Finally got enough internet time to upload pictures. Here's the links for the photo album for the first 3 months in Tanzania and one from the holidays. Enjoy!
Pre-Service Training Album
Holiday pictures
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Sunday, March 10, 2013
Another milestone passed
Already its time for my last training to get ready for working on projects in the village. The past 3 months have gone by so fast. Life in the village is going well. Lots of stories which I will try and get better at writing down in the future. But mostly I've spent the past couple of months settling into my village and getting to know the area/people.
One major update that will probably help my presence online is the edition of ELECTRICITY in the village. I didn't think I'd be so excited about getting daily access to electricity, but now that it's becoming a reality I've decided to take full advantage of it. I always thought electricity was one of those things I was just going to have to give up for the next couple of years, and I was completely fine about that. I have been in country for about 6 months by now and most of that time has been spent living without access to electricity, which has actually been quite enjoyable and I've adjusted accordingly. But now all of a sudden the power company has chosen my village as one of the villages in the country to be eligible for a special promotion offering to hook up houses to the power lines for an extremely low rate. Best of all its courtesy of a U.S. development program. Because of this the village government asked me to help finance the installation of all the necessary wiring within the house and they offered to pay the rest. My house is technically owned by the village, and since the promotion is only good for the next couple of months, they were worried if they didn't hook up the house with electricity now they wouldn't be able to afford to do it in the future. So now my house has got outlets and light sockets... (even in the outside bathroom!) and now I'm just waiting for the power company to come and connect the house to the power lines. Don't think I'll be totally spoiled now though. I'm still living on a budget and I can't afford to get a fridge or tv or anything like that. But it'll be nice to have some more light at night and be able to charge things more easily. Which possibly means more updates to the blog!
Overall though I'm hopeful that the availability of electricity will help give more opportunities to people in the village to possibly take on small businesses and help them get more income instead of relying on just what they harvest. We'll see what direction they take though... Already the first few villagers with electricity have used the opportunity to invest in rather nice speaker systems so that music can be blasted for the better part of the day... Starting at 7 am... I'm hoping this novelty will wear off once they see how fast they're going through their electricity credit.
In other news, as I said earlier I'm starting my last training before I get started on actual projects, which means I've finished my report of the village, which has been what all of my work has revolved around the past couple of months. To get the information I needed for the report I got to visit all of the sub-villages in my community, talk with lots of families, and I even tried a bit of farming. Turns out using an ox powered plow is significantly harder than driving a tractor. I think I did more harm than good by "helping" my friend plant peanuts and sunflowers. Although after a couple of tries I got the hang of scattering peanuts in a straight line while speed walking ahead of a pair of ox and hoping they don't catch up with me. If those peanuts don't grow well though I fully plan on denying any involvement in their planting... Or just say it must have been the bad weather, which is probably a real reality this year...
Excited for a change of pace and looking forward to learning how to actually create projects in the village. Also the mama that's been helping me out a lot is coming next week as my counterpart to learn about how we can effectively work together to get stuff done. Should be a good time.
That's all I've got for now, until next time!
One major update that will probably help my presence online is the edition of ELECTRICITY in the village. I didn't think I'd be so excited about getting daily access to electricity, but now that it's becoming a reality I've decided to take full advantage of it. I always thought electricity was one of those things I was just going to have to give up for the next couple of years, and I was completely fine about that. I have been in country for about 6 months by now and most of that time has been spent living without access to electricity, which has actually been quite enjoyable and I've adjusted accordingly. But now all of a sudden the power company has chosen my village as one of the villages in the country to be eligible for a special promotion offering to hook up houses to the power lines for an extremely low rate. Best of all its courtesy of a U.S. development program. Because of this the village government asked me to help finance the installation of all the necessary wiring within the house and they offered to pay the rest. My house is technically owned by the village, and since the promotion is only good for the next couple of months, they were worried if they didn't hook up the house with electricity now they wouldn't be able to afford to do it in the future. So now my house has got outlets and light sockets... (even in the outside bathroom!) and now I'm just waiting for the power company to come and connect the house to the power lines. Don't think I'll be totally spoiled now though. I'm still living on a budget and I can't afford to get a fridge or tv or anything like that. But it'll be nice to have some more light at night and be able to charge things more easily. Which possibly means more updates to the blog!
