MY SITE!!!!

Mosque:

Today, I found out where I am supposed to be living for the next two years: Drum Roll.....

Southern Highlands! Banking Town: Njombe and my little village is about an hour away from there, because of security purposes I am not allowed to write the name of my small village here, but I will send it out in an email at some point.

I am very happy about this placement. I know many of the volunteers in that region already and many of my class is being sent to that area. Eighteen of us are going down there. There has never been a volunteer at my specific site before, so I will be starting everything. I am living on the grounds of a primary school, and a medical dispensary is only .5 km away. I don't know much about any details yet. I know it is high elevation and gets very cold there at night. I am excited to live there and will update when I know more. I love love love all you people at home.

Shadow Week

August 5, 2008

My sister asked me to specify where I am at here in Tanzania. I am currently living in Kilosa- about 6 hours west of Dar. This is where my family lives and I will be with them for another week. However, this week has been filled with travel, first we went to Morogoro, then I shadowed an education volunteer who lives at a secondary school in the Southern Highlands. He is about 3 hours from Iringa Town and 3 hours from Njombe- sort of right in between. The highlands are beautiful, the volunteers there are wonderful, and we spent some time in Iringa which is an awesome town. Now I am in Dar es Salaam at the Peace Corps Office. This past week was really great, but I thought I would just give some highlights.

This past week I have learned:

- That even if a Dala Dala (Minibus-type thing) looks full, more people can always fit on.
- To avoid people stealing from you, place items in your bra: the only safe place. So far I can store: chapstick, shilingi and a cell phone all simultaneously.
- One public transport the best thing to do is close your eyes, throw up your hands and pretend you are on Space Mountain at Disneyland.
- That when chocolate or other American food is available you should never say "I'm Full."
-How to cook chocolate chip cookies over a charcoal Jiko (Stove).
-There are a lot of nasty critters in TZ, and I have experience first hand the extreme pain of being eaten alive by Siyafu. (Ants that march into houses in the Southern Highlands and try to eat you alive- I have a bruise on my behind as proof.)
- How to make Banana/Mango Wine.
- How awesome Heath Ledger was in Batman!!! That's right- I have seen it! Dar has a theatre and it was playing in English.
- That I make an excellent Posh Spice kareoke night, but I tend to smile too much. My four best girlfriends and I were the Spice Girls during our party in Morogoro.
- That despite the fact that I want to go home everyday, life is good. I am lucky to want to be in two places at once.

Death

August 1,

One of my neighbors died today. I am still shocked. On my way home from school I saw at the end of my street what appeared to be a funeral. I have already been to four, but this one even though it was still obviously Muslim, seemed very different. For one thing, there was the weirdest most haunting sounds coming from the women, as they wailed and shook. I saw some of the men crying too. This is the house on the end of my dirt walk, where they always try to feed me and welcome me in. Every morning and evening I talk with this family. As I walked by today, they pulled me in. I looked for my mama, but I did not see her. I was scared because I did not know what was going on or who died. I stayed for a minute, and paid respects and then hurried home. I did not see a body.

When I got home my mama was in the yard. She saw I was upset and I asked her what was going on. She told me in Kiswahili, of course, that a two year old in that house had died today. She had been unsupervised by the charcoal fire where water had been boiling. Somehow, she had dumped the boiling water on herself. They tried to get her to the hospital, but she died. This small child was a twin. Her brother is still alive. I said hello to them that morning, and this evening she is gone.