Home in Brooklyn!

I'm back safely and taking a little time to think about my time in Tanzania in order to report back to everyone! Stay tuned...and until then, here are a couple pictures!

Kaleja and Tito enjoying cake and soda at our house; they often came over for treats!

A female lion. They are so much like cats I've known in that they don't seem to care about you, unless you bother them. These ones have much bigger teeth, too!

Students had to gather for uniform inspection sometimes at the end of the school day. They call this time 'Parade.'

During a 'study' time one night, I found these class 5 kids trying to draw trousers (pants) on the chalkboard. They weren't doing so well, so I helped. My trousers turned into a cartoon version of another student who was in the room. Everyone else then began drawing each other on the board. It was fun.

A group of kids fighting for the limelight. Turn a camera on them and it's magical how many appear in just a few seconds.

It's time to leave already?!?!?

Though I have to admit that until this week, time didn’t seem to pass too quickly here, it still seems strange that I have already finished my teaching and will be leaving Bulima on Monday. We are taking a short flight from Mwanza back to Nairobi on Monday. The flight was confirmed today, but we were told it might be ‘delayed’ since it has been bad weather for the last few days. So, I am hoping the delay doesn’t turn into a cancellation because we need to get to Nairobi by Tuesday night for our flight out.

Latest news: I am sick. There is a pretty bad cold type bug that’s going around here with the kids and as a parting gift, they have passed it on to me. I am oh, so grateful. I have been taking airborne, but I think it’s too late to really prevent it from hitting me. I am officially sneezing about every two minutes and can only breathe through my mouth. I am praying it will go away before I have to last for 20 hours on a plane.

On a brighter note, I am getting many notes and cards from the girls who I have been teaching. They seem to love making them. They all tell me I am their best friend and that they love me. It’s very special. I am taking many pictures of my friends (the students) here and hope to keep in touch with them. I have given many of them envelopes with a stamp so they can write me a letter and mail it to me in America. I told them that if they wrote me, I would write back and send copies of pictures I have taken of them while I was here. This will get some letters to me, I bet! I look forward to hearing from them…and I really do hope to see them all again someday.

It has been difficult being here for me, especially to be so far from friends and family. I knew traveling here with only two other people (who are much older than me) would probably bring about some loneliness and it definitely did, particularly the first week I was here. And, it still doesn’t feel quite like ‘home’ here as the culture is so different. All that to say, I am very sad to leave. I am starting to miss the students already. It is only really hitting me today that I will not be teaching them anymore.

This morning as I was meeting with the teachers and staff for a short bible study and prayer time, I was asked to speak for a few minutes. I could only get out a quick thank you before I started to tear up. I was telling them all about how I consider it a privilege to have been here among them and teaching these beautiful children…and I could say no more.

So, to all of you who have donated and who have prayed for me, these students and this school…I want to say THANK YOU, or ASANTE SANA! This is not my final post, but it has been on my mind lately that so many people are a part of this trip even if I am the only one here in Africa.

And...when I get back to the states, I will be sure to put some pictures up for all to see to make up for the unfortunate lack of visual effects!

SWEET VICTORY!!!

i can't believe that i just got a picture up! amazing!

these are some girls from class 6. sarah (back row, third from left) is one of the girls who asked me to talk about my country. she invited me over to her house last week and i'm due back this week (as she reminds me) because she didn't have a soda for me last time. having a visitor in Africa is a grace; you have to offer them something. she wanted to walk with me and buy me a soda on the way home, but i suggested just paying another visit for my soda. and, like africans, i do love soda.

but, unlike africans, i cannot play netball barefoot. netball is similar to basketball, but you don't dribble the ball. you can only take a step or two before you have to pass the ball to a teammate. you pass back and forth across the court and then shoot to score. i don't think i've made a basket yet, but it's fun playing. the first time i played, i wasn't wearing proper shoes. all the girls were shedding theirs so i did the same. BIG MISTAKE. it was about 3:00 p.m. and the ground was toasty. i didn't really 'feel' it until after playing for a while when i suddenly realized i couldn't walk. i wobbled home. i still have a mark on one of my feet; it looks like a deep bruise and while i do have a picture of it, i will spare you from looking at my feet...for now.

what else...last sunday was my safari into the serengeti. we saw lots of animals and even saw 5 female lions up close and personal. the male lions were in hiding, but we managed to see many elephants, giraffe, zebra and gazelle. the wildebeests had, for the most part, already migrated north, so we only saw a few. my favorite parts were watching the giraffes eat. they look so funny when they chew. they made me laugh.

so, this is my last week of teaching. it has been going well. it is very interesting comparing the teaching styles of Tanzania with the teaching styles of the US, particularly in NYC. the students are so scared to talk in class, answering or asking questions. i know they're smart enough to answer my questions...if only they would try! sarah (the girl i mentioned above) has a brother named Andrew. he asked me the other day, "Do students in class laugh at each other in America?" it made me sad because i know that students are hassled by their classmates for 'incorrect' answers. what they don't know is that every mistake in math class is useful, not shameful. i hope my short three weeks of teaching can communicate this to some extent.

later this week i'll be giving tests to see how students have learned what i've been teaching. i'm eager to see how they do. also, class 6 is having a surprise party for me tomorrow, though they told me about it last week. SURPRISE!!

failing

i really, really tried. i sat here for 20 minutes almost. i am so sad that uploading pictures doesn't seem to be working. i will try again another day and hope for the best! thanks for reading the blog even without pictures...

the stories that go with the pictures...

