GoodThoughts
03-02-2005, 06:09
This is a letter from my daughter Suzanne who is doing a period of service in Africa. It is quite long and may well be of no interest to many of you. But it does give a nice insight of a part of the world that I know little about. There isn't much about the Baha'i Faith in here so please don't think it is just a lightly veiled attempt talk about the Baha'i Faith. Enjoy.
First, we all went to Botswana for the Jubilee Celebration of the Baha’i Faith having been there for 50 years. It worked out nicely that they were having this over our break. We had a 20 hour bus ride there….which was really crazy. When I boarded the bus, I discovered that the seat number I was assigned to did not exist. Hahaha. I was just really hoping that I wouldn’t have to sit in the aisle the whole way there. But, it turns out that I did get a seat in the very back of the bus, squished in between 2 little, adorable children. The little boy to the left of me was probably the most talkative child I’ve ever met in my life…..and I was pretty much stuck listening to him. J But, he was very cute. Finally, after about an hour of his questions and random bits of information that he was sharing with me, his mother said to him – “leave the poor girl alone, lay down and go to sleep.” So, I’m still not sure why, but he just laid right down and went to sleep. That, however, was not before he had the chance to spill his orange pop all over me. Yeah. I got really dirty on this bus ride. Then the little girl to the right of me just leaned over and fell asleep on me. I love how there aren’t the usual “personal space” rules that I’m used to at home. People seem to be very comfortable touching each other here. Guys walk around holding hands all the time, and girls do some too. And people just seem more comfortable sitting very close to you. It’s nice. When we got on the bus to Botswana, they were playing this Zambian Gospel music, that was fun to listen to at first – you know, a nice cultural experience….something new and exciting. Well, that was for the first hour or two. Then night-time came, and I kept thinking – oh, they’ll turn it off soon. It didn’t happen. We heard the Gospel music and Celine Dion all the way to Botswana. Going through the border was crazy. It took 3 hours. It was really early in the morning, and after getting our visas, we all had to walk down to the river and get on a ferry that took us and the bus across the river. When we finally arrived in Botswana, the bus was 3 hours late, and Baha’is had been taking turns in shifts waiting for us. We felt so bad!!! But there was nothing we could do….we had no cell phone, and no way of knowing the bus would be that late. People had kept warning us that transportation just doesn’t work the same in Africa.
The conference turned out to be really nice. We heard a lot of stories from people about the beginnings of the Faith in Botswana, and some really crazy stories about how the Baha’is would have to come up with ways to meet together, because there was apartheid at the time, and black and white people couldn’t be seen together. Well, okay, they were probably speaking of South Africa, which borders Botswana.
We stayed with the most wonderful family when we were there. They had just moved there 2 years ago from Pakistan. There names are Nazi (not pronounced like the German Nazis) and Taraz, and their two children Sarmad and Salman……7 and 2 yrs. They were so incredibly hospitable!!! The first day we were there, we had gone shopping, and when we came back, Nazi had gone through our room, found our dirty clothes (which were probably really easy to identify after having been on the bus) and washed them for us! I can’t even tell you how happy that made me! Nazi was an incredible cook. Everything she made was SO GOOD!!! I think I must have written down the recipe for everything she made us.
Botswana is very different from Zambia….at least the city that we were in in Botswana – Gaberone. It’s much more Westernized. When we got to the mall, we were all in shock….because it was such a surprise to see a humongous mall, after having been in Zambia. There’s really nothing like this in Lusaka (which is the closest city to Banani….about an hour away), and so we weren’t expecting to see it. We went several times to a nice coffee shop, where everyone was really happy to have good coffee, except me. But they had really good pancakes, so I was happy. We hung out a lot with people we met at the conference. I got to see a few people that I knew from South Africa. That was really great, because they were people that I assumed I would never see again.
We got back to Banani about a week later, and had to wash all of our laundry…..which takes a few days. First, you have to hand wash the clothes, then hang them out to dry and hope that is doesn’t rain, as it’s the rainy season. Then once they’re dry you have to iron them to kill the Putsi Fly eggs, because if you don’t, they will hatch under your skin! You can imagine how carefully I iron my clothes. I hope that I NEVER have to have the Putsi Fly experience. But luckily they just finished building a laundry room that we can use once a week.
