June 26: The Piano

I had wondered why the Pallangyo's had been smiling all afternoon.
While they were drinking their chai, cooking dinner, visiting with me, they all seemed to be smothering an ear to ear grin.
I discovered why after dinner that evening...

The Pallangyo's have always been very welcoming and inquisitive about my life back in America. I've told them all about my family, my friends, my rafiki wakike (girlfriend), along with some of my hobbies and interests back in the States. They took a special interest in my passion for music, especially the piano.

After dinner on the 24th, instead of bringing out chai like they always do...they brought out something from the back bedroom that was slightly more cumbersome than a Thermos.

It was a battery powered keyboard.

I was floored. I hadn't played a piano in months and was really missing it. I couldn't have been more excited or surprised. Immediately, I understood what they had been beaming about all day. They had borrowed the keyboard from their church and lugged it all the way to their house (about an hour's walk away). I joined them in grinning, as I accompanied them in their evening prayers.
The song was "Bwana Yesu" ("How Great Thou Art"), and how great it was!

June 24: Church with the Pallangyo's

&My weekend in ;span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Shishitoni wouldn't have been complete without a visit to the village's weekend hot spot...the local church. Within the four cinder block walls of this little church, they managed to cram what seemed like the entirety of the village population. A line of plain wooden benches, no longer than ten feet by two feet served as pews, yet they were able to squeeze 8 grown men on to one.
Men were on the right side of the church, women on the left.(with the exception of the SATB choir on the right). As we all stood to sing the opening song, I was surprised to find myself singing along. It was "Kwake Yesu Nasimama," one of the songs the Pallangyo's sing every night after dinner. All of a sudden, during one of the choruses, I began to think of that scene from Forrest Gump. You know, the one where Forrest joins the Southern Baptist choir and the camera pans across the church, revealing one very white man , humbly singing amidst a church-full of African soul-singers.

It was kinda like that.

Which brings me to music: Despite being celebrated in a mixture of Swahili and Kimeru languages, the service's beautiful music really helped to transcend the language barrier and kept me attentive and intrigued for the duration of the 2.5 hours I was there.
Well, I shouldn't say I was attentive for the entire service, but between appreciating the incredible music, following along in my English bible (which I was thankfully advised to bring along), watching an entire row of women nurse their babies at the same time, and perking my ears up when the preacher would say a familiar Swahili word, the 2+ hours flew by.

One of the reasons the service ran so long was not because of the communion line (one of my friends had told me that the Lutheran religion was nick-named Catholic-Lite, so I was actually surprised to find the complete absence of the liturgy of the Eucharist, be it symbolic or otherwise). The service was a pleasant bible study of sorts for the first hour and a half...

then they began the offertory collection.

There were two rounds of formal alms giving. Men and women stood and walked to the baskets placed in the front of the church to offer their first fruits to the Lord (some of the tithes literally were fruits and vegetables from the family farm, in lieu of money). 3 songs and twenty minutes later, the reverend smiled in approval of the village's generosity...that's when he called for a third collection.

I've been reading To Kill a Mockingbird the past few weeks and coincidentally, I just passed the part where Scout and Jem go to church with their black maid, Calpurnia. During the offertory at Calpurnia's church, the Reverend, unsatisfied with the first round of tithes,

"says to someone in the back of the church, 'Alec, shut the doors. Nobody leaves here till we have 10 dollars'...the Church was becoming stuffy and it occurred to me the Reverend intended to sweat the amount due out of his flock." *(pg 125)

Back in Shishitoni, the pastor told us that the third collection was to help fund the parish youth program. He said they need 80,000 Shillings (approx $80), only instead of sweating it out of us, he simply intended to bore us out of it.

45 minutes later, he had painstakingly accomplished his goal.
Joyously, we stood to sing the closing hymn to conclude the service and I walked home refreshed for another week of teaching in the village.

June 17: 10 Second Recap

Rough week in Tanzania. New drama everyday.
-One of our group members is no longer with us. Had to fly back to America for personal reasons.
-Two other groupmates got sick this week, and another had a bit of a breakdown.
-We held a community teaching day on Monday, however, and it went so well. The villagers asked so many really great questions about HIV and I was able to go home feeling like we were able to get through to them.
-Got bit by a fire ant on Wednesday morning on the way to school. It hurt a lot.
-My iPod battery ran out on Wednesday, and I finished my very last book on Thursday. So I've had to be creative when it comes to boredom issues.

This weekend (June 23-24) I'll be staying in Shishitoni, so no updates for two weeks! Talk to you soon.

June 15: Safari

I tried not to. I really tried.

But I failed.

This past weekend, while I was on my African Safari (that's fun to say), I simply could not resist the temptation to play "The Circle of Life" from the Lion King on my iPod. It just felt so appropriate.

Cliche, I know.

