Tanzanian Time

In Tanzania being flexible is very important. Today was a day full of surprises from the moment we woke up through tonight. We woke up at 7 am. Another half hour to sleep compared to last week. The group ate breakfast, then headed to the secondary school for who knows what. Once we got there, our usual person was not there, so Edward showed us to another guy who eventually led us to a Form III class. The Form we were teaching before was II, so the lesson we used last week wouldn’t work as well. The lesson went something like introductions, talking about the places we lived, then working with R’s and L’s.

After the class, we followed our teacher to the computer lab where LuRue asked questions and Montana attempted to read a book about the level of Magic Tree House. After an hour of that they were led to the teacher meeting, where not much was said because none of the people in charge were there.

After that, another teacher, Henry, took us in for the next class. Jean had already been working with him to plan a lesson about present tense in English, so when we charged in, it ruined their plan. So, for that class period, we were students the whole time. We each had a few minutes of talking, but that was it.

That class ended around 12pm, so then we headed back to the mission house for lunch and then to the store we ordered skirts from, but they were not completely done yet. The lady told us to check back in this evening.

We then headed down to the secondary school again to play the card game “I Doubt It”. This time we were working with Form I students, so they were harder to get to talk, but it seemed like they enjoyed the game.

Everyone went back to the house, but not too much longer after, Montana, Morgan, and Jennifer when out for a walk down and up some roads. That was about 45 minutes to an hour long. They met up with the rest of the group as they were heading off to the sewing shop to see if anything was done, which it wasn’t. No surprise there. So tomorrow after school we will check back in again.

We went back and had dinner, which was actually pretty good, or at least the hard-boiled egg part was.

After dinner we were invited by Edward to express our opinions. LuRue stated that she had been disappointed in the English class where she & Montana had to sit for an hour listening to the teacher give a lesson on the present tense of singular and plural verbs with no interaction with the students. Edward promised that he would make other arrangements for tomorrow. Other volunteers also spoke up with their concerns and adjustments were made.

We learned about some drama in the village today. Last night three thieves broke into a fabric shop by punching a hole in the back wall and stealing 98% of the inventory. Of course there is no insurance here so the owners just have to take the loss, which is extremely significant to them.  The thieves have been caught, but the fabrics are gone

In another instance Lindsay told about a woman being brought to the clinic where she was working. People rushed over to the woman & took her into the doctor’s office where she was heard to be crying loudly. We heard later in the afternoon that the woman’s baby (1 to 2 years old) had died suddenly.

The bishop of this district came for a visit. He was the one who got the Global Volunteers program started here in 1985. The first one (Jamaica) has now closed, so this program in Pommern is the longest-running program in Global Volunteers.

The group then talked about what was going to happen tomorrow, but neither of us have a concrete idea of what’s going to happen tomorrow, so tomorrow will be another day of surprises.