We left Banani on Dec. 21 for our trip to Uganda. One of the youth – Nastaran from Australia – was leaving on that day to go back home. We had to leave Banani at 4 AM, so we all just stayed up that night, and went to a little store nearby to get soda. Going anywhere when you’re here is a really exciting experience. It was sad to say good-bye to Nastaran. You forget that this is a place where people come and go, and that you’ll have to say good-bye to people. A lot of the staff come here with the intention of just staying a few years, and then leaving. But then there are some people who have been here since it opened. I guess things were very different in the beginnings, and it was a lot more rugged. So, I’m happy that I’m here now, and not then.
George, one of the drivers at Banani, took us to the airport to say good-bye to Nas, and then was kind enough to drive us to the train station in Kapiri, which is a couple of hours away. Riding on the train was an experience all in itself, that I don’t think I will ever forget. We spent 2 days on the train, which was very weird. You know, you wake up and think….oh, I still have to spend another night on this train. We traveled through, I believe, the largest National Park in Africa. So, we got to see some really beautiful scenery and families of giraffes running through the wild. That was really cool! We also saw Impala. I felt a little bit like I was at sea, because the train would rock back and forth. Every once in a while it would jerk forward, and we would go flying. After the first night, one of the youth told us that they had been holding on for dear life almost the whole night, because they were on one of the top bunks, and they were afraid that they would go flying off. Hahaha. Luckily, I seem to sleep through about anything, so I slept just fine. It’s funny because in my dorm, I wake up every morning to one of the girls knocking on my door, when they hear my alarm clock, but I don’t wake up to it. They save my life every day. J So, I was a little bit creeped out riding on the train, when on the second day, Jamila and Gwen asked our hostess if the train ever broke down, and she said – “oh yeah, all the time. It broke down on my last trip.” Gwen then asked, “Oh, so then what happens? Does everyone stay on the train?” And the hostess said “no, everyone has to get off.” I was picturing us just lounging around in the long grass with the giraffes, waiting from someone to come and fix the train. I’m really glad it never broke down. Then there was the bathroom, which I dreaded using, and would put off for as long as I possibly could. There always seemed to be water on the floor, and you had to strategically squat over the toilet which had no seat…….while the train was shaking back and forth. You would be holding onto the wall with one hand, and the toilet paper with the other hand, and this is all after you’ve carefully rolled up your pants, so that they didn’t land in the water on the floor…..(which unfortunately happened to one of the girls, who then wrapped her pants in a plastic bag, and disinfected her hands as quickly as possible. Hahaha.) Once, I was in the bathroom, carefully squatting over the toilet, holding on for dear life, when suddenly the train went through a tunnel, and everything went black. Hahaha. At first I was laughing, because how ironic is that? And then after a while, when everything was still black, and I thought my legs were going to fall off, I started praying “Dear God, please make this tunnel end!” So, the tunnel finally ended, but then just as soon as it ended, we went through another tunnel for about 5 more minutes. Hahaha. When I got back to the room, Gwen was laughing so hard!
We finally made it to Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania, and got off the train, very dirty, and happy to be there. It was REALLY hot in Dar! Very hot. We bought our return train tickets when we got there, just praying that on the way back from Uganda, our bus wouldn’t break down, and that we would get there in time to catch the train back. We got a taxi to the Baha’I Center, and ended up paying about 4 or 5 times as much as we should have. J The driver looked SO happy as he was waving good-bye to us, and was driving off. Hahaha. He had this huge smile on his face. I think we probably paid him a weeks worth of wages. We ended up seeing him on our way back when we got to the train station. He came up to us as we were getting out of the taxi (which we paid much less for) and was saying “do you remember me” and we’re all like “yes, how could we forget!” J So we stayed for 2 days in Dar, because it was holiday season, and the buses were full until then. But it turned out okay, because it gave us time to change money, and do a few things before we got there. One of the youth there, Adib, was so sweet! He took us all around Dar. He brought us down to the ocean, which was kind of funny, because he didn’t intend to, but the part of the beach that he brought us to happened to be the spot where all of the sewer drained out into the ocean. Hahaha. I thought it was really funny. We’re all standing around talking, and all I could think about was