25.09.09

I have not updated in a little over a month. I haven’t had the words. I still don’t know if I really do. But I will try.
This past week has been challenging. I have been living by myself and I don’t like it. I like living life with people. I am in a wonderful community with great people but living in the corner of the village by my-self is not my most favorite thing. Today I saw a truck and on the back it said, “Don’t walk alone.” Seeing that really hit me. I have been feeling like I have been walking alone for some time now. This has been a huge challenge for me, which I am trying to think through and work through.
Steve was living with me for the past month but now he is back in Zimbabwe. Lewis is supposed to be returning from Zimbabwe but his return to Chamwino has been delayed due to his family stuff.

So, what have I been up to???
Every Tuesday and Thursday a man named Ezra teaches me Kiswahili in the morning and then in the evening I help him teach Secondary and Pre-form 1 students at a nearby primary school. I was helping with debate/discussion and now I am helping with some mathematics. This is turning out to be a good trade off for the both of us.
I am still working with the same group as before in the mornings and most evenings. The trade-off I just talked about changed things a little bit but not much. I have also been trying to remain available to help with the construction project when needed. At this point they have been working on the plastering of the toilets. I believe the completion of everything is expected to be done around the beginning of November.
When it comes to learning languages I have noticed the biggest difference between me learning Kiswahili and the locals learning English is resources. I have about 4 books to teach me Swahili but the people of Chamwino lack these materials. It would be extremely helpful if they had books in Swahili which would be teaching them English. I haven’t seen any. Also, I am speaking Swahili every day. I am learning more every day. It is hard for the people here to speak English more frequently because communication is easier in Swahili. Don’t get me wrong, people ARE trying and they ARE learning, but it’s harder for them because of these reasons. Because of this I made a 3 page document, for starters, and passed it around to many people. This will allow them to practice at home, like I do. The information is pretty much all the initial things I wanted to learn when I first started learning Swahili. The document is in Kiswahili and in English; this will help them see the patterns in things like greetings.
A little over a week ago Steve and I headed to Dar. He was getting ready to head back to Zimbabwe and I just needed a little time to regroup. We decided to make a trip to Zanzibar. We went for 3 days and it was nice. It was a little too touristy in the main areas but overall the island was beautiful. We were there during Ramadan so many of the shops were closed but it was good we didn’t have to mess with the craziness of daily life. It made it peaceful. The first night we stayed in Stone town and then the following morning we headed to the north of the island to an area called Kendwa. The island of Zanzibar has white powdery sand and clear blue water. The day before we left we took a boat trip to a coral reef and did a little snorkeling. I uploaded some pictures on Facebook. Here is the link: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/album.php?aid=2087386&id=39204366&ref=nf. (sorry I use FB to show photos. I know not all people have it but it is the easiest way for me to do it.)

Next Saturday I am leaving the country of Tanzania, BUT NOT FOR GOOD. My visa requires me to leave every 3 months even though my visa is a year. It’s crazy, I know. October 6th is already the 3 months mark. So, the 3rd of October I will take a bus journey to Rwanda. The bus ride will be 2 days both ways and I think I will stay in Kigali for at most 1 week. I chose Rwanda because they don’t require me to get a visa and I have someone I know there who said I can stay for free. This helps keep cost down a lot!

When I return to Chamwino Lewis will be here and so will two visitors from the states. It will be nice to have people in the house.