Overall though I'm hopeful that the availability of electricity will help give more opportunities to people in the village to possibly take on small businesses and help them get more income instead of relying on just what they harvest. We'll see what direction they take though... Already the first few villagers with electricity have used the opportunity to invest in rather nice speaker systems so that music can be blasted for the better part of the day... Starting at 7 am... I'm hoping this novelty will wear off once they see how fast they're going through their electricity credit.
In other news, as I said earlier I'm starting my last training before I get started on actual projects, which means I've finished my report of the village, which has been what all of my work has revolved around the past couple of months. To get the information I needed for the report I got to visit all of the sub-villages in my community, talk with lots of families, and I even tried a bit of farming. Turns out using an ox powered plow is significantly harder than driving a tractor. I think I did more harm than good by "helping" my friend plant peanuts and sunflowers. Although after a couple of tries I got the hang of scattering peanuts in a straight line while speed walking ahead of a pair of ox and hoping they don't catch up with me. If those peanuts don't grow well though I fully plan on denying any involvement in their planting... Or just say it must have been the bad weather, which is probably a real reality this year...
Excited for a change of pace and looking forward to learning how to actually create projects in the village. Also the mama that's been helping me out a lot is coming next week as my counterpart to learn about how we can effectively work together to get stuff done. Should be a good time.
That's all I've got for now, until next time!
Thursday, January 17, 2013
1 Month mark!
It's officially been over a month at site now. First off, I've got a new address so for those of you who would like to send me mail, my new address is this:
Alison Nord
Box 34
Mpwapwa, Dodoma, Tanzania
Email is also easier for me to check than fb, so feel free to send me emails as well!
Life is going well in the village. Spent Christmas and New Year's in the village, which turned out to be nice and relaxing. I've also eaten those most meat I think I've ever eaten before in my life in the village, but hey when your new family slaughter's a goat to celebrate the New Year you can't say no. Spending my time learning about the village and meeting new people - I've even been given a new tribal name (Matika) which makes people happy. The name means one who was born during the time people are eating a lot of corn, which I'm assuming has something to do with the harvest season. Right now it's the rainy season though and people are busy farming. It hasn't rained in a week though and the water pump is out again, so ironically water is still a problem now. I spend most of my time with a mama here who has taken me in as one of her own daughters. She also appreciates my dancing and one of my new past times is walking down the main road dancing to Shakira's Waka waka that my mama plays on her phone. People are going to stare at me anyways, might as well give them a show.
That's all for now, sorry about no pictures, hard to upload...
Alison Nord
Box 34
Mpwapwa, Dodoma, Tanzania
Email is also easier for me to check than fb, so feel free to send me emails as well!
Life is going well in the village. Spent Christmas and New Year's in the village, which turned out to be nice and relaxing. I've also eaten those most meat I think I've ever eaten before in my life in the village, but hey when your new family slaughter's a goat to celebrate the New Year you can't say no. Spending my time learning about the village and meeting new people - I've even been given a new tribal name (Matika) which makes people happy. The name means one who was born during the time people are eating a lot of corn, which I'm assuming has something to do with the harvest season. Right now it's the rainy season though and people are busy farming. It hasn't rained in a week though and the water pump is out again, so ironically water is still a problem now. I spend most of my time with a mama here who has taken me in as one of her own daughters. She also appreciates my dancing and one of my new past times is walking down the main road dancing to Shakira's Waka waka that my mama plays on her phone. People are going to stare at me anyways, might as well give them a show.
That's all for now, sorry about no pictures, hard to upload...
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Training Wrap Up
Here's a post I wrote awhile ago write before I swore in and became an official Peace Corps Volunteer. I was never able to post it during the time I wrote it, but better late than never! In the process of uploading photos now, so hopefully I'll be able to share them with you all soon!
Written December 10, 2012
Written December 10, 2012
So training is officially over now. It’s surreal to be back in Dar staying at the same place we stayed at 2 months ago when we first landed in country. It feels like no time at all has passed since I was last here, but at the same time I feel like a different person. I’m definitely more comfortable, and my Kiswahili is obviously much better, which makes a world of a difference.