how quickly we could leave because it stunk SO badly! (Sorry Jackie – this is the spot where I collected your Tanzania sand. J hahaha. I didn’t really think about this until after I had wrapped it all up.) Adib took us to an Ice Cream shop called “Snoopy’s” where I had something called Snoopy’s delight, which was indeed very delightful, and he took us for some really good Indian food. He drove us around the city, (which reminded me a bit of Israel), and explained that sometimes people were beaten to death in the streets if they were caught stealing. I guess it was also common to be robbed in the city. So, you can imagine how much I liked this place. One of the teachers at Banani said that she got Malaria when she visited Dar….so I was really paranoid about the mosquitos. I made sure I put on bug spray every night. And then they gave us mosquito nets to sleep under, but I discovered the next morning that mine had holes in it. Oh well, I used it again the next night, because somehow it made me feel safer. J
Our bus ride to Kampala, Uganda was about 24 hours? I can’t remember. Maybe it was longer. We got up really early in the morning to get to the bus station to catch our bus. But we waited and waited, and the bus never showed up. I think we ended up waiting 6 or 7 hours, until they finally gave up waiting for the bus that was supposed to arrive and found a different bus for us. We went through Kenya on our way there. For some reason it gets really cold at night in Kenya, and we froze to death on the bus. I got up to ask if they could shut off the A/C because after coming from Dar, I couldn’t imagine that it would be the weather. But, it was the weather. So, I pulled out my sleeping bag, and slept very nicely until I woke up in the morning and realized the bus wasn’t moving. Gwen said “good morning, we’ve been broken down for the last 5 hours.” Man, what a disappointment. So, after about an hour, they got the bus going, and we were driving for another hour until the bus broke down again. So, everyone just filed off of the bus, and we sat in the long grass in the middle of nowhere in Kenya. One of the drivers passed out cookies and soda. We all picked out the biggest bushes we could find, and went to the bathroom behind them. Hahaha! It’s something that I’m glad I did once so that I can say that I did it, but I hope to never have to do it again. After a couple of hours, the other bus driver returned. Apparently, the piece that they had fixed the first time the bus broke down had fallen out, and he couldn’t find it, and the cell phones weren’t working in Kenya, so he had to find a ride into the nearest town to buy a new part. He replaced the part, and we were on our way again. I’m really glad that I’m not a bus driver in Africa.
When we arrived in Kampala it was pretty late – maybe 10 pm. We had learned by then that we shouldn’t have people waiting for us, because you never know when you’re actually going to arrive. So, we got a taxi to the House of Worship. It was all lit up – and we could see it from far away as we were driving towards it, because it’s up on a hill. The plot of land that it’s on is pretty big, so in the photos of it, you picture it as being in the middle of nowhere….but really, it’s right in the city.
We were only at the House of Worship for three days – but it was definitely worth it!!!! I feel so lucky that I was able to go! We met so many people along the way, who said that they hadn’t been able to visit it yet. I suppose not a lot of people have the time to just travel for 2 weeks….or the money to fly. I realized that the House of Worship was the closest I was going to get to praying in the Shrines in the Holy Land – so it felt very precious. And I prayed for all of you. On our last night – one of the youth – Misagh - had it arranged that we could all say prayers in the House of Worship with the other youth from Kampala, and the youth who were serving there. So, we all sang prayers out loud. And some of the youth were in a choir together, so it was really nice to hear them sing. Everything really echoes inside. There is yellow and green stained glass, so in the day time, there’s this soft yellow glow on everything inside. It is really beautiful.
On the way back, we had to take a bus from a different bus company, because the one we took on the way there was already filled up. But it turned out to be a good thing. The bus seemed cleaner, and it didn’t break down – and luckily there was no gospel music. A couple of the youth were really worried about getting into Dar so late and having to find a taxi, so we were really happy when we met a girl on the bus, who happened to live a few houses down from the Baha’i Center, and was going to be picked up by friends of hers, who had an SUV….with enough room for all of us. J Nice, huh? She was really great. She had come to Dar to teach for 2 years – she was from Canada. We went to visit her the next day. We heard when we were in Dar about how Tsunami had happened when we were at the House of Worship, and that 10 children had died on the beach in Dar. That’s really sad. I can’t imagine what all of those people who lost family must be going through.
