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!

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!

So there you have it! My weekend.  It was awesome!  I'm loving my time here and I can't believe that in 2 weeks I'll be going home (I'm quite excited for that too!).

Until next time!
-Matt