Am still alive!!

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hurray I have finally got to the internet! I have so much to tell you all. excuse my typing but am having to write super fast!
Last few days on overland trip were good and it was sad when we all had to say goodbye but the volunteer group were already in dar es salam and we had a few days relaxing on the beach.
There are 11 volunteers in total some teaching and some building a good mix of people and ages. From dar es salaam it was 5 hours by bus, 3 hours in the back of a pick up truck and then another 11/2 hour walk up a mountain. We had a wonderful welcome all the village came down and there was lots of singing and dancing.

It is really hard to decribe yamba except that it is stunningly beautiful, dont think any of my photos will ever do it justice, from the top of the mountain you can look across into kenya and see kilamanjaro, there is just miles and miles of nothing.

The village is very remote, there is no road so everything has to be carried up and down the mountain, apparantly we are at the same height as ben nevis. It is amazing, lots of little windy paths through the jungle linking all the houses together. I know i will really miss it when i have to leave. there are about 1000 villagers and loads of kids, it is extremely poor but the people are so warm and friendly. the charity does loads of good work including setting up a health post employing lots of the villagers to look after us volunteers and taking people on emergency trips to hospital which is 3 hours away once you get tho the bottom of the mountain.
We have two housegirls called stella and hilda who i love and there is martin the night watchman who deals with all the creepy crawlies in the long drop toilet, lots of spiders, snakes and other nasties, am getting used to them though.
fantastic food and am very well looked after, avacado, banana and mango trees in my garden so lots of good stuff.

behind the house is jungle and there are monkeys, amazing birds and a tortoise wandered past the other day! No electricity so just have a little kerosene lamp at night.

The first week we did the tefl course which was great and I learnt a lot and it has really helped with the teaching. me and a girl called linda are teaching at yamba primary school, the other teachers have moved down to a village at the bottom of the mountain but i am really happy to be staying up in yamba. linda is a primary school teacher in the and her boyfriend andy are lovely, andy is an architect and doing building work here.

I have year 1 and year 3 so 7 and 9 year olds and they are fantastic, there should be 15 teachers at the school but there are only 3 guys and if they turn up they are usually drunk!! they are very sweet though. I have about 40 in each class which is fun!! we teach 4 lessons a day and the rest of the time is planning and marking. I am really loving it the kids are lovely and really eager. I know I am not supposed to but i already have my favourites.
School is 8 til half 2 and the kids normally follow me home, so we spend afternnond on my veranda playing games and reading stories, the days go really fast.

In tanga now, we will come here every other weekend, its on the beach at we are staying at the bishop of tangas house its really quite posh, off to the yatch club tonight for dinner!! so will only get to the internet when i am here.

As you can probably tell I am having an amazing time, everything has been so much more than I ever expected I have met some wonderful people and am in a beautiful place. Will be back in touch in a couple of weeks, hope everyone is well xxx

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Comments

[geoff]

fantastic!
wow-it looks like you're having a fantastic experience -great stuff katie love peach xx