The next day we got to the train station, and when we got there, we were told that the power was out in the station, and that the train would be something like 6 hours late. So, we waited around in the dark, with a couple of lit candles. By then, we were really good at waiting, and it seemed really normal to be just sitting in a train station in the dark, just chatting and passing the time. The time came and went that the train was supposed to arrive, so Misagh went to check what was going on. He came back and informed us that because the power was out, they had to pump by hand the fuel into the train. Gwen started laughing and said “just watch, the minute they finish pumping the fuel and start letting people back on the train, the power will come back on….and that was exactly what happened!!! It was New Year’s Eve and when we got on the train we had and hour and a half before midnight. So Misagh and Gwen, hearing music coming from a room in our hall, decided to have their own little dance party outside their room. Hahaha. They are hilarious! J After another 2 days on the train we finally made it back to Kapiri. We got there at about 10 PM, and people were again worried about getting a taxi back as it was so late. But we had made friends with another guy who helped us find a mini-bus. We rode for about 2 hours back to Banani, and walked up the long road to our safe little haven in the middle of nowhere. Someone at Banani had told us before we left that if we made it back by January 8th he would pay us each $100 dollars….because he insisted that transportation was so unreliable in Eastern Africa that there was no way that we would make it back on time. But, we arrived on the day that we were supposed to (the 4th)…..so instead, he gave us 100 dollars from Zimbabwe, which is worth pretty much nothing. J
I’m glad that I had the chance to see other countries in Africa. It made me appreciate Zambia so much more. This is a really special country. The people are really warm and friendly, and it seems like people are still holding onto their culture. You see women walking around wearing Chitengues (the colorful wrapped skirts), and using the Chitengues to carry their babies on their backs. It isn’t so materialistic here. And during the rainy season everything is really green! It’s really beautiful.
The students arrived on January 9th, and started school on the 10th, and we have been busy ever since. They added grade 6 and 7 boarders, so we have a lot more students now. For some reason, the school is really growing, and they’re trying really hard to make room for all of the girls who want to come to Banani. They’re building new dorms and classrooms. Someone had explained to me that the government schools moved grades 6 and 7 to the Primary Schools this year, instead of having them in the Secondary Schools, because then it would be more likely that the parents would keep their children in school up to at least grade 7. (I think this is how he explained it anyway) But he said that that would not be a reason that Banani is growing, because really the students who end up coming here are students who would go to private schools for Primary School – as they come from families with money. So! I guess it’s just a good year for them! And they want to take advantage of this chance to grow. One of the administrators forwarded a message to the other staff from a parent who was thanking them for giving her daughter the chance to go to Banani, as she had heard from others that it was “one of the few good standing schools in the country now.” I thought that was really special.
There is a new youth – Kimia – from Canada, who came to serve. Also, there is a girl, Hannah, who was a student at Banani quite a few years ago, and is doing her student teaching right now, and is nice enough to be a dorm parent as well. They’re both a lot of fun!
I’m teaching at the Primary School. I have the grade ones. I never ended up helping the principal like I thought I was going to. I only have 2 students – so you can imagine how much fun that is!!! One student has a syndrome, which causes him to have a shorter attention span than normal, and his fine and large motor skills are behind. The other student is just learning English. So, I think that they both lucked out that there are only 2 of them, because they have so much 1 on 1 attention. I always have a funny story about the one little boy. Every day at lunch they ask – “Do you have a funny Ryan story today?” The older kids at the school appreciate how adorable he is, and they’re always laughing at him. The other day we were writing S’s, and I looked down at his paper and realized that he was making fish. I said – “Oh Ryan, we need to work on making S’s.” He said “no I’m making the fish. See you put a line here and a line here, and it’s a fish.” Hahaha.
Today we took the older students from the Primary School to tutor younger children in a nearby school in Liteta. It was my first time going there, and it was really a surprise to see the contrast between that school and Banani. The group of Banani students that I was with helped in a third grade classroom. There were 45 students in the class, and the students were really behind academically. It was quite sad. Other than the few school books, I didn’t see any other books. I think that this will be a really good experience for the Banani students, so that they appreciate what they have. It made me also realize how lucky the kids at Banani are.
Half of the girls in my dorm are grade 8’s this term, and half are grade 9’s. I like having the younger girls – you feel more like you’re their mother. The girls really get to be like family – it’s really nice. They’re like sisters. Yesterday we started Salsa dancing lessons. Mahvash (the dorm matron in the senior dorm) is teaching the girls Salsa for 4 weeks, and then Jamila is going to teach them Belly Dancing for 4 weeks, and then Gwen will teach them Swing Dancing. It was fun to do something like this with the girls – I think it will be a good thing. Usually, we’re in the role of having to keep them quiet (during computer lab and library and in the evening for quiet time).
