So here's the post you've been waiting to read: all the juicy details of our lives in Tanzania. We live in a small village, part of a town called Kilosa (6 long, bumpy hours from Dar es Salaam). We live in a brick house with an indoor squat toilet ("choo"); we have electricity (most of the time); we have a private water well in our courtyard, and two times a day the water is routed inside, so WE HAVE A (cold) SHOWER AND RUNNING WATER! We live with a widowed mother of 5 grown children--she has the most amazing name, but I can't post it--who appears to be in her late 40s, her 18 year old son, and her ADORABLE 4 year old granddaughter. Our life here is very peaceful, and we are living in luxury, compared to most other people in our village. We even have a proper dining room, and our mama has a car and owns two businesses--we're spoiled. Our mama loves us, and she is incredibly kind and patient with us--she is taking her role (teaching us Tanzanian culture) VERY seriously, and she has infinite patience with us as we stumble and make constant mistakes in Kiswahili. We love her very much, and feel very lucky to have been placed in such a welcoming home for our 10 weeks of training. We have 3 goats--they ran away on Thursday, but my "kaka" (brother) found them. We have 4 cows. We have lots of chickens. We eat with our hands (beans, rice, cooked bananas, a polenta-like dish called "ugali," spinach, peas, tons of fresh fruit every day--we're spoiled, remember??, chapati), and we really like the food. It takes us 5 minutes to walk from our house into the center of Kilosa, which is where I'm writing this from. We have a tv, a computer, a printer, and a photocopier in our house, but we don't use them. We spend 8 hours every day in school (with 4 other Peace Corps trainees), 6 days a week, learning to speak Kiswahili. This is fatiguing, but we're getting better every day. I can now speak Kiswahili like a two year old Tanzanian child. When we're not in school, we are studying or practicing speaking with our family and people in our village. We washed two weeks worth of laundry today BY HAND, and it took almost 3 hours. Life is so incredibly hard here--people work so hard, and Tony and I feel like our lives have been very privileged. We love being here; we have moments of tremendous frustration, usually because we can't yet say what we want to. Here's our address for the next 9 weeks:
Carla Stanke
Peace Corps
PO Box 9123
Dar es Salaam
Tanzania
If you would like to send any goodies for our super-cute 4 year old "dada" (sister), feel free--I'm thinking crayons, coloring books, school supplies, etc. Our basic needs are met--we don't really need anything. We miss lovely soap and chocolate, however--just so you know. Once we get better at Kiswahili, we will start learning how to do our jobs. Not many people speak English, so we are completely immersed in Tanzanian life--it's working. We're not leaving!
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4 comments:
Hi Carla!!
Your wonderfully vivid story was so nice to read and feel your happiness through!! Yeah, you are feeling good and surviving and living and learning and all the things that you could only think about before in Milwaukee about your Peace Corp experience are happening! Sounds like you ended up in a great house to get immeresed into the Tanzanian culture. I love that you get running water only at certain times and that there is a computer and photocopier that you don't use. The simplest neccessities are the ones that count!
I am really impressed with the amount of work you guys are doing to learn the language. It seems daunting to me to study that much in that amount of time!! So you can walk to the center of town for school? Sounds like you are very happy with your host family. Is mama a business woman? What does she sell in her shop?
I can't wait to learn more of the language from you! Its so interesting!
Geof and I are trying to get out of town next week and drive to the smoky mountains and North carolina. Its a pretty far drive, we were going to do it right after the wedding, but I think were both up for just gettin in the car and going~
We miss you and are so happy to hear your progress and feelings and thoughts on Africa. I am so very proud of you! take care.....
Love,
Carolyn
keep the details coming-so incredible to hear about you there. much love, T
Carla,
..your blog is the only one I have access to, so I hope you forgive the persistent question about our son, Mannis, whom we have not heard from since before your arrival in Kilosa. If you know anyone with any knowledge about where he is, we would appreciate getting word to him that his family is anxious to hear from him. Being an environmental volunteer, we're thinking he might have close access to the internet cafe. But, as a parent, you know, I'm a bit anxious to hear from him.
Rosalyn
Hello Tony & Carla,
We are writing on a gorgeous Sunday morning in Milwaukee w/brilliant sunshine, slight breeze and 68 degrees. I'm usually golfing with Barb's kaka (am learning kiswahili)but will do some yardwork instead. Barb's going to see her Mom at St. Luke's where she's been since Thurs. w/something intestinal, hopefully nothing long lasting.
Your talk of using the choo reminds me of using one in Japan years ago. And your talk of how truly easy things are in the U.S.A., reminded me this morning as I sat in the bathroom with my coffee and sports section. Talk about being spoiled!! By the way, our Milwaukee Brewers are still on top of the National League Central w/47-33 record and 7 1/2 games ahead of the Chicago Cubs. Brewers beat Cubs yesterday 13-4. Friday the Brew crew were leading 5-4 w/2 outs in the bottom of the ninth when Ramierez blasted a two run homer to beat them 6-5. Oh well, as my boss used to say: "you can lose some, you just can't lose too many."
We're very happy that you've been blessed with such a nice host family: mama,kaka,dada.
What kind of business does mama have? How much is gas there? It's about $3/gal.here.
Your story about the cows and goats that almost got away is hilarious! Reminiscent of my uncles farm in Medford, WI where my brothers & cousins used to ride the goats and bulls. Crazy kids.
We're thinking of going to Summerfest later which runs thru July 8th. Will hoist a beer in your honor.
Love,
Steve & Barb
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