This is Tanzania

Just about every day I catch myself thinking, “I can’t believe I’m in Tanzania.” It usually happens as I begin my daily bike ride home from school and take in the view of Morogoro town with the Uluguru Mountains in the background.

I have been here five weeks now. It feels as though it has been longer, although I am sure the final 4 ½ weeks of Peace Corps training will fly by now that I am starting to feel at home in Morogoro. I am having a great time learning Kiswahili. At this point I know enough to introduce myself, order food, buy things at the market and get around town. My host family has wonderful in teaching me Kiswahili and showing me how to do things the Tanzanian way. I’ve learned how to take bucket baths, wash my clothes by hand, and cook over a charcoal stove. My host mother thinks I am completely inept in the kitchen because I am poor at peeling potatoes in my hand with a huge, dull knife and no cutting board. She peels 5 potatoes for my every one.

I am beginning to know my way around Morogoro town. I have a bike that I ride to school everyday, but if I want to go to the main market I take a daladala, which is the public transport consisting of a van absolutely packed with passengers. It costs about 30 cents each way.

I have completed two weeks of internship teaching at Uluguru Secondary School. I teach Form III (equivalent to 11th grade) physics for 80 minute periods two days a week. Jumping into teaching during the middle of the term without much direction or former teaching experience has been tough. Mostly it is impossible to figure out what the program is at Uluguru. Apparently the only physics teacher left a few weeks ago to pursue higher education. I was told by another teacher to teach Form III, stream D on Monday at 10:00am and begin with the topic static electricity. In Tanzania each grade level is split into streams A, B, C, D, etc. Each stream of students has a permanent classroom and their teachers for each subject come to them.

When I arrived at school on Monday morning at 8 am, I decided I should find my classroom. As I looked for a classroom labeled III D, all I found was III A, III B, and III C. It was chaos since the Form III B students were locked out of their classroom. I asked a group of teachers to show me where Form III D was. After some confusion I pieced together the story that Form III D did not currently have a classroom because it was occupied by Form IV students who were taking the national exams that week.

As I wandered around cluelessly, word had spread through the students that there was an American teacher who wanted to teach From III D physics, and before I knew it the Form III D students had taken over a Form II classroom and want me to start teaching right away. I was thoroughly confused at this point, wondering who was supposed to be teaching these III D students, where were they supposed to by studying, and why were the III D students even at school if they didn’t have a teacher or a classroom. But I was impressed with how quickly they had organized themselves, and so I retrieved my materials and walked into class.

My materials consist of chalk, a physics book published by the Tanzanian Board of Education and whatever else I can scrounge up. Since I don’t have internet access, I have found Encarta to be extremely helpful in filling in the holes of my cursory Tanzanian physics book.

My students, on the other hand, do not have text books or calculators. They have pens and notebooks and about 3 desks/chairs for every 4 students. They rely on me to provide all necessary information on the chalkboard.

It has been difficult to know if I am teaching material at an adequate pace or if everyone understands, but I think most students are learning something and having some fun. This week while learning about circuits I let them play with batteries and paper clips that I had brought from America. At least I am better than no teacher at all. I don’t think most of their other teachers are teaching them right now. I’ll come into class with my lesson from the previous day still on the chalk board. The language and cultural barrier has made it difficult to understand why even though I have asked. The students show up to school every day even when their teachers don’t. They deserve a better education.

On a brighter topic, last weekend the other Peace Corps trainees and I went on our first safari! Thirty of us piled onto a rickety bus with seats for 25 for our trip through Mikumi National Park. Even from the highway through the park I was amazed to see giraffe, zebra, warthogs, antelope, elephant, and water buffalo. My favorite part of the safari was when we got out of the bus to watch crocodiles and hippopotamus floating around in a water hole. Tanzania certainly is a beautiful place!

I’ll do one more week of teaching, and then have one week to brush up on Kiswahili before taking the final oral language proficiency examination that determines whether I have learned enough Kiswahili to be a Peace Corps volunteer. After that I will spend a week shadowing a current Peace Corps volunteer at their site to get an idea of what the next two years of my life will really entail. And then if I still think I have what it takes I will receive my site placement and get sworn in as a Peace Corps Volunteer on November 26. I have no doubt that I will make it. Despite the challenges of teaching and missing home, I am very happy to be in Tanzania!