CCS

       Africa was in my heart for some reason.  I didn't know why, but when I decided to come here, my first thoughts were that of, a little bit of excitement and a large dose of fear.  How would I even begin to know where to start? I saw all the same news clips and media about Africa that everyone else saw, and I had the same limited and scary visions of what it might be like. I decided it would be best for me to go in initially with an organization, rather than show up on the huge continent traveling alone, as a woman.  I would start with an NGO (non governmental organization) to help me get acclimated to the culture,  learn the language, and begin to see where I could be of service.
       Ibra picked me up from the hotel the next morning in an older, but clean, 15 passenger van which had seen its fair share of use, and drove me to Moshi.  He is on the staff at Cross Cultural Solutions, and was sent to bring me to base camp, which would be my home for the next two months.  He honked the horn as we pulled up to the gate, and from inside a security guard opened the doors.  As we drove through I caught my first sight of the compound.  It was meticulously groomed with hedges and green grass. I later discovered they keep it this way with machetes.  Yes, that's also how they "mow" the lawn. Their power here is human, not motorized. But I've gotten sidetracked.
       CCS houses thirty people at a time.  They feed us, shelter us, and send us out into the community to work for other organizations every day. Our placements range from orphanages, to schools, hospitals, women's groups, centers for street children, HIV testing clinics and so on.  They also educate us about African culture, the traditions of the Kilimanjaro Region,  give us  Kiswahili lessons, and completely immerse us in Africa. The cross culturing is that we learn from them and they learn from us. The first two days were orientation about how to live in CCS and Moshi, our job assignments, and how we could all live together in harmony as we navigated our way through volunteerism in some very difficult areas.   Each of us has a different story of how we got here and why, and all are fascinating.
       Our days start in the open-air dining area, where our cook prepares delicious meals of rice, meat, spinach, and the sweetest fresh fruits.  We wash our dishes, jump in the van and go to work.  In the afternoons CCS has guest speakers come in to educate us on things such as Gender Roles, Education in Africa, Traditional Healers, HIV/AIDS epidemic here, and Kiswahili lessons.  They also take us on trips to different villages and areas which you will be hearing about in detail soon. At times, we go into town to run errands and spend time getting to know people in our community.  Then in the few spare moments we have left, there are the details of life to attend to, such as laundry. We wash it by hand, hang it out on the line, and then iron every item.  Yes, every single article, which includes, (and especially) the underwear, because the ironing kills a certain bug that attaches itself to the clothing and lays eggs.  And maybe this is too much information but, have you ever tried to iron a bra? Not to mention that your personal items are out on the line for everyone to see. It was a little uncomfortable at first, but living in such close quarters with so many people, we "got over" having any personal or private space very quickly.
       In the evenings you might find us across the street.  CCS has a very strict policy against having any alcohol on the premises, and this is a good rule.  A very resourceful and clever African woman named Grace, lives across the street, and has turned her side yard into the Mzungu Bar.  Mzungu technically means "foreigner", but really it means, "white people".  She provides local beer, brewed in Tanzania because she's brilliantly figured out that she has a captive audience of 30 people who may need a place to debrief and share experiences.
       After a full day we find ourselves back in our rooms.  We pray that the electricity stays on so our fan will run through the night.  It usually doesn't.  It's not enough that we climb into short bunk beds, in the stifling heat, but then we basically wrap ourselves in plastic with our mosquito nets.  We are usually awakened around 4:00am by roosters, and prayers being chanted at the mosque nearby.  We eventually climb out of bed, decide we wouldn't want to be anywhere else, and start all over again.

our new,best friends, the cooks

CCS - My home away from home

dining area

washing our dishes

we look out for each other

laundry day for Sarah

the sun dries everything really quickly

ironing a sock seems pretty hilarious

no malaria for us!

