A quick Hello!!

Habari Asubuhi!! That's Good Morning in Kiswahili!! How is everyone? I am doing well...just wanted to give you all a quick update as to what I am doing!! I am going back to the Toledo Sec. School today to talk with the English Dept. there and listen to their teaching methods and watch them in their English classes to see how everything is taught and then the teachers and I are going to discuss different types of teaching methods and I will be helping with different projects within the English department during the day there while the children from the orphanage are at school! The children from the orphanages all go to different government schools and none of them attend the Toledo Sec. School. It is quite a far distance from the orphanage but that's alright! I am very excited for this opportunity!
I spoke with Mr. Charles, the Headmaster at the Tanga International School, and he suggestyed that I get my certification in teaching English as a foreign language- TOEFL Cert. from the Open University here in Tz. I am going to check on the price today and see what it entails and maybe take the course online here! That way it would be more legitimate and I would have a more informed perspective on teaching! I do have previous expereince with tutoring from volunteering back in the states with the H.O.S.T.S. (Help One Student To Succeed) program and also from the Learning Resource Center I worked at during highschool, but as far as a certificate in teaching, that would be nice!
Mr. Charles and John Henry and Liz all spoke on a conference call on Saturday about the TIYO coming and it went very well! Mr. Charles has media contacts and a lot of resources to really make this a wonderful experience for the TIYO, the Tanga Community, the TIS, as well as further developing the relationship between Tanga and Toledo. I am very excited about this and cannot wait for further details and to gwet the ball rolling on all the organizational details!! The venue is very nice and right by the water and the community here in Tanga will welcome the TIYO very nicely! Soon I will be introducing Mr. Charles and Mr. Ndauka to see what developments and opportunities the schools could offer each other here in Tanga! Connecting people locally is a very big deal here, as resources and information are not always shared here! I look forward to all the possibilities to come!
I will soon be posting pictures of the girls at the orphanage and the boys I work with! The girls went to the beach a few days ago in celebration of their birthday! They had never been to the beach before! Most of the children do not know their birthdays so we celebrate them all on one day! They really enjoyed the beach and it was so nice to see them all having fun! I tried to teach some of them how to swim but they were frightened at first...hopefully i will have another opportunity to work on this more with them! Most of the local people do not know how to swim and I have heard horrible stories of boats going under and everyone on board drowning in shallow water due to the fact they have no knowledge of how to swim. It's terribly sad. And when you see these boats, they are just packed full of people and there are two or three guys dumping out buckets of water from inside the boat so as to make sure it doesn't go under...oh the things I've seen here!!
Today I am going back to the City Council to HOPEFULLY get all of this immigration situation wrapped up!
I talked with some people from the yacht club the other day and they were all telling me about how many people come through looking for sailing companions! Each day I think about how exciting it would be!! Some of these people have been sailing around the world for decades and just want someone to talk with, to share the view with, and hoist some sails here and there!! I just got done reading Saul Bellows' "The Adventures of Augie March" and it was a VERY good book, similar to "On the Road" by my fav. Jack Kerouac in that it highlights the adventures of being a traveller, what one encounters from place to place and the different mindsets in different locations...the ending of the book was very good! Tim, I think you would love this book! I have already read seven books since I have been here and now I am all out of books! However, Mr. Charles has offered to let me use some of his books at the TIS!! Books are rare here and hard to find...during the previous presidency all book publishers were banned from TZ, so, one can imagine the shortage of books here, especially textbooks!

While snorkeling, it's a very good time to clear one's mind and think of all the possibilities life has to offer...just looking at how freely the colorful fish swim in and out of the most beautiful coral reefs, surrounded by colors that even the most wild imaginations cannot fathom, and while the sun is beating down on you and youre full of this life that surrounds you- it's hard not to think about what other opportunities are abound. And I feel like I've just reached the tip of the iceberg here... and you think about all the chances you've taken in life, or all the things you've taken for granted, and you can't believe that you're really there, inside these experiences...living. And I think of all the people I wish could be here to experience this with me. Each day here is and adventure...some days are stressful, and sometimes I get frustrated when I am teaching, and other times I am lonely, but it's the little things...seeing the women carry firewood back to their houses, laughing and joking with each other while they strenuously work...seeing the children coming back from school, all saying hello to me while i pass them on the street, watching the men at the market scream and holler to sell their wares, watching people carry unimaginable things on the back of their bikes (huge cabinets, a double bed etc) and I think to myself...these people have nothing, and they are so happy just living day to day...and in America, most people have everything they could want or need, and have no idea of this happiness... So i am taking it all in and remembering how all of this feels so that I can store it within my self and share with you when I get back how it feels to live for the moment and know only what is happening around you in the present, thoughts of the future and the worry of all the tangible things, money- possessions...these things don't seem to worry the people here too much! And I like that...if only i could mesh the happy medium of sustainability through planning for the future (a western ideal) with the local mindset of living happily on very little and enjoying the present day! Maybe I will find it and be able to make the two ideals coincide...

until next time!!

