transportation

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in africa is always a risk. i mean peace corps tells us if we ever feel unsafe on a vehicle to get off. and wait for the next one. if we did that, we would be waiting our whole two years.

basically story is. coming to town today. in the dala. the other dala passes us. piled with luggage. people hanging off the top and sides. not anything out of the ordinary. then five minutes later i hear people in my dala going 'ahh aaaaahh!!' and we stop and everyones rushing out. i for some reason thought (its possible) that there was a lion in the road. or at the very least elephants. no. the other dala had tipped over on its side. so i ran over to help. well my help consisted of handing out tissues to people who were bleeding. i dont know if it was too many people, the car was too old, my brother made a bad move at the wheel or what.

everyone was ok. well an older bibi (grandma) couldnt really walk something with her ankle. and the glass shattered. so people were bleeding. but nothing too bad. our car flipped the other one up. the car from the hospital also came a few minutes later by chance and turned right around to get my baba. and my baba came back. and my brother who had been driving the car was bawling. and i was shocked. i dont know if it was pain or he was in trouble. but you dont cry in tanzania. unless youre at a funeral. and even then men dont really cry.

but transportation here is terrifying. i think ive already used this example. but jacob. his last time coming to singida town. his bus helped victims of an accident that had happened five minutes before. 5 people were dead. he saw brains on the street. or my friend cristina's homestay mama died a few months ago in a car accident. or just every time i get on a bus its questionable. thats all.

anyways so the past week has been alright. on monday i went to my mama's farm. its huge. more then 10 hectares. i dont really know what that means but we walked around. a bunch of the boys had their hoes in hand and tried to get me to do it. no thanks. im a city girl. haha.

that night my sister asha-her new husband (i went to their wedding in december) came over. hes nice. chatted. hes also the one that is fixing my bike. and he told me that when i was gone a bunch of people asked to use it but he said no. he also said that yusufu said that i said he could use it. but he asked for a written consent form i guess and yusufu didnt show up again. and i was like aww thats nice. i mean if a bunch of people ride it, it'll probably break again. thanks. i guess i'll see you after mosque on friday and pick it up.

And i've been teaching all week. i graded my form one math tests. one kid got 29/30. i was shocked. good for him. i mean others were not so fortunate. but this chapter ive been teaching seems to be review. on decimals percentages and fractions. they know it pretty well. i asked them if they wanted homework/take home test or a test in class. they said a test in class. so i guess we'll see how they do next week. i think im getting better at teaching. haha. funny.

also my VEO is back in the village. but i guess hes no longer the veo. i dont know. hes going to be here for a month supposedly. and that includes helping me out this tuesday to do a permaculture garden at the secondary school. i just bought seeds. kind of unfortunate that this is towards the end of the season so there wasnt a huge selections. i got tomatos, okra, kale, spinach, eggplant and i guess thats all. and were going to plant it with lemon grass, sweet potato, and papaya trees. so that should be nice. maybe beans and maybe corn but ive been told the corn season is over.

i also talked with my wifi-sister in law about forming a mamas group. and she was really into it. and i was like well who would be in it with you and she named my mama, my other wifi, a teacher and the vets wife. basically all people related to my baba/his family. and i was like i dont really want to go through that all over again. of changa showing favoritism to people. even though it wasnt even true the first time. and she understood. but then i thought about it for a day and decided that shes really the only person who has approached me and she is very capable so i decided to do it with her. but when i went back to her house she said she would be part of the second wave group. she didnt want trouble. so i guess im going to have to find this first group. we'll see.

also random. the mwenyekiti/chairman of the village came up to me the other day. asked about my bike. and told me that i should get it back. and people shouldnt be riding it because it was going to break. and that this guy was going to sell it to get money. i hate this conversation. ive had it excessively. i dont care about my bike. well apparently its peace corps bike so whatevs. but i thought it was interesting he told me that. so i told my wifi (who is his daughter-everyone is connected in the village) and she laughed. and told me that ashas husband is a tapele (swindler/con-man). and then she laughed some more at the shock on my face.