Our Safari Weekend was like a trip to an unending zoo. Imagine the most beautiful rainforrests, cloud capped hills and mountains, moss and green foliage EVERYWHERE, all beside an enormous lake that attracts almost every species of wildlife out of hiding. We spent our day at Ngorongoro Crater standing out the roof of our Land Cruiser, driving from one set of foot prints to the next. We managed to track down individual animals like elephants, giraffes and African buffalo, as well as herds of zebras, wildebeests and impalas. We even saw a pride of lions resting beneath the mid-day sun. They had just finished eating one of the aforementioned buffalos, whose carcass one lion was finishing off some 50 yards away.

As the sunset, a brilliant pink and orange glow illuminated the animals grazing below, and I looked out and thought,

"Wow. I am IN Africa."

My prior worries of immunizations, plane tickets and malaria medication were long gone. At that moment I wasn't thinking about taking any more pictures of the animals, nor about my lesson plans for Monday, nor my LIFE plans when I return to America.

For second, I was simply present.
Not to mention mesmerized.

It was so refreshing to breath in the freedom of the plain at sunset and to simply bask in the beauty of God's creation. It reminded me of something I had just read in Isaiah:

"You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace;

the mountains and hills will burst into song before you,

and all the trees of the field will clap their hands."

Isaiah 55:12

Needless to say, I slept pretty peacefully that night.

June 7: The Homefront

If you were to stand outside my homestay as we were eating dinner, and listen for a while, you would most certainly hear a lot of one thing...

LAUGHTER.

And most of it would be directed at me and my attempts to speak Swahili.
I have a few sentences down cold; like "Ndizi ni tam" ("The bananas are delicious"), and "Nime shiba" ("I am full:" a phrase I've found particularly useful as Mama is trying to guilt me into a third helping of Rice and Beans).

I'm pretty sure its my American accent and slow pacing that causes them to laugh so much. However, the other night during nighttime prayer, as we were singing a traditional African hymn, I had no idea why the entire family was laughing at me.

I was reading from the songbook and attempting to sing in Swahili with the family, when verse 2 began. Translated it went something like:

"My shelter is the Lord,

without my Lord I have no shelter"

Apparently, I misread the word for shelter (nombe), confusing it with another word I was familiar with...cow (ngombe). So the family heard me sing,

"My cow is the Lord,

without my Lord I have no cow"

Oops...

They laughed for 5 minutes straight, then said "Amen."

June 8: This and That

OH MY GOSH
-As of June 6, 2007 at 4:37 pm, I officially felt like I was in Africa. That afternoon for the first time in since I've been here, the clouds cleared the sky and revealed one of Africa's most famous landmarks: Mount Kilimanjaro.
It was absolutely unbelievable. The moment I saw it, I literally gasped. It was a surreal, spiritual, awe-inspiring few seconds. I've never seen anything so high in the sky and been aware that it was still a part of the earth somehow. Despite being hundreds of miles away, it looked remarkably close and pristine. I probably took around 30 pictures...
Wow, I'm officially here!

DISNEY
-Speaking of natural beauty, the other night as I was brushing my teeth outside my homestay, I looked up at the sky. I saw a view that I never knew existed outside of Disney movies. You know, when the main character looks up at the sky, then it cuts to beautiful navy blue star-drenched shot, outlined with the black silhouettes of the trees. That was me on Thursday night. The sky seemed to go on forever.

HELP AROUND THE HOUSE
-I attempted to help my homestay family out with some chores on Wednesday afternoon. They were grinding a plant called "Soghum" up into flour and I helped do the grinding and sorting. Afterwards, we walked our flour to the village mill, so a machine could finish the job.
I tasted the fruit of our labor the next day when Mama made us all Soghum porridge.

ORPHANAGE VISIT
-Today, I visited a local orphanage around Arusha. We played with the 20+kids living there, some of whom were orphaned by parents with AIDS. They appreciated our visit, but I think they appreciated the toys we brought even more.
After about two or three hours, we were pooped and headed back to town. That was the toughest part though...knowing that we have the freedom to decide to leave when we're finished, but that those kids are sitting there even now, as I'm typing on this computer.

MALARIA
-I've been diligent about taking my malaria prescription everyday. So far its been fine. But this one girl in our program found out she had malaria on Wednesday. She's alright now, and she is going to have an awesome story when she comes home about how she survived getting Malaria in Africa.
Its pretty scary for the citizens of Tanzania though. On Tuesday of this week, I visited my homestay family's grandparents house. They were holding a prayer vigil for the soul of their five-month-old baby cousin, who died two weeks ago from malaria.

SAFARI
-Next week, I'm going to be on Safari in Nothern Tanzania. Its a two day trip, with one full day of wild animal tracking and another full day at Ngorongoro Crater. Can't Wait!

June 4: My First Day of School

After morning chai, my homestay brother Elidaima walked Shujaa and I to Shishitoni Primary School, a 30 minute walk from where we live. I knew we were getting close when little kids in school uniforms dropped what they were doing to simply stare at me. Its a pleasant and inquisitive kind of stare; a reaction I've become used to in Shishitoni. .. (not many "whites" stop in on Shishitoni when visiting Tanzania).

