Advertisement
Published: November 23rd 2012
Edit Blog Post
I didn’t plan it this way, but spending three weeks learning Swahili outside of Iringa was the perfect introduction to Tanzania. Even though I’ve been to Tanzania before, and I’ve done a lot of traveling, culture shock is always a nasty reminder that I am in fact human and I cannot always predict and control my responses to travel experiences. Since I’m writing this entry several weeks after the fact, I can reflect on how my gentle introduction to Tanzania was a blessing.
The Iringa Swahili School (
http://www.swahilitanzania.com/) holds its lessons at River Valley Camp, which is nestled up along the Little Ruaha River and a half hour drive to Iringa town. I spent three weeks there, October 8-28. The Camp consists of stone and tented bandas, little wooden cabins, a dining room, a TV room, and several little classroom bandas scattered over the campus. The whole place is very peaceful and secure, and it was easy to fall into a comfortable pattern of activity that didn’t alter too much while I was there. My mornings were spent with the lessons, and most afternoons I studied, read, and relaxed with classmates or a DVD. A few afternoons I took advantage
of the daily rides to town, usually when I wanted to connect to the internet, since I didn’t get a signal at the camp. Weekends I played volleyball with the area expats at Kibebe Ranch. I stayed so busy with my studies that I didn’t have much time to break from routine or to even get too homesick. Living at River Valley wasn’t like living in Tanzania, it was like I was at college again in Houghton, NY. I was in a safe and secure bubble where I practiced my Swahili with teachers, laundry women, and camp staff who were well-practiced in dealing with Swahili students. And the other students were all missionaries. So, it really was a lot like Houghton (which is a Christian college). It was a nice stepping stone between home and the Tanzania that was waiting for me in Longido.
The classes are small and molded specifically to meet the needs of the students. I spent my first week by myself working one-on-one with a teacher. Because I had studied Swahili before, most of the first week was review, and the pace was incredibly rapid. The second and third weeks I spent in a class
with Jason and Coralee, a missionary couple about my age who spent a year traveling the world for their honeymoon. Now they are in Tanzania with their two kids beginning what will probably be a 15 year stay. Most of the missionaries here are Bible translators, so we did a lot of exercises with Bible translation. Interesting fact: in Swahili the verb for “to fish” is the same as “to undress.” Like a lot of the language, exact meaning depends on context. So if you’re translating the Bible verse “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men,” the exact translation in Swahili would be telling Christians to be undressers of men. I kind of like the verse better that way…
When I first started researching Swahili schools I was looking in the Dar or Arusha areas, but The Iringa Swahili School ended up being the best quality for the best value that I could find. Another draw was that the Camp is only about a mile from Masumbo, the campus that Houghton College uses for its study abroad program, and where I lived when I first visited Tanzania eleven years ago. I liked the idea of starting
this trip where my fascination with Tanzania first began. It was almost like a pilgrimage, a return to the origin. And a bit like coming home.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.088s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 14; qc: 48; dbt: 0.0455s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Kristi Moses
non-member comment
Wow!
This looks incredible, Melissa! Can't wait to see more, and I know you're going to make me drool with desire to go there myself. I'm definitely following.