Students, January 20, 2014

There was a sizzling undercurrent of anticipation this morning, as it would be the first time that the the students reassembled after a weekend with their host families, and we all wanted to hear what the students would say about their experiences. During the morning class time, each student had an opportunity to report on their experiences from Friday evening through Sunday. Several of the students were taken on a very scenic hike lead by a young trained botanist who pointed out and explained the flora along the way.  This group saw lots of wild monkeys and ended up at a beautiful waterfall.  Other students attended Pentecostal church services where the music was loud, repetitive, and sometimes lip-synced, and praying and speaking in tongues went on for 3 hours, which is actually a fairly short service for Pentecostals. One host family did not attend church, which is rare in Tanzania.  All the students said their host families, especially their mamas, were trying to help them feel comfortable and serving them special food.  However, some of the "special" meals such as fish stew or fish soup weren't big hits with the students. And, even though there were some difficulties with maintaining personal space--a very non-African concept--everyone seemed to have coped quite well within a very different cultural context.  One student had been sick for a day, a misery which may have been exacerbated  by homesickness.  All in all, the weekend had been a good time of learning many new things about families, religion, the local area, and Swahili.

I've realized more and more that my experiences in Africa have been completely different from what these students have expected and will experience.  I was only 22 the first time we went to live in the Congo, and there was no internet or mobile phones, so we knew the only connection we would have with family and friends back in the States was via very slow and uncertain international mail service.  The one time we called home because a family member had died, we had to travel to a major city where there was a post office, hand in the number we wanted to call, and then wait until they made the connection for us and called us into a booth, where at last we could have our conversation. So, it's difficult for me to understand the frantic feelings some have if they cannot maintain constant internet connection with their parents of friends.  I want to be sympathetic, but another part of me wants to ask, "How can you find out who you really are and what you are actually capable of if you cannot be by yourself for more than a few hours?"  However, even I have gotten soft because I can connect via email, Facebook, and this blog now.  Still, I know that I would prefer the past times in Africa when each day was a challenge which I had to face all by myself.  That was daunting, but it was also a priceless honing of my sense of self.

                                                 (Relaxing between morning classes)

In the afternoon, I had a visit from Elizabeth, an amazing young Masai woman whom I had met in 2012.  She was the link through whom our group was able to visit and spend the night in a traditional Masai manyatta.  Most unusual was that she was also a student at the University of Dar es Salaam since the Masai are very traditional and do not support the education of their girls.  Only after I had returned home to the States did I find out that the reason she was free to take us to her father's home was because her sponsor of many years had been unable to pay the tuition for her final semester of her senior year, and she had not been able to attend her classes and would not be allowed to take her exams and graduate.  The thought that after years of struggling to get an education--against her father's wishes--she would be stopped with just one semester to go for her university degree was so unacceptable to me that I immediately wired her the money for her tuition.  She literally had only hours to make her payment so she could begin her exams the next week.  All semester, she had stood outside classrooms and then copied the notes other students had taken.  Miraculously, she not only passed her exams but also graduated with honors.  Now, she is employed by an NGO and doing field work with Masai to reduce the prevalence of female genital mutilation. This is one of the most rewarding investments I have ever made, and it came from a happenstance intersection of two very different lives.  Maybe I do believe in miracles.

While I was visiting with Elizabeth, the sky darkened and the clouds emptied.  It was pouring exactly as we think it should in the tropics, and the deluge slamming on the metal roof was deafening.  The students were off walking into town, so I hoped that they were finding shelters from the downpour.   However, when they returned, some were fairly wet and instead of being upset by that, they were rejoicing in being cooled and refreshed.  Others had been more sensible and stayed dry, but all were happy that the temperature had dropped.  I was very, very happy that the night was much cooler than previous nights and that sleeping was finally comfortable.