Our Tanzanian Adventure: A Day in the Life

Hello!
I heard that the Midwest is getting hit with some pretty cold weather--I hope everyone is staying warm; we definitely are! 90+ degrees every day. Good thing the smell of sweat is popular here.

I thought I'd give you a quick idea of what our typical day looks like.
We (as well as the rest of the house) get up around 6:30 and have breakfast, put on sunscreen etc., before leaving for our 45 minute walk to school. We could take a dala instead but we prefer the walk (minus the mini-mountain at the end).

School begins between 8 and 9 (time-keeping is pretty nonexistent in Africa). The younger kids sing good morning songs all together, which include songs where they say hello to each child by name, then they have each child look at themselves in the mirror and point to their eyes, nose, and mouths. In Scottie's classroom with the older children, the children sing songs as well and then begin practicing math problems.

After singing "free play" time begins. During this time, the other volunteers and I are able to do any activities we plan. So far, it's been tricky deciding what activities to plan because of our resources, but I keep reminding myself that anything is better than having the children sit on the floor building blocks all day without being talked to or engaged. Most of the young children are working on learning and recognizing the numbers "one, two, and three," which is difficult because they just came back from a two month break.
During this time, the pre-vocational children have Swahili and English lessons, where Scottie and Claire (another amazing volunteer) do things such as teach the children how to greet each other with handshakes and high-fives and how to say "good morning, good afternoon, and good evening".

Mid-morning the children are served porridge while the teachers have tea; a much-needed break.

The rest of the morning is spent outside and in the classrooms doing whatever activities are planned. Today we played soccer with the kids which was super fun, especially watching one of our favorite kids, Derric, try to run after the ball despite his physical impairments due to cerebral palsy. Some of the kids were great at soccer and it was really cool seeing all the kids interact with one another for the afternoon.

Next, the children are served lunch (two meals--awesome!) and the volunteers eat lunch separately from the kids, which was a surprise to me because lunch time is such a great opportunity for learning (oh well, hakuna mattata). After lunch the young children read books, play outside, and rest while the pre-vocational students do beadwork; practice for a potential profession in later life. It's kind of crazy to think of all the handcrafted gifts I've bought in the past--maybe one of them was made by one of the children at our school!

So far, work at the school has been really tough. We are mentally and physically exhausted by the end of our days. The children are SO dirty; we come home literally covered in filth, and it is so difficult to interact with the kids because of the language barrier as well the fact that many of them are nonverbal. Many of the younger children hit, scratch, and bite, which is frustrating for me because I can't navigate how to discourage their behavior and a few of the children with Autism are so overstimulated I struggle to know how to begin to help them. It's not all bad though. Many of the pre-vocational students look after the younger students, which is pretty awesome, and all the little ones have truly won our hearts. They are completely adorable and amazing for their resilience. Our struggles are simply figuring out how to push each child and help them with the little resources we have. I find myself using the basic things I learned at my special education student teaching experiences and just hoping that they somehow works. It's a lot of guess and test, but I think over time it will be worth it.

Scottie is really liking being a teacher. In only three days I can tell how he is realizing both how difficult and how rewarding of a job it is. Scottie jumped right in on the first day and confidently leads music lessons with Claire, plays soccer with the little ones, and teaches math; among other things. I'm so amazed at how easily he has assimilated to being a teacher in such an unfamiliar setting--he's a natural!

After we finish with school, Scottie and I try to work out at the gym we joined, run errands, and then eat dinner and hang out at the house with the other volunteers. Last night we went out to the bar for the first time, which was really fun and an experience to say the least. African karaoke was a bit different (no Journey, what?!) but it was pretty funny to watch.

All in all, things have been going really well here. We knew before coming to Africa that it was going to be essential to roll with the punches, and that is definitely what we have been doing. It's impossible to get too frustrated with the way things work here because if we did that we wouldn't enjoy ourselves at all. We're trying to take every day for what it is and have fun along the way. Hopefully this mentality carries with us for the next 11 weeks as well!