Goodbye Arusha Tanzania! Its been real great! See you soon Dar Es Salaam! Can't wait to reconnect with you Addis Ababa! Can't wait to meet you Rome! Washington DC, I'm excited!
TORONTO I'M COMING HOME!!!!
5 more sleeps :)
Friday 19 August 2011
I'm Coming Home! (5 more sleeps)
Tonight is my last night in Arusha at my homestay, and its likely the last time I'll have reliable internet. I still won't be home for five more sleeps but I just thought I'd make this post now.
Goodbye Arusha Tanzania! Its been real great! See you soon Dar Es Salaam! Can't wait to reconnect with you Addis Ababa! Can't wait to meet you Rome! Washington DC, I'm excited!
TORONTO I'M COMING HOME!!!!
Goodbye Arusha Tanzania! Its been real great! See you soon Dar Es Salaam! Can't wait to reconnect with you Addis Ababa! Can't wait to meet you Rome! Washington DC, I'm excited!
TORONTO I'M COMING HOME!!!!
Tuesday 16 August 2011
FACEBOOK PICTURES!
I've had some good internet tonight, so I've been able to upload some pictures on Facebook! Its an exciting day!!!
-matt
-matt
Friday 12 August 2011
Happy International Youth Day!
Hi Everyone!
One of the main goals of our project here in Arusha was to organize an International Youth Day event, and today it happened!
The plan: We got a great venue (the Via Via Cafe) which has some great outdoor space and a stage! We invited a number of local NGOs who focus on youth to come and put up a booth. We also had our four Small Business Development students come and discuss the business plans we'd developed with them. We had some students of the Umoja Centre prepare poetry and Skits and all of the students were going to sing 'I can go the Distance' from Disney's Hercules and 'Lean on Me'.
It was off to a slightly rocky start. We aimed to start at 1pm, however, there were VERY few people who appeared to be interested. We tried some different advertisement tactics (handing out fliers to people walking down the street and trying to convince them to come), however it didn't seem to be working. We were all very worried.
After an hour of waiting for people to arrive, we decided that the show must go on, and people would come whenever they did. Once the event started it quickly picked up steam. At first there were 10 audience members and by the end there were approximately 150!!! It was a HUGELY successful event!
I had two favourite parts.
The first was a poem that was read, titled Change Your World. It was written by an incredibly talented Umoja Student. I had heard his poetry a week before and asked him to write a poem for Youth Day. Earlier in the week, I asked him if I could hear it and read it, and see if he needed help with his English. He told me it wasn't finished and he wasn't happy with it. He read it to me, and I'm not a huge fan of poetry, but this was fantastic. It gave me goosebumps how great it was! I'll get a copy of it and post it to my blog later this week, I still can't get over how great it was. Especially considering that English is his SECOND language.
The second was a rap that some youth had decided to present. The rap was in Swahili, so unfortunately the majority of its lyrics were lost on me, but the majority of the crowd went WILD. This was the turning moment in our day, things went from kind of slow and normal to OFF THE WALL AWESOME. The rap was given by two youth (from Initiative for Youth Org) however within about 30 seconds, 3 other students jumped in to help out. They put on an impromptu dance and fought for control of the microphone. The enthusiasm to entertain was my favourite part.
We also learned a few things for planning an event here in Arusha, Tanzania:
1 - Tell people you're starting an hour earlier than you actually are. Its not nice to lie, but they'll probably be late anyways...just not as late!
2 - Attract people with music! Everyone here is so curious and when they hear or see something out of the ordinary they usually check it out (which is probably why everyone is late all the time). By playing loud music people will seek out the source and attend the event.
3 - Embrace Spontaneity. Impromptu dance party? Sure!
Our International Youth Day event was a HUGE success. We attracted a huge crowd, and next year YCI can hopefully attract an even bigger one! Maybe enough people to fill the stadium!
I'm so happy to have this event be my last real task here in Arusha. It was a huge success and will be one of my favourite memories of Africa!
Again, I have about 1200 pictures and videos to share, however with the Internet being so awful, they'll come at a later date!
Kwa Heri!
-Matt
One of the main goals of our project here in Arusha was to organize an International Youth Day event, and today it happened!
