After 9 months of anticipation, weeks of goodbyes, and 18 hours on a plane, I finally made it to Peace Corps Tanzania. Our staging event was in Philadelphia where we went over some general expectations and rules about Peace Corps. It was nice to be with the whole group to travel over here, we all learned that we had very similar anxieties and it was good to be with a group who was going through the same things. There are 41 total people in our group - 25 health volunteers and 16 environment volunteers.
We got into Dar es Salaam in the evening of June 16th, were herded into buses and headed for the Msimbazi center. It's basically a hostel/college run by nuns who have crazy parties on saturday and sunday nights. We started sessions (classes) right away on Thursday morning. Our classes are pretty general at this point, focusing on Tanzanian culture, Peace Corps goals and expectations, some Kiswahili lessons, safety and security, what to expect at homestay, and introductions of our training staff. There are 29 PC Tanzania staff, and only 4 of them are American. It's so great to be learning from Tanzanians who are excited to have us here and want to help us succeed. If I've learned one thing so far (and it's not much swahili), I've learned that Tanzanians are the most kind, welcoming, funny people I've ever met. They mentioned to us in one of our sessions that although the police don't have a strong presence or role in dealing with crime or things of that nature, that Tanzanians will do anything they can to protect us and take care of us if we integrate well into their community. This mostly means learning the language (or at least enough to partake in the 5 minute initial greeting of a collegue, friend or family member) and being culturally appropriate with dress and social norms. Our sessions so far have been great in helping us get a start on understanding these things.
On wednesday we move 5 hours north to the town of Muheza where we'll spend 9 weeks in Community Based Training. We are divided into small groups, there are 5 girls in my group, and we'll be living in the same village right outside the main town for the duration of training. We'll each be living with a Tanzanian family who has volunteered to take us into their home as one of their children. Our mama's and baba's will teach us to cook, do laundry, chores, kiswahili and other culture norms among many other things I'm sure. From what I've heard it is extremely awkward for a good amount of the time, as we're trying to communicate and understand each other. I've also learned that Tanzanians like to laugh at just about anything we do, so at least there's a lot of humor going on because it's going to be ridiculous. I'm really excited about homestay and can't wait to meet my family - I just hope my Kiswahili really picks up or we could have some seriously long days of staring at each other.
The schedule during training consists of classes with our Language/Culture Facilitators during the day in our village, monday through thursday, and whole group sessions on fridays. I'm not exactly sure what the main town of Muheza is like or how often we go into town, but I'm hoping to get a cell phone within the next couple of weeks. It sounds like our internet access will be minimal during training, but I'll update when I can.
I'm having such an amazing time here so far with these phenominal people in AFRICA! There are people from all over the country who come with such diverse experiences and backgrounds. We were talking tonight how we can't believe it was only a week ago that we all met, everyone is great and we get along so well.
Side notes:
- I learned how to take a shower using only 5 liters of water in a bucket.
- I have 21 mosquite bites, all from the knees down.
-If you're thinking about sending packages or love notes, we can recieve mail here in Dar for the next 6 months;
Alli Jones
US Peace Corps
PO Box 9123
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Some mailing tips we've received include writing "school supplies," "Religious Materials" or "jesus loves you", etc on the outside of a package to scare away customs agents from rummaging through stuff. They also said that if you're sending something that they might want to keep, to use creative packaging like hiding it in a tampon box or somthing of that nature. Please send me things if you can - I would love to get mail especially with such limited access to communicating with you guys. Letters would be great:)
Well I'm going to climb under my mosquito net and get some sleep...
usiku mwema! (good night!)