First, we all went to Botswana for the Jubilee Celebration of the Baha’i Faith having been there for 50 years. It worked out nicely that they were having this over our break. We had a 20 hour bus ride there….which was really crazy. When I boarded the bus, I discovered that the seat number I was assigned to did not exist. Hahaha. I was just really hoping that I wouldn’t have to sit in the aisle the whole way there. But, it turns out that I did get a seat in the very back of the bus, squished in between 2 little, adorable children. The little boy to the left of me was probably the most talkative child I’ve ever met in my life…..and I was pretty much stuck listening to him. J But, he was very cute. Finally, after about an hour of his questions and random bits of information that he was sharing with me, his mother said to him – “leave the poor girl alone, lay down and go to sleep.” So, I’m still not sure why, but he just laid right down and went to sleep. That, however, was not before he had the chance to spill his orange pop all over me. Yeah. I got really dirty on this bus ride. Then the little girl to the right of me just leaned over and fell asleep on me. I love how there aren’t the usual “personal space” rules that I’m used to at home. People seem to be very comfortable touching each other here. Guys walk around holding hands all the time, and girls do some too. And people just seem more comfortable sitting very close to you. It’s nice. When we got on the bus to Botswana, they were playing this Zambian Gospel music, that was fun to listen to at first – you know, a nice cultural experience….something new and exciting. Well, that was for the first hour or two. Then night-time came, and I kept thinking – oh, they’ll turn it off soon. It didn’t happen. We heard the Gospel music and Celine Dion all the way to Botswana. Going through the border was crazy. It took 3 hours. It was really early in the morning, and after getting our visas, we all had to walk down to the river and get on a ferry that took us and the bus across the river. When we finally arrived in Botswana, the bus was 3 hours late, and Baha’is had been taking turns in shifts waiting for us. We felt so bad!!! But there was nothing we could do….we had no cell phone, and no way of knowing the bus would be that late. People had kept warning us that transportation just doesn’t work the same in Africa.
The conference turned out to be really nice. We heard a lot of stories from people about the beginnings of the Faith in Botswana, and some really crazy stories about how the Baha’is would have to come up with ways to meet together, because there was apartheid at the time, and black and white people couldn’t be seen together. Well, okay, they were probably speaking of South Africa, which borders Botswana.
We stayed with the most wonderful family when we were there. They had just moved there 2 years ago from Pakistan. There names are Nazi (not pronounced like the German Nazis) and Taraz, and their two children Sarmad and Salman……7 and 2 yrs. They were so incredibly hospitable!!! The first day we were there, we had gone shopping, and when we came back, Nazi had gone through our room, found our dirty clothes (which were probably really easy to identify after having been on the bus) and washed them for us! I can’t even tell you how happy that made me! Nazi was an incredible cook. Everything she made was SO GOOD!!! I think I must have written down the recipe for everything she made us.
Botswana is very different from Zambia….at least the city that we were in in Botswana – Gaberone. It’s much more Westernized. When we got to the mall, we were all in shock….because it was such a surprise to see a humongous mall, after having been in Zambia. There’s really nothing like this in Lusaka (which is the closest city to Banani….about an hour away), and so we weren’t expecting to see it. We went several times to a nice coffee shop, where everyone was really happy to have good coffee, except me. But they had really good pancakes, so I was happy. We hung out a lot with people we met at the conference. I got to see a few people that I knew from South Africa. That was really great, because they were people that I assumed I would never see again.
We got back to Banani about a week later, and had to wash all of our laundry…..which takes a few days. First, you have to hand wash the clothes, then hang them out to dry and hope that is doesn’t rain, as it’s the rainy season. Then once they’re dry you have to iron them to kill the Putsi Fly eggs, because if you don’t, they will hatch under your skin! You can imagine how carefully I iron my clothes. I hope that I NEVER have to have the Putsi Fly experience. But luckily they just finished building a laundry room that we can use once a week.