The plan: We got a great venue (the Via Via Cafe) which has some great outdoor space and a stage! We invited a number of local NGOs who focus on youth to come and put up a booth. We also had our four Small Business Development students come and discuss the business plans we'd developed with them. We had some students of the Umoja Centre prepare poetry and Skits and all of the students were going to sing 'I can go the Distance' from Disney's Hercules and 'Lean on Me'.
It was off to a slightly rocky start. We aimed to start at 1pm, however, there were VERY few people who appeared to be interested. We tried some different advertisement tactics (handing out fliers to people walking down the street and trying to convince them to come), however it didn't seem to be working. We were all very worried.
After an hour of waiting for people to arrive, we decided that the show must go on, and people would come whenever they did. Once the event started it quickly picked up steam. At first there were 10 audience members and by the end there were approximately 150!!! It was a HUGELY successful event!
I had two favourite parts.
The first was a poem that was read, titled Change Your World. It was written by an incredibly talented Umoja Student. I had heard his poetry a week before and asked him to write a poem for Youth Day. Earlier in the week, I asked him if I could hear it and read it, and see if he needed help with his English. He told me it wasn't finished and he wasn't happy with it. He read it to me, and I'm not a huge fan of poetry, but this was fantastic. It gave me goosebumps how great it was! I'll get a copy of it and post it to my blog later this week, I still can't get over how great it was. Especially considering that English is his SECOND language.
The second was a rap that some youth had decided to present. The rap was in Swahili, so unfortunately the majority of its lyrics were lost on me, but the majority of the crowd went WILD. This was the turning moment in our day, things went from kind of slow and normal to OFF THE WALL AWESOME. The rap was given by two youth (from Initiative for Youth Org) however within about 30 seconds, 3 other students jumped in to help out. They put on an impromptu dance and fought for control of the microphone. The enthusiasm to entertain was my favourite part.
We also learned a few things for planning an event here in Arusha, Tanzania:
1 - Tell people you're starting an hour earlier than you actually are. Its not nice to lie, but they'll probably be late anyways...just not as late!
2 - Attract people with music! Everyone here is so curious and when they hear or see something out of the ordinary they usually check it out (which is probably why everyone is late all the time). By playing loud music people will seek out the source and attend the event.
3 - Embrace Spontaneity. Impromptu dance party? Sure!
Our International Youth Day event was a HUGE success. We attracted a huge crowd, and next year YCI can hopefully attract an even bigger one! Maybe enough people to fill the stadium!
I'm so happy to have this event be my last real task here in Arusha. It was a huge success and will be one of my favourite memories of Africa!
Again, I have about 1200 pictures and videos to share, however with the Internet being so awful, they'll come at a later date!
Kwa Heri!
-Matt
Monday 8 August 2011
A Wicked Awesome Weekend
Hey Everyone!
I just had another fantastic weekend here in Arusha! Unfortunately the internet isn't strong enough to update with pictures, so you'll just have to use your imaginations!
The project went SO well! We got off to a bit of a rocky start, but the students attracted a crowd of 30-40 people and handed out all of their swahili flyers. It was really nice to see it all come together and how well the students did! I was blown away by how enthusiastic they were to this work, especially given that it was a weekend.
On Sunday we went to church. Now back at home, I never go to church but I thought that it might be interesting...and it was!
We walked into a large, humble building that was full of benches. When we arrived we were a little upset, as there were two people (the pastor and one paritioner). We felt a little uncomfortable, standing out like sore thumbs. We sat down and listened to the pair singing their hymns. Within 20 minutes there were probably 15 more people (and by the end about 25). We did not understand a whole lot, as most of the mass was in Swahili.
Somethings that I really enjoyed:
Until next time!
-Matt
I just had another fantastic weekend here in Arusha! Unfortunately the internet isn't strong enough to update with pictures, so you'll just have to use your imaginations!
This weekend was a big one for the Umoja students! The students carried out the community projects that they had been planning for the last two weeks!
We split the students into four groups, based on geographic location, and each group chose an issue which faced their community. The students then planned and developed a programme which would reach a number of their community members and educated them. Three of the four groups decided that their communities would benefit from some malaria education. The group that I was assisting chose ‘Drug and Alcohol Abuse’. The students developed a handout in both English and Swahili to distribute around the community. The students also wrote a small sketch which not only educates but entertains.
