Tip Off
Bucket Drumming Cheering Squad of other Athletes from the Southern Zone. 
Victory Dance!
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Pictures of the Basketball Team
Tip Off Bucket Drumming Cheering Squad of other Athletes from the Southern Zone. Victory Dance! 
Basketball Champions...Well Practically
Last week Tanzania conducted a huge national sports competition in Dar es Salaam. I don’t understand all the particulars very well, but it seems that athletes from every sport (basketball, volleyball, soccer, track and field, netball, table tennis and others) and from all over Tanzania congregated in Dar es Salaam to compete. Tanzania is divided into 9 different zones. For each sport a zonal team was formed from the best players from all of the schools in that zone. There are 8 players on the women’s basketball team from my zone, and 6 of them are players from Songea Girls. Go team!
I didn’t actually travel with the team, however the other basketball coach, Chitimbe, from my school was appointed as the coach for our zones’ men’s and women’s basketball teams. It was great to wish them luck as they prepared to load the bus to Dar es Salaam with their travel blankets in hand. It reminded me of volleyball road trips at UPS. I am glad they get a little taste of the excitement I experienced playing competitive sports.
Luckily I had a Peace Corps meeting in Dar es Salaam last week while the competition was going on, so I was hoping to make it to one of the games. Chitimbe told me there would be a game on Thursday morning at 8 am, which fit into my schedule perfectly. He gave me the name of the school and told me I could take a bus there, but I didn’t have any idea where the school was. I asked my host in Dar es Salaam if she knew of Kibaha Secondary School or the hospital that is next to it. After checking some maps and asking around we thought we figured out where it was. Well, I arrived at the school where we thought the competition was being held just exactly at 8 am, but soon realized that it was the wrong school. I asked some people on the street if they could tell me how to get to Kibaha. Tanzanians are generally incredibly helpful about giving directions. The man I asked was very eager to show me which way to go. I asked if it was far away and he said, “Not very far, you will arrive before 10 am.”
At this point I thought I would miss the game for sure, but I decided to go anyway just to at least see my players. I had to take three different buses, and about and hour and a half later I finally arrived at the school. As I walked up the path to the school I saw one of the volleyball players from Songea Girls. She eagerly led me to the basketball court and assured me that the girls had not yet played. We passed by the track where some races were going on. I had never seen such a nice track and stadium in Tanzania; certainly most high schools here have nothing. The atmosphere really felt like a state track meet. Hand in hand (Tanzanians like to hold hands) the student and I approached the basketball court. My basketball girls saw us in the distance and swarmed me! It was wonderful to experience their excitement and I was incredibly glad that I hadn’t given up on coming.
I watched the end of the boys’ game and then the girls’ game started. The boys lost, but my girls won handily, advancing to the semifinals! After the game the players and other athletes from our zone danced and celebrated. Tanzanians sure know how to celebrate after a victory. I didn’t get to see any other games, but my team won the semifinals and then ended up finishing 2nd overall! Not bad at all.
I didn’t actually travel with the team, however the other basketball coach, Chitimbe, from my school was appointed as the coach for our zones’ men’s and women’s basketball teams. It was great to wish them luck as they prepared to load the bus to Dar es Salaam with their travel blankets in hand. It reminded me of volleyball road trips at UPS. I am glad they get a little taste of the excitement I experienced playing competitive sports.
Luckily I had a Peace Corps meeting in Dar es Salaam last week while the competition was going on, so I was hoping to make it to one of the games. Chitimbe told me there would be a game on Thursday morning at 8 am, which fit into my schedule perfectly. He gave me the name of the school and told me I could take a bus there, but I didn’t have any idea where the school was. I asked my host in Dar es Salaam if she knew of Kibaha Secondary School or the hospital that is next to it. After checking some maps and asking around we thought we figured out where it was. Well, I arrived at the school where we thought the competition was being held just exactly at 8 am, but soon realized that it was the wrong school. I asked some people on the street if they could tell me how to get to Kibaha. Tanzanians are generally incredibly helpful about giving directions. The man I asked was very eager to show me which way to go. I asked if it was far away and he said, “Not very far, you will arrive before 10 am.”
At this point I thought I would miss the game for sure, but I decided to go anyway just to at least see my players. I had to take three different buses, and about and hour and a half later I finally arrived at the school. As I walked up the path to the school I saw one of the volleyball players from Songea Girls. She eagerly led me to the basketball court and assured me that the girls had not yet played. We passed by the track where some races were going on. I had never seen such a nice track and stadium in Tanzania; certainly most high schools here have nothing. The atmosphere really felt like a state track meet. Hand in hand (Tanzanians like to hold hands) the student and I approached the basketball court. My basketball girls saw us in the distance and swarmed me! It was wonderful to experience their excitement and I was incredibly glad that I hadn’t given up on coming.