We left Banani on Dec. 21 for our trip to Uganda. One of the youth – Nastaran from Australia – was leaving on that day to go back home. We had to leave Banani at 4 AM, so we all just stayed up that night, and went to a little store nearby to get soda. Going anywhere when you’re here is a really exciting experience. It was sad to say good-bye to Nastaran. You forget that this is a place where people come and go, and that you’ll have to say good-bye to people. A lot of the staff come here with the intention of just staying a few years, and then leaving. But then there are some people who have been here since it opened. I guess things were very different in the beginnings, and it was a lot more rugged. So, I’m happy that I’m here now, and not then.
George, one of the drivers at Banani, took us to the airport to say good-bye to Nas, and then was kind enough to drive us to the train station in Kapiri, which is a couple of hours away. Riding on the train was an experience all in itself, that I don’t think I will ever forget. We spent 2 days on the train, which was very weird. You know, you wake up and think….oh, I still have to spend another night on this train. We traveled through, I believe, the largest National Park in Africa. So, we got to see some really beautiful scenery and families of giraffes running through the wild. That was really cool! We also saw Impala. I felt a little bit like I was at sea, because the train would rock back and forth. Every once in a while it would jerk forward, and we would go flying. After the first night, one of the youth told us that they had been holding on for dear life almost the whole night, because they were on one of the top bunks, and they were afraid that they would go flying off. Hahaha. Luckily, I seem to sleep through about anything, so I slept just fine. It’s funny because in my dorm, I wake up every morning to one of the girls knocking on my door, when they hear my alarm clock, but I don’t wake up to it. They save my life every day. J So, I was a little bit creeped out riding on the train, when on the second day, Jamila and Gwen asked our hostess if the train ever broke down, and she said – “oh yeah, all the time. It broke down on my last trip.” Gwen then asked, “Oh, so then what happens? Does everyone stay on the train?” And the hostess said “no, everyone has to get off.” I was picturing us just lounging around in the long grass with the giraffes, waiting from someone to come and fix the train. I’m really glad it never broke down. Then there was the bathroom, which I dreaded using, and would put off for as long as I possibly could. There always seemed to be water on the floor, and you had to strategically squat over the toilet which had no seat…….while the train was shaking back and forth. You would be holding onto the wall with one hand, and the toilet paper with the other hand, and this is all after you’ve carefully rolled up your pants, so that they didn’t land in the water on the floor…..(which unfortunately happened to one of the girls, who then wrapped her pants in a plastic bag, and disinfected her hands as quickly as possible. Hahaha.) Once, I was in the bathroom, carefully squatting over the toilet, holding on for dear life, when suddenly the train went through a tunnel, and everything went black. Hahaha. At first I was laughing, because how ironic is that? And then after a while, when everything was still black, and I thought my legs were going to fall off, I started praying “Dear God, please make this tunnel end!” So, the tunnel finally ended, but then just as soon as it ended, we went through another tunnel for about 5 more minutes. Hahaha. When I got back to the room, Gwen was laughing so hard!
We finally made it to Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania, and got off the train, very dirty, and happy to be there. It was REALLY hot in Dar! Very hot. We bought our return train tickets when we got there, just praying that on the way back from Uganda, our bus wouldn’t break down, and that we would get there in time to catch the train back. We got a taxi to the Baha’I Center, and ended up paying about 4 or 5 times as much as we should have. J The driver looked SO happy as he was waving good-bye to us, and was driving off. Hahaha. He had this huge smile on his face. I think we probably paid him a weeks worth of wages. We ended up seeing him on our way back when we got to the train station. He came up to us as we were getting out of the taxi (which we paid much less for) and was saying “do you remember me” and we’re all like “yes, how could we forget!” J So we stayed for 2 days in Dar, because it was holiday season, and the buses were full until then. But it turned out okay, because it gave us time to change money, and do a few things before we got there. One of the youth there, Adib, was so sweet! He took us all around Dar. He brought us down to the ocean, which was kind of funny, because he didn’t intend to, but the part of the beach that he brought us to happened to be the spot where all of the sewer drained out into the ocean. Hahaha. I thought it was really funny. We’re all standing around talking, and all I could think about was