NOTE: I was going to try for lots of pictures, but the internet is incredibly slow. These are captions that correspond to pictures that I will try to upload next...wish me luck!

This is the second 500-piece jigsaw puzzle that I finished within the first few days of being here, after I finished the first book I brought to read and before my luggage had arrived with my other books. There isn’t much entertainment around these parts, especially after the sun goes down.

Last Sunday, we visited the market in a nearby village to buy some produce and some kitengis (they’re the colorfully dyed pieces of cloth used as wraps or to make clothes).

Here is a view of part of the school, The Lion of Judah Academy (‘Simba wa Yuda’ in Swahili). [In case I haven’t said this yet, the school is in a village called Bulima, near a larger village called Magu and about a 1.5 hour drive from Mwanza.] From this view you are looking at two of the primary school buildings. They house Kindergarten through Class 5.

On Monday, I started teaching. I met with Class/Grade 3 and 5. I’m a little shy to take lots of pictures just yet, but here is one of Class 5. This class has some characters in it and I think they are losing their pens and pencils on purpose so I will give them one of my pens or mechanical pencils! They’re also obsessed with being marked correct when they do problems during class. If I mark one student’s notebook with a check, they immediately surround me with their notebooks saying, "Madame, will you mark?" I love it!

Also on Monday, I enjoyed a wonderful reunion with my luggage. The other case with supplies for the school arrived, too.

On Tuesday, we visited a girl’s orphanage that is about an hour away. This orphanage is in its beginning stages and was designed by a guy who actually lives in Brooklyn and attends NYU. It’s so funny to travel all the way to Tanzania and meet somebody who is your neighbor.

On Wednesday, it was my birthday! That afternoon, we invited the teachers and some people I know from the theological college to come over for cake and soda. Apparently, this will get any African into your home. So, we had quite a large group over and went through two large cakes and more than a crate of sodas. Here’s me cutting one of the cakes…After eating cake, we taught everyone how to play Pictionary with Bible stories. People were a little shy at first, but they got really into it by the end and we all laughed a lot. It was great.

To finish my birthday off, I helped make a Mexican feast…African style. The tortillas were actually chippati, which is sort of like a pita. I made the guacamole (which was pure happiness to eat). It was delicious!

As I mentioned before, I am teaching three different grades in math, but not every grade has math each day. With my spare time, I’ve been laminating books from the school library to help them last longer. The supplies and materials at this school are pretty limited, so it’s helpful to make things last. Yesterday I laminated for about 6 hours and when I closed my eyes at night, I had only visions of sticky paper and books.

My favorite time here is when I am with the students and getting to know them. I have a shadow named Lydia from Class 3. I have a friend named Sara from Class 6. She was over yesterday and wanted to talk to me about my country, my hobbies and my family. Another friend named Christian chatted with me for a while yesterday, too. She wishes to be a doctor and loves Science!

Tomorrow, I am looking forward to the graduation of three of the students I tutored four years ago. I hear the ceremony is long and in Swahili, but at least there will be singing! I love it when Africans are singing.

All that being said…I miss my friends! I don’t check email too often, but after about 4-5 days I start feeling pretty homesick and need to check email. It definitely helps me to write these updates so I feel that people are more in touch with me in spite of the distance. I hope they are enjoyable to read!

Polepole...'slowly, slowly'

Polepole - pronounced "po-lay-po-lay"

It has been a few days since arriving here in Bulima, Tanzania. After a long two days of flying (including a not-so-friendly-to-the-stomach flight from Kenya in a tiny plane), it was a comfort to get to the Lion of Judah Academy where I’d be spending the next few weeks.

It is great to finally be able to report my safe arrival. I found out that the power company sometimes switches off the power to the village when people are using ‘too much.’ This makes using a computer even more complicated, but I am finally sitting in front of this beautiful piece of technology to ease my withdrawal of all things internet. [I won't mention the power outage that just temporary haulted my post or the fact that the internet goes so...polepole.]

Yesterday (Friday), I was able to take a look at the math curriculum that the school uses. It’s all in Swahili, which is extremely helpful but since they teach students in English from a very young age, they also have some textbooks that are in English that the students primarily use. I was able to talk with the teacher who has been responsible for teaching two of the three classes I will teach while I’m here to get an idea of what I should cover. I’ll be teaching math to Classes 3, 5 and 6 (roughly the same in American ‘grades’).

