8. 21/04/2014

Happy Easter!

Where we were staying in Bukoba seemed to be primarily Christian so I was pretty excited for my first Easter with actual celebrations beyond a chocolate egg (which by the way is an exceptionally novel concept for Rhoda to hear about.) We planned a party at Mageni/Clarissa/Liberata's house and had bought some treat chocolate and popcorn as well as wine as an attempt to tie our different ways of celebrating together. I had also been promised by Mama Ester that she was bringing home "natural tea" which Rhoda described as medicine, which sounded very exciting.

Easter morning saw Rhoda and I in the kitchen preparing food for lunchtime guests. Beer rather forcibly in hand, and Frank playing DJ on his rather grainy phone, it was actually really good fun. Despite my lack of skills in peeling vegetables with a blunt knife I tried my best to muck in and I think the effort was appreciated for entertainment value, if not entirely functional.

"Umm Rhoda, this avocado is actually bigger than my head."

See that chicken behind me? That was lunch.

SO MANY TINY GARLIC CLOVES

And here is that chicken...

The party itself was surprisingly fun, the afternoon quickly turned into evening, which quickly turned into night. Notable events include:

1. Johnson and Aidan having some sort of a dance off

2. Shots of Konyagi (no idea what this is still, but some sort of dirty gin? Wonderful stuff)

3. Seeing my first ever shooting star, this, of course is the absolute highlight.

Me and Adam inadvertently stayed up chatting into the wee hours (I'm talking past midnight!!) until we eventually just fell asleep on the sofas. To say we woke up covered in bites is such an understatement. What an amateur error.

7. 18/04/2014

At the beginning of our second week in schools it is safe to say the mood of the team was deflated. Our team meeting on Friday and shown everyone had been dealing with similar struggles at the schools, either due to lack of co-operation from previous volunteers (thus understandably leading to some apprehension with new ones) or a lack of understanding of what we were actually supposed to be doing there. Suddenly our list of teaching aids needed seemed like a significant achievement.

The weekend was quiet, consisting mainly of walking between mine and Clarissa's, doing some planning for work in schools and making plans for how to spend Easter. 

Very quickly the walk home in the evening became an almost therapeutic part of the day. Something about seeing people you had grown familiar with, saying good evening and witnessing the same scenes of everyday rural life had me completely captivated. One particular such memory is this one house which had a TV... Obviously not very common, and every evening they left their front door open, inviting a gaggle of children to gather and peek in. It really is one of those things that just reminded me how prominent humanity really still is in this world.

6. 16/04/2014

The working week ends on Wednesday. Well the last two days supposedly consist of planning and team meetings, but personally I see them as a chance to catch up with the others. In any other context this is a scenario of dreams, four days a week saved to immerse yourself in the culture and see some of Tanzania. HA.

Often we would bump into big groups of excitable children whilst in town for meetings, and most of the time we were more than happy to have a break from all the stress and have a play and photoshoot with them

Very quickly we are realizing just how restricted we are in terms of how we spend our free time. This is definitely the biggest negative which I think must come exclusively with volunteering with VSO-ICS. First they encourage socials to involve everyone, and I promise making decisions that sixteen people from two very different cultures is near on impossible. I mean, I get that we should be inclusive blah blah but obviously some things that us English tourists will find interesting is old news to the locals... Furthermore most of the things we have managed to agree on won't pass "risk assessment". We are in Africa and trying to risk assess to an English standard. Don't even get me started.

Aside from this our second day at Katoma B was significantly more successful. Rhoda and Frank turned the hours of sitting around into Swahili lessons for me, and by the time we left at 15:00 we had been given a list about three pages long of teaching aids the teachers had specifically requested.

We also made our first trip to our second school, Kemondo. This is the biggest school with over 1000 pupils, despite still only have 30 teachers. It's quite a trek to get there, but my goodness the views over Lake Victoria are amazing!

The kids at Kemondo are the most well behaved delightful people I have ever come across 

In other news today was Adam's birthday, so naturally I asked Rhoda, who in turn asked Mama Ester, who seemed to then recruit someone else to make a cake. Unfortunately this means I didn't really get to help with the process but I did get to watch and it was simply amazing! I'm still in shock about what can be done in a charcoal powered kitchen...