how quickly we could leave because it stunk SO badly! (Sorry Jackie – this is the spot where I collected your Tanzania sand. J hahaha. I didn’t really think about this until after I had wrapped it all up.) Adib took us to an Ice Cream shop called “Snoopy’s” where I had something called Snoopy’s delight, which was indeed very delightful, and he took us for some really good Indian food. He drove us around the city, (which reminded me a bit of Israel), and explained that sometimes people were beaten to death in the streets if they were caught stealing. I guess it was also common to be robbed in the city. So, you can imagine how much I liked this place. One of the teachers at Banani said that she got Malaria when she visited Dar….so I was really paranoid about the mosquitos. I made sure I put on bug spray every night. And then they gave us mosquito nets to sleep under, but I discovered the next morning that mine had holes in it. Oh well, I used it again the next night, because somehow it made me feel safer. J
Our bus ride to Kampala, Uganda was about 24 hours? I can’t remember. Maybe it was longer. We got up really early in the morning to get to the bus station to catch our bus. But we waited and waited, and the bus never showed up. I think we ended up waiting 6 or 7 hours, until they finally gave up waiting for the bus that was supposed to arrive and found a different bus for us. We went through Kenya on our way there. For some reason it gets really cold at night in Kenya, and we froze to death on the bus. I got up to ask if they could shut off the A/C because after coming from Dar, I couldn’t imagine that it would be the weather. But, it was the weather. So, I pulled out my sleeping bag, and slept very nicely until I woke up in the morning and realized the bus wasn’t moving. Gwen said “good morning, we’ve been broken down for the last 5 hours.” Man, what a disappointment. So, after about an hour, they got the bus going, and we were driving for another hour until the bus broke down again. So, everyone just filed off of the bus, and we sat in the long grass in the middle of nowhere in Kenya. One of the drivers passed out cookies and soda. We all picked out the biggest bushes we could find, and went to the bathroom behind them. Hahaha! It’s something that I’m glad I did once so that I can say that I did it, but I hope to never have to do it again. After a couple of hours, the other bus driver returned. Apparently, the piece that they had fixed the first time the bus broke down had fallen out, and he couldn’t find it, and the cell phones weren’t working in Kenya, so he had to find a ride into the nearest town to buy a new part. He replaced the part, and we were on our way again. I’m really glad that I’m not a bus driver in Africa.
When we arrived in Kampala it was pretty late – maybe 10 pm. We had learned by then that we shouldn’t have people waiting for us, because you never know when you’re actually going to arrive. So, we got a taxi to the House of Worship. It was all lit up – and we could see it from far away as we were driving towards it, because it’s up on a hill. The plot of land that it’s on is pretty big, so in the photos of it, you picture it as being in the middle of nowhere….but really, it’s right in the city.
We were only at the House of Worship for three days – but it was definitely worth it!!!! I feel so lucky that I was able to go! We met so many people along the way, who said that they hadn’t been able to visit it yet. I suppose not a lot of people have the time to just travel for 2 weeks….or the money to fly. I realized that the House of Worship was the closest I was going to get to praying in the Shrines in the Holy Land – so it felt very precious. And I prayed for all of you. On our last night – one of the youth – Misagh - had it arranged that we could all say prayers in the House of Worship with the other youth from Kampala, and the youth who were serving there. So, we all sang prayers out loud. And some of the youth were in a choir together, so it was really nice to hear them sing. Everything really echoes inside. There is yellow and green stained glass, so in the day time, there’s this soft yellow glow on everything inside. It is really beautiful.
On the way back, we had to take a bus from a different bus company, because the one we took on the way there was already filled up. But it turned out to be a good thing. The bus seemed cleaner, and it didn’t break down – and luckily there was no gospel music. A couple of the youth were really worried about getting into Dar so late and having to find a taxi, so we were really happy when we met a girl on the bus, who happened to live a few houses down from the Baha’i Center, and was going to be picked up by friends of hers, who had an SUV….with enough room for all of us. J Nice, huh? She was really great. She had come to Dar to teach for 2 years – she was from Canada. We went to visit her the next day. We heard when we were in Dar about how Tsunami had happened when we were at the House of Worship, and that 10 children had died on the beach in Dar. That’s really sad. I can’t imagine what all of those people who lost family must be going through.
