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This morning we got up, got ready, and were put into our groups for the rest of the stay. Each group has about 15 volunteers and 1 "manager" and a few volunteer translators. Our group members are split up into different homestays closest to each other. We loaded into a "dala dala" and got on our way. In an earlier entry I mentioned how crazy the driving is. A dala dala is there version of a taxi/bus system. They are big vans that shove as many people as they possibly can into them- sitting, standing, handing your child over to sit on a stranger's lap, anything goes. Since there is one main road, everyone is going in the same direction, and you just tell the driver to pull over when you want to get out! About twenty minutes from Arusha is the village of Meteves, where we will be staying, working, and where the OHS site is located. My roommates are George (a graduate student at SLO), William (our translator), and Kaitlin (a UCLA undergrad). We are living with Mama Mary.
Here is a good time for a side note about familial lines. In America we believe strongly in the
nuclear family. However, here in Africa, everyone is referred to as sister (dada) or brother (kaka). Multiple people live together, and although they are usually related, it is rarely father, mother, sister, brother, and usually aunts, cousins, whoever is in the picture living in the area.
So we are staying with Mama Mary. The house is not at all what I expected. While many of the volunteers are living in mud huts (mud and cow ****) with a choo (pronouched 'cho'- a small, square shack with a hole in the ground functioning as a toilet), we are staying in a house with concrete floors. We do still have a choo outside, and the kitchen is a seperate room across the courtyard. I believe Mama said the house belonged to her aunt.
We also live with Babu, "grandfather", a man of old-age. He speaks no English but has an incredible sense of humor, is always listening to his radio, and impresses us with his addition and subtraction skills. Babu shares a room with Peter, a nephew in his late 20's who is studying to be an English teacher. Next we have our dadas, "sisters". Juliet is the oldest dada,
in her early 30's. She studied culinary school and is in charge of all the cooking. She is always in the kitchen and makes incredible food. (I'll talk more about the food later). All the other volunteers are jealous of us. We have two younger sisters, who are both about 14 and both named Mary, as well. One of them is extremely outgoing and practices her English with us constantly. The other is much more shy. Our last family member is Jesuah, pronounced like Joshua with an 'e'. Keeping in mind that everyone there is dark-skinned with extrememly short hair, I don't think he has seen anyone with light hair before. AKA he's afraid of me and won't get anywhere near me yet. BUT he is sooo cute.
As for Mama, while many of the other "moms" welcomed their volunteers with a warm hug and food stuffs, our mama is much more reserved, conservative, and extremely religious. The first question we were asked is if we were Catholic. I was hesitant at first, but this aspect of the family has become one of my favorites. We pray before and after every tea time (Chai tea, of course), after every
meal, and we have a 30 minute prayer session with the whole family before bed every night. They will read a passage out of the bible and the girls usually sing songs in Swahili, which they are teaching us. Kaitlin is very religious and brought her own bible, which Mama thoroughly enjoys. William taught us some religious phrases: "In the name of the father, the son, and the holy spirit" translates to "Kwa gina la baba, na la muana, na la rojo, mtakatif."
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