I Swear.....

Today, August 19th 2009, is Swearing in Day for TZ 2009 PCV's (Peace Corps Volunteers). Since I am writing this entry prior to swearing in I will be sure to give a follow up entry with the details. I want to thank all of you who helped me get through training. Thank you for your late night phone calls, texts, packages, emails, and hand written letters. The last two months have been crazy! I had no idea what training consisted of prior to joining the Peace Corps, which is probably a good thing...LOL. Although I have not seen a mirror in weeks, haven't washed my hair since I’ve been here, often didn’t shower everyday, had diarrhea for a week straight and stopped eating most of the food, I don’t regret a minute of it. I've learned how to communicate properly with Tanzanians and I’ve gained a great deal of respect their culture. There were times when I questioned what I was doing, but I never questioned why I was doing it. Even when you stumble over words in Swahili and sound like a 4 year old child it means so much to an Elderly villager, or an out of school youth that you have attempted to learn their way of life. Training has also taught me that each volunteer has something different to offer. While I may not be the most athletically inclined volunteer, or I may not pick up the language as quick as others, I may not even be able to help a farmer improve his crops. What I can offer is an example of what a young woman can grow up to be. She can be strong willed, educated, pretty, encouraging, supportive, helpful, independent, outgoing and most of all happy. That's my contribution and so far I haven’t had any complaints :-)

This coming Friday we will be disbursing to our new sites. I will be living in a village in the Mbarali district of the Mbeya region. I am about 8 Kilometers from my banking town, which is also where i will be doing most of my shopping. I am about 1 1/2 hours away from Mbeya town which i heard was great. I will be visiting there very soon. My village has about 3,000 people to whom i will be teaching and assisting with various projects. The village has given me a brand new home with 2 bedrooms and a private court yard, separate storage area, and a inside choo. There is an area for me to plant my own garden and grow fresh veggies, yummy! Not exactly the hut I was tricked into thinking i would have :-) Although i have to say it's weird that i had to travel all the way to Africa to get a home of my own built from the ground, they didn’t run my credit, ask about my student loans, and i didn’t even have to give an arm or a leg?.?.? Feel free to send me some pics from the ikea catalog so i can get some furniture built. The carpentry here is excellent, if you give them a picture they can make anything. Beds, dressers, bookshelves, desks, cabinets, anything. Some of the Volunteers have even asked the carpenters to make wooden penis' to use during life skills courses so that there is a model to demonstrate how to properly put on and remove a condom.
Any way, I will be teaching HIV/Aids awareness and life skills to secondary school students while also working at the clinic with patients teaching birth control, HIV/aids awareness, malaria prevention, and helping the clinic with data management. I will be giving special attention to new and expecting mothers, women and young girls. There is a true need for girl power here in TZ. Some upcoming events include conducting a World HIV/Aids day on Dec 1st, Tree Planting projects, and a possible Permaculture garden at the clinic which can help teach good nutrition. I am so excited to actually get started with my villagers and lend a hand where I am needed.

Until later....Shani C.