The next day we got to the train station, and when we got there, we were told that the power was out in the station, and that the train would be something like 6 hours late. So, we waited around in the dark, with a couple of lit candles. By then, we were really good at waiting, and it seemed really normal to be just sitting in a train station in the dark, just chatting and passing the time. The time came and went that the train was supposed to arrive, so Misagh went to check what was going on. He came back and informed us that because the power was out, they had to pump by hand the fuel into the train. Gwen started laughing and said “just watch, the minute they finish pumping the fuel and start letting people back on the train, the power will come back on….and that was exactly what happened!!! It was New Year’s Eve and when we got on the train we had and hour and a half before midnight. So Misagh and Gwen, hearing music coming from a room in our hall, decided to have their own little dance party outside their room. Hahaha. They are hilarious! J After another 2 days on the train we finally made it back to Kapiri. We got there at about 10 PM, and people were again worried about getting a taxi back as it was so late. But we had made friends with another guy who helped us find a mini-bus. We rode for about 2 hours back to Banani, and walked up the long road to our safe little haven in the middle of nowhere. Someone at Banani had told us before we left that if we made it back by January 8th he would pay us each $100 dollars….because he insisted that transportation was so unreliable in Eastern Africa that there was no way that we would make it back on time. But, we arrived on the day that we were supposed to (the 4th)…..so instead, he gave us 100 dollars from Zimbabwe, which is worth pretty much nothing. J
I’m glad that I had the chance to see other countries in Africa. It made me appreciate Zambia so much more. This is a really special country. The people are really warm and friendly, and it seems like people are still holding onto their culture. You see women walking around wearing Chitengues (the colorful wrapped skirts), and using the Chitengues to carry their babies on their backs. It isn’t so materialistic here. And during the rainy season everything is really green! It’s really beautiful.
The students arrived on January 9th, and started school on the 10th, and we have been busy ever since. They added grade 6 and 7 boarders, so we have a lot more students now. For some reason, the school is really growing, and they’re trying really hard to make room for all of the girls who want to come to Banani. They’re building new dorms and classrooms. Someone had explained to me that the government schools moved grades 6 and 7 to the Primary Schools this year, instead of having them in the Secondary Schools, because then it would be more likely that the parents would keep their children in school up to at least grade 7. (I think this is how he explained it anyway) But he said that that would not be a reason that Banani is growing, because really the students who end up coming here are students who would go to private schools for Primary School – as they come from families with money. So! I guess it’s just a good year for them! And they want to take advantage of this chance to grow. One of the administrators forwarded a message to the other staff from a parent who was thanking them for giving her daughter the chance to go to Banani, as she had heard from others that it was “one of the few good standing schools in the country now.” I thought that was really special.
There is a new youth – Kimia – from Canada, who came to serve. Also, there is a girl, Hannah, who was a student at Banani quite a few years ago, and is doing her student teaching right now, and is nice enough to be a dorm parent as well. They’re both a lot of fun!
I’m teaching at the Primary School. I have the grade ones. I never ended up helping the principal like I thought I was going to. I only have 2 students – so you can imagine how much fun that is!!! One student has a syndrome, which causes him to have a shorter attention span than normal, and his fine and large motor skills are behind. The other student is just learning English. So, I think that they both lucked out that there are only 2 of them, because they have so much 1 on 1 attention. I always have a funny story about the one little boy. Every day at lunch they ask – “Do you have a funny Ryan story today?” The older kids at the school appreciate how adorable he is, and they’re always laughing at him. The other day we were writing S’s, and I looked down at his paper and realized that he was making fish. I said – “Oh Ryan, we need to work on making S’s.” He said “no I’m making the fish. See you put a line here and a line here, and it’s a fish.” Hahaha.
Today we took the older students from the Primary School to tutor younger children in a nearby school in Liteta. It was my first time going there, and it was really a surprise to see the contrast between that school and Banani. The group of Banani students that I was with helped in a third grade classroom. There were 45 students in the class, and the students were really behind academically. It was quite sad. Other than the few school books, I didn’t see any other books. I think that this will be a really good experience for the Banani students, so that they appreciate what they have. It made me also realize how lucky the kids at Banani are.
Half of the girls in my dorm are grade 8’s this term, and half are grade 9’s. I like having the younger girls – you feel more like you’re their mother. The girls really get to be like family – it’s really nice. They’re like sisters. Yesterday we started Salsa dancing lessons. Mahvash (the dorm matron in the senior dorm) is teaching the girls Salsa for 4 weeks, and then Jamila is going to teach them Belly Dancing for 4 weeks, and then Gwen will teach them Swing Dancing. It was fun to do something like this with the girls – I think it will be a good thing. Usually, we’re in the role of having to keep them quiet (during computer lab and library and in the evening for quiet time).