Now I’m not going to lie, I was INCREDIBLY nervous about this event. With some translation errors (and MAJOR typos on my end) the handouts were printed at the very last minute. When we were in the first planning stages, we all agreed that the students would put on a play that was 10-15 minutes long and do it both in English and in Swahili. The storyline for the play was written immediately, and when the students practiced their skit in English the first time it was all of about 45 seconds. Now I was imagining a worst case scenerio, that we’d put all this effort into co-ordinating a project and it would culminate in a 2 minute presentation.
A couple of days ago, I asked the students to practice their play again for me, so that I could see if they had rehearsed their lines. They told me that they had discussed among themselves and thought it would be more effective and useful if the play was done ONLY in Swahili. They would be more comfortable performing and they would reach out to more members of their community. When they practiced their skit in Swahili, all of my worries quickly vanished and I knew that their project would be successful. The skit went from being all of 45 seconds to 20 minutes, with seven separate acts! Speaking in Swahili allowed the students to relax, really get into their roles and put on a very entertaining show full of tears and laughter and all wrapped up in an excellent message.
The storyline is as follows:
In a village there lives a family of four; a mother, father and two daughters. One of the daughters is very respectful and hardworking. The other disobeys her parents and is lazy. In school the girls learn that alcohol and drugs are very bad for you and all of the negative things they can do to you. On their way to school one day the girls find themselves talking to a group of boys who invite them to drink alcohol and use drugs with them. The respectful/hardworking daughter says no, and goes to school. The disobedient/lazy daughter succumbs to the peer pressure and tries all sorts of drugs. The respectful/hardworking daughter does very well in school, and gets all “A”s on her report card. The disobedient/lazy daughter drops out of school, gets pregnant and catches HIV (a twist I wasn’t expecting). After finding out she is pregnant, her drug/alcohol abusing friends deny that any of them could be the father, and when she tells her parents her mother faints and is rushed to a hospital. The doctor in the hospital helps both the mother and the drug using daughter. The daughter realizes all of the mistakes she has made and promises to stop using drugs and to go back to school.
The project went SO well! We got off to a bit of a rocky start, but the students attracted a crowd of 30-40 people and handed out all of their swahili flyers. It was really nice to see it all come together and how well the students did! I was blown away by how enthusiastic they were to this work, especially given that it was a weekend.
On Sunday we went to church. Now back at home, I never go to church but I thought that it might be interesting...and it was!
We walked into a large, humble building that was full of benches. When we arrived we were a little upset, as there were two people (the pastor and one paritioner). We felt a little uncomfortable, standing out like sore thumbs. We sat down and listened to the pair singing their hymns. Within 20 minutes there were probably 15 more people (and by the end about 25). We did not understand a whole lot, as most of the mass was in Swahili.
Somethings that I really enjoyed:
- Mostly singing. The mass was 2 hours long, and there was singing for at least 1 hour and 20 minutes.
- Disorganized prayers. The pastor would ask everyone to pray, and everyone would pray however they liked. It was loud and chaotic and at first confusing. I was used to everyone reciting the same prayer at the same time, but this way was so much more genuine. Everyone spoke what was in their hearts and directly to God.
- Friendly Pastor and Paritioners. We were spoken to a lot in Swahili, which our friend translated for us. We were asked to introduce ourselves to everyone, and then after mass we had tea with the pastor.
- Singing and Dancing. If my church had as much singing and dancing I would probably enjoy it a lot more!
Until next time!
-Matt
Tuesday 2 August 2011
Halfway Update - Updated
Holy Crow!
It is absolutely crazy to think that I have already spent 3 weeks living here in Tanzania!
Its funny because time has both managed to creep AND fly by at the same time! Every day requires a considerable amount of effort to be productive. Here is a brief outline of a day in my life:
4:30am - Wake up from roosters crowing or music playing or a mosque blaring its prayers
4:35am - Try to go back to sleep. Lay in bed and snooze.
7:30am - Quit fighting it and get out of bed.
7:30am-8:30am - Grab some breakfast (usually bread and jam and/or peanut butter with some delicious chai), play Frisbee with a little friend of mine, brush my teeth, pack water and head out the door to go to work.
