Advertisement
Published: September 27th 2007
Edit Blog Post
CCS Van of Volunteers
Half of us on our way to the first day of volunteering. Again I have so many things to share with you. We have been kept very busy over the past few days. The way the program is structured there isn't a lot of free time for the first 3 weeks. :-( The internet has been sketchy for the past few days so I have a couple of blogs to publish. Bear with me and I inundate you with information!
I went to the Safari College on Tuesday to "meet with staff and discuss our plan" or that was the plan. The office is in downtown Moshi, I think I am one of the only volunteers with a placement in the city center. It's good because the others get so dusty at their placements they have to shower as soon as they get home. I met the principal, secretary, registrar and teacher at the school. They are all very friendly and respectful. After we introduced ourselves the computer teacher took me down the hall to the computer classroom. They only have two classrooms, one for computers and one for tour guide training. The teacher pointed to 3 students and told me Microsoft Access. Ok, great. They had given me a textbook to
Administration room
This is the head office at Safari college. I get to sit at the desk in the far right corner until my class starts. look at earlier but it was only for Word and Excel. I was very nervous about teaching Access because it's been several years since I've used it and I was never that advanced. What all of us volunteers have realized is that we just have to wing it.
I have 3 students in my class, Frank, Rose and Marupa. They are all in their 20s I would guess, Frank isn't sure how old he is because he is part of the Masai tribe and they don't record such things. They also do not have birthdays here. Frank thought he was 34 but I don't think he can possibly be that old. They are very eager to learn and ask me a lot of questions. THey are very polite and respectful and a little shy. It took them a day or two to warm up to me and now they are okay. When I arrived they were all typing random information into Access so I just went with it and had them create tables and queries and forms. It went well but I was mentally exhausted by the time I left. I went outside to wait for the CCS van
Group Celebration
We survived the first day and traveled to the bar down the street to celebrate. to pick me up and ended up having to wait for over an hour. Since it was the first day at placements the driver had to go inside and find everyone to get them and I was the last one picked up so we were way behind schedule. The tour guide teacher waited outside with me because he said in Tanzania it is considered impolite to leave someone alone. I felt bad because he had students waiting for him upstairs but he insisted. Hakunta Matata.
It was sooo interesting to hear about all the other volunteers and their placements. Most are working in schools as teachers but 3 are nurses in hospitals. One is in a private Catholic hospital and the other 2 are in the public hospital in town. They were horrified after their first day working in labor & delivery. Obviously things are much different here and there isn't an emphasis on sterilization or bedside manner. If they women make noise during delivery they get yelled at by the nurses. They also give birth in large open rooms so anyone can see. I think the women here are used to it so it's not a big deal but to the American nurses they were completely shocked. I think they are going to try to switch to the private hospital because it's much nicer. Most everyone is doing well and I feel very fortunate that I am at the Safari college. Some other teachers have 50-90 children in their classes. Those who work in the orphanage are mobbed as soon as the van arrives. The culture is very different so adult here don't "play" with the children like we do at home. Again, it's just a very different environment. Everyone seens very happy so I think they don't feel like they are being ignored. But they definitely associate muzungus (white people) with games and candy and fun.
When our van drives to town the children will run up to the street to wave and smile at us. Even the adults are very interested in white people and are very happy to meet us. There certainly isn't any anti-American sentiment here. Our cultural teacher told us that most people here want to emulate white people because they hear how successful we are and they want the same. At some schools the attendance will increase if there is a white teacher there. Parents are more likey to send their kids to school because they are impressed by the muzungus. It's very nice to be so appreciated, sometimes we feel like celebrities. But it also can be uncomfortable. We are very much catered to by everyone and it can be awkward.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.066s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 6; qc: 43; dbt: 0.0434s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
ML
non-member comment
Good job!
I came across your blog entries and wanted to congratulate you on the work that you do. More Americans should get out of the comfort of their suburbian lifestyle and explore the globe. Cheers.