That's Just Life Here

I'm not sure exactly where to start with day to day Tanzanian life and culture because it is SO different -- even more so than Alaska vs. the Lower 48, and that's saying a lot.

One thing we did the first day was play soccer with the kids.  You can read more about on this post, but here are some pictures:

It was interesting to see the age range on the field -- probably age 6-18.

Notice the flip flops lying on the ground.  Many played in flip-flops and others barefoot.  Even those who owned tennis shoes, I noticed, prefered to play barefoot.  Astounding!

Did I mention we played in a cow pasture?

The road from the field to the compound wasn't long.  It was interesting walking on a very uneven dirt road surrounded by green with the occasional house or abandoned building.  There were a few families nearby who often asked us mzungu (white person) for money, but we were told not give them any.  At first, this sounded odd.  Even $1 can go a long way in Africa.  But the truth is, when you hand out money to some one who knows where you live they'll keep coming back and it isn't always safe.  However, if we so desired to give money to some one, arrangements could be made.  Anyways, it wasn't uncommon to see children wandering around together by themselves.  Many children stick together and embrace community no matter how they live.

On the road.

Here are some of the neighborhood boys.  It's a common African game to keep a moving wheel upright with a stick as you run beside it.

I wrote about our game night here.

Carly with ? and Moses playing Memory.  The game began with two people and ended up with six!

Rachel and I doing a puzzle together.

Tutoring with a language barrier is, well, interesting!  (One of the best investments I had was a Swahili phrasebook.)  When I was tutoring some older boys in Kiingereza (English) I was shocked to learn the verb worksheet they had to do was full of errors -- misspellings, duplicate correct answers, all wrong answers…  How do you learn a language when the teachers aren't fluent?   It was obvious how eager they were to learn and (try) to speak with us.  In high school only English is spoken.  For the most part, these kids, particularly the older ones, are eager to learn what they can.

Another tutoring experience that stands out to me is when Rachel and I worked on counting and writing numbers.  She couldn't quite understand addition and often had trouble with double digit numbers. She also kept writing her sixes backwards.  But she was improving!  I think this made me think about other African children who do not have access to tutors or homework help or any education at all really.  Free tutoring programs barely exist except through volunteers.  In a country where the infrastructure is poor and the opportunity of higher learning is out of reach for numerous children, why do we sit back and do nothing?  Why do we assume everything will be okay?

Rachel trying to write her numbers.  She was dropped off one day in front of the compound and left abandoned.  She now lives with the woman who helps run one of the boys' houses.

Eula and Juma work on math.

Dorcas learning how to type.  I guess the keyboard confused a lot of kids at first because it is all in uppercase and, of course, most of the words they were looking at were in lowercase.

The guitar was quite a popular attraction; it is one foreign to African culture.  Moses -- pictured with John here --was one of the boys who loved to come over to the compound and eagerly help out.  His English skills were phenomenal.  It's hard to believe someone dropped him at the front door and left him just a few months ago.  He is so joyful here!

 

 

This is a dala dala.  It runs basically like a bus, except that you can get dropped off at the front door where you need to go.  There are several of these cars, all visually designed differently with different names -- the most common one was Jay-Z -- and varying areas of service.  They are often overcrowded with people -- maybe 20 people in a dala dala that seats around 9.  I guess to many, they are considered unsafe.

Quite the interesting decor inside, aye?

Next up: CarePoints!