This is a mobile market! These guys have probably just come from Tangamano- the second hand market I previously told you about. It is held on Tues, Thurs and Sat and hence today is Thurs approx. 4 pm which is when most people collect their goods and head home. Mr. Ndauka took this photo as they were passing by. The guy caring the board on his back is carrying items such as sunglasses, belts, hats and other items which are most likely Chinese made and purchased cheaply beacuse of the outsourcing of labor to the Chinese has lead to contracts here which are trade agreements. It goes something like this; the Chinese do much construction here and in exchange for this their goods are shipped here at low rates and put to the market. This can also be seen in the fishing industry whereas the coastal regions are not protected for local fishermen- and the huge Chinese boats are allowed to fish right up to the shore- using nettting practices and such that rob the local fisherman...this is a subject not open for discussion here... Environmental conservation is a subject that I will write in further detail about at a later time but it is taboo here in the sense that no one talks about what is going on or how the local people are being robbed by these dangerous practices...it is hard for me to bite my tongue on this issue here as well, but it is somewhat dangerous to have an opinion on it. The other goods sold are second hand and come from thrift stores in the U.S. and Europe. These are commercial goods these guys are carrying, but often you will see people coming from the produce markets carrying goods in this manner or in HUGE woven baskets, made of sisal, carrying their harvest on their bicycles or their heads.
This is a photo of a local woman who has just collected firewood and is carrying it back to her house most likely. Either for personal consumption to use as cooking firewood, or for a building structure or perhaps she will sell it. She is approx. 50-60 years old and still doing this type of labor is not uncommon for even older women.
This woman was walking with the other woman in the above photo. As you can see, their type of dress is called a "kanga" and it is a sheet of material with bright prints and wrapped around the body as a skirt on the lower half and a matching, or not matching material is wrapped around the head in a number of different ways. One way is to wrap it around in the traditional Muslim style, another way is to wrap it with a circle in the back, like a bun, or another way is to wrap it and tuck both ends under one another and it looks like a turban, but more stylish. Yesterday I saw a kanga with the print of President Kikwete's face on it, others are for the CCM party, others are brightly colored fruits or vegetables and still others are animal print. The newer fashion is to use this type of material but have a tailor make it into a more modern style dress...it looks very nice and it is pretty cheap to have a dress tailor-made. All along the street sides you will see both women and men sitting behind foot-pump sewing machines, making beautiful dresses or fixing school uniforms, or making handbags or seat covers...you can have pretty much anything sewn here. Yiu can even take them a photo of something from a magazine, let's say a dress style you particularly like, and then chose the material, they will take your measurments and you will have exactly what you want in a few days. I have not tried it yet, as you have to be recommended to a specific tailor to ensure it is done properly and I have not done so yet...but I'm sure I will before i come home.
This is a picture of the word "Toledo" which is written at the Toledo Secondary School. It is done with white and green flowers and previously mentioned from the other photo captions :)

This is a photo of an unfinished classroom building. Because the Toledo Secondary School is a community based school, not governmentally funded, they are waiting on the funds in order to finish the building. These funds will eventually come from community members and the building itself is also done by the local people. This type of community involvement is essential as it forces the parents to take an active role in their children's education and other community members can see the fruits of their labor and take pride in the education their children are receiving. However, with the local economy as it is, it is very hard to raise sufficient funds. On top of the demands of expansion, there is also the demand for textbooks and other resources that are often taken for granted...things as simple as test tubes and bunsen burners are scarce in Tanga and there are only three science labs in existence here. Which means, anyone who wants hands-on practicals, like mixing chemicals and doing equations and such things one would expect in every school, the children must go to one of the three labs and pay extra for this equipment. Having a lab here at the Toledo Secondary School is one of Mr. Ndauka's goals for the future development of the school!
This is a photo of Mr. Ndauka and I responding to the comments on my blog about the interest in corresponding with students from the Toledo Secondary School! Mr. Ndauka was very pleased to see such interest and he is very eager to start this relationship and have his students actively correspond with other students through pen pal relationships, exchanges and other types of relationship enhancing ideas! We thank you very much for your interest and look forward to the future of this correspondence!