Charcoal oven... The pot is heated from both that top and bottom to create an oven inside where the cakes are

5. 14-04-14

The thing about rainy season in Africa is that it rains. A lot. Thanks to my tin roof I learnt the almost clockwork routine of the weather within the first week. Generally speaking the storms start at around 4am, the force of the rain on the roof forbidding any further chance of sleep, and continue to about midday. Then all of a sudden the equatorial sun dries out any evidence of the downpour within half an hour.

During training this didn't really affect us too much, most dallas still ran and if not you could usually find a taxi (I actually mean hitchhike, but this is basically the taxi system.) And actually the sound of the rain became somewhat relaxing whilst all cosy in bed, when you didn't need to be anywhere in the morning. So when our first day on placement in Katoma A Primary School came around I wasn't too worried about it. What naivety.

Clearly this photo was not taken in the rain. No chance was my camera coming out in the monsoon.

At 07:30 sharp I put on my waterproofs, grabbed my umbrella and was ready to brace the elements for our 45 minute walk to school. Wrong. Turns out English waterproof and Tanzanian waterproof are entirely different things. By the time we reached school I was absolutely soaking, like more wet than I probably ever got from an actual shower whilst there. It was actually quite an achievement to even get there as halfway we were all prepared to turn around and go home, only to be greeted with the path behind us being completely flooded.

I would really love to say the trek was worth it, but it really sort of wasn't. We met with the long-term Bukoba Bill Project volunteer, called Heather and the assistant headteacher, however most of the rest of the teachers (including the head) had decided not to come in due to the rain. The rain that happened everyday. After a quick tour of the school it was decided there was no more for us to do there so we decided to head back and draw up some baseline surveys. This was my first indication at just how frustrating development work can be.

Unrelated:

Turns out it was not quite this exciting. Mama Ester was perhaps a little intoxicated and had got a little upset about the fact we were apparently not eating enough, bless.

4. 12-04-14

"I've just woken up from what feels like the longest lie in ever and it has just turned 9am. How things change eh? We have been in host homes a week today and it is safe to say I'm starting to feel at home. Mama Ester knows more English than she lets on, Rhoda continues to be an absolute saint and Frank is one of the nicest people I have ever met. Grant is going home."

So then there were 3. Me, Rhoda and Frank.

12 days in and the inevitable happens, there is a whole diary entry about food. Reading this back I want to have a little giggle of my naivety, little did I know what would happen further down the line, but as it stands 2 weeks in...

"The overriding perk of living with Mama Ester is the food. If you had asked me what I was most worried about coming the Tanzania, mealtimes would have rated quite highly (on a ruddy long list by the way.) In reality dinner has become my favourite time of day. Breakfast consists of hot chocolate and peanut butter with bread, sometimes with cake and/or freshly squeezed passion fruit or pineapple juice.* Lunch is generally eaten in town, usually chips mayaii, which is basically a chip omelette (something I definitely think I will be taking home with me, throw in some bacon and cheese and it would be a hangover breakfast of the Gods!**) Dinner could be anything and so far hasn't been the same twice. There is pork, beef, chicken, the nicest fish I have ever eaten. Served with rice, pilau, matoke (mashed plantain with beans,) potatoes or pasta. We also always get fresh fruit or vegetables, usually avocado as there is a tree outside the front door and Mama Ester seems to have noticed my love for it. Apparently a local delicacy is fried grasshoppers, so I very much look forward to trying them***!"

Left: black beans doused in chilli sauce, boiled rice, spinach and avocado - this became my favourite food as nothing is fried and it is all edible. 

Right: dagaa (small fried sardines) with ugali (flour and water stirred into a doughlike consistency) - a local dish

* We never saw cake or fresh juice again after the second week.

