I know it has been a while since I last wrote, but i’ve not really been able to get on the net for long. I have just come home for a few weeks over Christmas and so am able to finally up-date the blog!

I was planning to finish completely at the end of November, but I have been really enjoying life in Tanzania over the last couple of months and work looks to be getting much more interesting so I decided to stay on. I have moved up to the Christian centre completely and I am going to be helping with the school there as well as working in the government schools. I have started to work much more in the schools rather than just doing workshops at the education centre and it feels loads more productive. I did get a few workshops which were well attended but others that were not and there seemed to be some teachers that were much more enthusiastic than others so I’m going to work with them in their schools. I am much happier being back in the classroom and I think the teachers really appreciate that I go to them and help. We plan lessons together and then do some team teaching which is fab! I’m also looking forward to working in the school at the Christian centre which is English medium and is for the children of pastors who are working out in the rural villages. The children board there so I also help with them in the evenings and I’m hoping to start doing some other activities like craft and netball with them so it’s all fun. Will be a bit like Kosovo!

I love living at the Christian centre as it’s like a little Christian community in itself. There are students studying theology as well as teachers living on site and a long term volunteer from England who is lovely. We meet together to pray and do bible studies and stuff. There is lots of English spoken and my Swahili is slowly improving – although never as fast as I would like! I still meet up with my host family and am getting to know other people in the town that I visit now and then, desperately trying to communicate in Swahili but not always managing it. It’s good practice. I hope I’ve not forgotten it all since I’ve been home.

Anyway, here are some pictures of what I’ve been up to over the last 6 months. The most exciting is probably the visits to the Maasai villages. If you’ve seen the episode of tribal wives where she goes to the Maasai village it is totally like that.

These are the kids at the Christian centre and the playground that was built last August.

This is me teaching jolly phonics to the nursery children at the education centre. The children come with their teachers from all different schools, about two classes come each morning and some classes have over a hundred children.

The other picture is of my work colleagues and my mum outside the centre. It was taken when my mum came to visit. It was great that she could meet everyone and we had a nice holiday too

This is a festival that I went to in a Maasai village where there was a new chief. They celebrate by putting a large piece of meat on a stick. The women have to defend it and the men have to try and steal it. It ends up with them all chasing each other with sticks. It was great fun, if a little scary, being chased by a big old Maasai guy with a big stick.

The other picture is me teaching English parts of the body to some primary school children at a holiday club that we did.

This is me with the daughter of one of my friends when we went to a wedding. The other picture is me learning Capoeira at the Swahili training course.

This is me attempting to carry my friends baby in the traditional way. I was convinced she would fall out!

Baptism of a baby in a Maasai village and below are some children in the village.

Here are some more pictures of me and my friends in Tanzania. I’m away on my intermediate (!) Swahili training course at the moment so I am able to go on the internet – woohoo! Not that I can think of anything interesting to tell you. The pace of life here, mixed with my general confusion over the way things work here and Tanzanian beaurocracy mean that I still haven’t done a whole lot of work. However, teacher training workshops are due to start when I get back in two weeks, so lets hope the teachers come!

As some of you know I have been pretty lonely out here since the other volunteer didn’t show up, but I am now pleased to say that I have some friends. There is a group of students building a playground up at the Christian centre and I’m planning to go and stay with them when I get back from language training. It also has been a real break to catch up with the other volunteers here at the training and mix with lots of people that speak English! One of the other volunteers has even been teaching me capoeira. It’s like dance/martial art (from Brazil) with lots of kicking and is great fun.

Tomorrow I go to Dar and then back to my placement. Teacher workshops start on Friday, please pray they go well! I am hoping to find teachers who will continue running them after I go.

More cool animals that I’ve seen in Tanzania:

1. Chameleon (probably one of the strangest creatures I’ve ever seen!)

2. Tortoises

3. Snakes (mostly dead and the live one was quickly killed)

4. baby goats!

Everyone loved David – I think my host family wanted to adopt him, but then they couldn’t understand what he was saying! He even got my maasai guard to let him shoot his bow and arrow (David managed to lose his arrow in the neighbours hedge!)

