Sauti
June 16, 2011
Greetings, friends and family!
This is my last submission to you from Tanzanian (for a while at least), but I’ve had an exciting week since we last met, so I wanted to give you a brief update before I set sail (or airplane wing...?) for American shores!
June 6, 2011
In but a fortnight I will be departing this place. I was reflecting yesterday on this, my last week teaching at Fanaka. As many people might, I have fears and regrets--or at least those garish seedlings which might blossom into the bright, poisonous flowers of potent regret. But I am of a mind that nothing should be regretted, only learned from. If I am afraid some action or inaction today may lead to regret tomorrow, then I should take care to...
June 3, 2011
My students are not just adorable faces in a brochure, they are real people to me, people who frustrate me and make me angry and who sometimes I want to throttle
My time here is swiftly drawing to a close. But three weeks from today, I will have returned (that is future perfect tense of “return”. Guess who’s writing her English examinations?) to the grand ole US of A. Though I do love my time here in Tanzania, I feel that I will be ready to go when the time comes. Last year, I felt I was scrabbling to conclude conversations, tighten friendships, and solidify projects. This year, however...
May 20, 2011
Greetings followers, thin though your population may be. I’ve some exciting news to report this week: the TEP has picked up its first batch of chicks for our “Raising a Future” project! (For full details about this project, please visit www.tzeducationproject.org) At the risk of seeming over-indulgent (I’m not self-centered, nor do I style myself any sort of neo-Dickensian prodigy. I’m just lazy), I have again...
May 13, 2011
Of course you left late. Even after waking at 4:30, before the muezzins even began their morning calls to prayer. Most mornings those keening, calls that infiltrate your subconscious, filling your head with their winding, twisting tones like deep, heady whorls of red incense smoke. Every day you wake to them, just before 5 a.m.; they’ve become a part of you. Throughout the day, when the calls begin drifting from the mosques in all...
May 9, 2011
The more I consider leaving here, the harder it is for me to rationalize that I don’t have any idea when I will be able to return to Tanzania
Well, we’ve evaded it for as long as possible, but malaria has finally struck our camp. Eileen fell ill late Tuesday night and has been spending the past two days battling the less-than-pleasant head and intestinal symptoms that so frequently accompany the parasite. Thankfully (er, sort of?), she caught malaria on her last Tanzanian adventure, so she was quick to recognize the symptoms and went to the hospital right away Wednesday morning...
May 3, 2011
This lesson in history is brought to you by the letter “U”, for Union Day
Habari asabuhi, rafiki yangu?
(How is the morning, my friend?)
This question may or may not be relevant, as it is morning here, and who knows what time it may be when you read it... alas. Curse you, chronology!
I hope I find you all well and happy and that your lives are going on splendidly.
April 27, 2011
With the recent rains, much of the road up to Babu’s farm was somewhat washed out, but it was no matter, as we just the blazed new trails next to the muddy road
Have you ever been driving along a winding, dirt road in the middle of the wilderness and came upon a small pond running the width of the road? What does one do in such a situation?
April 18, 2011
Peddlers of small wares like single cigarettes, peanuts, water and soda walk among the gridlocked buses, trying to catch up exhausted passengers
The rainy season is definitely here in Tanzania. Almost every morning, we wake to dim skies and cool breezes, and the fine scent of damp grass. As it is now “winter” here, the sun rises later, meaning that it is just beginning to get light out when we get ready for the day around 7 a.m. I’ve been busy lately trying to keep up with the students, prepare assignments, and continue pushing forward on our TEP projects.
March 22, 2011
Hello again Winona friends and family!
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