8:30am-9:00am - Walk to work. The walk is simple enough, just down on main road, but dodging animals, cars and people make it tricky!
9:00am-11:15am - Work in the office, normally without power and normally sharing the Internet modem with three other volunteers. You've really got to use your time wisely!
11:15am-12:00pm - Travel to the Umoja Centre, first a 15 minute walk through the busy downtown of Arusha, and then a 30-40 minute daladala ride to the Centre. ( I'm planning on doing an ENTIRE post about daladalas soon , they're fantastic and hilariously decorated!)
12:00pm-12:30pm - Eat lunch! I always look forward to this part! Beans and Rice and Ugali! Yum!
12:30pm-2:30pm - Planning time. Getting ready for class and briefing the other volunteers on what your lessons entail, so they can help you out during your lesson.
2:30pm-4:00pm - Teach a lesson in English, which is your first language but is everyone elses second language. Its really difficult to find the right balance of using the appropriate terminology and simplifying the material, and ensuring that your audience is still paying attention!
4:00pm-5:30pm - Travel home! Daladala ride and a 40 minute walk, this walk home is ALWAYS more busy than the walk in the morning.
5:30pm-9:00pm - Hang around home, chat with the family and eat dinner. I usually 'shower' during this time too (shower meaning that I bathe out of a bucket..its tricky, but I've mastered it).
9:00pm-10:00pm - Get ready for bed, making sure my mosquito net is correctly hung so that I don't get any bites during the night.
And there you have it, a very simple blow by blow of my day. Every day seems like it takes forever to get anything done, and then suddenly its August!!
So far, I'd say that my experience here has been extremely positive and I've learned SO much. Living with a host family is very nice. I've been getting so much more of a cultural experience, than I would have if I had stayed in a hostel. I also get spoiled every night with avocado custard (those of you who thought I'd lose weight while here were VERY wrong).
Last weekend was my favourite weekend yet. On Friday night the other volunteers and myself visited the Njiro Mall, which has a movie theatre. We enjoyed their delicious food court (which is just a shared eating space and 5 different restaurants bombard you with 5 different menus). Then we watched the Adjustment Bureau. The experience reminded us all of being back in the Western world, and it was very nice.
On Saturday, we did some community visits with some of the students from the Umoja Centre. We met with the students to see where they were going to do their 'community development projects'. What we thought was going to be a normal day, turned out to be my favourite experience yet. Sureet and I met up with 6 of the Umoja students, who toured us around Arusha and brought us to their homes. We saw where they lived and met their families and walked around their neighbourhoods. The whole time we were able to really connect with the students, who were so proud to bring us around. One thing that is extremely normal here is same-sex hand holding, so for about 4 hours on Saturday I was holding hands with one of three 20 something year old students. At first I was slightly uncomfortable, but I got used to it quickly enough!
On Sunday, the other volunteers and I organized another safari adventure. This time we visited the Ngorongoro Crater park. The Crater is about 600 meters deep and 20 km in diameter. Inside this crater live pretty much EVERY animal you can imagine (except for giraffes unfortunately). We saw elephants, zebra, gazelle, wildebeest, monkeys, lions, cheetahs, hyenas, rhinos and hippos and many more that I can't remember! I took dozens and dozens of photos, however they all failed to capture the awesomeness of this place.
With three weeks left, we still have a lot of work to do! This weekend our students are going into their communities to do their 'Community Development Projects'. We still have 3 weeks of teaching at the Umoja Centre. Youth day is still coming up on August 12, and we have some great events planned for that. And we're continuing to work on some Small Business Development plans with some Umoja graduates. Woah, that seems daunting when its listed out like that!!
Alright off to do some homework before bed!!
Kwaheri!
-Matt
It is absolutely crazy to think that I have already spent 3 weeks living here in Tanzania!
Its funny because time has both managed to creep AND fly by at the same time! Every day requires a considerable amount of effort to be productive. Here is a brief outline of a day in my life:
4:30am - Wake up from roosters crowing or music playing or a mosque blaring its prayers
4:35am - Try to go back to sleep. Lay in bed and snooze.
7:30am - Quit fighting it and get out of bed.
7:30am-8:30am - Grab some breakfast (usually bread and jam and/or peanut butter with some delicious chai), play Frisbee with a little friend of mine, brush my teeth, pack water and head out the door to go to work.
