We put them to the test!

Saturday – 5.04.2014

After a night of waking up because of the noise of the heavy rain, we already saw it coming, but they still spelled it out for us: it was impossible to get to Karatu. The roads were not good enough and therefore, not safe enough to drive the pikipiki (motorbike). On Saturday, there was a school meeting and we were planning to leave after it. Secretly, we hoped that by then the roads would be better. Unfortunately, our hope was in vain.

Our morning was spent with madam Ndetio. She is kind of like my grandparents. You can't leave her place with an empty stomach. This time, it was porridge and the good kind. Our students get porridge at school everyday, but for us madam Ndetio made porridge with berries, peanuts, etc. in it. From madam Ndetio's place we went straight to the school meeting.

During the meeting, we got to meet the parents of our students. Something we found very exciting and saw as a real opportunity. Two minutes into the meeting, reality set in. Most of the parents only speak Kiswahili and their tribe language Kiiraqw. We can understand some words in Kiswahili, but really interact about school matters is not within our limits. And Kiiraqw, well, it's impossible to understand. I can hear the difference between Kiiraqw and Kiswahili, but the only thing I can do in Kiiraqw is say hi. Since quite some parents only speak Kiiraqw, teachers who are not from the Iraqw tribe can't interact with them either. This made us feel a little less lonely.

While we were sad that we couldn't make it to Karatu (especially because it was a long weekend since Monday was a Tanzanian holiday), there was someone who was very happy we were staying in Getamock: Johnny. After the meeting he didn't leave our side for a second and in the evening Costa joined us as well for a plate of pasta. The boys finally know we can make something else than chips ;)

Sunday – 6.04.2014

Rise and shine, baby! Rise and shine! That's what we did, because we were going to baba mpishi's house with Philly and see some monkeys. Great plan, right? Solid plan even. Except for the fact that Philly forgot. We spent another day with Johnny and my little book Kiswahili – English turned out to be our saving grace. Johnny and I went to buy bananas in town and it was quite a chore because most of the shops were closed.

In the afternoon, we sat outside with madam Ndetio en mama Grayson. Later on, I noticed I had a lot of bug bites and they were itching immensely. On the upside, Grayson is starting to get used to mzungus! :D One day, he might actually let us hold him for longer than a couple of seconds.

In the evening, Philly stopped by to apologise and he told us that we would go and see the monkeys on Monday instead... Seeing is believing, Philly!

Monday – 7.04.2014

On Monday morning, the bug bites on my arms were swollen and consequently my arms really hurt. To make it worse, Philly didn't show up to go and see the monkeys. :(

On our third day with Johnny we were running out of ideas of what to do. Eventually we took him to town with us to buy rice at Ndetio's shop and played some games with him. Turns out he is quite the cheat, but it's okay because I still won ;)

Later on, we went to madam Ndetio and we spent some time there with mama Vero (Snorrie's wife), Vero (Snorrie's daughter) and Paulina. Madam Ndetio told us she was only 22. 22! Say what? I didn't expect here to be that young. Right now, she is pregnant and I think that makes her look older as well. She is the same age as me, but she is a housewife and has a baby on the way. That is a strange idea.

Vero is truly adorable! She was a lot more open than when we saw her in Karatu and she was dancing all the time and running around. She has some characteristics of her dad. She's very happy and energetic. Furthermore, she's also very quiet but that is something she didn't get from her dad ;)

In the evening, we made rice. Unlike back home, it doesn't come from a package. So you have to sort through it until what you have left is all edible. It is something very boring to do, but it has to be done! Johnny helped us prepare the food and Costa came to eat a plate as well, but he left immediately after to go and study.

Later on, Philly stopped by to apologise about not going to see the monkeys AGAIN. Apparently, he had lost the keys to the staff room and the class rooms. This led to a quest for the keys and a lot of stress. Spoiler alert! We found them.

Tuesday – 8.04.2014

On Tuesday, we had to go back to school. I took over Paulina's supervision and after that I had to do mine. This means I had to do 5 hours of supervision in total. Time never went by so slowly before... On top of that, Paulina's supervision was in form 1 and those students' English is not good enough to understand me. So it was quite the challenge. After the second session the students had to do chores, which surprised me because the week before they got that time off to study opposed to now, during the exams. The logic was lost on me.

After the chores, two new teachers were introduced to the students. Unfortunately, there are no new mathematics or science teachers, which is what the school really needs. Especially mathematics is a problem. In the entire district (which is bigger than Belgium) there are only three, yes THREE, qualified mathematics teachers. THREE! So we kind of knew beforehand that there wouldn't be any, but we can dream, right?

When school was over Pauline asked if she could wash my hair. She was doing it like a real mum. She didn't just wash it, but combed it as well. First with a brush and then with her fingers :) It felt amazing. Afterwards, Paulina and madam Ndetio did an attempt at teaching me African dance. Then came the news we had been waiting for: mama Leonie was doing better! The day couldn't have ended any better! :)

Wednesday – 9.04.2014

On Wednesday, a student carried my stuff for the first time. Usually, when you're carrying just a bag and no books they don't offer to carry it for you and that's okay for me. However, this time someone did. Over time, we've realised that when you turn them down they feel insulted. To them, it is like you don't trust them with your stuff. So I let the girl carry my bag, but all in all, I felt quite uncomfortable.

I had to supervise in form II and when I noticed there was one desk that wasn't empty, I checked all the other desks as well. Three or four turned out not to be completely empty. I wrote it down on the exams and the consequences are decided by the subject teacher. Nevertheless, it still left me with an uneasy feeling.

