The Adventures of Mr. D

I have just reached past the ten month mark here in Tanzania. I have been slacking on my blogging, so here is a little of what I have been up to for the past couple months.

Birthday cakes! In Tanzania, it is traditional to feed
those who are celebrating their birthday a piece of cake.
We of course had to replicate this tradition and as
you'll notice, some of mine ended up on the side of my face.

Lets see…I reached the momentous age of twenty-five almost two months ago. It was odd not having my twin brother, Elliot, by my side. Sharing your birthday with your best friend is always an added bonus to the occasion. Despite not being with E and the rest of my family, I had plenty of my Peace Corps friends to fill the gap. My birthday weekend was also the weekend of our regions annual social event called Njombe Jam. Volunteers from all the country flooded the hills of Njombe to enjoy our cool weather, milk bar, and of course great company. The weekend was filled with (somewhat) friendly competition. All of the regions brought their game faces, but none could keep up with the Njombe Crew. I believe our acclimation to elevations above 6,000 feet gave us a crucial advantage over the other teams. All said and done, it was great experience and a birthday I will never forget.  

Before my Easter break ended, I had a pile of midterm examinations to grade. I was very pleased with my Form IV (equivalent to 12^th grade) student’s grades. I had many students perform above average. The average of my school is about 42% on all examinations. This is equivalent to a C in Tanzania. It is kind of hard grading scale to get use to. I challenge my students to score above passing on the American grading scale. I am happy that many of them have been meeting my challenge,  but there are still a large number of students that need the extra push.

Grading Scale in Tanzanian Schools:

A 100-75%

B 50-74%

C 40-49%

D 30-39%

E <30%

Sticks from around the school.

After examinations, I do not look forward to the report given to the students at morning assembly. At morning assembly, the top ten students of each class are announced/congratulated. Along with the top students, the bottom ten students are announced and then stand in front of the school. Upon completion of these announcements, I saw the top ten students running towards the woods. I asked the teacher next to me what they were doing and he said,  “They are going to get the sticks for those students.” I had a strong feeling of what was about to come and I left to seek refuge in my office. The bottom ten students had to walk through the line of teachers who greeted them with a stick. Although I escaped to my office, I took a peek after hearing the sticks  passing through the air and crack on contact.

*This was a posed shot.

Corporal punishment is widely accepted in most rural schools in Tanzania. I have heard that the situation has improved from years past, but even with a previous ban in place, many rural schools continue to use this antiquated form of punishment. After such days, my body feels exhausted and it takes an emotional toll on me. I have to take a step back sometimes though. This is something that is accepted in this culture. Not everything about every culture is perfect. Things take a long time to change. One thing I do love about my fellow teachers is that they are willing to talk about these issues. We have had many great discussions on corporal punishment and its effectiveness. These conversations are a step in the right direction. The teachers at my school know that it is something that I refuse to accept.  After examinations, I often ask the teachers who have hit their students if those students now understand the mistakes that they made on their exams? It catches some of the teachers off guard and at least makes them think about what they are doing. Change does not occur without a little challenge to the “norm.” Its crazy to think that just <40 years ago, America still employed these methods of punishment.

Njombe Regional Science Competition

This month, I hosted a preliminary science competition that was a qualifier for the first annual Njombe Regional Science Competition. All of the education volunteers in Njombe happen to be science and mathematics teachers. In Tanzania, there is a huge shortage of qualified science and math teachers. The goal of these competitions is to get students thinking about science in the world around them and that many practical applications of science and math can be demonstrated using local materials. Peace Corps Tanzania has a group of volunteers, called Shika na Mikono (grasp with your hands), who are dedicated to spreading this philosophy across the country. During the course of the weekend, 18 students, from three different area schools, came together to explore the world of science and math. The competitions were geared to engage the student’s problem solving/critical thinking skills. Some examples of these competitions included: bridge building, floating devices, egg drop, and the students were tasked with building a model aqueduct system. All these activities were carried out using locally available materials.

Aqueduct system

Acids and bases demonstration.

Periodic classification activity

In addition to giving the students some hands on science experience, we also intertwined some life skills lessons into the curriculum. One of the activities we did was to raise awareness of the effects of malaria and how to prevent contraction. The students lined up in two lines with different colored toothpicks. About 50 feet away, we had a two mini cardboard people. One ‘person’ was under a mosquito net and the other was left exposed. The goal of the game was to see which group could stick more toothpicks into their cardboard person. The toothpicks were of course used to mimic a mosquito bite, but also differentiated the type of mosquito (male or female) and whether it was a carrier of malaria. Female mosquitoes of a particular breed are the only carriers of malaria. The exercise showed how mosquito nets protect against the bit of these mosquito. The activity provided a good visual for the students and onlookers.

Students getting a chance to do their first titration on a sample of milk.

