Mambo!

Hello :)  I have not been able to get on the internet yet, but here I am !

All you need to know about the plane ride is that I got from Montreal to Amsterdam, then Amsterdam to Dar es Salaam... and WAS NOT nauseous!!!  Hurrah!  Poa.
Tues and Wed was orientation in Dar and Thursday morning we traveled to Morogoro to meet our homestay families and continue orientation.  It is 10:30pm here, but only 3:30pm over in Canada - hope everyone has a fabulous Friday night :)

Things to get used to - bucket showers (not so bad), squat toilets and (generally) no toilet paper, and eating with your right hand.  The eating with your hands thing is really cool - my host family only really eats with their hands, but you are only allowed to use your right hand - not so easy for a lefty.  Also, we went out for dinner in Dar one night and I ordered wali (rice), ndizi (bananas that taste like potatoes), and myama (beef)... Devon - another volunteer - ordered antelope.  Guess who ALSO got antelope??  That was also my first hands-eating experience.  Interesting to say the least.

Morogoro and Tanzania are amazing!!  So beautiful and such wonderful people..everyone is so excited to meet the mzungu (foreigner, or more directly white person) because it is so easy to spot us out!  The big thing about Tanzania is the greetings - so so so so many different greetings, and after you greet "Mambo" - "Poa", they continue.  It's kinda cool, not like in Canada where you say Hey What's Up?  And then you're too far down the street to hear the person's answer.

So orientation has been amazing - it feels like I have been here for longer than a week!  My host family is AMAZING and so cute and welcoming and wonderful!! Morogoro is surrounded by the Uluguru mountains and every morning I wake up to a beautiful landscape!

Today we sorted out all of our schedules - it is going to be a busy 7 weeks!!!
Our programs reach a bunch of different audiences and here are some of the sections:
1 - english and computers intermediate/advanced
2 - english and computers for PWA (people living with AIDS)
3 - girls club
4 - health and life skills for street side schools
5 - HIV/AIDS outreach in rural communities
6 - Social support for youth PWA
7 - Soccer/Netball tournament for health and development with a focus on malaria
8 - capacity building with Faraja Trust Fund
9 - small scale initiatives.

Everything is so exciting!  There is also an intern here named Larissa and she's working on Environmental support/initiatives and implementing programs with the communities in Morogoro and surrounding it - waste and composting, water, wells, irrigation and deforestation - it is all so exciting!!

Hope to post and tell you all how my trip to the market is tomorrow !
Missing Canada

lala fofofo (sleep tight)

Jamie