Today I had another visit to the Toledo Secondary School and Mr. Ndauka and I discussed a lot of exciting opportunities. I will tell you about them and also explain the pictures. In this picture, Mr. Ndauka is showing me some of the work that the Environmental Club at the Toledo Secondary School has done. This is a mound formation with nice flowers and a tree in the center and the outlying lettering behind Mr. Ndauka spells out "Toledo" in white flowers. It is this type of work that earned the Toledo Secondary School the award at the Earth Day Celebration which was my first post. I will also post photos of that celebration and the award!
This photo is of Mr. Ndauka and I in front of the Tanzanian flag located at the school and as you can see there are many trees planted in the schoolyard and it is very nicely maintained! Here also you can see the letters "L" and "E" of the "Toledo" written in flowers in the lower lefthand corner of this photo. Mr. Ndauka is also waering an "Obama 08" button!! Most everyone I have met here has asked me if I will be voting for Obama!! Mr. Ndauka is a proud supporter of Barrack Obama!
Here I am standing in front of a finished classroom building! Each classroom houses approximatley 40 students- that is supposed to be the max. capacity. However, due to budget constraints and lack of funding and materials, the classroom you see in this photo is seating 56 students at present.

Photos to come!

Hello! Today I met with Mr. Ndauka again, the headmaster of the Toledo Secondary School!!! He showed me how to upload pictures to this blog site! So, thanks to him you can all see my photo under the "my profile" section! Mr. Nissenhaus and Mrs. McComb, we replied to your comments about the relationship between students in the U.S. and students here at the Toledo Secondary School. Those comments are shown as a response so if you go back to your comment you will see our comment! We are very eager to start a pen pal relationship with your students! This will foster growth and development between the students and improve relationships! We are eager to start! As for other news, I have much to say and will be posting more later today and hopefully uploading many more pics soon!!!

I'm sorry it's been so long

Hello! The past few weeks have been very hectic here!! I moved out of the boys' orphanage. They found a full time matron to live with them and she is doing a nice job with them. I miss them very much though and I'm sad that I don't get to play cards with them at night anymore or go to the futbol field and play with them until dinner...but I do still go there everyday and we work on homework together and I am working on their english with them still. I now live at the girls orphanage...which is actually less stressful than when I lived with the boys because they have a full time matron also and my work with them consists mainly of doing their schoolwork with them and talking with them and working on english. A funny thing happened the other night when I was going over the national exam with some of them...there was a paragrapgh about the Jewish faith and the question was for them to summarize the paragraph...in talking with them, they had no idea what the Jewish faith was!! I grabbed the little blow up globe we have and showed them Israel and asked if they knew what was going on there between Jews and Muslims...they had no clue! Then i drew the star of David on the board and asked them if theyknew this symbol...they just stared at me like i was crazy...I was fully amazed that they have no awareness of a world religion! Most of these girls I was working with were Muslim girls and I had assumed that somewhere in their teachings they were informed of different religions..but the more i asked about it...they told me that "if it's not christian or muslim, its pagani" which basically means that if someone is not muslim or christian, they're belief is in witchcraft...now any of you reading this who know me quite well must know how agast i am with this situation...it doesnt even seem possible to be so close to the middle east in geographical proximity, so engulfed in the muslim culture, and so knowledgeable in many areas as these girls are, but have no exposure to different faiths that are not in their immediate range. Don't get me wrong, there are a meriad of different faiths here in Tanga, from Singh, to Burwani-Dowd, to Hindu, Shi'ite, Sunni, the list could go on...but no knowledge whatsoever of thew Jewish faith or what is going on in the West Bank or Gaza Strip. I found this very interesting because it is something I have been very involved in studying for quite sometime...so to actually experience this was of intense interest to me and I just wanted to write about it because it caught me so off guard.
So, yes I live with the girls now and it is nice. I do miss the boys though a lot.

I am having some visa and permit issues as of late so much of my time has been devoted to figuring out the ACTUAL laws here...which are not written anywhere and asking people is of no use due to the corruption i have experienced. Hopefully, it will be worked out soon. There are some documents I am waiting on from the U.S. in order to file correctly here...so hopefully soon everything will be alright!