The last time I wrote I was just about to go to my house in Dodoma. A bit of an update on that: turns out the picture I was given for my house ended up being the neighbor’s chicken coop… So no hobbit hole for me! A bit bummed about that, but my house is much nicer than I thought, which is a plus. I’ve got a lovely walled in courtyard, and the volunteer before me left a lot of furniture, which is a relief. Not sure how I would even buy and transport furniture to my house… When I visited my neighbors were super nice and helped me out a lot, and one of them is my age and knows some English! They made me feel a lot more at home and I’m not as anxious about moving in now that I know some people. Even though training is over, I’m really heading into another sort of training since these first 3 months at site I’m only supposed to be observing the village and writing up a report that is essentially a comprehensive survey of the village, which should help me figure out what projects to start on. It’s nice to know that these next couple of months I’m not expected to start any projects right away and that I have the time to get to know the dynamics of the village. Time is not something development volunteers are always given – especially when working in a foreign country.
I’ll hopefully be posting pictures soon, so stayed tuned for those! I can’t wait to share with you all the beautiful landscapes of the places I’ve been here! Tanga region was very tropical, not at all what I expected Africa would be like, and so fertile! We are leaving just at the start of mango season, which is a bummer, but I was able to make plenty of mangoes right before leaving. We were there for orange season though, which was also rewarding. The oranges here though aren’t orange on the outside, they’re green, even when ripe! Still not sure how you tell when they are ripe… Luckily I’ve discovered that if you want fruit you just become friends with the nearest neighbor child, who is most likely an expert at climbing up trees to find the ripest fruits. My siblings in homestay, who were 6, gave me fruit countless times that they had gotten from the trees just around our house. Going to miss all the fruit in Tanga, not so much the situation in Dodoma. At least Dodoma is wine country, so I’m excited for that.
I’m looking forward to the independence of living on my own, although saying good bye to my family the other day was difficult. I’m definitely going to miss them, especially since my Kiswahili was getting better and I was actually able to have real conversations with them. Transitions are always hard, but I keep meeting amazingly friendly, helpful people here, so I’m not as nervous as I thought I would be moving into my site. It’s going to be difficult for sure, but it feels good to have completed training and feel slightly accomplished.
Monday, November 12, 2012
Site Announcement... I'm in Dodoma!!
Big news here, just found out where I'll be living for the next 2 years. I'll be in the Dodoma region, a couple of hours outside of Dodoma city, which is the nominal capitol. I'm in the area this week shadowing another volunteer to check out my new house and get introduced to the area. Dodoma is pretty much in the middle of the desert, so the next two years will definitely have some fun new challenges. Water being the main one... So far my shadow week is off to a good start. Visited the capitol, which was fun and I'm excited to be living in the area for the next couple of years. Visiting my house tomorrow, which I'm super excited for. From the picture I've been given I've got a thatched roof and my house is up against a hole... Reminds me of a hobbit hole, which is perfect. I'm trying to stay as optimistic as possible about my site and go into it knowing that it will be what I make of it... So hopefully it'll be a great fit for me and I'll be able to do effective work.
In the meantime I'm enjoying electricity, internet, and American cable TV courtesy of some Italians that own a compound in my shadow host's village. Great break from village life. Hopefully I won't get too comfortable... I even at ice cream today! What?!?! That exists in the middle of the desert? Yes, it does. As does feta cheese... yet to try that but I'm pretty sure I could eat a whole package in one sitting, so maybe I'll put that on my to-do list later this week. Oh, also had chinese food the other night. So good. Much needed break from Tanzanian fare. Brace yourselves for food craving posts in the future... Living off of rice and beans sometimes leaves one with intense food cravings.
After this week I'll be back to normal training, then in exactly a month I'll be swearing in as a volunteer! So soon! So send me mail now so that it gets to me before I move. The prospect of a shower and western toilet is too great to continue writing... So bye for now!
In the meantime I'm enjoying electricity, internet, and American cable TV courtesy of some Italians that own a compound in my shadow host's village. Great break from village life. Hopefully I won't get too comfortable... I even at ice cream today! What?!?! That exists in the middle of the desert? Yes, it does. As does feta cheese... yet to try that but I'm pretty sure I could eat a whole package in one sitting, so maybe I'll put that on my to-do list later this week. Oh, also had chinese food the other night. So good. Much needed break from Tanzanian fare. Brace yourselves for food craving posts in the future... Living off of rice and beans sometimes leaves one with intense food cravings.