Our favorite getaway

Anticipation Africa

        Leaving Costa Rica was bittersweet.  I was excited to move on to the next phase of my journey, but I had fallen in love with the country of CR.  I felt good about accomplishing my goals during my stay there, immersing in the culture, learning spanish, living on my own in a developing country, starting a blog,  and getting certified to teach English as a second language. The time flew by quickly!
        I stopped over in the United States for a month to say good-bye to family and friends. It was a whirlwind tour on the continent, couch surfing along the way, enjoying time with my loved ones, and eating everything in site. (I'm going to be starving in Africa, right?) I checked my storage locker to find my recliner still in the front section near the door where my sons had placed it, just in case I ever needed a place to sleep. It's my tiny piece of real estate on the planet, and it gives me a strange sort of comfort to think of it as home. I checked in with my CPA, my broker, and my estate planning lawyer. I went to visit my doctor one last time and we went over the list of immunizations I had gotten last spring; Typhoid, Hep A, Hep B, Tetanus, Rabies, Malaria pills, and the biggie that gets me into the country, Yellow Fever.  She gave me a flu shot, wrote me a script for Cipro, just in case... and cleared me to go.  I shut down my Iphone (really painful I might add), and made plans for my car to be sold.  My monthly bills would consist of 1) health insurance, 2) storage locker, that's it. I am completely untethered from trappings.  It's liberating, exciting, and scary all at the same time.
       My parents were amazed at the items I had laid out all over the floor of their spare bedroom; a mosquito net, water purifying tablets, toilet paper, my asthma medicines which filled half a bag, and two knee-length skirts for modesty at work, which I did not own and had to purchase.  My father shook his head with fear at the thought that all I would have with me for the next two years, could fit into two bags.
        My biggest concern at the moment was how to survive the 16 hour leg of my flight from the Dulles airport to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Armed with reading material and a fully charged ipod loaded with new music, I entered the airport and went straight to first store I found to buy one of those circular neck pillows. I would like to take this moment to personally apologize to those pillow owners all over the world for whom I smirked at, in airports, before this day.  Those pillows are the most comfortable things ever and it saved me on that long, long flight! I get it now. I'm a believer, and I am sorry.  Ethiopian Airlines gave me a packet when I sat down on my seat. It was full with a blanket, ear plugs, an eye cover, a pair of long socks, and a disposable toothbrush.  I felt so taken care of.
       With all the preparations finally behind me, I settled in comfortably. Before long the gravity of my situation rose up in my mind, and I began to feel anxious.  When I was in Costa Rica, my purpose was to decompress and attain certain goals. In Africa I am looking for a new purpose in life. Before now, my main focus in life was to be a good wife and mother, and I feel very accomplished in those areas. But now both of those are over.  So who am I now? If I strip it all away, what will I find?  For all of my adult life my decisions have always included the welfare and concerns of others, my children and my husband.  What will determine that now? What will my voice sound like when it is my own? A sudden lack of self confidence, and by that I mean panic, welled up in my heart.  Twenty-six hours later I landed in Tanzania, Africa.

addis ababa, ethiopia

Tanzania, Africa

KIA Lodge, where I stayed the first night, near the airport

Moshi is located at the base of Mt Kilimanjaro

the ride to Moshi

Mt Kilimanjaro

good bye costa rica

    

      Sad, sad, sad.  It came time for me to leave my beloved Costa Rica.  The voice in my head was refusing to be ignored.  "Why are you voluntarily leaving this paradise? No one is making you leave.  There is not one reason you have to leave. You are just now really getting a handle on the language, you're settling into your community, you could teach English here. Even your salsa dancing has improved. You love the sun, the food, the people, the jungle, the surf, the animals, even the rain. You love this place with every fiber of your being.  Everything about it suits you. You are leaving to go live in a village in Africa?  WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?"    Shhhhh.  Just shhhhhh.

       I don't have an answer.  There really is no explanation other than I have been called in my heart to Africa.  I don't know why. All I know is that if I don't go now, I will never go.  The third "speak" is on the horizon and now it is time to give. 

my roommate

sunrise from my terrace

sunset over Quepos

       

Graduation

      One day I went to TEFL early to make 45 copies of small pictures as part of my materials for my lesson that night. As I stood at the copier with my first set of copies ready to go, the power went out! In fact the power was out in ALL of Quepos for the entire day. Not a single copier was in operation anywhere. I evaluated my situation.  It had taken me four hours to plan the lesson, an hour assessment for approval, another hour for revisions and second approval, and the rest of the materials were already made. There was no way I could alter the plan.  I had no choice but to draw all 45 of the pictures.  Thank goodness I had come in early. (Of course my hope had been to get my copies made and go to the beach for the morning.)  My lesson theme was all about relationships such as dating, engagement, marriage, etc.  Consequently, I spent 5 hours that day drawing stick people in love.  We hadn't brought our own lunch because we had planned to call and have lunch delivered.  With no power, we had no phone lines to call and no time to walk to town, which meant no food. Hungry and grumpy at the end of the day I vowed to take an art class when I settled back into the USA, so I'd never have to draw another stick figure again.

        At 4:15pm we started setting out small candles all over the room because it would be dark half way through class.  At 4:30 my students arrived and class began.  At 4:35 the power turned on!  My class was a success with no grammar bombs at all.  A few of my fellow teachers were suspiciously amazed that the power had been out during our exact work hours that day. They accused the staff at TEFL of pulling the switch so we would learn to make materials the old fashioned way, and be able to teach in third world countries with no resources.  They laughed and said one day we just might be grateful for the experience.

              So after numerous hours of 
             lesson planning with no sleep,
     teaching, evaluating, creating a final exam,
           and bouts with the copy machine,

                      we graduated.

TEFL threw a beautiful pool party and dinner for all of the graduates and our students.  With tears in our eyes we said our goodbyes.  We wished our students well in their continued quest to master the language with the next round of student teachers. Then we wished each other well as we would soon be spread out all over the world, teaching the power of the english language.

Casey A. and I give our final exam

death to the tefl copier hahaha

celebration time!!!

Casey S. and some of our students

Stacy, Darcy and Mark exhausted but happy

Woohoo, we made it!