As far as some good news...I FOUND A LOCATION AND AN AWESOME PERSON TO HOST THE TIYO CONCERT TAHT MAY BE HELD IN TANGA!!! The headmaster of the Tanga International School has offered to host the Toledo International Youth Orchestra at his school. There is a small stage there and he has media outlets and publicity contacts to start broadcasting the event as soon as possible. The school is in a very nice area and the people around the school are all very wealthy- it's right by the ocean. The Tanga International School is the nicest school here and it's where all of the doctor's and expats send their children for schooling. The headmaster lets the boys from the orphanage play futbol on the field there all the time and he is a very nice guy so I look forward to getting all the communication links between he and I and the TIYO set up so that we can figure it all out...he said that everyone in the area would come and it would be a very exciting event for Tanga!! He was very excited about it!

I met a guy who runs a school for disabled children here and I think I will start working with him soon while the children from the orphanages are at school. He was telling me a little bit about the school and invited me to come look and volunteer if I'd like, so that was nice. It's a little ways out of town so I think within this week sometime I will ride my bike there and see which hours would be best to spend time there! I will let you know what it's like.

Yesterday I went sailing and snorkeling! There were miles of coral reef and the fish and the coloring were like that of what you see on National Geographic...it was breathtaking and unrealistic all at the same time. It's surreal. You feel like you're swimming in a beautiful fish tank because there's no way it could be real that you're actually in the ocean, seeing all of this with your own eyes in its natural wild state...its very intense and I know that colors like this could never be recreated in another sense. There's no mixing of paints or dyes or anything else that could match these colors... I have learned a little of sailing from the lady who runs the sail boat. Her name is Sabilye and she is very interesting and extrmemly intelligent- especially on the local wildlife and what is going on environmentally in the area. She owns her own eco-sustainable island off Zanzibar call Chumbe island- google it if you're interested to know more- it's very intriguing. Anyways, I have learned how to set up the sails, how to steer witht he wind and how to know when to switch the sails depending on the wind...its very interesting and I wish the internet was good here so i could research sailing more. I was told that if I'm really into it, I could post myself at the yacht club here as a hired hand and sail around the world with people coming in who are looking for help! Wouldn't that be exciting? I've thought about it- when I'm done volunteering here of course.

How's this for a paradoxical world...so there's this second- hand clothing market here in TZ that is HUGE! And some of these clothes are really nice...dolce and gabbana and designer names you wouldn't normally see...all just in these huge piles that people are sorting through and meanwhile there will be the clothes merchants putting on skirts over their clothes, acting like girls screaming in monotonous tones at the top of their lungs how pretty their clothes are and at what price they are selling them...So you're in the mix, sorting through these clothes and its packed shoulder to shoulder with people looking and tearing shirts and skirts right out from under you and all the vendors are screaming...it's enough to give you a serious headache...but the clothes are nice and cheap so you stay to look... and if a white person is at their site, they're ten times louder and they'll throw clothes your way they assume you will like. So people are all around just rumagging on the dirt through these clothes, taking them right out of your hands, throwing other ones that land right on you, screaming right in your ear, other vendors come to you and show you what they've got...youre just bombarded by it all...and here's the paradox...these clothes came from the exact spot I used to work...I HAVE SEEN ACTUAL CLOTHING THAT I HAVE BAILED when i worked at the Goodwill in Bowling Green!! I'm not kidding. That's half the lure for me to go to the market to see if i'll see another shirt that I used toknow a world away...here I am...on the other side of the world, and i'm on the opposite side of the clothes i used to be...i determined the fate of these unwanted clothes when i was in the U.S. and here I am going through them again in the most unlikely fashion...it's truly something that makes you take a step back and look at your place in the world and how quickly you went from one side of the extreme to the completely opposite other end of the spectrum...and this is not the only case in which I have experienced that transplant while i've been here!

Simon comes back from Kenya soon so i'm awaiting his return! I miss him very much and it's hard and lonely not to have his sense of humor...it's hard to meet people here that have similar interests or like to talk about things I'm interested in and Simon alwayshas interesting conversation as well so im looking forward to his return!

Ok, well, this was a bit disjointed of a post and I apologize, but the internet here has been terrible and it cuts out a lot so I have had to really rush throug this! I hope all is well on your end of the world! Imiss you!