8:30am-9:00am - Walk to work. The walk is simple enough, just down on main road, but dodging animals, cars and people make it tricky!
9:00am-11:15am - Work in the office, normally without power and normally sharing the Internet modem with three other volunteers. You've really got to use your time wisely!
11:15am-12:00pm - Travel to the Umoja Centre, first a 15 minute walk through the busy downtown of Arusha, and then a 30-40 minute daladala ride to the Centre. ( I'm planning on doing an ENTIRE post about daladalas soon , they're fantastic and hilariously decorated!)
12:00pm-12:30pm - Eat lunch! I always look forward to this part! Beans and Rice and Ugali! Yum!
12:30pm-2:30pm - Planning time. Getting ready for class and briefing the other volunteers on what your lessons entail, so they can help you out during your lesson.
2:30pm-4:00pm - Teach a lesson in English, which is your first language but is everyone elses second language. Its really difficult to find the right balance of using the appropriate terminology and simplifying the material, and ensuring that your audience is still paying attention!
4:00pm-5:30pm - Travel home! Daladala ride and a 40 minute walk, this walk home is ALWAYS more busy than the walk in the morning.
5:30pm-9:00pm - Hang around home, chat with the family and eat dinner. I usually 'shower' during this time too (shower meaning that I bathe out of a bucket..its tricky, but I've mastered it).
9:00pm-10:00pm - Get ready for bed, making sure my mosquito net is correctly hung so that I don't get any bites during the night.
And there you have it, a very simple blow by blow of my day. Every day seems like it takes forever to get anything done, and then suddenly its August!!
So far, I'd say that my experience here has been extremely positive and I've learned SO much. Living with a host family is very nice. I've been getting so much more of a cultural experience, than I would have if I had stayed in a hostel. I also get spoiled every night with avocado custard (those of you who thought I'd lose weight while here were VERY wrong).
Last weekend was my favourite weekend yet. On Friday night the other volunteers and myself visited the Njiro Mall, which has a movie theatre. We enjoyed their delicious food court (which is just a shared eating space and 5 different restaurants bombard you with 5 different menus). Then we watched the Adjustment Bureau. The experience reminded us all of being back in the Western world, and it was very nice.
On Saturday, we did some community visits with some of the students from the Umoja Centre. We met with the students to see where they were going to do their 'community development projects'. What we thought was going to be a normal day, turned out to be my favourite experience yet. Sureet and I met up with 6 of the Umoja students, who toured us around Arusha and brought us to their homes. We saw where they lived and met their families and walked around their neighbourhoods. The whole time we were able to really connect with the students, who were so proud to bring us around. One thing that is extremely normal here is same-sex hand holding, so for about 4 hours on Saturday I was holding hands with one of three 20 something year old students. At first I was slightly uncomfortable, but I got used to it quickly enough!
On Sunday, the other volunteers and I organized another safari adventure. This time we visited the Ngorongoro Crater park. The Crater is about 600 meters deep and 20 km in diameter. Inside this crater live pretty much EVERY animal you can imagine (except for giraffes unfortunately). We saw elephants, zebra, gazelle, wildebeest, monkeys, lions, cheetahs, hyenas, rhinos and hippos and many more that I can't remember! I took dozens and dozens of photos, however they all failed to capture the awesomeness of this place.
 |
| Marilyn and I dressed in some traditional clothing to go to a faimly party. I could probably always dress like this right? |
 |
| Me in Ngorongoro Crater. Pretty excited! |
 |
| This monkey was one of the closest animals that we came across on our safari. It wouldn't be a blog post without pointing out his blue testicles. Poor guy. |
 |
| A herd of wildebeest and zebra in the Ngorongoro Crater. |
 |
| This elephant we came across before we even got to the crater. SO awesome! This was a great TIA moment. |
With three weeks left, we still have a lot of work to do! This weekend our students are going into their communities to do their 'Community Development Projects'. We still have 3 weeks of teaching at the Umoja Centre. Youth day is still coming up on August 12, and we have some great events planned for that. And we're continuing to work on some Small Business Development plans with some Umoja graduates. Woah, that seems daunting when its listed out like that!!
Alright off to do some homework before bed!!
Kwaheri!
-Matt
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