Hi. I’ve been in my placement a month now and it’s kind of hard to describe what it’s been like. It’s pretty overwhelming; life is so amazingly different here. I don’t know what I was expecting with rural Tanzania, but I guess you have to actually experience something before you can really know what it’s like. I’m staying with a host family who are totally lovely and welcoming. I think one of the hardest parts is not speaking the language. I am learning Swahili slowly, but i still don’t understand most of what is being said! Anyway, it’s a bit of a cop out, but to give you an idea I’ve just written a list of things that I and people here experience.

1. Some of the most beautiful happy children I have ever met in my life.

2. Dead relatives (most people seem to have lost someone in their family and many are caring for their relatives’ children).

3. Malaria

4. No doctors

5. Close families

6. Amazingly beautiful landscapes

7. No running water

8. Outside toilets!

9. Big rains

10. A fierce sun

11. Lots of laughter

12. No toys

13. Bad TV

14. Bad roads

15. Rats, mosquitoes, cockroaches and flies

16. A desire for change

17. A desire for things to stay the same

18. A sense of not belonging

19. A sense of being needed

20. Masai with goats on strings

21. Moon Shadows

22. Ugali and Beans

23. Lots of music and dancing choirs

24. A million greetings

Things I thank God for:

1. Marmite Chipattis

2. English speaking friends

3. Girly chats with my host sisters (part Swahili, part English, part sign language).

4. When I understand a joke

5. The BBC

6. Hot water

7. Soap

8. News from home

9. Manchester United

10. Many prayers answered every day.

My top 5 Swahili words:

1. Tangawizi (ginger)

2. Twiga (giraffe)

3. Lala (sleep)

4. Bongo (brain)

5. Mdodo (insects)

Where I am staying is actually a beautiful place in the hills and I am starting to feel much more at home. It’s great to hear from you and hey, you are all welcome (karibu)!

It is taking a long time, so I may only be able to put a few pictures on before I go back for my dinner!

This is the group of volunteers that I’ve been on my language training with. All very cheze! (crazy)

We did some tanzanian cooking outside with a charcoal stove (jiko). It was a real eye opener! 3 volunteers had to actually kill the chickens! I am thinking of going vegetarian again.

These are some of the animals we saw at the national park! I didn’t manage to catch the baby baby tembo (elephant)

These were taken last weekend when I went for a walk just up the barabara (road) from where I’m staying. It’s really beautiful. I was swinging on a real vine like tarzan.

On Sunday I’m leaving to go to my placement. I’m hoping my swahili is safi enough! Please pray that I will be able to do a good job. Thank you all. Not sure what internet access will be like.

So will be in touch when I can. Love you all. God bless you xxxx

So far I have had quite a few ups and downs. To begin with Africa was not the fairytale adventure I had planned it to be! I arrived in Dar es Salaam on 3rd Feb. Dar is hot, humid, busy and noisy, with a lot of poverty. The first week we had some pretty intensive training. When we weren’t being told not to carry anything of any value because of all the crime we were hearing about all the wonderful diseases we could get. However, I have met some really lovely friendly people from all over. There are volunteers from Uganda, India, Philippines and Kenya as well as the UK and of course all the wonderful Tanzanians!

I managed to get sick within the first week which wasn’t much fun. Just a urine infection but I felt miserable! I left Dar on 9th Feb (hooray!), and came to the beautiful place in the mountains where I am now. We have had one week of Swahili training which is great and I am over the sickness – so feeling much happier.

I have seen some amazing giant bugs – huge centipedes that look like snakes and enormous snails that make you feel you are in Alice in wonderland!

The most exciting thing is that on Sunday we went on a trip (safari) to a national park. We saw hundreds of giraffes, zebras, wilder beasts, elephants and a tiny tiny baby elephant which was so so cute! We also saw: hippos, crocodiles and some mad birds – all in the wild. It was so amazing!

Thank you so much everyone for all your thoughts and prayers – they have really worked.

Next time I will tell you about our exciting adventures with the immigration officers – who weren’t quite so friendly. But I will wait to get my passport back first!

I’m on the plane on my way to Tanzania! Will be there in 8 hours or so.