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Friday Apr 27, 2007

kijijini

ok, well as usual I've left it ridiculously late in my internet time to try and write.

But you'll be pleased to know, after all the seemingly pointless entries im finally doing it!! I've been in village for about 2 and 1/2 weeks, and popped into town for a day or two, to sort out some issues. Its going really well. Me and my tanzanian Partner are teaching 12 primary school lessons and 6 secondary school lessons a week, all in kiswahilli. Since arriving in UKUMBI my swahili has improved massivly, mostly because it has to, rather than choice.the local language is ki-hehe, which im not even attempting to learn at the moment, i want to be capable in swahili first. We have held one community seminar, which went well, with about 20 out of school youth attending to learn about haki wa wanawake (womens rights)

The school lessons are going well, Happy does most of the teaching, and I am the not-so-glamourous assistant that askes questions and looks stupid in the corner. but its getting better,  its just language thats holding me back. Secondary school is rather daunting, with the majority of students being the same age, if not older than me. some are 24/25, and the 19yr old mzungu is stood up the front telling them about sex and similar!

Afraid its got to be really short. hopefully can be more detailed next time about the village and the work we are doing. but have to go and sort out a kerosine lamp issue....i.e; the lack of them!
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Posted by Emily ( 12:59 PM )
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Wednesday Apr 11, 2007

Go Mario

Life is fantastic as ever. Somehow no one has realised yet that I'm just some idiot pretending to be a journalist, so I've got to do more fun things like review a tour company – which meant a free boat trip, yaay. We saw a load of penguins (which sounds bizarre but we are actually quite close to the Antarctic, if you think about it...) and dolphins jumped out of the water so close to the boat that I could have reached out and touched them.

It was independence day in March, and me and Marcel wandered along to the ceremonies to see what was happening. We'd been hanging around, edging to the front of the crowd, when a tall, imposing man in a dark suit and shades (with an impressive collection of gold teeth) approached us. He looked important and was wearing an earpiece with a wire, so I guessed he was in charge of security. He walked straight up to us and said, “The Inspector says you may join him.” Only then did I realise that it was our mate Nicky, a policeman, just looking classier than usual. 'The Inspector' is Mr Iikuyu, a friendly man who we go to pester for stories on crimes every now and then.

So, we got to go into the VIP section, which was cool as we got much better pictures of the wee kiddies dancing and old people doing speeches. Another friend of ours from the town council came and grabbed me just before the guest of honour (some government minister woman...) arrived. In what I think was a subtly concealed attempt to make Lüderitz seem multicultural, he wanted me to be part of the welcoming group for her. I was almost the only white person there so it was quite convenient that he knew me! This meant I got to pin a carnation to a very important woman, which was all quite exciting despite the fact I was one of the few who had no idea who she was.

Our host, Lindsay, gave us a load of little Easter eggs to give to the kids at the creche, which was sweet of her. The kids looked overjoyed when we handed them out, and most of the younger ones promptly started munching on the brightly coloured wrappers. When I showed one little girl that the idea is you open it to eat the chocolate inside, the expression on her face was of sheer amazement. Most of the older kids saved theirs in their pockets, despite my attempts to convey that in 30 degree heat they would be liquid quite soon. But when you think about it, it's not like they'll get any other Easter eggs, so you can see why they'd want to treasure them.

I was grinning at one insanely cute little boy's expression as he munched away on the chocolate; he saw me looking and smiled back, then held out his hand to offer me some. It's a small gesture, but I think it's damn well inspirational. This 3-year old boy lives in a shack the size of a single room with his entire family; he was wearing an odd collection of dusty, hand-me-down clothes, and too-small shoes with the ends cut off. It couldn't be more obvious that I have more than him. But he offered what he had to me. Why would you do that? I can't quite put into words what I mean, but come on, how many English 3-year olds do you know that are that selfless?

Well, my point is that I was impressed. I thought I'd take this opportunity to show Mario as an example that perhaps not all humans are inherently selfish and greedy. So, go Mario!

Posted by Lucy Hayes ( 7:03 PM )
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