Host Familes

If someone asked me what I thought the most important aspect of this program was, I would have no hesitation in answering, "The host families."  The teaching that John and Megan give, the many excursions, and the demands of the internships are all crucial to a complete academic and in depth encounter with Africa, but it is their host families who each and every day teach the students about the real life of the people here in Tanzania.  Too often, we Americans have kept the Sunday School images we got of poor Africans living in mud huts in remote villages--and that is still true for many Africans--but more and more people are migrating into urban areas and pushing into middle class.  In Arusha, a city of perhaps 400,000, the professional and business groups are growing swiftly, as more children have opportunities to gain higher levels of education.  So, the six families with whom our students stay all have many modern conveniences and are almost as tied to computers and cell phones as we are.  The fathers are employed a variety of profession, from a safari operator to an official in the East African community, and some of the mothers are also employed as teachers or office workers. All the families have their children enrolled in private English-medium schools.

During January, adapting and fitting into a host family is a tremendous challenge for many of the students. The food is very different.  The mealtimes are strange:  Breakfast may be as early as 6:00; lunch, which is the largest meal of the day, is around 1:30; and the evening meal, which is very light, comes perhaps as late as 8:00.  Having "tea" in mid-morning is essential if one wants to make it through the day.  Additionally, there are people, people, people in and out of the houses.  Many families have young relatives staying with them in order to attend better schools or work in a good job.  It's hard for our students to sort out who is who and how the people in a household are connected to each other.  And, of course, so many people means that a house is almost never quiet except at night, and if students try to slip away for privacy in their rooms, it comes across as anti-social or rude. While there are western style toilets in many of the homes, some homes have only eastern or squat toilets, which also demands learning new skills.  (The direction one should face is a big concern at first.) Now, near the end of March, some of the students have admitted that in January they fantasized about pulling out of the program and returning to Whitworth.  Fortunately, they have all stuck with us.

During February, our month on Zanzibar, all the host families were Muslim, and in some households there were only women.  These placements were made through the Swahili program at the State University of Zanzibar (SUZA), so all of the homes were close to the school, either in or near Stone Town.  The students liked the proximity to both their classes and the lures of Stone Town, but they never became as integrated into these families, many of whom assist in hosting group after group of foreign students.  Our students were just more wagani (foreigners) who would be around only for a month.  In contrast, John and I have been incredibly fortunate that the family with whom we stayed both in 2012 and again this year had never hosted wagani before, and we all became attached to each other very quickly.

When we returned to Arusha at the beginning of this month, the students were looking forward to returning to the same families they had been with in January, and most felt that it was like returning home in many ways.  These were the babas, mamas, and children they already knew and the houses they had become comfortable in.  I always smile when I hear the students say "my baba," or  "mama."  They have bonded with the children in their families, and they have usually figured out that the young man staying with the family, too, is the cousin of baba's brother's wife.  So, this coming Saturday, when the students leave Arusha for good, there may be tears.

Students with some family members

This past Saturday, however, was a time of celebration.  The staff here at Kundayo catered a lovely Host Family Appreciation Dinner for our group, and all the host families came to enjoy the evening with all of us.  The stated time for the dinner was 6:30 p.m. but, true to African time, few showed up much before 8:00.   Students sat with their families, and I wandered around trying to take pictures of those at the various tables, but flash photography of dark faces does not work well.  Some of the girls were wearing new dresses that their mamas had had sewn for them, so we had a mini-fashion show.  After dinner, John made an official speech thanking the families.  Megan spoke a bit in Swahili. And, then one of the students, Jax, gave a speech she had prepared in Swahili.  If one judged by crowd response, Jax's was the best of the three speeches.  Then, John presented certificates of appreciation to all the families and the evening wound down.

Amaya provided cell phone light so Jax could read her speech.

I could end by saying what we children always wrote in our Grandma Lehman's guestbook: "A good time was had by all."  That is certainly true, but I hope, too, it was an evening that will long be remembered and have an enduring influence on the attitudes and feelings we have for others who at first may seem so different and unknowable but in time can become good friends.

Fashion models