Sunday, January 23, 2011

The power of a question!

This is my fourth month at site. I have finished my analysis of the village and now have begun my "work". Coming off of a long trip with friends and coming back to the village was difficult. To begin with most people are off at their farms working hard all day long because the rain has started. Also, being surronded by Americans who speak english all day long to come back to speaking Kiswahili all day long is exhausting. The last and probably the hardest part was knowing that the holiday season happened at home, and I missed it. This realization did not occur until shortly after returning to site.
I have now begun a few different projects. I am teaching health at the elementary school near my house. My first lesson was last week and I thought AIDS/HIV with my counterpart Benny. It went well, and I think the kids learned alot. During that process I learned my Kiswahili skills were better than I thought, but still need alot of work. I want to continue this class for a couple of months and see where it takes me.
I have also began a soccer club after school at the high school. This wednesday we are going to have a interclass competition so we shall see how that turns out. The teacher I am working with is really motivated, and wants to play otehr schools. I dont think I will be needed there as a leader for long! Sustainability is a beautiful thing.
Thirdly I have been tutoring my neighbor most days after school. He comes over after I finish eating and I am exhausted and asks me to teach him on Math, physics, and some chemistry. So far I have not reached anything I have not seen before, but it is a great review for me too. I think I might talk to the head teacher about maybe teaching a class a week or something just to help pass the time.
Fourth I am working with a couple of villagers on a bussiness plan for a tourism bussiness. This is kind of frustrating because we are all busy but want to get this off the ground and rolling. I think I just need to set goals for the group so we are more focused on a final goal.
Finally I am working with some of the other volunteers in the region on writing a grant for a young mans conference. It is alot more work then I thought to write a grant.
I am also training for a half mararthon right now. I am going through an 8-week training that is kicking my butt. If you have seen some of my facebook posts, I am enjoying myself but again harder than I expected.
The first couple weeks back at site were draining and frustrating. I was down in the dumps and started to cut people off. First it was people back at home, then other peace corps volunteers. We were focused on writing this grant for nine people, and after talking with my boss we decided to lower the number to five peacecorps volunteers. Things were just not going my way. I showed up to play soccer one night, and no one including the teacher was there. I was sitting in church today trying to figure out what the priest was saying and thinking about living here in Tanzania. After three and half hours of mass (these children came and sang and danced for and hour and a half) I was about done. I know that exercise always helps to clear my mind and brighten my spirits. It wasnt helping I was getting frustrated with myself because I was tired way before I expected to be.
I began to walk and saw a group of girls walking. They looked afraid which is not out of the ordinary for a Tanzanians who have not been around alot of white people before. They slowly come up to me and ask me for money in Kiswahili. I was like great this just puts the cap on the day. So I joke with them in Kiswahili asking them for money and candy. Finally another girl walks up and says in Kiswahili "Are you a African or a foreigner?" I had the biggest smile on my face. It totally turned my attitude upside down. I am back on cloud nine, and ready to work. Being accepted into the community has been a major strugle with me, but a work in progress and now I see progress.
SO SO SO HAPPY!
Love and miss you all