4/28/18 Hello again from Tanzania.  I have been at my site for about a week now. Getting settled and continuing to try to learn Swahili.  We had our graduation ceremony on the 19th, and left for the closest city to our site the next day.  We spent a few days in the city buying the big essentials: bed, bicycle, stove etc.. and came to our site on Monday.  Now I am trying to get adjusted and meet the local village people.  I start at the dispensary next Monday, start with a swahili tutor next Tuesday (a retired teacher), and will visit a women's empowerment group meeting that same night. Things are busy, especially trying to figure out how to live - the power has been out in the village for a couple of days, no phone, no electricity (I don't have electricity at my house anyway).  The nights are long and dark here, but I don't mind.  It's a lot like backpacking.  I'm going to have to really change my cooking and eating habits though.  Still trying to work through that.  Thank god for Ramen and peanut butter and jelly.
A titantic battle occurred in my house yesterday - I kept hearing a box move, so I looked and found a gecko battling a scorpion. I waited until it was quiet then moved the box and the gecko came running out - my new best friend! Photos: my host family at the graduation ceremony with our matching clothes, my kitchen (I have a table coming today), my new wheels. I have lost a lot of weight, but that doesn't mean I'm in good shape.  Those hills are a challenge.

4/9/18 Hello again from Tanzania.
Been a real busy week.  The end of training is approaching so we have many projects and assignments due.  Today we took our second Kiswahili exam.  It was tough, but I think I did ok.  I hope so anyway.  We move out of our host homes in less than a week and back onto the training post for a week until graduation, then its back to our site for the next two years.  I figured I'd give a little more details of my house for any of you thinking about visiting me.   

It's a a two room little house with an attached storage room, toilet, and room for bucket bathing.  The inside needs some painting and mosquito screens on the windows.  The little courtyard is good for privacy but not much else.  I hope to start a little garden, and my neighbor has offered me a chicken.  Not sure if I'm ready for that yet.  I will be purchasing furniture and solar power when I get there, and a bike is absolutely essential.  Everything is about 2 kilometers away, not a bad walk, but boy does that sun get hot.  Well, I'll let you know how I did on my test, and my next post will hopefully have graduation ceremony photos.  Talk to you soon!

P.S. I came out to use the toilet at night and I saw something move down there.  Oh well, it seemed to move slowly so we can probably outrun it!

Well, I made it back from my site visit. It has been a long week and it's good to be back. Let me tell you a little about my site - it's close to Shinyanga which is a pretty but town. It takes 12 hours by bus to get to Shinyanga, then another 45 minutes by smaller transport to my village. this is a semi arid region that gets very little rainfall, but we are currently in the rainy season. My little house is on a government agricultural site where they run a thresher almost constantly for sorghum, which along with sunflowers and a few other drought resistant crops are the main crops up here. The land is very flat and dry, but there is a river close by where they get their water during the dry season. I got a look at the river and it is more like a small creek, and remember this is the rainy season.
My house has two rooms, no running water or electricity. The nights I spent in the house were just fine, it doesn't get very cool here (although it is 5-10 degrees cooler than here in Morogoro), and it is about 50 feet from the closest (and only close) neighbor who is actually my host. This experience was very much like backpacking for those who have done it, living out of my backpack while moving between the site and various guest houses. One thing they have plenty of here is sun, so I will be purchasing my solar panel as well as all my furniture and a bicycle as soon as I come to stay in a few weeks. I forgot to mention, I actually have a little walled in compound with an attached storage room and chop (toilet hole/shower). It is a decent enough set up, and it definitely has potential.
My host Mshamu introduced me to the various dignitaries in both villages. This included the police, the magistrate, the doctor at the zahanati, the principal at both the secondary and primary school, the village leaders from both villages, and the Economic Development Council from my village. Everyone was very welcoming and I got to practice my Swahili greeting over and over again (I need a lot of work).
My photos: my home, the Economic Development Council, the zahanati, the secondary school.
Well that's it for the edition. I'll write more as time allows.
Until next time!

3/18/18 This is a pretty important week for the volunteers here in Tanzania. It is the week where we get to learn where our  assigned site is located. We will be a this site for the next two years, so it is important to get something close to what you are looking for.  The Peace Corps has tried very hard to assign us to a place we want through numerous interviews and observations of our classroom performance.  Many volunteers have very important criteria such as climate and geography, I personally have requested a location with an active zahanati (dispensary), and a secondary school. It is important to me to go to a place where I can have the most impact.  So we will learn where it is on Thursday and leave for a week long visit on Saturday so I am not sure when I will be able to make my next post, but hopefully I will bring back plenty of pictures.

My post today is about my trip to the butcher shop. I promised Rehema that I would buy some pork (nguruwe) to celebrate the visit of Pascal's brother.  He is on a break from university where he is studying electrical engineering.  We have had some interesting conversations on a wide variety of topics, and he shared with me some local music that is called Bongo Flava.  Many young people are listening to it now.  I will try to upload the little video that shows the inside of our house, at the very end there are two five gallon jugs that are the filtering system that the Peace Corps gives every volunteer.