I watched the end of the boys’ game and then the girls’ game started. The boys lost, but my girls won handily, advancing to the semifinals! After the game the players and other athletes from our zone danced and celebrated. Tanzanians sure know how to celebrate after a victory. I didn’t get to see any other games, but my team won the semifinals and then ended up finishing 2nd overall! Not bad at all.
Death and Mourning
It seems recently I have been confronted with death more than usual; both in Tanzania and in America. I do not live in the villages where AIDS takes a major toll, but death is still more frequent here in Songea than it is at home.
Of course my grandmother died a few weeks ago, and here in Tanzania a couple of my students have lost a parent, a fellow PCV lost a parent, my Peace Corps coordinator lost his oldest daughter this week, and just before I left for America, my next door neighbor, Mtega, lost his sister, who was probably around 30 years old.
Although I never met his sister, her death was my first close up experience of death in Tanzania. On the afternoon that she died neighbors and members of the school community gathered at Mtega’s house to await the arrival of the grieving mother and family returning from the hospital. We sat together for hours, waiting, not knowing when they would arrive, by wanting to make sure the house was full of people to support the family when the came.
All the furniture in the living room was moved out and grass mats were placed on the floor. Finally after dark, the family arrived, wailing and crying, and collapsed inside the house on the grass mats. Women comforted the women and men consoled the men of the family including Mtega. The men built a campfire in front of the house, while the women congregated behind the house around their own campfire. The only difference being that the women’s fire had rice and stew cooking over it. The neighbor women had brought pots and dishes and contributed food from home to feed everyone gathered at the house. I finally went home around 10:30 pm, but many people stayed at the house with the family all through the night.
Tanzanians do not let the family grieve alone. For the next couple of days there was always a circle of men sitting around the fire pit in front of the house, as well as a group of women chatting and telling stories. As the hours and days passed the mood of the gathering became lighter; gradually less mourning and more laughter was heard.
About three days after the death, the body was brought to the house and a small funeral service was held with singing of hymns as the coffin was taken away to be buried. I think only the close family went to bury the body.
The way people gathered at Mtega’s house reminded me of my granddad’s funeral about 15 years ago. For a few days after my Granddad’s funeral all of his children and grandchildren and other relatives gathered at his house to grieve together and support my grandmother. It was certainly a sad time, but also a wonderful time of learning about my grandfather’s life, being with family, and playing with cousins. Also my grandma’s funeral recently, was a sad but special time. Most of her family spent one last night at her house grieving together, but also remembering her and enjoying each other’s company.
Of course my grandmother died a few weeks ago, and here in Tanzania a couple of my students have lost a parent, a fellow PCV lost a parent, my Peace Corps coordinator lost his oldest daughter this week, and just before I left for America, my next door neighbor, Mtega, lost his sister, who was probably around 30 years old.
Although I never met his sister, her death was my first close up experience of death in Tanzania. On the afternoon that she died neighbors and members of the school community gathered at Mtega’s house to await the arrival of the grieving mother and family returning from the hospital. We sat together for hours, waiting, not knowing when they would arrive, by wanting to make sure the house was full of people to support the family when the came.
All the furniture in the living room was moved out and grass mats were placed on the floor. Finally after dark, the family arrived, wailing and crying, and collapsed inside the house on the grass mats. Women comforted the women and men consoled the men of the family including Mtega. The men built a campfire in front of the house, while the women congregated behind the house around their own campfire. The only difference being that the women’s fire had rice and stew cooking over it. The neighbor women had brought pots and dishes and contributed food from home to feed everyone gathered at the house. I finally went home around 10:30 pm, but many people stayed at the house with the family all through the night.
Tanzanians do not let the family grieve alone. For the next couple of days there was always a circle of men sitting around the fire pit in front of the house, as well as a group of women chatting and telling stories. As the hours and days passed the mood of the gathering became lighter; gradually less mourning and more laughter was heard.
About three days after the death, the body was brought to the house and a small funeral service was held with singing of hymns as the coffin was taken away to be buried. I think only the close family went to bury the body.
The way people gathered at Mtega’s house reminded me of my granddad’s funeral about 15 years ago. For a few days after my Granddad’s funeral all of his children and grandchildren and other relatives gathered at his house to grieve together and support my grandmother. It was certainly a sad time, but also a wonderful time of learning about my grandfather’s life, being with family, and playing with cousins. Also my grandma’s funeral recently, was a sad but special time. Most of her family spent one last night at her house grieving together, but also remembering her and enjoying each other’s company.
