My first report from Bagamoyo

Hi there!!
Wow. where do i start??? So much to say and not enough time!
(by the way, please excuse my spelling- i'm going to type fast and not check it after so i can save time!)

This country is truly incredible. If you look at a map of Tanzania, i'm right on the coast of the Indian ocean in a town called Bagamoyo (Arabic for "Lay Down Your Heart"). The town is rich in art and music and its history dates back to slave and ivory trade from the 1800's. The people here are the friednliest i have ever met. Everywhere you go, you are greeted by someone. The children run up and always want to hug you and play with you and they are absolutly adorable. I really didn't realize that the place i am staying (we call it "the home base") would be right in the town, neighbouring regular people's homes, shops, and schools. I didn't expect that right when i walked outside there would be kids running up to me wanting to play. I didn't expect to feel so safe here- but i really do. The program's security is amazing but even walking alone I feel safe. (Don't worry mom i don't walk tooooo far alone, and definitely not at night).

It is SOOOO hot here. It rains for an hour or so on some days, but for the most part it's just been really hot. We have fans in our rooms though which is helpful. Around town, everyone wears bottoms past their knees and usually shirts that cover their shoulders. We are expected to wear skirts to school every day and t-shirts so it gets really really hot. The food they make is pretty good. Some meals not as good as others, but the overload on the carbs is insane. I've been eating lots of rice here which i don't normally love but it's good here! I don't like the types of fruits they have here and when Mama C (one of our staff) found this out, she made sure there were bananas for me every day since. All of the staff are incredible and they are each so interesting andwonderful to talk to. The other volunteers (there's aound 15 of us) are so nice really great to learn from.

A day in the life of me so far:
I get up at 6am, get dressed, have some breakfast (i won't lie, i missing my cereal :) ) and everyone gets dropped off at their volunteer placements. Some people help at elementary schools, others and daycares, others at orphanages, and one at an HIV/AIDS organzation. I'm woking at an elementary school that is right on the ocean. I'm in a kindergarten class, but the kids range from 5,6,7, years old and it is such a challenge because their academic levels differ so widely. I teach an english class, help with math and also do a period of music and sports. While i really enjoy spending time with the kids, i leave every day feeling quite emotional about the terrible situation of the Tanzanian education system. Hopefully i will get a chance to write more about that later. The teacher that I work with also works at the home base doing laundry so we walk back together. She is very nice but I think a little bit sit. I'm going to be working with her to teach her how to type. We all eat lunch and then after have a swahili lesson (most days). I'm really catching on but because we are learning so much so fast i need to spend time practicing (there isn't much time at night because I like to plan my lessons for the next day. I also just took on another class - grade 1, which i will be starting tomorrow. They are learning how to spell numbers in english). Anyhoo, after swahili lessons, we have a few hours of cultural activity. Thus far, we have visited a high school, met the principal and talked about their system. We met some students who are very motivated (only 20% of elementary get to high school). We have visited the house of a large family that is also a music group. They served us incredible tea and roasted nuts and told us all about their family's way of life. They did an incredible dancing and singing and instramentl performance for us and there were about 40 people all dancing an d going nuts! (us included). They are so increbily talented (one actually can move better than Beyonce) and have been to Japan, Germany, and the UK to perform. Tomorrow we are doing drums lessons and beading so i'm very excited about that. After the cultural lessons we have dinner and have the rest of the night free. Some volunteers go to the bar most nights. I've gone once and it's really nice because it's outside and around the corner from us. Normally i plan my lesson, hang out with the other volunteers, shower and read. We all go to bed pretty early because we wake up at 6.

On weekends people usually travel. Our first weekend is coming up and 7 of us are travelling to Zanzibar. Zanzibar is an island right off the coast and is apparently very touristy. I'm really excited about it.

My swahili is improving every day, because i always need to learn new words to communicate with people around the town and the kids I'm teaching. I've learned a couple of songs that the kids LOVE to sing with you which i will teach you ALL when i get home.

A couple of things that have stood out to me:
Some of the kids in my class can subtract perfectly, others cannot even count. I try to sit alone with a child that is weaker, but all the other kids come around and distract because they are so excited to have a volunteer. The weaker kids can't really learn because the older ones just tell the mall the answers. Each child has a workbook, for thaose that can't afford one there are mini chalkboards they can use in class. The teacher, Betty, puts questions in their books, the kids answer them, she checks them, and that's pretty much it. There isn't any evaluation really, and they kids are quite undisciplined when it comes to working alone at their desks. On my first day, i noticed a child who was having trouble and seemed sad and always alone. I spent some time working with him and had trouble getting anywhere. He seemed happy that he was gettiing some attention though. When i spoke with the teach after class about him (his name is Shadrika), Betty told me that he is HIV positive and is really not well. This was really hard for me to take, though it seemed so normal for her to say. I now just try to make happy and smile. or teach him very simple things. It's hard knowing his fate and being able to smile around him. The kids have to pay about 6.5 thousand shillings each year for elementary school, which is is $6.50 U.S., which seems like nothing. While it isn't considered a lot here either, some parents cannot afford it. Most kids are served just one meal a day. They give them porridge at school, but if the lady doesn't come with the porridge, they go home at 10am and are done for the day. For the last few days there has been no porridge. They have clothes that are often much too big for them and sometimes boys wear skirts. There is one textbook for the whole class. My class is quite small- only 30 kids, when most classes here are about 50-60 kids. In those classes, groups of six or seven have to share textbooks. There is so much development that needs to go on here that I feel my work for just one month in just a couple of classes each day is not doing much- but i know that my staff here would tell me that I am so i'm trying to keep very positive about it. Today i took markers to class to get the kids to draw a picture and gave each kid a different marker. The all seemed very confused and then I realized it was because they have never seen, let alone used a marker before. I had to stand at the front of the class and demonstrate opening a marker. They all repeated my actions right away. This is just one of the many eye-openers I've had here so far.

I think I'll leave it there for now.
I hope everyone is well and I'm thinking about al of you :)

Lots of love,
Jillian