After the weekend of science activities, we took the students to visit the local milk/cheese factory.  I was very impressed with the operations that were taking place here in my backyard. Students learned the science behind making safe milk, cheese, and yogurt. For many of these students, it was the first time that they had ever seen a fully equipped laboratory. I was excited that my students were able to have this experience. When I was growing up, I never realized how much I learned on the field trips that I took. These are the types of experiences that stick with you and provide application to all the learning we do in the classroom. I hope to give some students at my school a chance to experience some of the other area industries/factories. 

peach trees

The term break is quickly approaching and I am trying to get a few projects done around the house. Most recently, I recruited a few of my students to help me put up a little greenhouse in my courtyard. Although it does not look too conventional, it gets the job done. The rainy season just ended and the cold winter weather is upon us. I started to germinate some peach trees that I plan to plant at the school. Eventually, I want to start a greenhouse project at my school. Some teachers at the school have been taking the lead on starting our avocado orchard. We plan to plant a couple acres in the next 5 months. Next spring, we will graft the tree seedlings and they will produce fruit in two years. Nutrition of the students is very poor here and projects like this provide a start to sustainable supplement to their carbohydrate-loaded diets.

Nazarene's baptism

I am currently listening to “Wagon Wheel” after returning from my neighbors house where we watch/listen to Swahili gospel music every night. The music videos were not my favorite things when I first arrived, but its funny how they provide a sort of unusual comfort now.  It is just part of life here. Whether you are on a bus, at a bar, eating rice and beans on the street, somewhere, there is a music video on and a stack of speakers blaring the music. Ever since I started to film my friend’s music videos, I have somewhat become enveloped in this music video culture. I have to keep up on what ‘s hip. I am trying to make artistic developments in this craft while I am here. We went to the recording studio today to get a few clips for the final cut of his second video. I will hopefully get it done in the coming month, but we shall see.  Our last big filming session happened after his baby’s baptism (I am Uncle D to baby Nazarene).  The baptism included the usual for a Lutheran ceremony. I volunteered my photography services and we of course got some great shots for the music video. He did a live performance after the ceremony. It was a special day for all and the food afterwards was great as well.

This is a video of me that my counterpart coaxed me into doing for his music video. Watch out, these moves are going to become the next big thing. As embarrassing as it is to watch, I am sure it will put a smile on your face.

What’s Cooking?
To end off this lengthy expose, I’ll give you a little taste of some of my most recent delicious meals.

This is not the actual one I ate...

but this is

At the beginning of this month, I was in the village center having a beer with my headmaster and we started to discuss the different types of meats we like to eat. I of course said that I am a big fan of chicken and pork (kuku na kiti moto). He concurred, but added that he enjoys eating simbulus (sp?) from time to time. Hearing this for the first time in country, I was a little bit confused. We went on to discuss what a simbulus was for the next 15 minutes, and I came to the conclusion that it was somewhere between a squirrel and a rat. He finally said that they might have one next door, so we went to have a look. Sure enough, it was there. The man opened up his draw string bag and put the simbulus into a basket. Turns out that a simbulus is a guinea pig. All I could originally think about was my pet guinea pig, Elvis, when I was younger. It turns out though that guinea pigs can reproduce in month or so, which makes them a pretty sustainable source of protein here. In the coming weeks, I tried to get some teachers to go with me to eat one, but many denied my offer. Finally, one teacher volunteered to go with me. The guy who sells them was expecting us and had one grilled up for me when I arrived. I put it in a bag and took it home to eat later. The meat was palatable, but had a sort of fishy taste. This made me think why they call the rats they eat in Mtwara, samaki wa mchanga (land fish). Is there a correlation? I will soon find out when I indulge in one later this month.

Corndogs anyone?

In addition to this somewhat odd cuisine, my friend Joe and I cooked up some good bites the other night. Joe has been talking about making corn dogs for the last month, and we finally made it happen. Joe bought the dogs in town, and I had no problem asking a neighbor for some corn flour. My neighbor was so excited that I was taking some corn flour of all things. This could only mean one thing to her—I was making ugali. Ugali is king of all foods here, despite its rather bland taste. I tried to explain the concept of a corndog to her, but I don’t think it registered until having a bite. It’s kind of disgusting, but together, we ate the whole pack of hotdogs. I think its safe to say that it was not giardia that got my stomach rumbling that night.

Soon I will be having eggs on the regular. My Mama hens have been busy nesting on their eggs. The first one had 7 chicks and just recently, another hen added 6 more to the flock. It has been awhile since I raised chickens, but it is nice to be back with it.

Mama Trudy 

In less than three weeks, my older brother and friends will be on their way to Tanzania. I cannot wait for them to arrive and experience a little of my life and the life of Tanzanian’s all over the country.

Til next time,

Mr. D