A few paces later, we had arrived. Shishitoni Primary School is comprised of 7 medium-sized, open air classrooms, made of concrete and cinderblock, where anywhere between 50-100 students squeeze into several wooden desk/benches. Before we entered the classroom, however, the headmaster approached and welcomed us into the school's center courtyard. When we had reached the middle, he made a motion with his finger, and the school bell began to toll. Instantly, 300 students sprinted to the edges of the courtyard, encircling our teaching group with a line of wide eyes and big smiles, all in ascending height.

After the headmaster had formally introduced us to the students, they sang us a song of welcome and were released to their respective classes. The school day had begun...

Our first class was Standard 6 (about 5th or 6th grade), and we walked into a classroom of 70+ students. It was at that moment that it hit me... this is the reason I am here. Finally, after two long weeks of orientation and over a semester of planning, preparation and study, it was time to begin teaching about HIV & AIDS to the people who need the information the most. Sitting in front of me was the future of Tanzania, and I found it so difficult to tell them that over 25 million of their fellow Africans were living with a virus which would one day kill them.

But despite the harsh implications of the facts and figures of the first day of teaching, I felt strangely encouraged. Knowing that every class period from here on out would be dedicated to educating the kids about what the virus really is (and isn't), and the ways in which one can prevent ever contracting HIV, really excites me. I can't wait for week #2!

Week 2: A Few Notes

Almost everyone I've met here has Judeo-Christian names. Moses, Christian, Jonas, Mary, Stephen, and Gloria to name a few. My roommate Shujaa's name is short for Elleshujaa which literally means "God-Hero."
I guess that all makes sense because the village of Shishitoni is a primarily Lutheran/Catholic town. I'm really looking forward to attending mass here on Sunday in one of their churches (many of which are simple brick walls with large windows and no ceiling).
Speaking of church, last Sunday at the mass for the feast of Pentecost, the readings and the homily felt extraordinarily pertinent to my work here in Tanzania. Despite the language barriers and the cultural differences of those gathered with the apostles, on the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit came to the group and blessed them with an understanding and appreciation of the message of Christ.
What an inspiration for us and our work in the place where English is rarely spoken and I am one of five foreigners assigned to the Shishitoni Village. Our message is one of utmost importance for this community, where is supposed that 1 in 15 people have HIV, yet most of them have had little to no education about the virus.
I pray that the Holy Spirit will bless and aid our mission to provide AIDS awareness and education to the amazing people of the village of Shishitoni, despite our different tongues.

Week 2: My Homestay Family

Week Number 2 of Orientation began on Sunday, May 27 with a surge of excitement and anxiety. We were about to meet our homestay families for the first time.

As I rode the bus destined for my new "home-away-from-home," I braced myself for the worst case scenario...a household of strict vegetarian "swahili-only" speakers, who decided to host the homestay only because the village leader had forced them to.
Thankfully, that scenario could not be further from reality.

That afternoon, I pulled up to a quaint little cottage surrounded by green grass, and hills reminiscent of the 8th hole on a golf course. I was first greeted by a brand-new baby goat (nbuzi) and her attentive mother. Moments later, out from the cottage come the mama and the baba of the household to welcome my roommate, Shujaa and I into their home. No sooner had we put our bags in our room, were we invited to sit down and partake in one of the families favorite activities...EATING. Over dinner, I was introduced to the rest of the family; their oldest son Elle (22), their daughters Mary (19), Lily (18), Ellenuru (16), and their youngest son Godfrey (10).
One of the first things I noticed during my initial meal with the family was the servient role of the daughters. When I first sat down, Mary approached me to pour water over my hands in order to wash them. Then Lili brought out our plates and silverware (only spoons in Tanzania!), and then poured us all some chai tea (a Tanzanian staple). It wasn't until all the males had been served that Lili and Mary actually sat down at a seperate table to eat.
Because the family's first language is Swahili, there is a pretty big language barrier between us. I've been taking Swahili classes everyday in Orientation, and between that knowledge and my ability to act out certain verbs (the best one to act out is "to shower"), I'm more-or-less able to get the most basic sentences across to the family.
Luckily, my teaching partner and roommate, Shujaa speaks both English and Swahili, and is an excellent translator. Thanks to him, I've been able to tell the the family about life in America, my family and friends back in Arizona and in the Midwest, and also exchange little bits of English with their Swahili.

On Wednesday morning, we woke up early, had our traditional breakfast of chai tea with bread and butter, and set out for the Village Office of Shishitoni for a preliminary meeting with the Village Leader about SIC's mission in the village for the next six weeks. The family's eldest son Elle was our guide on the 4 Kilometer trek, and insisted on carrying my bag for the entire time. Tanzanian hospitality is something else.
Again, I can't wait to show you some of the pictures from the walk.
Shishitoni is stunning.