** I never ever want to see chips mayaii again.

*** Fried grasshoppers are most certainly not a delicacy or a treat.

3. 10-04-2014

The first weekend in host home was undoubtedly slow. We had gone from the playground of Bukoba Town to the placidity of rural life. We quickly realised that, although Mama Ester had no children, the house would usually contain at least 5 of them, as well as a steady stream of locals popping by. Introductions in Swahili were very quickly learnt and very well rehearsed (however try as I might, my pronunciation of shikamo will bring be a continuous source of shame.) Time was filled either walking to Clarissa's house and sitting there, or them walking to ours. Days revolved around meal times and sunsets. The others were staying pretty far away and we had no idea how to get there so instead we used the time to fully explore what there was of Katoma.

Travel scrabble, an embarrassingly exciting pastime.

When Monday eventually came around we were due back in town each morning for our final week of training, which meant we also finally had some time to properly explore. Travel to town was done by dalla dalla, minibuses in which as many people as humanly possible, and then a couple more, are crammed in to. Hot, overcrowded and unsafe - and oh so much fun.

I found the biscuits fairly early on...

As well as settle into host homes and learn the routine for chores, meals and bedtime.

First time with the charcoal iron. First of many, many times.

Just short of the one week mark in host homes Grant decided to up and move back into the hotel whilst he figured out what he wanted to do. He was not happy in the host home and didn't feel comfortable with the lack of personal space. Despite the confidence and "scared of nothing" mentality he adopted in the first week of training, the reality of the situation seemed to become just a little too challenging.

Ironically I later found out we had actually been placed in the same house because he came across as a "rock" and myself as "vulnerable and needing extra support" (I brought this on myself by happily listing off a whole A4 sheet of fears and my, frankly, emotional instability throughout the first week.) And actually, rather selfishly, this brutal reliance for me to bring him Cola to his bed, so he was getting some calories, and do all communicating on his behalf was probably the best thing that could have happened, as having to just get on with  it meant I found the transition surprisingly easy. We all decided it's because I cried early on, all the people that cried at the beginning eventually coped the best.

Carrying his suitcase back to the main road. Taxis wouldn't come down to the house.

2. 08-04-2014

My first impressions of Bukoba were entirely unexpected. It is beautiful. The whole area is a vibrant green ocean of banana trees, leading to the gorgeous coastline (is it a coast?!) of Lake Victoria. Of course it isn't only bananas that are grown here, the actual list is endless, but it may as well be. 

After the 3 days training at the hotel we were told who we would be living with, and where we would be.

To say the first week was emotional is beyond an understatement. I don't think I have ever cried so much and so publicly in all my life ever. Perhaps tiredness? Perhaps hormones? Arguably even maybe culture shock? I honestly could not tell you. This all came to a head when we arrived at our host home. After being shown around Mama Ester's very basic house I had what can only be described as a mini-meltdown. Everything from the completely unguarded shower, the hole in the ground toilet and the lack of electricity got a little too much. The next morning however, I woke up ready and feeling better than ever.

Host Home - View from my bed, outside toilet and view from the "shower"

My bedroom, did my best to make it my own. The blue bucket is the shower.

I was placed in Katoma to work in Katoma B and Kemondo primary schools. I was living with Grant, another UK volunteer, his counterpart Frank, who spent the first week suffering with malaria (I can't even describe how matter-of-factly he told us this, little did we know how much malaria we would be yet to face) and Rhoda, my counterpart and room buddy. Even at this point I knew I was on to a winner with Rhoda, never have I appreciated another person so much. From escorting me to the toilet the first few times to teaching me to handwash clothes to just having a bloody good gossip and giggle she is one of the loveliest people I have ever met and probably ever will.

Katoma Local ;)

Frank, Grant and Rhoda

Katoma Girls

As for the house, yes it was basic but Mama Ester herself was everything I could have hoped for and so much more. She would do literally anything to make you feel more comfortable and don't even get me started on the magnificent spreads she put out for dinner over the first few weeks. Despite not speaking a word of English she 100% put me at ease and reassured me I was going to make it through the following 11 weeks.

Mama Ester's House. Home.

First of many lunches at Kailembos

So at the start of our last week of training everything was going great. Everyone got on and everyone was super enthusiastic to start the work.