Finishing the First Week

It is a chilly Monday night in Arusha, Tanzania and the AAI team members are all passed out.  Today was our first day of a five-day arts intensive at the International School of Moshi in Arusha.  The students in today’s workshop are children of UN workers and safari company owners.  They pay to attend ISM and get a wonderful education.  Our workshop is taking over for the week, so we have the students from 8:30am to 3:30pm everyday.  They are split into three groups and see each division (dance, music, and drama) for an hour in the morning, and then have a long rehearsal in the afternoon in preparation for a collaborative performance on Friday.  The students today were super focused and willing to take risks.  Even the teachers participated in our dance classes and allowed themselves to look foolish to get the kids to feel comfortable.  It is a great environment to teach in and we can already see kids starting to come out of their shells.  Teaching three classes and hosting a three-hour rehearsal, however, seems to be taking a toll on AAI’s bodies and our voices.  Sleep will be, or already has been, welcomed tonight.

The days since I wrote last have all blurred together in my memory.  I just spent ten minutes talking to my teammates about what we did Friday – Sunday because I couldn’t remember.  They set me straight.

Thursday a small group of us visited the ISM campus.  We got a feel for the school and were introduced to all of the teachers.  It was lucky to have been to the campus before we started teaching this week because we were able to see the ten keyboards, five drums, and several other musical instruments that these kids get to work with everyday.  Seeing this made the team, especially the music teachers, rework our lesson plans to accommodate for the wonderful arts curriculum at ISM.

After ISM the whole team went to ViaVia, a local restaurant, to meet with Caroline who runs the Umoja Youth Empowerment Center.  We will be running a two-week workshop there starting next Monday.

Friday I wasn’t planned to teach at all, but I was able to tag long with a group that went to MaruView Primary School.  A local man, named Papa Juma, owns a big plot of land that all of the neighborhood kids used to play on.  He decided that since they are around anyway, he might as well teach them.  He converted one of his old chicken coops into two classrooms and hired two teachers.  Once his school was a little more established he asked the Tanzanian government for financial support, but because his classrooms were too small they denied him any help.  He made room for two more classrooms, built a small playground, and got his funding!  He now has 50 students, all under the age of 5 that come to his school everyday to eat breakfast, take classes in Swahili, English, and Math, and eat lunch.  Everyday Friday they have a physical education type class in a field down the hill from the school.  This is where we come in!  For our entire stay in Arusha half of our team will spend Friday morning in a muddy field working on basic arts activities with these children.  We encourage them to use English, and try to get them to gain a greater awareness of their bodies.  These students are literally the cutest kids ever.  They all look up at your with big eyes wanting you to pick them up.  If you give in then you are a goner because everyone wants a turn.  When we lined them up to take them down to the field we had such order, but the second we got onto the street the kids took off for the field without listening to a word we were saying.  They all live nearby so letting them run free isn’t too scary, so says their regular teachers.  The field that we worked in was very spacious, but it also served as a popular walkway for locals.  At one point I looked over and a man was walking through the field, presumably to work, with a machete in hand.  Comforting!  The kids, however, took no notice to the passersbys and were very enthused about all of the games we played and song we sang.

Friday night most of the group went to a placed called The Mango Tree.  We went with two girls who are staying the hostel, one from England and the other from Israel.  Tamar, the Israeli, lives just twenty minutes away from my friend, Yossi, who lives in Haifa.  We will try to make plans to meet up while I am there.  After drinks and popcorn at The Mango Tree we went home and passed out.

Saturday we had planned to go to the waterfalls, but because of poor weather, we went to a place called Shenga instead.  Shenga is an establishment that hires deaf and blind residents to blow glass, make aluminum utensils, and sew dresses to sell at a store in town.  When we got there we were given a tour of the facility that landed us in the shop that sells their goods.  They make amazing glass beads and bowls, along with necklaces and leather bags.  Just outside of the shop is a restaurant with a big open space dotted with sofas and tables.  We snagged a set of benches in the sun and ordered coffee and samosas.  I think that we spent almost three hours there just reading and lounging around.  It was definitely a Mzungu hangout, but it was really beautiful.

I am getting more used to the pace of Arusha.  If you tell someone to meet you at 8:30, you won’t see him or her until 9.  I am also getting more comfortable with Swahili, or Kiswahili as they say.  A little lesson? Sure.

Hello – Mambo

How are you – Habari

Good – Nsuri

(Very) Sorry – Pole (sana)

See you tomorrow – Kasho

Friend – Rafiki (yes, like the monkey)

Thank you (very much) – Asante (sana)

Welcome – Karibu

No – Hapana

Bye – Kwaheri

My spelling is all off, I am sure, but you get the gist. There are other ideas that I am slowly catching onto.  No shorts, or women will hiss at you.  Don’t look anyone in the eye near clocktower or else they will follow you to where ever you are going, trying to sell you whatever they can.  The Masai market is a scary place, but if you know how to haggle you can get a “Rafiki price.” 

I promised myself I would be asleep by 10, but it is already 10:37.  Asante sana for reading!!