. We got there just as the sun was setting behind the mountains and were welcomed to the village by the tribe who were singing and dancing. I could just sort of watch in awe for a few minutes, marveling at my very own National Geographic moment, before one of the ladies came up to me and put her large beaded necklace around my neck and pulled me out to dance. It was surreal to find myself standing in a primal village, holding the hands of women whose traditions and way of life have lasted since the beginning of mankind. I was intimidated and excited and overwhelmed. The Maasai children were running around like all kids do, imitating the movements of their elders. It was very dusty out there and the kids were filthy with flies all over them but somehow it made sense and I couldn’t imagine them any other way. They aren’t sad or neglected, just living a different, more primitive way of life. In a lot of ways, I feel they will grow to be happier and wiser than a lot of the freshly bathed and formally educated kids I know. I, of course, got plenty of pictures and the tribe women really enjoyed having their pictures taken. Like most women, they had to see each picture after it was taken to see how they looked in it. I guess some things will never change. I won’t ever forget that night and I’m infinitely glad I was able to experience it.

Let's play catch up...

It’s been awhile since I’ve been able to write – I’ve been crazy busy! Last week was blur but it was really fun. Things at the Nursery School are going well. The kids are really starting to speak English well - the older kids hardly speak Swahili at all when they are at school, even to each other. It’s so fun to hang out with the kiddies everyday! They’re really sweet.
Last Wednesday we took a little trip to the Marangu waterfalls. It was super fun! We had to hardcore hike down (and then up!) a really steep mountain. I felt very outdoorsy! The waterfalls were beautiful, as was the hike. We also stopped at a blacksmith and we went down into these old caves that were dug by the Chaaga Tribe. The caves were kind of nasty – very full of bugs and very muddy. We had to crawl on hands and knees. It was definitely an experience!
This past Thursday was one of the most fun evenings I’ve had since I’ve been here. A few of the other volunteers are working at an organization called TAFCOM which stands for Tanzanian Organization Facilitating Community Development. TAFCOM basically helps set up sustainable community initiatives so that people who have no means to provide for themselves are able to learn a skill that will enable them to get a job. They also support an orphanage for children whose parents have passed due to HIV/AIDS, and they work towards women’s empowerment by providing them opportunities that help them get out of oppressive situations. This past Thursday the volunteers at TAFCOM put together a really wonderful fundraiser that we all went to. It was 10,000 TSH (about $8) to get in and there was a live band, great food, and a bunch of vendor’s selling their crafts, jewelry, etc. They also had something called “Fill This Bowl” which cost 5,000 TSH (about $3.50). By purchasing a “Fill this Bowl” you could provide porridge for an orphan for an entire month. It was a really wonderful idea. The event raised about $1,000 which doesn’t seem like that much to us but will go so far in a country this poor. I had a really great time and it was awesome to feel like a valuable member of this community. I really love being here as a part of the community and integrating myself into the culture rather than coming in as a tourist and taking from the little resources they have.
I’m about to go learn how to make Batik (a form of African fabric painting) so I’ll have to finish catching you all up later – I have CRAZY stories from this past weekend’s safari!
Kwaheri!

Counting my blessings...

Today was the sort of day that forces you to evaluate who are you, what you have, and what you can possibly do to change an impossible situation. Myself and few of my fellow volunteers went to a local village about 5 minutes from where we live to visit the homes of people suffering from HIV/AIDS. I can't possibly begin to describe what it was like. We met with a woman that goes by Mama Sarah and she might possibly be the most incredible woman I have ever met. She is the leader of a group of people, all of whom are HIV positive. Mama Sarah is infected herself yet she gives everything she has to support her community of sick and dying people. We met a great deal of people, most of whom are women, who have lost everything that they ever had due to the disease. The first house we visited was a stick and mud hut with no windows, electricity, or running water. She was in her 60's, has lost her husband and children, and is left sick and weak to care for her grandchildren. She was forced to send some of them to an orphange and one was adopted by a local family. All she is left with is a falling down hut and few pictures of the family she has lost. Her situation is no different from any of families in the 6 homes we visited today. It is customary in TZ to take a gift when you visit the sick so our group stopped at a local store and stocked up on things such as soap, flower, sugar, bread, and other essentials that these people have no way of buying. It took everything I had to hold it together but I still couldn't not cry. Many of the people we visited were so grateful for our gifts that they shed tears of appreciation. Every single person we visited talked about their faith and how even though they have nothing, they know Jesus will come for them - they are just waiting. I knew coming here that I would see things like this, but I could never have been prepared to experience it first hand. Before today I thought of TZ as a place I could cross off of my list of places I wanted to visit. Now, I know I will come back to do anything I possible can to help. I feel so moved and so ridiculously blessed for things I have always taken advantage of. Count your blessings and hug your family, because so many people don't have either.I am planning on visiting Mama Sarah and her community at least twice a week while I am here and I am already brainstorming ways I can fundraise back at home. If you have any ideas, please let me know!

Approaching Zanzibar...

I'm sitting in a bungalow on the beach in Zanzibar off of the coast of Tanzania. It's even cooler than it sounds! This place is what the Caribbean wants to be when it grows up. We all got bungalows on the beach with four-poster beds that have big, long, mosquito nets - they look like princess beds. Our hotel has a really great outdoor restaraunt/bar right on the water and every night theres a DJ and dancing. It's truly paradise. Unfortunatly, we're only here for the weekend but it will be nice to get "home" and back to work. I have alot of upcoming posts which should be up by the middle of this week so keep your eyes peeled.