Blessed

"Because you have seen me, you have believed;                                                                               blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed"                                                               John 20:29

While yesterday I was reminiscing over everything I won’t miss about life here and all the things I can’t wait for in the western world, today’s blog is going to take a different approach. We were invited to dinner last night at the District Education Officer’s home, and his wife prepared a lovely meal for Sue, her sister and myself. We had the traditional bananas and beans, rice with vegetables in peanut sauce, avocado, chapatti, tomato salad, and fresh hot milk tea (my personal favorite!). After the delicious meal, we had a wonderful conversation about education, the schools here, Lyn’s work with leprosy and AIDS in Malawi and so on.

At one point, Mr. Nestory asked Sue and I if we could extend as volunteers here. This is a question I’ve been asked quite often recently from various people, and one that I always have to answer with a heavy heart. I say that I must return home to see my family, to begin the school year as a teacher in America, and to earn money since I’m only a volunteer here. All true things, but it doesn’t change the fact that when I leave my students wont have a math teacher. I can’t help but notice that teachers come in and out of their lives so frequently. Of the five government teachers that were assigned to our school, four reported, one left within the first weekend, and another has been gone for the past two weeks. That leaves two…not a very good average. And while most of the teacher’s at my school do go to their classes, it’s not uncommon for teachers to miss several periods a week, simply because they don’t feel like teaching. Yes, it’s a remote placement and the living situation is very difficult, but what message is being sent to the students? If the teacher’s don’t seem to care, then why should we? And now, here I am, another teacher come and gone….

At the same time, I’m reminded of the impression I’ve made while being here. I love my students to pieces, every last one of them. And I’ve poured my heart into trying to teach them mathematics. And when that doesn’t seem to work out, well then, at least I can brighten their day with another crazy story from life in Muyenzi! I wish I could stay. I wish I didn’t have to leave. I wish it didn't feel like I am abandoning their mathematics education. But realistically, this is another chapter that will end and we’ll begin anew in August. And that’s ok.

After explaining to Mr. Nestory why I can’t stay any longer as much as I would like to, he simply looked at me and said,

“God will repay you, somehow, somewhere, for the work you have done here.”

I am humbled by his faith, his passion for education and his dedication for improving the quality of life in Tanzania. His recognition for our work here as teachers is inspiring, and I pray that this is only the beginning of the work that will be done for the students of Ngara district.

On this blessed Easter morning, I am reminded that God has no need to repay me for what I have done here, because the truth is that He already has…in sending His only Son to save us. Rather, I am the one who is repaying my debt to Him, right here, right now, and in every moment of every day, for the death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. He is indeed our Lord and Savior!

To Miss or Not To MIss

Reflecting on my time here, it seems that with more and more frequency lately I find myself beginning a thought with “I certainly won’t miss [insert random something]” which is usually closely followed by “Oh my goodness I can’t wait for [insert another random something]!!!!” 

So considering my organized math brain is in full force here, I’ve made a table for you. Here you have it, the things I will NOT miss, what I seriously cannot wait for…and to shed a little positive light on the situation, I suppose there are aspects of most situations that I might actually miss. If you can't tell, i've been compiling this list for quite some time now...

I will NOT miss…	I can’t wait for…	I guess I might miss…
Washing my hair in a bucket with only 6 cups of water (once a week I should add)	Regular access to a private, clean, hot shower!	The warm afternoons when I can bathe outside, or those fun times when I’ve showered in the rain
Spending hours laboring over stubborn charcoal to cook dinner every day	An oven! Perhaps a microwave too. Maybe a blender? but let’s not get too crazy here	Our jiko. But only maybe.
Scrubbing my clothes clean by hand or carrying them to be washed by a local woman	A washing machine	…nothing about this…do you want to scrub the dirt out of your socks??
Steri-penned water	A faucet	Our beautiful makeshift bucket with a tap
Our lack of a plug to charge anything	A reliable plug that’s nearby (anywhere closer than 50km will do)	The joy of checking email and fb once a week, it’s so much more exciting!
Eating in the dark	A light bulb	A reason to have nightly candlelight dinners
Being dependent on others to travel anywhere	A car	My personal piki driver, Furaha!
The constant language barrier	Normal communication with people	The beauty of the Swahili language
Only having access to food one time per week	A grocery store	Our walk to the market through the mountains
Skirts to my ankle	JEANS!	…nothing about my wardrobe
Having to wrap myself in fabric every time I answer the door	Wearing shorts outside!	…again, nothing about this
The daily workout of squatting to wash dishes or cook dinner	An actual workout…zumba, a run (wearing shorts), or going to the gym	Afternoon nap time
Literally no sanitation of anything	Standard household cleaners and normal soap	My apparently strong immune system
The very unreliable mail system here	A post office	The simple joy of finally receiving a package 2 months after it was sent
Living creatures everywhere, many of which are potentially quite dangerous	Not having bats in my ceiling or being bit by unknown bugs in my bed every night	The thrill of passing within 2 feet of giant cattle with huge horns on my way to school
Having to search our house, climb the mountain, or stick my head out the window to get cell phone service	THROWING MY PHONE OUT THE WINDOW! Or maybe just actual honest-to-goodness cell phone reception	The *beep* that accompanies the “message sending failed” that I receive multiple times a day…or not!
Internet connections that take over 20 minutes to load one page	A reliable WI-FI connection	My Vodacom dongle. We’ve shared some quality time together

