A Hard Day's Night

Just another hoppin Friday night in the village. I was getting ready to hunker down with a good book, and went to the kitchen to make some tea. Its very dark and the only light I have to guide me through the house is my headlamp. As I turn around to leave the kitchen with my hot cup of tea in hand, I happen to glance down at the floor of the doorway before stepping through. I stopped in my tracks and took in a huge gasp. Seated at my feet was the largest, hairiest, meanest looking tarantula I'd ever seen in my life. It had gotten dark and I forgot to close the back door, so he must have taken it as an invitation. He had me trapped in the kitchen. I turn around to put my tea down and calm down, as I had noticed I had begun to speak to myself...and the hairy beast guarding the door. I tried to come up with a plan of attack. I had to do something. I couldn't very well stay in the kitchen for the rest of my life. Who would teach the kids about safe sex next week? I had to muster up some courage for their sake at least. I grabbed a bowl and held my breath as I crouched dangerously close to the tarantula. I quickly through the bowl over him and let out a sigh of relief that he hadn't eaten me. But what am I supposed to do wityh him now? I decided that a monster of his stature required documentation. Plus, people needed to truly understand the multitude of the situation. I grabbed my camera and returned to the kitchen doorway. As I picked the bowl up to reveal the nasty hairy face of the tarantula (yes, he had a face), I instantly regretted my decision, but iI'd come to far. I had to get a picture of him. I stood as far away as I could and held uot my arm to snap the picture. He hadn't moved at all which was good, but I wasn't satisfied with the angle of the picture. He was still a little balled up from being caught under the bowl. So I decided to nudge him a bit with the broom to see if he wouldn't mind spreading out his eight long beefy legs. I poked him and he began to run across the room. He ran much to fast for comfort and I could hear his hairy legs sweep across the floor as he scurried away. I jumped up and began to speak in tongues again. But he was modeling a much more inviting pose. So I approached him again and got a couple more shots. He ran behind a bucket I had with water in it. I moved the bucket to get a better look at him to find a mountain of ants running arund the floor where the bucket had been sitting. They were quite large, I don't know why all of the insects I encounter are so massive. But I had no time for them. I heard the tarantula run into the next room, and decided he was beginning to move around too much. If he disappeared somewhere, I would no doubt never be able to sleep again in that house. So I grabbed the broom and turned it upside down. I began to chase him around the room. It took me quite a few swings and misses, but finally I whacked him. His back end along with a few hairy legs lay on the left side of the room, while the rest of him lay turned upside down a little ways away. He had been beat. I approached the carcass precariously. There was still a bit of hairy tarantula life left in him, and now he was definitely pissed and I didn't want him to jump up and eat my face. But I was able to get a good look at his huge fangs, so I took a couple more pictures. Then suddenly, headlamp went out. I was in the room in the darkness with the tarantula. I tried to find my way back to where I had left my lantern and my bare foot met some other large insect on the way. I couldn't see it in the darkness, but even if I could I'm sure I couldn't tell you what kind it was. But I can tell you that it made quite a loud crunch noise as my foot crushed it. Once I had the security of the light again, I went back into the room with the tarantula and swept him outside to let him die a slow and painful death. It was just another Friday night in Nanjota. Just me and the prehistoric bugs having a party in my house...Hopefully his corpse will serve as a warning to any other curious creatures that think they can come in and hang out with me in the middle of the night.
The bugs aren't my only guests though. There has also been a large rat who has chosen me as a roommate. I woke up one night only to look up and find him crawling across the top of my mosquito net. He wasn't a very good roommate. He was always making a lot of noise late at night, and eating all my food...So one night I caught him off guard, grabbed my trusty weapon (my broom), and decided to beat him to death. It had to be done! What was I supposed to do? The opportunity presented itself to be rid of him once and for all, so I summoned my inner murderer and killed him. I apolgized to him after, and then swept him outside...The pests I've encountered are quite a nuisance, but I can't say they haven't given me opportunities to work out some aggression.






What else hae I been up to in the village apart from killing things you may ask? Well, I've been teaching English at the Secondary school every Friday afternoon for about 2 hours. I teach Forms 1 and 2 one week, and then 3 and 4 the following week. It is definitely challenging, not only trying to get them to understand the lesson, but also to maintain control of the classroom. One week there must have been almost 70 students in there. And they're no fools. They know I'm not going to beat them for making noise, so they seem to take full advantage of that. I was walking by the primary school the other day, and heard a teacher raising her voice, followed by a loud whacking noise, and a child just screaming like crazy. It was really difficult to witness first hand, and I couldn't even bring myself to look to see what exactly was happening. I knew it happened at the school everyday, but I had never been misfortunate enough to catch a glimpse of it first hand. Corpural punishment is a social norm and is often imposed at the schools in Tanzania. It is not an uncommon occurrence. Many times, the students are even punished for answering questions incorrectly, which explains the lack of participation and timidness I have encountered in the classroom. It was upsetting to see, but there isn't much more I can do about it than to just talk to teachers and peoople and try to open their eyes to better ways to handle those situations.
