home sweet home...

We've successfully been installed into our new home in Kibakwe! For those of you interested in geography, we are living in the region of Dodoma, district of Mpwapwa, town of Kibakwe--the very middle of Tanzania, land of drought, also called the "red desert". We are the first Peace Corps Volunteers EVER in Kibakwe, and the town officials really seem happy that we're here. About our house:it's a fixer-upper, for sure, but that's by American standards; by Tanzanian standards, we are living like royalty. We live in the "subdivision" of Kibakwe, next to the town's doctors, nurses, and police; our house is made of concrete, we have a tin roof, and it's already wired for electricity (but it's not connected yet--maybe next week. For now we use kerosene lanterns and candles at night.) Almost everyone else in the village lives in mud-brick houses with no electricity. We cook on a charcoal stove (called a "jiko"--like a grill, but it sits on the ground), and we collect water in buckets from a pump and use it for drinking, cooking, cleaning and bathing. Tony even built a shower out of a bucket and some rope!! Here's our address if you feel inspired to write:

Carla Stanke or Tony Stonehouse
SLP 36
Kibakwe
Tanzania

We have some problems that we're dealing with, but nothing unusual for life in rural Tanzania: cockroaches, rats, questionable locks/doors. Every day we make some progress, but things work VERY slowly here; this is a huge challenge for a controlling person like me. The key to living successfully in such a different place is setting up structure and organizing your life effectively; just as important is meeting people and making friends, because the more people know me, the more they watch over me, which is critical for my safety here. This is NOT an unsafe place, to be sure, but because I am the only American woman in Kibakwe, it definitely pays to have people looking out for me. There are also two Italian nuns who live in Kibakwe, and we met them last week; that means there are 4 wazungu ("foreigners") total in our town. Our Kiswahili is improving every day, but now we also need to learn to speak some Kigogo, too, because the tribe of people who live in Kibakwe are called the Wagogo people. Right now I am writing this from the computer lab in the safi ("cool") town of Mpwapwa, and the president of Tanzania, President Kikwete, will be here tomorrow, so there's excitement in the air. It's a two-hour bus ride here from Kibakwe, and this is our closest town for major shopping and computer use; I'm thinking that we'll come here two times per month to check email, so don't despair if I'm slow to respond to your messages. That's all for now--I'll try to post photos within the next few weeks so you can see my new life!!