All that to say, I’m still a bit nervous about starting teaching here in such a new environment. I can already tell that it won’t be hard to maintain their attention, being a white person. They are intrigued. They call me ‘Madame’ and want to know where I come from. They stare at me until I smile and then they say ‘Good Morning’ or whatever time it is. As all children, they are extremely charming, even when they snap their fingers at me and say "Teacher!" to get my attention.

So…in regards to the title of this post. Polepole. This is how my luggage seems to be making it to Africa. SLOWLY, SLOWLY. It was exciting, almost thrilling to see the first four (out of six) bags come off the luggage rack when we reached Nairobi, Kenya as I chided myself a being even a little bit skeptical that they wouldn’t all make it. I learned quickly, however, that a little skepticism wasn’t uncalled for.

I arrived in Nairobi Tuesday, July 8 at 11:00 p.m. The baggage people said the next flight from Brussels (where my bag was) to Nairobi (where I won’t be until August) would be Friday, July 11. We told the baggage people we weren’t staying in Nairobi; they said they will try to get the bags to Mwanza, which is still a good drive from where we are now. We got a message from them on Thursday saying that the bags would ‘arrive’ on July 11. We think this means they’re in Nairobi now though we don’t really know because the baggage people, who work 8:00-5:00 every day, don’t really appreciate phone calls as they never seem to answer them.

Of the two missing bags, only one of them is mine. The other is a box of supplies for the school. The situation is somewhat comical to me, only having two pairs of socks, two shirts and a pair of jeans along with me in my carry-on. I’ve already made a list of everything I remember being in my bag and if I have to, I think I can claim it all with my travel insurance policy. But it would be more comforting to receive my bag and have all my own stuff.

I was really homesick the first night I was here and extremely tired. I slept for over 12 hours that night/morning and feel like I’m slowly having more energy and feeling accustomed to meal times and waking up here, etc. I have to get used to the many roosters crowing, the ‘guard’ dogs barking and wailing at each other and the little footsteps past my window at early morning hours.

On Geography

Inspite of my love for maps, I'm only really good at geography if I've experienced a place, and even then my ability to describe locations can be sketchy. I'm heading out to Tanzania in just over a week and in describing this country's location to people who ask, I can only remember a few things: it's in the eastern part, south of Kenya and the equator. To help out a little bit, I consulted this map. (It's one of the purple ones on the right, south of the 'horn' shape.)

For my travels, I'll be flying from Newark, NJ to Brussels, then to Nairobi, Kenya. I'll stay overnight there and leave in the morning for a short flight (in a little plane) to Mwanza, Tanzania, which is on the coast of Lake Victoria. From there, I think it's less than a 2 hour drive to the village where I'll be teaching. Here's another map that helps locate these places.

When I arrive in Bulima, I'll be working with The Lion of Judah Academy (http://www.lionofjudah.info/) to teach math and possibly some science. The school has many needs and I could find myself doing any number of things there to occupy my time, but I hope to be of help in the instruction of the children, working with various grades.

Stay tuned to this blog for updates from Tanzania!

what do you do when a heat wave comes?

you stay indoors and catch up on blogging.

i finally uploaded pictures from my camera...the urgency of seeing pictures of my neices when they visited last weekend was what drove me to do it. i miss them tons!

Here is the Jeffers family in full, riding the NYC transit: Katie (with Baby 3 in belly), Samantha, Andrew and Hannah (making friends from her stroller).

Hannah. She was hilarious riding the subway. She waved at everyone, made friends everywhere and made lots of funny faces like this one.

This is Samantha, now four and a half years old. When I said goodbye, we were both really sad. She said, "I'll always remember you" or something to that effect.

I guess saying goodbye is sort of like dying??

She's not afraid of posing. I think this picture is so GORGEOUS.

I really do wonder if there are any kids cuter than my neices! I probably won't think so until I have my own. There's something about them being related to you that makes them more precious than anyone else's kids...

heading back to l'abri

one more week until my 'mid-winter recess' and i cannot wait! i have planned my bus trip up to southborough, massachusetts and look forward to being in a quiet place, removed from the normal daily routines. i'm going to bring a couple books i've been meaning to read on my own since my last trip to l'abri and look forward to listening to lectures when i arrive there. i hope i meet some cool people to befriend like the last times i've been. i'm looking forward to being there for many reasons...and hopefully i'll have a minute to blog about it when i'm back. i know i should be heading south to some place warm and tropical, but north i go!

this is where i'm going...

latest news with me: i'm going back to tanzania to teach for about a month this summer. my school year will end, i will have about a week of preparations and relaxing, then it's off to africa i go. i'm really excited. i may get to see some of the students i tutored four years ago in order for them to get into theological college. they're graduating this summer and i think i'll be there for the ceremony, which makes me really happy.