But I think the students are enjoying the English lessons. I try to organize games to play with them to make it more interactive and fun, as opposed to just being lectured at, which is usually how classrooms work from what I've observed. I'm enjoying getting to know them better. Last week we went over members of the family along with possessive pronouns.
I also teach Life Skills at the Secondary school. We have started talking about HIV/AIDS. We have gone over facts and myths of HIV (such as the myth that having sex with a virgin will cure HIV), and the ways that HIV can be transmitted. At the beginning of every class, I pass around a blank piece of paper for students to write questions down anonymously. I told them to feel free about asking me anything, in hopes that they could find answers to questions that they would otherwise be embarrassed to ask in front of the class. I collect the paper at the end of class, and return with answers the following week. They have asked some great questions, such as "what is the origin of AIDS", "are there condoms that have the virus in them", or "if you use ARVs does it cure HIV/AIDS?" I think they've gotten to know me more and are warming up to me. They don't get opportunities to talk about these things with anyone else, not even from their teachers or parents. So they seem to be happy to have someone to just give them this information without having to feel akward about it.
I also started a women's group in the village. We will learn about good chicken raising practices, as well as business skills. The gender gap is so huge here and I hope that the group will allow these women to gain knowledge and skills about chicken raising so that they can run successful businesses and improve their incomes. One day, I went to the farm with Mama Swaum and we met this women who was telling Mama Swaum about a problem she was having. I couldn't understand it entirely at the time, but later she told me that this woman was telling her about how her husband left her for another wife in another village. He took all the money and everything with him, except for her and their 3 kids. Now this woman has no money, her baby is sick and needs to go to the hospital, and her oldest son who was able to defy he odds and pass the test to go to Secondary school, now has no money for shoes and school fees. This situation was such a good example to me of how the gender roles here feed into so many other problems that are facing the community. It's a hard reality to face, but it made me that much more motivated to work hard to start this women's group, as well as causing me to appreciate the fact that I'm an American woman.
I'm also currently starting a water project in the village, which is stressing me out more than anything. After returning from Morogoro, water was the number one project that the village expressed to me as a priority. The hand dug wells that are there now dry up in the dry season and water is extremely scarce for the 6,000 Nanjota residents, not to mention the innumerable people that travel to my village from other villages to get water here. I met with the water committe, and went to the District Water Engineer's office with Dickson. We received an estimated price of 12 million shillings to build a water pump in the village. After hearing that numer all of my hopes of building a well were lost. But the village said that they would be able to raise 4 million from villager contribution and I am talking with the District more about helping us out with the total cost. Soon, I will begin to work with the water committee to write a grant proposal to Peace Corps, which will only be a request and there is no guarantee. We'll see how it turns out. It is a huge project and I don't expect it to be completed overnight, but the village is definitely motivated to make it a reality, which is a good sign.
During my free time, I've been visiting with my friends Mwanahawa and Mama Swaum. The other day I went with Mama Swaum to visit her husband's much older sister. We were sitting with her and another younger woman. I don't know how we started talking about this, but the older woman lifted up her shirt and foldd her skirt down to reveal two beaded necklace-like belts around her hips. She told me they were called "shaanga" and asked if I knew about them. I said that I had seen them, but that I didn't understand. If you wanted to dress up and wear beads, why not wear them on your wrist or neck so that people could see them? She told me that nobody needed to see her shaanga except for her husband. Oh ok, now I understood. She was only wearing two, but told me that some women even wear 30 or 40 at a time. I as shocked and asked "How do they walk around?!" They all erupted with laughter. Then I asked Mama Swaum if she wore them for Baba Razak. She blushed and giggled and replied yes. "well how many do YOU wear?" I asked. She replied "Ishirini!" which means 20, and they all started laughing more. Then the older woman asked me if I would wear them. I said "Ya, of course, why not?" She asked me how many I would wear. I jokingly replied, "Hamsini!" or "50!" They began to roll around on the dirty ground laughing. I told them they would see e tomorrow. I would wear my best kanga and they would know I was wearing shaanga because I would be hobbling around. Then I started to walk to show them how I would be strained with the wait of all my shaanga hidden underneath my African garments...I guess I wouldn't be opposed to wearing a few shaanga once in a while. I mean I am in Tanzania now. I don't know that I'm talented enough to pull of 50 of them though.
Now, I'm getting ready for a trip up to Moshi this week for the Kilimanjaro Marathon. No, I will not be running it, but I will be participating in the 5K Fun Run and cheering on my crazy fellow volunteers who are choosing to run the 42 kilometers of the full marathon. It will be a fun trip and I'm excited to see another part of the country as well as some of my friends again. There's even talk of foods such as pizza and cheesecake up there, so it's gotta be a good time! I will report back afterwards to let you all know about it. But I think that's it for now. I'll try to get that tarantula picture posted soon too. Hope you don't have any nightmares!