Adjusting to Gongo La Mboto

After the short stay at the YMCA in Dar es Salaam, I was introduced to my home for the next two and half weeks. I had mentioned before that they didn't have any running water and the facilities were ... um... different from those that I have been accustom to in the states. The water had to be pulled from a well, which was shared by a few families around the area. It was lifted out of the twelve-foot hole with a bucket on a rope (which can be seen on my youtube video www.youtube.com/omovision). Once the water was taken from the well they had dozens of buckets to use for various things. A bucket by the sink to wash your hands, one for a shower, one to flush the toilet which was at ground level and opened directly to the septic tank, another few buckets were used in the kitchen. Water to drink or to brush teeth was boiled to kill all the bacteria. The use of water was one of the biggest things I had to get used to. It was as if I was camping, which I have done before so it wasn't that challenging. Another challenge was the mosquitoes. Coming from a very wet area in Indiana I know what it's like to have mosquitoes as a constant nuisance after sunset, however there is a high percent of the Tanzania mosquitoes that carry the malaria virus. Because of this my evening scent became, 100% deet. A few sprays of deet, a long sleeve shirt and a pair of pants, both of which stuck to me due to the humidity, I was mostly protected from the mosquitoes... or mozzies as they call them here in Australia.

The home was always full with three daughters two sons, the house girl, two grandkids, and various other guests who would pop in periodically. Privacy was not part of my vocabulary during my stay in Africa. The most bathrooms had stalls which would close but the restroom itself was open or beside an open shower. This was never an issue just something that I am accustomed to and normally take for granted in the US or Australia. The windows had only screens and protective bars to keep the outside out. With the houses closely packed together noise was always an issue. Especially since a bars were littered amongst the homes every few blocks with music pounding until midnight or sometimes later. We slept under mosquito nets and without AC or fans would usually sleep without any form of blanket or sheet. Outside my screen covered window was a bat, which sent out a high-pitched beep from about 10:30pm until 3 or 4am. It wasn't until the third night that I realized the earplugs from the plane would muffle this sound enough to allow me to sleep. However the morning came loud and fast with the crows, chickens, roosters and rush of people queuing up for the dala dala (bus) ride into town... first come first serve.

The school consisted of a dirt courtyard, and half a dozen classrooms. A nursery school meets five days a week and the older kids start at 8am and go until 9pm. With this lengthy schedule I was given 8 hrs of class work a day. 5 hrs of computer classes and 2 hrs of English classes. The computer lab looked more like a computer junkyard. Piles of old computers lined the sidewall with a mismatch of five or six stations that were functioning. PCs from the nineties which in computer time is ages ago were chugging along to pull up word, excel, publisher, typing tutors and one powerhouse of a machine was connected via a 28.8K modem to a mobile phone line in an attempt to bring internet to these kids. It was frustrating to try and explain what the Internet was about when most of the time was spent loading or crashing. The kids were very eager to learn everything they could from me. They wanted to know all about computers and I was surprised to see just how computer savvy they were. Unfortunately the technology wasn't available to them. Hopefully future donations and advancements in technology will give them the tools they need to tap into the vast amount of information on the Internet. If anyone reading this has connections/access to companies or individuals willing to donate up to date technology or at least technology a few years old they would benefit greatly by it. Please contact me, omovision@yahoo.com....

The kids quickly tested me with my knowledge of computers and English. They were really sharp and kept me after class numerous times with their questions. I wish I could have given more. It's sad because these are kids that don't have the money to pay for their education. They have the potential and the desire but not the opportunity. Ezra ministries does it's best to give this opportunity at a lower and sometimes free cost. The most disheartening thing is that the one year of school which they can't afford is under $1000 American. Some of them only have two or three years to complete and they will have gotten their diploma. For the cost of a laptop, a big screen TV, a washer and dryer you could send a kid to school for a year if not longer. How amazing would it be if those of us that have the extra money for the big screen, or state of the art laptop, or a better washer/dryer, or whatever the material thing it is, decided to channel it instead to these kids and sponsor them through school allowing them to get there diploma and be armed with a solid education allowing doors to open for them and one by one step out of the limited poverty ridden life they were born into? I'm not saying or asking for anyone to do this... but think about it... every little bit helps. There are many organizations bringing education to places like Gmboto... (here's one...http://www.justlikemychild.com/ ..... and another.... http://www.sos-usa.org/ ... I'm sure there are many more google it.... :)
what are you doing to help?

Tanzania Volunteer Project Beginning

I have just returned from a 2 week volunteer project in Tanzania. I spent the time teaching English and Computers to kids at the Ezra Ministries in Gongo la mboto a small village outside Dar Es Salaam. Unfortunately I was not able to update the blogs along the way since the interenet was hard to find and when it was found it was usually extremely slow... so... I'll use my journal to update my blogs.

I arrived in Dar es Salaam on August 31st. I didn't have a visa and was told by the immigration security to pay $50 US. Since I had been in Australia for the last 2 months I didn't have American money. To this they allowed me to duck the ropes to security, pass baggage claim and exit the airport to get cash. I then returned and they stamped my passport. Needless to say not the tightest of securities I have encountered. The first night was spent in the city centre under the YMCA's roof. If there was a star rating for this place it would most likely fall somewhere around one or two points of one star. However, this concrete floor, foam mattress, humid, screen covered window, rusted cold shower, mosquito ridden place would actually turn out to be quite luxurious compared to my host families home. Well at least as far as facilities, but definitely not in comparison to the love and laughter found every moment in my host faimlies house.

The next morning we had a brief orientation learning about safety while in Dar. Supposedly the night is very dangerous to travel alone for a Muzungu (white person). I was then taken to Ezra Ministries where I met Pastor Chi who gave me the details about my assignment. I was to be teaching computers, English and math to kids 14 years and older. Being that my math skills had been frozen in the back of my brain since college 12 years ago, my computer knowledge left in the cubical I worked in 5 years ago and my English.. well if you've read this far enough said, I was a bit worried at how I was going to teach these kids.