During the break between the two examination sessions I went home to go and get the four figures we bought last week, so I could give them the head master. Once again a student wanted to carry them. Twice in one day.... I'm starting to wonder if I look weak.

It was a very sunny day, so after lunch I was sitting outside, together with madam Ndetio. At the same time the students were doing chores. One of the exams they had on Wednesday was physics and when some students were carrying something heavy, one of them made it clear that he knew the material and said: “Madam, this is manpower.” Conclusion: our students have a good sense of humour.

When the students went home, we went to madam Ndetio's. There, Paulina did my hair, because it is so long it takes quite some time. Thankfully, Paulina is a very patient person and she doesn't mind :)

After we had dinner, we stopped by Johnny and Costa. Unexpectedly, it turned out there was another student there. We've seen him several times since, so we assume he lives there as well. One of the new teachers has already moved in as well, so now the place is getting really crowded: there are 3 bedrooms, but 6 people living there. When we arrived, two months ago, there were 3 people living there.

Thursday – 10.04.2014

In the morning we arrived at school together with some teachers. They were in a real hurry to sign in before us. They have the tendency to write down they arrived earlier than they actually did, but they know we write down the actual time we arrived.

Once again I had to supervise form II. Unfortunately, this time is wasn't a boring supervision. I checked all desks before the exam started, to avoid the issue of the previous day and this time all desks were empty. Nevertheless, halfway through the exam I noticed one of the girls kept checking her hand. When I went to her to check her hand, it turned out that she had written a definition on her hand. I let her finish the exam, but indicated which definition it was and made her clean her hand immediately.

On Thursday, Astrid had to supervise the second session. In the staff room I was cornered by mister Fikiri and Astrid wasn't there to save me. Mister Fikiri wants me to find him a girlfriend. I don't know how he wants me to do that though... Anyone interested? ;)

After lunch Astrid and I watched several games of draughts between mister Fikiri and mister Ndetio. When it was 6 – 0 for Fikiri we left. When I left the staff room though, a girl from form III that had been sick came up to me with questions about some of the material. Consequently, Astrid went home and I went to the classroom of form III. What started with one girl and a couple of questions immediately turned into an entire group of students with a lot of questions. I think I spent at least one hour answering questions. When I wanted to leave several students were standing in the doorway and they didn't really want to let me pass. Eventually, I noticed a student being caned by one of the teachers.

Several teachers had claimed they didn't use the cane anymore. Therefore, I wasn't really prepared for what I saw. I was shocked and didn't immediately know what to do. Tears were brimming my eyes and my first reaction was to go home so I could talk to Astrid about it and try to make sense of what I saw. I decided to let my mind cool down until after the break and then I would talk to the head master about it (to know what happened, read the blog of May 3rd).

Friday – 11.04.2014

On Friday, the weather was like I felt: grey. The first exam was mathematics. Beforehand I gave the head boy, who is in form III, a bunch of set squares. They would have an exercise on accountancy and they would need to draw an awful lot of lines. I proposed the deal that I would get all of them back after the exam and if I didn't, it would be the last time they got something from us.

The events of Thursday were still occupying my mind. Hence, the feeling grey. To distract myself a bit I went to madam Ndetio together with Paulina. The three of us watched films on the screen of a cellphone :) Soooo tiny! Apparently, it is a habit here though. They were all in Kiswahili, but you can understand more from the intonation and the body language of the actors than you think.

Because of switching with another teacher I had to supervise form III during the second session. This was quite convenient because now I could ask the entire class to give the set squares back. I noticed about 5 students using one of the set squares during the second exam. At the end of the exam I said I wanted them all back and went up to the 5 students I knew had one. When I reached one of them though, suddenly she didn't have a set square on her desk anymore. Consequently, I asked her about it and then she pulled almost all of the set squares out of her desk.

When lunch was over, it was my turn to leave. I had to get on Paul's motorbike with a suitcase. It was easier than I expected it to be. He brought me all the way to Karatu and there I took the noah (the more comfortable version of a daladala) to Arusha. After two hours and a half, I could finally get out of the car again and immediately, I was swarmed by people who were yelling: “Taxi, taxi?!” I pushed through the crowd and went to were I knew Frank, a friend of mine, would pick me up. Nonetheless, one of the taxi drivers followed me and stayed with me the entire time. He kept telling me that no one would come to pick me up and that I was waiting in vain. I kept ignoring him and when another man came to stand next to me, I chanted to myself: “Just ignore him, just ignore him. He will go away.” After 2 minutes or so I finally looked at him and I noticed it was Fadhili, one of my friends. I was really happy to see him again, but he couldn't stop laughing at me. Eventually he took my suitcase to go and meet Frank. The three of us went to have some dinner and then Frank and I made the trip to the airport.

We made a small pit stop to have a drink, because we still had to wait a while before my parents' flight arrived. When we got to the airport, I noticed something on the screen of the arriving flights: the word 'wakati'. I had heard it before and but it wasn't until now that I realised it means 'time'. The wakati, invented by a Belgian student, is something really amazing! You really have to google it! ;) While waiting at the airport, every single minute seemed to last longer than the one before. Eventually, my parents arrived though. I said my parents, not their luggage. Apparently, their suitcases were still stuck in Amsterdam. And that is how our safari began....

Greetings from Tanzania, where I now have a little piece of Belgium with me ;)