Monday, March 30, 2009

Don't want to go home..'Cause I am home

This past month I was realizing that it has been 6 months and soon before I know it will be next December! I can't imagine going home, to me right now I feel like I am home. I was trying today to think how it would be to be in the States..how would I remember Tanzania? Would the memory fade eventually? Will I have changed my perspective on life in the States? Would I wander the world for the rest of my life? These questions are unanswered, but at least you know what is on my mind and maybe you can provide some insight.

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Busy Bee

I came back to school on Saturday and was thrown into a whirlwind of activity. The day I came back there was a student government ceremony for the newly elected government. My favorite student won the position of vice president! So as soon as I put my stuff in my room, I went to the ceremony. It was all in Swahili so I did not understand most of it, but I am getting better at picking out words and ones I don't know. The good thing about attending such events in Swahili is that it has the potential for me to learn new vocabulary and getting better at listening to the spoken word. Afterwards there was dancing. When I came to use the internet it seemed the school switched to wireless, yet the way they did it was inefficient they should have bought routers instead they bought access points. So now there are only 30 or so IP addresses for everyone!

On Thursday, the Japanese volunteer and I celebrated his 38th bday. We made pizza and had some Konyagi (which is the local gin/vodka made from papaya). And we made passion fruit bread! It is good stuff and while I am in Tanzania I am trying to make things that I normally can't get for cheap in the States (like passion fruit, mangos, pineapples). Though right now it is pear season (they taste crispy like Asian pears found in the States) which means pie time! Also, I went with a Tanzanian girl who works at my school to a local tailor whom she trusts, hopefully the dresses turn out good and I have found a good tailor in my neck of the woods! I know a good one in Morogoro, just not here as this is the first time I am visiting one in Mbeya to make dresses. The few days before that we had to prepare stuff for the party for the opening of the new bachelor programs at our institute

The opening was yesterday (Friday), and it was a big deal and probably felt like a weekend day (and it was the most fun I have had here in terms of at work). The day started early and we prepared exhibitions for our diffferent depts to show to the guest of honor- the Minister of Science and Technology of Tanzania! So I prepared stuff on the webpage design club that we have made for students and others in my dept prepared stuff related to what they were working on. Then we had a ceremony which had a dance troupe that did Cirque de Soleil type acts and did some traditional mcheza ngoma (drumming and dancing). The best part was the minister spoke about how there were not enough girls in technology and how we should encourage girls by going to surrounding secondary schools and primary schools. Which is awesome because that is the point of the girls conference at MIST! And it is also one of the things I would like to happen is for women from the institute to go to local schools, so maybe because the minister said it there will be more encouragement with that project.

Lastly we had good food and they had my favorite peas and coconut milk with a spaghetti flavored with pilau spices. It is funny how everyone knows I am vegetarian by now. :) After that I became team manager for the employee soccer team at school (which mostly consisted of being the doctor, and spraying people with heat spray). So I sat down to watch the soccer tournament of employees vs bachelor/advanced diploma students. I had fun cheering them on, but it was a close game and my team lost. :( The Japanese volunteer played for the employee soccer team and he even scored a goal! Afterwards the Japanese volunteer and I followed some students to the social club at the institute and played table tennis. We also talked to another worker about climbing Mbeya Peak sometime.

Unlike most volunteers I don't get the week of Easter as vacation as school ends the week of April 15th! Originally I was planning on attending a Boy's Conference down in the Ruvuma region but it looks like I won't be able to attend it next weekend. Time is sure flying by fast..it's already almost April!

March pics are up:Pics

IST

We had in-service training at Njombe. This was my first time to that area and I will say it is beautiful. If you are ever in Njombe get the Provolone Cheese at the Duka la Maziwa- pretty good for Tanzanian made cheese. Doesn't exactly taste like Provolene but is better than their other cheeses and is good on pizza (better than the Njombe Mozzerella)! Stock up if you have a freezer, if you don't I think if you are in a cold enough climate it should keep. The Duka la Maziwa is a project between the Njombe district and some Italian NGOs. So if you ever visit that region and you are white, you will be greeted with a chorus of 'Ciao'. A good place to eat pizza that was close by to the Nazareth Youth Center was the A.R.M. Hotel. The Youth Center (where we stayed) was beautiful and nice hot water showers with good pressure..better than mine. They also had rosemary growing!