why would my sister, who is a good muslim girl, marry him then? her answer was love is blind. well im pretty sure they didnt fall in love because shes his second wife. and really. why did no one tell me he was a bad man and i shouldnt talk to him. oh no its fine to talk with him just dont give him your things. oh good. dont give your things to people you dont know. well i thought i knew asha. yea asha is good but her husband isnt. oh thank you. ridiculous. you think by now people in my village would want to let me know who the bad people are. god.

and this leads to yesterday. not really but i will tie it in. a woman was in the hospital because she was beat by her husband. it was bad. really bad. i saw her. she had bruises all over. he hit her with a stool (wooden) and for no reason. and it bothered my too because they kept saying that he hit her like an animal. they have no notion/respect for animals so it didnt surprise me. but eh. i asked what was going to happen to the husband. my VEO was looking for him. going to talk with him. and i guess take him to town to the police. so he said. i dont know though. we'll see. makes me sad.

I started to write my grant for the solar panels. thats exciting. but i realized i know nothing about solar panels. which i guess where people in my village come in. like my baba who has solar panels for his house. i had no idea solar panels needed batteries and breakers and solar circuit chargers. ridiculous. ive written most everything up. except the budget. its beyond me at the moment. but i will be passing through arusha for the marathon and they sell solar there so i guess i could do some browsing? i dont know. i need to talk to my boss.

yesterday a group-SAAG (Singida Anti-AIDS Group) came to the village. it was really like 2 guys talking. they came to the secondary school. the kids were impatient. it was friday and we were in the sun and usually school gets out early enough to let the muslim kids go to mosque at 2 but we didnt leave until 3. but it was cool to know that there was an organization like this. until they started talking. their whole message pushed for 'the big NO' aka abstinence. they even told the kids that condoms are only 70% effective. and i have no problem teaching abstinence to primary school kids-but even thats questionable when each year at least one if not more girls are forced to leave school due to pregnancy.

but they came. set up a video camera (not sure why) and had a question and answer session with the kids. the kids knew more than they let on. i think they were bored/tired/annoyed. it was friday. but its encouraged me to start teaching health during the free periods. im also in search of bulletin board today in town so i can put up a health bulletin. give out information. i dont know. i guess these guys will be coming back in late april or may to do a follow up. so i have my work ahead of me. haha. fun. we'll see how that goes.

they also had a meeting with the villagers in the village center. i sat on the outskirts but of course i was mentioned. i would like to start another mama's group. the head doctor just got back yesterday from this seminar. so i should talk with him. i think im dedicating monday/tuesday to the clinic. then wed-friday at the secondary school. and this monday the doctors are going to the forest. i talked with the driver yesterday and i guess there have been a lot of elephants. ooo.

and i got a jump rope last weekend i was in town. and ive been trying to build up my heart rate for the race next week. im going to die. thats the end of the story. but at least me and korie will look good. i happened upon some spandex today. for both of us. good. and well i got a nice pair of miss sixty jeans. fantastic. shopping. i think thats my fourth pair of jeans ive bought in tz. ridiculous. but it gets me through.

i mean a couple days ago. in the staff room during chai. my VEO comes up and going to the seminar with him in dodoma. and mama asha. and i have to explain it all again. but they have already heard the story and think they already know it. which is annoying because i hear them talking about it. and they dont have it right. im annoyed. its hard to want to help when youre annoyed.

i went to the fundi (guy who is making my furniture) and my cabinet is finally done. not the way i want. but done. so good. still waiting for that table and book shelf. and its painted and all nice. and i keep telling my VEO i dont need it to be nice. i need wood and nails. but he thinks when i leave that i will give it to him or he will be able to buy it for a cheap price. funny. well he hasnt said that out loud but i know him well enough.

the rains have been steady. i think the crops are doing decently. its gorgeous. the walk to the fundi felt like i was in a jungle. it was so green. its ridiculous how different it was when i got here in august. its ridiculous that its already february. god. i think thats all for now. hopefully by the end of the month i will have turned in my first grant. the permaculture gardens will be flourishing. and world womens day goes well. i guess those are good goals for now. bah..

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Comments

[Jackie]

I'm glad to hear you are all right and everything even though the transportation is a bit questionable. I figured I'd post about hectares, haha I only know this from being in New Zealand but 1 hectare is around 2 acres. so 10 hectares is I think almost 25 acres. glad to hear that overall you're having a good experience in tanzania. ps it's almost your birthday, you'll be an even older fart like me =)