What can I say about the butcher shop, a very different experience here in Tanzania.  The first place is beef, the second is the pork.  The meat is out in the open air for an unknown amount of time, but the locals (and visitors) eat it without too much of a problem.  The meat is cut with an axe or a machete.  Pascal says that the meat is refrigerated each night, so with that promise, I'll let you know how the pork is.

The last photo is of a little guy who joined me in my bedroom.  I know they are friendly, but I didnt like how he was looking at me.

Sorry, not sure if the video made it or not.  Between this site being not too user friendly and the poor internet connection, this is pretty frustrating.  I don't think it will be getting better at the new site either.  I am learning though.

Talk to you in a while.
Brian

3/11/18 Going to the city this week. My host family finally decided to shut down their little shop (duka) today so we could go to the city of Morogoro for a little shopping.  There is only a few ways to get around in Tanzania.  The first picture is a Bidaji, it is a three wheeled little motorcar that is very similar to riding the bumper cars at the fair, although with a few less bumps. The Bidaji is a little more expensive then the Dalada in the second picture.  This is a van that can fit quite a remarkable number of passengers.  It is not uncommon for people and children to actually be squashed in front and all around you (next picture).  All of that for the price of 400TSH which might sound like a lot but is actually abour 25 cents.

So Morogoro is a busy city with people walking, buying, and vehicles whooshing bye.  You really have to keep your eyes open at all times. We went to the supermarket for a few items (I'm cooking spaghetti tonight).  In the supermarkets there is no bartering, but with all of the venders on the sidewalks it is open season.  I noticed that the prices that were given to Rehema for food were good prices so I dont think that applies to the fresh veggies, but it certainly applies to the shirt I bought for 10,000TSH (about $4 or $5).  I also bought a nice pineapple(nanasi) that we will be eating later.

Well, it's time to go whip up some good old spaghetti.  I think they are really looking forward to it.  I hope the sauce I bought is good because it almost cost as much as the shirt.

Kwa heri.
Brian

3/4/18 This weeks post is going to be about a trip we made to a zahanati (medical dispensary) similar to the ones we will be assigned to in about two months.  In Tanzania the rural population is served with these small dispensaries that might or might not have a doctor, some nurses and community health volunteers.  This one was reached after a pretty tenuous drive up the side of a mountain.  It is in a beautiful valley and has both a nurse and a doctor.  The first photo is of the building itself, the second is the maternity ward (with one bed) and then third is the emergency room with two beds. I also put a photo of the stock room which is well furnished with malaria and HIV medicine, as well as other essential supplies.The doctor gave us a tour and was quite proud of her little facility, and both her and the nurse were happy with their work.

The rainy season has started here.  I'd like to say that it has brought the temperature down, but that wouldn't be accurate.  It has gotten a little more humid though.  I see in the news that the northeast has gotten another big snowstorm, I wish I could get just a little piece of it.  The daily classroom instruction on swahili, local customs, and health continue, and we have our first recorded exam tomorrow. We will see how it goes.  My host family continues to be very helpful and friendly and I will miss them when I move on to my assigned site in mid April.

Kwa Heri, Brian

2/25/18 One week down, and what a week.  We have had some pretty intense daily Swahili instruction with our small group, and we travelled to our central training facility for more collective cultural instruction, and to start training in our respective job fields (mine is Health).  Things will continue on in this fashion for a few weeks, and then we will depart for a week at our site.  This is a pretty important week because everyone is wondering where we will get assigned for the next two years.  I was surprised to learn the size of Tanzania, twice the size of California.  Within its boundaries are many different climates.  Hot and humid along the coast by Zanzibar, cool in the mountains, and hot and dry in the savannahs.  People are wishing to get a variety of climates, I personally wouldn’t mind the cool, but we will see what happens.

Daily life is a grind here.  I’ll just use the cooking(kupika) and water(maji) as an example.  Our mama cooks three meals a day on a charcoal stove.  She has to buy the charcoal daily, light the little charcoal stove, and keep it going through the cooking process, and to boil water.  It usually takes some time to get the coals ready, and things can only be cooked one item at a time.  The water needs to be transported from somewhere (not quite sure where the spigot is yet) since the well just outside of our door ran dry some time ago.  This water is used from everything from bucket bathing and laundry to cooking, and has to be thoroughly boiled before I can drink it or even run it through my filter.  A long process on a little charcoal stove.

The photos I have provided are of my room, my bathroom(choo), and my little brother (kaka) Ivan and his friend.  You can see the little charcoal stove that is so important to our life here in that picture.  I am one of the lucky ones to have an attached choo to myself, as many people use a common one that you have to go outside and use.  Not much fun in the middle of the night.

Well, that’s this weeks post.  Time to go wash that laundry again.  The red dirt gets into everything here.

Kwa heri, Brian