Pictures of Home
Me and Christiana
UPS Girls at Kat's Wedding
Me and Andrea
Me and Andrea in San Francisco
At Keegan's Graduation
With my cousins at Grandma's house after her funeralBig Changes at School
Remarkably few changes took place at school during the first 6 months that I had been here at Songea Girls. In Tanzania teacher turnover is ridiculously high, especially at rural schools. It is not uncommon for a Peace Corps volunteer to be the most senior member of the faculty by the time they finish their 2 years of service. At Songea Girls during the March break between school years we added one new English teacher and lost one teacher.
But it seems changes that were supposed to take place during the break are just now coming to fruition due to the lethargy of the Tanzanian government. All school positions from the headmistress to the driver are appointed by the central government in Dar es Salaam. Teachers can request to be transferred, but they do not have the opportunity to apply for specific positions.
Apparently a new administrative position overseeing all of the secondary schools in the Mbeya Region was created, and the government appointed my headmistress at Songea Girls to take the post. She did not apply for the job; she does not really have the option of turning it down. The government has told her she is to move 300 kilometers away to Mbeya within the next month. Our second headmaster has also been promoted to a new position in Mbeya. They are leaving in two weeks and we do not yet know who will replace them. The government hasn’t told us who has been selected. At least 3 teachers are leaving as well. We probably will not get replacement teachers until fresh college graduates are hired in October.
Mama Chiguru, the current headmistress, has been the head of Songea Girls for the last 15 years. She pretty much is Songea Girls. I can’t imagine how she can ever be replaced, especially if the new headmistress does not arrive until after Mama Chiguru leaves. I honestly will not be surprised it things kind of fall apart at Songea Girls over the next few months. Oh well, I will just keep pushing on, doing my best to teach physics.
The Songea Girls community is not taking the departure of Mama Chiguru lightly. We are planning a big party for her to take place during the middle of August. She will already have moved, but Mama Chiguru will make the trip back for the celebration.
For some reason the other teachers appointed me to be on the party planning committee. I love how committees are formed here. Basically we have a meeting with all the teachers and it is announced that we need to select a committee for a particular project. Teachers nominate each other, and after each nomination is raised the group votes by a show of hands as to whether or not this person should be on the committee. The nominee herself has no say in the matter. So I’ll go to the extremely long meetings (held completely in Kiswahili) and try to be a good committee participant, but I really don’t know why they selected me.
Mama Chiguru and teachers are not the only ones are leaving. School opened at the beginning of April and it has taken a couple of months for all of my students to trickle (in fact I just got another new student this week). But now finally as pretty much all of my students have reported (I think), they are starting to trickle out. Many of them are transferring schools. I guess Songea is too far away from Dar es Salaam where most of them are from. I have lost two of my top three students and I am afraid more top students are planning to leave. It is frustrating to have spent so much effort and time with these students and now not be able to finish what we started.
But it seems changes that were supposed to take place during the break are just now coming to fruition due to the lethargy of the Tanzanian government. All school positions from the headmistress to the driver are appointed by the central government in Dar es Salaam. Teachers can request to be transferred, but they do not have the opportunity to apply for specific positions.
Apparently a new administrative position overseeing all of the secondary schools in the Mbeya Region was created, and the government appointed my headmistress at Songea Girls to take the post. She did not apply for the job; she does not really have the option of turning it down. The government has told her she is to move 300 kilometers away to Mbeya within the next month. Our second headmaster has also been promoted to a new position in Mbeya. They are leaving in two weeks and we do not yet know who will replace them. The government hasn’t told us who has been selected. At least 3 teachers are leaving as well. We probably will not get replacement teachers until fresh college graduates are hired in October.
Mama Chiguru, the current headmistress, has been the head of Songea Girls for the last 15 years. She pretty much is Songea Girls. I can’t imagine how she can ever be replaced, especially if the new headmistress does not arrive until after Mama Chiguru leaves. I honestly will not be surprised it things kind of fall apart at Songea Girls over the next few months. Oh well, I will just keep pushing on, doing my best to teach physics.
The Songea Girls community is not taking the departure of Mama Chiguru lightly. We are planning a big party for her to take place during the middle of August. She will already have moved, but Mama Chiguru will make the trip back for the celebration.
For some reason the other teachers appointed me to be on the party planning committee. I love how committees are formed here. Basically we have a meeting with all the teachers and it is announced that we need to select a committee for a particular project. Teachers nominate each other, and after each nomination is raised the group votes by a show of hands as to whether or not this person should be on the committee. The nominee herself has no say in the matter. So I’ll go to the extremely long meetings (held completely in Kiswahili) and try to be a good committee participant, but I really don’t know why they selected me.