Trust

First, I would just like to say pole sana for falling behind on posts recently. Life has here has been going well I must say, but after 7 or 8 months, things just begin to feel normal and not nearly as exciting to write about anymore. Not only that, but my precious computer battery and the time I have online are both quite limited. While before I could make blogging a priority, the shift has officially been made to job applications for next year. Updating my resume, writing cover letters, filling out applications, compiling references, and so on all take time. And a lot of time when you can only charge your computer once a week and it takes at least five minutes to load any website page.

That being said, pray for this job search. While I am certain that math teachers are in demand, it’s difficult when you submit a cover letter and then have to include the *minor* detail of current residence: Middle of Nowhere, Tanzania.

Now let’s see, what’s the news of life in Muyenzi? Well, it’s Easter break next week, so we closed the school yesterday and will open again on April 8. While I was initially hoping that I could visit some other volunteers in the southern part of the country, plans fell through when we actually had classes all week instead of a sports tournament with two other schools, and then my 3 day journey wouldn’t get me there in time to see them. So instead, I’ll be hanging out in Ngara for a few days, hopefully find a church for Easter Sunday, and then head to Kigali next week to switch things up a bit. I have a “to-do” list that’s way too long currently, so I plan on using as much electricity and Internet as humanly possible in the next week…and hopefully I’ll actually be able to get something done! No worries, catching up on blog posts and stories from the past few weeks is certainly on my list! So stayed tuned!

In other news, my flight home has officially been booked! While my Internet is actually not strong enough to open my itinerary currently, I can tell you that I will be departing May 22 and arriving in the US on May 23! While I am certain the transition will be difficult (for instance, you’ll all expect me to shower more than once a week, and personally that just sounds like a lot of effort…) I think I’m ready to begin the next chapter of my life, wherever that may be, doing whatever it is that I’ll be doing….

And with that, I will leave you with this: One of my goals for this year abroad is to read the Old Testament from start to finish. Currently I am reading Proverbs, and last night before falling asleep I came to one of my favorite passages:

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him and he will make your paths straight.” (Proverbs 3:5-6)

ASANTE sana!

Greetings from Bukiriro Secondary School! On behalf of all of the students I have the pleasure of teaching, I would like to say “Asante sana!” Our fundraising efforts have brought in nearly $2500, which is the equivalent of 3,750,000 Tanzanian shillings!! Considering one cup of uji for a student is a mere 200 shillings, or 12 cents. That’s a lot of uji we can buy!

I still am in awe over the difference this has made at our school. The whole dynamic of the school has changed. Prior to serving porridge, no one at school would eat during the day. As a volunteer and guest at their school, they offered me mandazi and chai maziwa (a fried dough and milk tea) every morning to be taken with only one of the other teachers. My desk was in the school “library” with this other teacher, apart from the rest of the staff in the staff room, simply because we would be taking chai everyday. A very kind gesture to offer, but I still was not comfortable with the division. Then most days, a student would go to the town center during morning class periods (at least a 15 to 20 minute walk) to buy fresh mandazi for us. However, knowing that they wouldn’t be eating makes the whole situation seem unfair.

When the district implemented serving porridge everyday at each school, I was just as eager as the students were! In conversations with my headmaster, it became evident that while he understood the importance of offering porridge, he was concerned about the funding. Students can barely afford the 20,000tsh school fees, so asking them to pay 200tsh a cup for porridge is a huge stretch for most families. That’s when we all stepped in to help! And now, with the money you have all provided, we have provided a water tank to ease in the making, as well as gaurunteed uji for the entire school through June!

What does this actually mean?

The student that wakes up hungry because his family couldn’t afford dinner the night before will be fed at school!

The student who normally falls asleep during the afternoon classes because of hunger and dehydration is now alert and ready to learn!

The classes that seem to drag on at the end of the day and the students who are lethargic during the afternoon are now full of spirit and energy!

All of the teachers that were never offered chai now take mandazi and their choice of regular or milk tea every morning!

While I only occasionally interacted with the other staff members before, now we are all able to take chai together, sharing stories, telling jokes, and coming together as a community.

The school is coming together as one, students and staff alike, and on behalf of our school I seriously cannot thank you enough! It has been amazing to experience this transformation, and although my time at Bukiriro will be coming to an end in May, don’t think that our efforts won’t continue. As much money as we can raise will continue to be sent to benefit the students, for they are truly the leaders of tomorrow.

If you are interested in supporting the uji effort at Bukiriro Secondary School, you can donate directly to WorldTeach at worldteach.org, the donation page, specifying the project for Elizabeth Martin in Tanzania.