why yes please, I would very much so like a cup of tea.....

It is May. May 6. Mayday has come and gone - to celebrate I conciously chose to decline the 6 or so cocacolas I was offered in celebration by government coworkers [who are, in fact, the only people who get the day off on 'workers' day. Them and teachers]. Doing my part to fight globalization, a very small, futile, part...

Yesterday we had 'wageni rasmi', distinguished visitors. A bunch of them. As in, I got to ride in a motorcade!!! Some big shots from the Ministry of Education came to visit two primary schools in my area to assess the program that I work with, MEMA kwa Vijana, which helps teachers teach reproductive health lessons to students from grades 5-7.

So the visit was fantastic. There were about 50 guests piled into 10 cars [thus the motorcade - I was in the front car, though almost wish I was in the last one to see people's faces after the previous 9 sped by...]. We split up and visited two different primary schools. I went to one that I had been to before, and the teachers there were very excited to see me - I helped to train them [especially on condoms], and it had been a while since I last saw them.

So, the special guests went into 3 different classrooms and watched the teachers teach a lesson, then asked the students some questions. 'How many of you are going to pass and go on to secondary school' - ALL raised their hand. I was amazed at the confidence of both the teachers and the students. Self confidence is often lacking, I daresay it is almost a cultural thing here that people often tend to be reserved and hesitant to vocally raise concerns, opinions, etc. But the teachers and students were very candid and clear, and the guests got it loud and clear - we are doing good work here, and the students are benefitting from it.

After the classroom teaching, we gathered in the courtyard of the school to watch a local drum dance, listen to a poem reading, and finally a rap presented by about 10 young students. The drumming I had already seen before, though it was still impressive. The poem made me tear up, I shit you not. It was amazing!! These students were speaking so clearly, confidently, and about topics that are often difficult to discuss [one young girl firmly stated something like the following - "hey you old men. stop seducing young girls, stop raping us. you are infecting us with your diseases, you are ruining are lives. we want to study, we want to grow, we want to choose what we do with our lives."]

Then during the rap, one of the younger guys had such a great sense of beat and rythym and word-style that I wish I had a recorder to tape him, so I could take it to the studios absolutely sure that they would sign him for a record deal, based on some of the CRAP I hear on a regular basis on the radio....

So it was a pretty whirlwind 3 hours or so, and after it was done we said our goodbyes and piled into the cars and sped off to Mwanza to a fancy hotel for lunch. I had to bite my tongue a bit - there were comments about how poor one of the schools looked, there were dirt floors, students had no desks, there are 6 toilet holes for 600 students [not to mention only 13 or so teachers].... and there we were having a lunch that probably could've boughten ALL the needed furnitures.

But I was too worried about that, you see, I had another problem. Everyone I was with was, well, most of them were from Dar es Salaam, all were fabulously wealthy by Tanzanian standards, and they were refined. That is a word I do not like. I am proud NOT to be refined, at times. Who am I trying to impress anyways? Well yesterday I was a bit ashamed, because everyone was using a knife and fork to eat their food.

Now, is this such a problem? Well, first remember that for basically the last year and a half, 2 of my 3 meals of the day are eaten with my hands. And these are not sandwiches, I'm talking about fish and rice and meat and beans, etc etc.....
Secondly, I felt the whole knife/fork thing was taken to a bit of a ridiculous extreme. I understand eating a fish filet with a knife and fork, but fried chicken?? How on earth can you get all the meat off the bone? Hell, many Tanzanians then like to break open the bone and suck out the marrow, you sure as heck can't do that with utensils!!!

So I did the best I could, struggling for about 10 minutes, then gave in and started eating with my hands. I did not, however, lick my fingers. I don't think anyone noticed, and after lunch I continued to try to shmooze with these bigshots and got no questions or comments like 'Oh, you are from America, huh? And in America do you eat like barbarians with your hands? Or do you have forks and knives there as well?".....



other news:
The way things are going, I will be teaching nothing but condoms by the time I leave here. I had a lesson at the TTC on Wednesday all about condoms, which of course went well, I've never taught condoms and had a disappointed audience. It's far from over though, so i'll be continuing where I left off [female condoms!!!! this is where the lesson gets fun, from giggles and jokes to absolute silence, COMPLETE attention].

My garden, after a series of temporary setbacks, now officially rules. I have onions, spinach, pumpkin, zuchinni, carrots, sunflowers - what next?!! And even better news, one of my papaya trees has started bearing fruit, as well as the passionfruit vine. Now just keeping my fingers crossed for bananas, I just want to eat ONE piece of TROPICAL fruit from a tree that I planted before I leave...

More later. Time to go home, it's trash-burning day!! My favorite time of the week! These are not exclamation points of irony!! Really!