Written December 2011
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I was so excited to have been selected to be a Peace Corps Facilitator during the training of new environment and health volunteers last fall. The PCFs were a huge source of support during my training. So I was pumped to help show there is a happy life after training!
Training can be intense and overwhelming from the upheaval of everything we know in America to life in a TZ village. So many things- like cooking and bathing- we have to learn how to do as done here. There’s a lot to be said for learning how to poop into a hole in ground…
Training of Trainers
Before we could be let loose on the group of impressionable new Peace Corps Trainees we needed to be trained to be a trainer. About 12 from my class (6 health, 6 env) came to together to plan our lessons and review the politically correct ways to answer questions and be supportive. It’d kinda be against the point of being a PCF if you told a struggling trainee about all the rat issues at your house or how a project fell apart after months of work.
We were partnered in twos (1 health, 1 env) and spread over the last 6 of 9 weeks of training. Every week of training has a theme of what’s taught. I was placed in week 5 with a good friend and health volunteer in Mbeya. We would be teaching about working with community groups and dealing with gender in development. Great combo!
TOT was a blast for many reasons. Our group was a good mix that allowed me to get to know some I didn’t know as well. Plus, TOT is at the agriculture school where training is held. It was my first chance to return to the area- so many memories came back to me!! I had a strange surreal feeling at first. My time there seemed so long ago. We all got a good reminder of how far we’ve come since we were the impressionable, overwhelmed trainees.
I also got to visit the family I stayed with during training. To be honest I was not sure I really wanted to see them. They were super nice but not the type to have created the bond other PCVs had with their host families. I went a little more out of a sense of responsibility. But then I got to the village and as I walked to their house, almost every house I passed greeted me by name! And it was not the usual everyday-passing-by-greeting. These folks were excited to see me! I was shocked they remembered me much less my name and background. I loved getting to talk to them now knowing more Swahili than I had in training.
So by the time I reached my family’s home, I was pumped to see them! It was a great reunion. They appreciated my gifts of sugar, soap and candy. I may have even got a little choked up…if I got this way over seeing them, I have no idea what it will be like returning to friends and family in America!!
The In-Between
After the week-long TOT, we all returned to our sites due to the first few weeks of training being primarily language and PCFs are not needed. For me and couple others coming from Mbeya, the trip for TOT was a long 18hr bus ride. Going there I divided it over two days…but that’s two days of hard bus rides. So on the return trip we decided to try it all in one day…by the end of which I thought it was one of the most miserable days of my WHOLE life. But it was good to get it over with and have a day to relax in town before returning to my vill.
I had about a month in-between TOT and my PCF week. Several of my friends who were education volunteers were leaving during this time so many sad goodbyes and parties. There was also my birthday!
I was also busy in the village teaching and working with my women’s group. The weather was hot and dry as it was the end of the dry season. The combination of all this was not good. A few days before I was to head to training for my PCF week, I started feeling bad- exhaustion, fever, etc. I thought it was dehydration at first as I probably hadn’t increased my water intake enough to cover how hot it’d become.
So the day came for me to head to Mbeya town to meet my friend I’d be traveling and teaching with. I was chugging water with dehydration salts and ibuprofen. We stayed with another PCV in town who is a nurse in America…thank goodness. Cause I was standing and talking to them one minute and on the ground the next! I’d literally passed out. Not a great feeling to realize you’d passed out and can’t really converse more than answering simple questions.
But my friends were awesome. The nurse one jumped into medical mode and pulled a stethoscope and ear thermometer out of no where. She realized my symptoms could be flu or malaria….almost scary how the symptoms are so similar. The PC med kits include a malaria test so they were able to prick my finger for blood and test it. Not going to lie…I was scared. The malaria prevention meds can mess with your head and emotions. So when you live in the cold areas like Mbeya it’s easy to fall off the meds. Something I was really regretting. Luckily it was negative and after sleeping most of that day I was better enough to just sit on a bus all the next day. I was not going to miss my PCF week! Plus the PC doctor would be at training that week in case I needed him.
PCF Week
We were totally excited to be going back for our week. There’s usually more than 100 PCVs in TZ. One group each of first-year health/environment and education. Then also one group each of second-year. To have so many spread across the country, we are a fairly tight knit group. When a new group of volunteers comes, it’s like Christmas. Mainly cause it means we’re getting new American neighbors in our regions…aka: new friends, new ‘family’ members.
We could not wait to meet the new trainees.
The first day back in Tanga, they were all in their training groups in their villages. I was looking forward to having lunch with the group staying where I had lived and even meet the girl who is now staying with my family. It was funny cause I got really nervous that morning. I had looked at the PCFs last year as these people who have it all together, know all the answers and have had so much success. Not at all how I feel. I was worried I would end up saying something completely wrong and discouraging.
But it was all great! They were awesome and had great questions that I could answer. I was really excited to meet a guy from Kentucky and talk bluegrass for a bit. I really enjoyed them and getting to hear how their experiences related to those of my group.
In fact that was how the whole week went. We had so much fun getting to know everyone. By the end of the week we wanted them all to be placed in Mbeya with us! Our sessions went well. We also assisted staff sessions on malaria and HIV/AIDS. Mainly we tried to be the energizers of the week and help keep the morale high. This ended up being one the best weeks ever, leaving me energized to return to the vill!
