Dosidosi Cast of Characters

Mabojola: the primary school Headmaster and my neighbor. He’s a short little man with lots of energy and a good guy, helps me out a lot, speaks English, and always drops by to ask me random questions about American history or current events other things. He’s the one who helped me order all my furniture and get my cats and everything when I first got here.
Mwajuma: His wife. This lady is awesome. She’s pretty much my new mama. She feeds me whenever I wander over to say hi and feeds my cats when I leave for weekends. She taught me how to greet in Kinguo and pretty much helps me out anytime I need help with any chores or getting anything. If she doesn’t see me for a day she always stops by the next day to check on me. Also, her baby, Maua (Flowers), is the fattest baby I’ve seen in Tanzania so she definitely is a good mom!
Annette: new teacher who’s my age and just moved here from Kilimanjaro so she’s staying with my headmaster and his family. We’ve hung out a few times and we’re getting to be good friends. She’s really cute and trendy and funny. When she first arrived she was crying because of how remote Dosidosi is compared to what she’s used to, so we definitely empathize about that. She already invited me to come home with her in April to see Moshi-town and then again sometime later to climb Kili together.
Wilson: My closest neighbor, another teacher, he’s a young guy, still single. He’s helped me teach the couple times I did and get the penpal thing started. He’s a huge talker and we’ll end up having 2-hour long convos where he just asks me all these questions about America. It’s good for my Swahili, for sure.
Joeli: Wilson’s 18-year-old brother who lives with him. He’s starting secondary school next year but for now I guess he just does all the housework for the 2 of them. He’s a cool kid, always lets me know when my cats run off somewhere they shouldn’t be. They’re both from Lushoto but Wilson got moved here to teach. So they also invited me home with them sometime next year to see Lushoto which is supposedly gorgeous so I’m excited!
Paulo: the Headmaster of the secondary school, another neighbor. He’s been away a lot but from the few times we’ve talked while going to church, I know he’s super smart, super Christian, and really good at English. And he is an absolutely GORGEOUS man. But he’s married and just had his 1st kid born this week actually. Pretty much the only teacher at the secondary school who does anything I think.
The Frat Boys: These are about 5 young guys, single secondary school teachers who all share 1 side of Paulo’s house since the secondary school doesn’t have adequate teachers’ housing yet. I call them the Frat Boys because they’re basically as close as you get to that in Tanzania. They don’t seem to take their jobs seriously at all, or me for that matter. Whenever I hang out with them it’s just a bunch of questions about why I’m not married and don’t I want a TZ boyfriend? Since the government assigns teachers to where they will work I basically think since Dosidosi’s secondary school just opened they sent us all the most inexperienced and unmotivated crew. Oh well, they’re sometimes fun to hang out with.
Stephen: He lives with the frat boys but not really like them. Also new in town, goes to church w/ me and really smart and good English. But he's a huge nerd. He wants to be an accountant instead of a teacher. He asks me the dorkiest questions all the time and I just laugh because I konw I can make fun of him w/o him realizing it. I'm so mean.
Asha and Levasha: 2 married women teachers who live in the middle of the village. I basically go over to school every day and just talk to them while they're grading. They're super sweet and they both also have generators so I've been to each of their houses at night to chill and watch TV.
Maganga: The Ward Executive Officer (gov't guy) of Dosidosi. He got all the official PC scoop and everything. He's a silly-looking man w/ crazy muttonchops but he has a good heart and has taken me around the village and helped me out w/ tonsof stuff. Tracking him down is always an issue since he's never in the office. But usually he can be found cavorting around on his motorcycle or sipping chai and chilling in some cafe.
Stella and Mwanamvua: the 2 nurses at my clinic. They are AWESOME ladies who work so hard. They're always going to conferences and trying to learn more and really committed to improving health. BAsically, they're doing all they can w/ NOTHING and NO HELP so I'm really gonna try to help them out however I can.
Hadija: my Counterpart! This girl is really shy but she's got it goin' on! She's my age and graduated from Secondary School in Kibaya in 2005. She wants to go to college and be a womens' rights lawyer but $ is a problem so she's just at home helping with her family's farm now. She is great at English, so smart and motivated, and has such a progressive mindset and such awesome goals. So she went with me to do all my surveys and my community meetings, and she's coming to IST in Dec. w/ me for official Counterpart training. So basically I have high hopes for what we'll be able to accomplish here together.
Joyce: She's Keith's counterpart in Matui, but I lover her just as much as he does. She's a homebased-care volunteer and speaks no English but she does everything! And knows everyone important around. For income she runs a little soda and beer stand and also brings crates to sell in a tent every 2x/month market in my village. So needless to say she keeps us set on drinks whenever we're with her! One time I came to Matui Keith mentioned that later we were planning to climb this big rocky hill to get a view of the valley, so she just charges us across town and leads us up the steep slope in her flipflops and khanga. And she's like 40! She also loved one of the brownies I made and gave her once! Now she wants to climb 1 of the bigger mountains around Dosidosi with us sometime. Needless to say, I can't wait til IST! I think Keith and I, Joyce and Hadija, will be the Fantastic 4 starting PC in Kiteto!!!