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.