This is your life...

“It’s when you cry just a little but you laugh in the middle that you’ve made it.” – Jason Mraz
First of all, I want to give my heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of Joseph Chow. Peace Corps TZ suffered a horrible loss this week when Joseph, an Education volunteer in Songea, passed away after a rock-climbing accident. I never met Joseph but PC TZ is just one big family, so I’m still deeply saddened to lose a brother. My heart goes out to all the other Volunteers in his class and region who I’m sure knew and loved him a lot. RIP.
It’s weird to be in the village and get news like that via text message. It’s like business carries on as usual except you can feel the shock waves vibrating throughout the entire PC population of the country and the sadness everyone shares. So that news was really hard.
Other than that, this has been a productive week. I was pretty much a culinary genius and made PB-Choc Brownies and an excellent loaf of bread jiko-style. It’s amazing what baked goods will do for your mental health. I also made a bucket of banana wine, so if all goes as it should that is fermenting now and will be delicious in 3 weeks! My villagers probably thought I was crazy buying 80 bananas to make “juice.”
I also am starting a penpal exchange between a class of 5th graders here and a class of 5th graders in America through the World Wise Schools program. So I went to the class to introduce the idea and ended up basically teaching a lesson on what students do in America and what the similarities and differences are. And of course this was all in Swahili except for when they made me sing the US National Anthem solo for them. Great.
I also went back to help out at the clinic, where I can’t believe how overworked the nurses are. I basically just weigh people and fill out their charts. But they need so much help I’ll probably end up going there 2x a week as a main project to help them with Monday baby-weighing and Thursday pregnancy exam days.
This week I also started House-to-House surveys to help complete the VSA. I’m working with Hadija, a 23-year-old girl who finished secondary school and wants to be a lawyer someday. So she speaks great English and is wonderful help. She’s also pretty cool to hang out with. We’re both quiet but I’m hoping we’ll get to be friends. We’ve visited 4 households so far asking questions about the village schools, health, agriculture, what they do for fun, etc. Just to get some baseline info on the village stats.
I also met Mariam, this lady who was sitting outside her house making beaded rings. So I told her I loved jewelry and she said she’d teach me how to make them! And she gave me a ring as a gift which I love. So possible income-generating-activity for a Mama’s group? Or just a fun craft hobby either way!
So in other news my cats like to run away to school and the neighbor’s houses, I eat an inordinate amount of peanut butter because I’m too lazy to cook more than 1x a day, and it has gotten HOT. Nights are still comfortable but in the daytime the sun is intense. Also, I’ve realized my biggest animal problem is bats; they keep me up all night squeaking and every morning I have to sweep up all their poop. Gross. I’ve also had a cold for the last 2 ½ weeks which is annoying. The overriding theme of this month has been just trying to handle the extreme mood swings of being here. Every time I see another PCV and get to speak English and hang out Marekani style it’s awesome, but then it makes the return to the vill that much harder. My worst days have been the ones I’ve returned from hanging out w/ Keith in town or something to being by myself. It is really lonely and difficult sometimes. There are definitely days where I’d rather lie in bed reading than get up and speak Swahili and integrate. But every time I get out there it gets better and easier. I’ve never had more than 1 bad day in a row so that’s good. And I always knew this settling-in period would be the hardest part. I just wish I could fast forward to after IST in December when I’ll have friends, better Swahili, and project ideas. But this is Tanzania, “polepole ndiyo mwendo” (slow and steady wins the race). Well that’s about it. Know what makes me the happiest person in the world? Getting mail!!! So write me letters or send me trashy magazines or postcards or anything!!! My address is on my facebook group, or you can message me to get it. If you write me a letter I’ll have your address and I’ll guarantee to write you back!!!!!
And HAPPY 50TH BIRTHDAY MOM!!!!
-Mboza (my Kinguo name...yeah, I'm not a fan either...)