Besides that training was tiring and long but it was good to see people and to have information on Girls Empowerment, Gardening, and HIV/AIDS. The highlights of training for me were Girls Empowerment, teaching about HIV at a local elementary school, and learning about Permaculture. But the best part of course was seeing everyone from training! For fun we had a Murder Mystery dinner, picnic at a waterfall nearby, PCV brewed wine, and nightly game/movie nights (using the projector or cramming in someone's room).

We did an exercise about HIV/AIDS and it is interesting to see how religious Tanzanians are compared to Americans. They are certainly more religious and don't believe in condoms but they believe in abstinence or being faithful..though in reality most do not practice that in Tanzania..at least from what I have seen. I don't know if the belief in not using condoms stemmed from the fact that the Pope visited and declared condoms ineffective or because they actually believed that. And they also believed that HIV was created in a lab in America. But some of the more biologically educated Tanzanians did not believe such things, but the rest of the educated ones did. Certainly our viewpoints did not agree, I accept that they have different beliefs but that does not mean I agree with them. The funny thing is that they learn about HIV and prevention (birth control) in their equivalent of high school but they don't believe in it; though I guess it is like learning evolutionary theory in biology in the States and some religions in America not believing in that either. Now let us talk about the Pope and his decree that condoms are ineffective. Though I see his point in that abstinence and being faithful are the keys to prevention and not condoms, that is not the reality in Tanzania at least. In Tanzania you see poor girls you can't pay for school fees preyed on by older man who can give them money, you sometimes even see martial affairs being acceptable. So before the Pope makes such a decree I advise him to first see the state of affairs in a country, you can't change culture but you can prevent disease.

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Mwezi wa tatu..

I can't believe it's March already! I have been in TZ about 6 months, yet it feels so natural to me. So many things have happened. First we submitted our grant to get funding for the Girls Empowerment Conference. Cross your fingers because I hope it gets approved. So far my school has responded positively. I had to put on my project engineering hat and "grease the wheels" as Rosato would say. So in addition to submitting a letter for the formal processes at the institute, I informally talked to the management to let them know what is going on and they gave their approval. So far the institute has agreed to give us facilities and rooms for 70 people! MIST rocks! Also, talking to faculty here they are very interested in this conference, mostly women but some men as well. Also, have gotten quotes on food and it looks reasonable. Definitely budgeting, resource allocation, stakeholders, milestone/goal setting, etc. is all coming to play here.

And here at the Computer Department we are thinking of getting local orphans to come by to show them about computers. Maybe the vision of a community service club here at MIST will happen. If other teachers are involved it will certainly be sustainable. Maybe IPT (like summer internships) can be done to help the community..a thought. But another thought was that we could use IPT as a way to get companies to come here for a career fair next year. Too many ideas, hopefully enough time to get people interested to make it sustainable.

I had an interesting discussion with the principal of the institute this past week, it definitely feels like an executive's office when I enter his office and when I talk to him. He does stuff with Habitat for Humanity..apparently he is a Structural Civil Engineer and helps that NGO with surveying for available infrastructure. They will be having a project on Zanzibar, I wish them luck.

This past week I have definitely been happy because I love planning things, as one student noticed last night at the debate club (the fact that I was happier than usual). And I can even joke with the students. Though I had an exam this past week and some students cheated again. It breaks my heart. I know they do this because if they fail they have no career and they take 15 different subjects a semester, so they cheat to pass so they can get a job in the future..but this doesn't make it right. They need to learn ethics and consequences, I try to tell them about the consequences but they don't understand (or maybe it's my English). I had an interesting debate on this with some staff in the computer department to learn the other side of the story of why students cheat. And also some debates with some of my smarter, ethically minded students as well. Last night I certainly learned alot at debate club..more about the history of TZ and Zanzibar union, though they were surprised that I knew about it, and cheating at the institute.

Oh and the students had a strike because of food. Which is totally different than the States! Can you imagine college striking because of bad cafeteria food? Every college in the States would be striking. :) Anyways it was pretty funny to me..but it wasn't scary or anything. I think there was a deeper issue than food.

I am going to Njombe for 2 weeks. Don't worry..no news is good news.