Mama Chiguru and teachers are not the only ones are leaving. School opened at the beginning of April and it has taken a couple of months for all of my students to trickle (in fact I just got another new student this week). But now finally as pretty much all of my students have reported (I think), they are starting to trickle out. Many of them are transferring schools. I guess Songea is too far away from Dar es Salaam where most of them are from. I have lost two of my top three students and I am afraid more top students are planning to leave. It is frustrating to have spent so much effort and time with these students and now not be able to finish what we started.
Going Home
June has been a crazy and wonderful month! Two of my really good friends just got married, Christiana and Kat. Also my brother Keegan graduated from high school. All of these events took place within the same week, which was also the week of midterm break at my school. It was all such an incredible coincidence that I decided it was worth taking a trip home. Also the fact that my grandma Carlson was not doing so well tipped me over the edge of the decision to go home so I could see her.
It took me two full days to get to the airport here in Tanzania, then another 24 hours on planes and in airports, but I made it home on Monday June 8th. I spent exactly 9 days in America, and then started the arduous trip back to Songea. In total 5 days of traveling and 9 days in America, but it was worth it.
My parents and Keegan met me at the airport and the first thing we did was get lunch at Subway. All during the flight home I was thinking about all the food I couldn’t wait to eat, and submarine sandwiches were at the top of the list. Man they were good. I ate so much good food while I was home that I probably gained 10 pounds. But after a week of beans and rice I have lost it all again.
Just after I got home I found out that my grandma died a few days before. My parents decided to wait and tell me when I got home, which I think was good so that I could be with my family when I found out. It turned out that on the day that Kara and I were planning to visit our grandma, we ended up going to her funeral instead…kind of ironic. I am certainly sad that I didn’t get to see my grandma just before she died, but it was an incredible blessing to be able to go to her funeral. Amazingly every one of my grandma’s 20 grandchildren and 8 great-grandchildren were there at her funeral. It was wonderful to see everyone and spend one last night at my grandma’s house.
The weddings were beautiful and a lot of fun. At Christiana’s wedding I saw many friends from high school that I haven’t seen in a while, and I got to see a few really good friends from UPS at Kat’s Wedding in San Francisco. After Kat’s wedding Andrea, Shaun and I spent a fun day at Alcatraz and exploring the waterfront.
It was a wonderful trip home. The weather was gorgeous in Seattle (since when has that happened in June?); the cherries were ripe in my grandma’s orchards; and all my siblings were home. I couldn’t have asked for more, but it sure made it hard to come back to Tanzania. I felt pretty homesick the first couple of days, and even came down with a touch of culture shock. But now that I am back into the swing of things at school, I feel much better and have remembered that I also love it here in Songea.
It took me two full days to get to the airport here in Tanzania, then another 24 hours on planes and in airports, but I made it home on Monday June 8th. I spent exactly 9 days in America, and then started the arduous trip back to Songea. In total 5 days of traveling and 9 days in America, but it was worth it.
My parents and Keegan met me at the airport and the first thing we did was get lunch at Subway. All during the flight home I was thinking about all the food I couldn’t wait to eat, and submarine sandwiches were at the top of the list. Man they were good. I ate so much good food while I was home that I probably gained 10 pounds. But after a week of beans and rice I have lost it all again.
Just after I got home I found out that my grandma died a few days before. My parents decided to wait and tell me when I got home, which I think was good so that I could be with my family when I found out. It turned out that on the day that Kara and I were planning to visit our grandma, we ended up going to her funeral instead…kind of ironic. I am certainly sad that I didn’t get to see my grandma just before she died, but it was an incredible blessing to be able to go to her funeral. Amazingly every one of my grandma’s 20 grandchildren and 8 great-grandchildren were there at her funeral. It was wonderful to see everyone and spend one last night at my grandma’s house.
The weddings were beautiful and a lot of fun. At Christiana’s wedding I saw many friends from high school that I haven’t seen in a while, and I got to see a few really good friends from UPS at Kat’s Wedding in San Francisco. After Kat’s wedding Andrea, Shaun and I spent a fun day at Alcatraz and exploring the waterfront.
It was a wonderful trip home. The weather was gorgeous in Seattle (since when has that happened in June?); the cherries were ripe in my grandma’s orchards; and all my siblings were home. I couldn’t have asked for more, but it sure made it hard to come back to Tanzania. I felt pretty homesick the first couple of days, and even came down with a touch of culture shock. But now that I am back into the swing of things at school, I feel much better and have remembered that I also love it here in Songea.
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