After this week I'll be back to normal training, then in exactly a month I'll be swearing in as a volunteer! So soon! So send me mail now so that it gets to me before I move. The prospect of a shower and western toilet is too great to continue writing... So bye for now!
Sunday, October 21, 2012
1st Training Update!
It's only been a couple of weeks since I left the US, but it seems like a lot longer - in a good way though! I moved in with my host family about 1.5 weeks ago after staying in Dar for about a week. At Dar we were given time to get over jet lag and slowly transition to Tanzania. Lots of logistics stuff, cultural training and a bit of language practice. We also got to venture into the city for a day to get our bearings. I'm not sure how to describe Dar. IT's a sharp contrast to what I've seen of other parts of TZ. The only way I can think of describing it is as the TZ equivalent of the capitol in the Hunger Games, haha. Obviously not as elaborate but the infrastructure and people are distinctly different from those outside the city. We also got to take the public transportation into the city, aka daladala, which is pretty muhc a minivan style vehicle that they stuff with as many people and things as possible. It was about as crowded as the T after a sox game, except with less head room. I can't imagine being fluent in Swahili like the other volunteers who have been here a year and helped us navigate the area.
Village life is going well. Lots of language learning. My family is great - we've got cows, so it reminds me a lot of Vermont, haha. I have an teenage brother and a younger brother and sister (6 yrs old) who are great. The younger kids are super cute and I spend most of my time at home playing with them.
Don't have much time left, but the best way to get in touch with me is through letters. I also have a phone now, which is free for me to receive texts or calls. My number is +255786620691. Feel free to text/call (but remember im 7 hrs ahead of east coast time).
That's all for now!
Village life is going well. Lots of language learning. My family is great - we've got cows, so it reminds me a lot of Vermont, haha. I have an teenage brother and a younger brother and sister (6 yrs old) who are great. The younger kids are super cute and I spend most of my time at home playing with them.
Don't have much time left, but the best way to get in touch with me is through letters. I also have a phone now, which is free for me to receive texts or calls. My number is +255786620691. Feel free to text/call (but remember im 7 hrs ahead of east coast time).
That's all for now!
Friday, September 28, 2012
Last Goodbyes
The time has finally come for me to say goodbye to my family and begin my journey in Tanzania. I'll be flying out to Philadelphia today, spend the weekend with friends and then begin my Peace Corps experience at staging on Monday. My bags are packed (not nearly as heavy as I thought they would be!) and the final goodbyes have almost all been said. I'm excited to get this adventure started and the huge support I've gotten from friends and family has really helped make leaving easier. Thanks again everybody for all your support and kind words!!
To give you an idea of what is ahead for me, I'll be starting my Peace Corps business in Philadelphia Monday for staging (basically an orientation type thing) then I'll be flying out to Tanzania on Tuesday. I'll first be staying in Dar es Salaam for about a week getting adjusted, then it's off to training which will be in the Tanga region (North of Dar on the coast). I'll be living with a host family during training, which will last until December. During training I'll be learning Kiswahili and various agriculture-related technical skills.
I'm sure y'all are anxiously awaiting actual updates about my Peace Corps experience, and I'll try to update my blog as often as I can (which I know won't be nearly as often as some of you may like...). If anyone would like to send me letters during my training, here's my address:
Peace Corps/Tanzania
P.O. Box 9123
Dar es Salaam
Tanzania
In the meantime I'll leave you with some pictures from last weekend's adventure at Acadia National Park. Enjoy!
To give you an idea of what is ahead for me, I'll be starting my Peace Corps business in Philadelphia Monday for staging (basically an orientation type thing) then I'll be flying out to Tanzania on Tuesday. I'll first be staying in Dar es Salaam for about a week getting adjusted, then it's off to training which will be in the Tanga region (North of Dar on the coast). I'll be living with a host family during training, which will last until December. During training I'll be learning Kiswahili and various agriculture-related technical skills.
I'm sure y'all are anxiously awaiting actual updates about my Peace Corps experience, and I'll try to update my blog as often as I can (which I know won't be nearly as often as some of you may like...). If anyone would like to send me letters during my training, here's my address:
Peace Corps/Tanzania
P.O. Box 9123
Dar es Salaam
Tanzania
In the meantime I'll leave you with some pictures from last weekend's adventure at Acadia National Park. Enjoy!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)