Sheep (kondoo), Goats (mbuzi), and Cows (ng’ombe) Oh My!

Well…I am definitely not in Kansas/America anymore. Jacob and I finally made it to our small village Kongoto after a two-hour flight and four hour drive. After flying into Mwanza, the second largest city, the Attorney General of Tanzania’s brother Jumanne, whose name literally translates into Tuesday since he was born on Tuesday as he is one of eight children, picked us up. During the four hour drive, we drove through a small part of the Serengeti National Park where we saw ostriches, gazelles, and wildebeests out grazing in the savannah. I cannot wait to go back and actually spend some time camping there amongst the wildlife. I don’t know when the migration of wildebeests is, but I desperately need to find out. The last hour of our car ride however, was spent driving slowly down an old, rough, dirt road to our village. As we continued driving, I kept thinking what did I get myself into. We were surrounded by savannah and sparse acacia trees, the ones you picture when you think of Africa, and distant hills and mountains. As we finally arrived and drove through our small village of round mud huts with thatched roofs, I kept thinking to myself, I’m really in Africa. I know I have lived in South Africa before, but it now seems a little less like Africa. Since Jacob and I are living in Kongoto, where the Attorney General Werema grew up, we have the privilege of staying in a house he built to use when visiting family at home. This is such a blessing as there is a constant water supply from a nearby well and solar panels and a generator to supply electricity. Jacob and I washed clothes yesterday and drawing water from the well was fun, but I kept thinking as I saw frogs in there that I hope I don’t get sick. We additionally have part of Werema’s extended family living with us. Magira and one of his wives and four children, a nephew which attends our school in Form 3, and another nephew teaching at a different school for a few months as a part of his teacher training are all a part of our household. It is quite entertaining most of the time. For instance, yesterday I cooked way too much rice and decided to give three of the children the rest of the rice since they were staring at me making it the entire time while playing in the trash. Well…that was not the best idea as I cleaned up sticky rice for quite a bit of time since it was strung all over the floor of the house, table, and chairs where they were sitting. Everyone, as typical in Tanzania and Africa in general, is so welcoming and giving though. A neighbor has brought me thick, fresh milk everyday from her cows, which I cannot drink fast enough as it is definitely not skim milk. Werema and Jumanne’s sister keeps visiting as well and brought some oranges yesterday. It is good that we have a community of assistance as we truly are in the middle of nowhere in a farming village with just a couple small shops and no electricity.

The school in which I am teaching is named Buko Secondary School as it accommodates the two villages of Buswahili and Kongoto. It is approximately a forty minute walk from our house to the school which we do twice a day. There are approximately 130 students and four usable classrooms, although bats (popo) have inhabited the roofs of a couple of the classrooms and are so loud and dirty. The four classrooms house Forms 1-4, grades 9-12 in America. I will be teaching English to Form 1 which is going to be difficult as they know barely any English as freshman, are shy, and their classroom Jacob and I have entitled the “Batcave.” The name was so given because the smell of bat poop is horrendous and the bats are louder than the students. It will be a good challenge! I am also the only female teacher which is a little intimidating, as they tend to direct all conversation to Jacob. I am sure this will get better as I learn more Kiswahili though. There is only one book per subject and form, so the teachers are the only ones who have books. Therefore, all information given is oral or either written on the blackboards for students to copy. I never knew how annoying chalk was to use and erase, or how blessed I was teaching in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. I want to raise money to buy books for the students or teacher aides for the school, but I want to wait and see what would be most beneficial, as this was only my first week teaching. It is so difficult to comprehend a school with just four freestanding open air classrooms, no books, broken chairs and wooden desks, blackboards, and one notebook for every subject. I additionally looked at their test scores from last semester and well over the majority of students failed almost every subject. This are a mix of reasons for this which I will explain later, but this occurs mainly because all government tests are given in English, which the students can barely read and much less understand, especially in the more rural areas where English in never spoken. Therefore, my goal this year is just to try my best to make a difference. It is definitely not going to be easy and I am going to need many, many prayers. I know that God knows what he is doing though, and I have to trust that He will supply all my needs, that He is for me, and that all the struggles both my students and I go through will work together for good. God’s thoughts and plans are bigger than me, so I have faith that since He has given me this opportunity, He will also give me the strength and skill to accomplish this work.

I love you all very much! Katie :)