As an environment volunteer, I have heard many times that the second year is the best. Projects within your village begin to develop; there are opportunities for travel; and basically, an overall better feeling of knowing what you are doing. So far this has held true for me.
When I first decided to do Peace Corps, I thought ‘what’s two years in the whole scheme of life?’ Then I got here and thought ‘oh no, that’s 24 months…
26 including training…what was I thinking?!’ In my American-constant-fast-forward-mode, I could not understand why we do not just move-in, bang out a few improvements and then return to the wonderful land of hot showers and 44 choices of peanut butter at the grocery. Now I cannot believe I have only one more year to get things done. With the cultural and language barriers, the first year really does help to develop the relationships and trust required if you want any hope of making a sustainable difference.
So that’s where I am mentally. It’s been too long since my last post because physically I have been much more ‘shagalabagala’ or crazy and messy! There has been lots of travel, lots of fun and lots of really bad internet connections. When I have been in my village, I have been trying to focus more on interacting with my villagers and getting away from the mind frame of wondering what’s going on in America. Here is a few brief updates on the past couple months…
SOFT-SERVE ICE CREAM!
In July I traveled with other PCVs in the Mbeya region to the neighboring Iringa region for a new type of meeting the PC staff have added this year. Tanzania may be a fraction of the size of the US but the environment and land is just as varied. Regional meetings have been set-up to help those of us facing the same issues come together to discuss what we are doing and how it’s working. I really enjoyed this set-up and got a lot out of it. PLUS, Iringa has an Italian man who has opened a soft-serve ice cream shop!
NEW CLASS
July also started the new school term. My standard 6 students had been studying environment since I started teaching last September, so I decided this was a good time to switch them over to Life Skills. PC has a great manual for teaching Life Skills which includes lessons on HIV/AIDS, decision making and communications. The head teacher liked it so much I was able to add on a Life Skills class for the standard 7 class in addition to keeping my environment class for standard 5.
I have been so proud of the 5 girls I took to our Girls Empowerment Conference! They have really stepped up and helped teach without much embarrassment or nervousness about touchy issues like HIV/AIDS and condoms.
DON’T YOU WANT TO CHECK MY POOP?
August was my one year mark for living in the vill! My training class gathered in Dar es Salaam for our Mid-Service Conference. Making it to MSC felt like such a huge accomplishment and none of us could believe it was already time for it. Sessions were held to update us on policies and procedures. We also had physicals and dental exams. I was relieved to be get the check up but strangely disappointed they did not test my poop…found out later I had to ask for that. Noted for my Close of Service med exam.
Besides all the good food and good visits with friends I had not seen in months, a big highlight was traveling back by train! Every time I go to Mbeya town from my vill I pass by the train station and had really wanted to take the train somewhere. A class of education PCVs were having their COS conference in Dar as well so I got to travel with a few friends from that group.
The train is really inconsistent on times so we decided it best to take it back from Dar when we would not have to be somewhere by certain time. This was really smart as we ended up with engine problems and sat for over 5 hours waiting on a new one! But the great thing about the train is having to sit is not so bad. We had our cabin to hang out in, watch movies off our computers, food from the restaurant car and -my favorite- a BATHROOM! So it didn’t matter how much water I drank. Whereas on a bus, you are at the mercy of when the driver wants to pull off the side of the road so you can use a bush.
I could write tons more on this trip but, alas, time and space are limited so you’ll have to wait for the book on this one.
MUSHROOMS…No NOT Those Kind
You may have read a past post about the mama group I was working to start. That group has…well, been a frustration to say the least. Women in the village are so busy it can be hard to convince them the benefits of joining a group. At times it feels like the ones who do attend are just there to see what and how much free stuff they can get out of me.
Luckily, I have found there is already a group of women meeting in my village. Don’t ask how I did not know there was already a group…still a bit embarrassed on that. But it’s common for PCVs to learn these type things later than expected. Again, that first year of learning culture and language really does come in handy!
This group is exactly what I was hoping to create. They meet weekly about agriculture issues and already have the officer structure and leadership established. They are also really interested in having me TEACH them not just hand out money. So I am quite excited.
They have started a small edible mushroom crop and want help to enlarge it. Just by going through the mushroom info I received from PC I was able to show them a couple improvements to how they are growing them from bags. They really need a small house built of straw and bamboo to be able to add water to the air. So I am looking into writing a grant application through PC to help fund the project. I’d been a bit if-y about grants because I’m the first in my area and they are still learning PC comes in to teach not provide money. But I feel this is different since it’s a project they have already started and put their own money into as well. More on that to come!
GETTING INVOLVED
In America I loved being involved in organizations and having lots of things going. So to help fill that need of my personality, I have been really trying to get more involved within PC. I am really excited to have been elected as the Mbeya region representative on the Volunteer Advisory Council. VAC is basically like student government. It meets three times a year in Dar, and reps bring up issues from their region.
I am also really excited to have been selected as a PCV Facilitator for the next training of environment volunteers! During 5-6 wks of the 9 wks of training before being placed in a village, current PCVs are chosen to spend a week helping with training and facilitating sessions on subjects they are particularly involved. I really relied a lot on starting my Environment Education in my primary school to help integration into my village, even though we did not receive training on EE until a later training. So I am going to help lead sessions on EE so those like me who want to get more involved earlier have more info on how to go about it.
That’s it for now! I promise to get another post up soon...well, I promise to try anyway :)
