Freiwilligenarbeit in Tansania 2011

11.09.2011 - My adventure could start. Very early in the morning I took the flight from Hamburg to Amsterdam and then to Arusha. I was really excited but Elibariki and my host family was very hospitable. So I could feel at home. I had my own room and my own washing room. Meiko (23) and Craign (8) live also in this family and we were friends from the first day. Mama Kessy is the friendliest person I ever met. So she cooked for me, helped me with any problem and handled me as a daughter. Elibariki was well organized and has everything planned out. In the first days he showed me the town and we visited the school. 

On my third day was my first day in school. Every teacher and every pupil were so friendly to me. Every morning the pupils have their assembly. The headmaster asked me to introduce myself. That was the first hurdle for me because I think my English isn’t very well. In the first week we prepared the graduation for class seven. So it was my job to sing with the students, to invent poetry and to look that every student has his part in the celebration. I liked the teachers from the first day and we had a lot of funny and interesting talks. The celebration was one of my highlights in Tanzania. 

Before my stay in Tanzania Elibariki asked me about my wishes like to do safari etc. He knows a lot of companies and we organized my safari. In my second week I did an unforgettable safari. I had a nice group of 4 persons, good guides and we saw all animals you can see on a safari. We slept in tents. I had a lot of dangerous but funny moments. One time we were attacked by an elephant.

After my return in school I started to teach mathematics in class two and three. The first lessons were really hard. But I learned how to handle the pupils. It is a completely different life in school than in Germany. Loamo School is a private school and starts with a baby class (3 years old) up to class 7. They speak English all the time and 20-40 pupils are in one class. In schools from the government are around 100 pupils in one class and they speak Swahili. In Tanzania the students will be beaten with a stick if they don’t obey. It was hard to see that and I never did it. That made my job more difficult. But often we were two teachers in class. In the breaks we ate together. At my first time in school I ate typical African food but sometimes I got stomach ache from this food. I told that Mama Kessy and for 3 days in a week she made me a lunch packed. The school started at 8 am in the morning and finished at 15.30pm.

After school I went to my Swahili teacher for one hour every day. I had not enough time to learn it because the days were so long that I was too tired in the evening to study the language. In the evening we often went to town to get on the internet. I really missed the DalaDala. This is small bus in which many people ride through town. Every time it was so crazy because you think there is no space for more people but we stopped again and again. 

I often played games with Craign or talk to my host family in the evening. I miss the time. 

The weekends were very amazing. Elibariki asked me every week what I want to do at the weekend. Sometimes we spent time on a swimming pool, made a trip to the Kilimanjaro or visited the snake park. We were also in a night club and dance a lot.

My last week in Arusha passed very fast. We prepared the students for their examinations. On three days they had to write a test every lesson. It was an exhausting time because we corrected all the time examinations. I stayed the whole time in baby class because they couldn’t read very well and need more help than the other pupils. On my last day in school we all were really sad to say goodbye. The students prepared for me a little speech. So cute. And my mother sent me a package. So I had some gifts for them. We visited also a orphanage house and had a meeting with widows who needs help. After my time in Arusha I needed time to relax on Zanzibar. I took the bus and the ferry. It was a long trip to reach Zanzibar. I met another German girl and we stayed together the whole time. We had a great time, made a dolphin tour, spice tour, city tour etc. 

After my return it was time to say goodbye to my host family. I was really sad and miss them. I had also lunch with the widows and they had also nice gifts for me. 

I can summarize that I had a great time and gained many experience for my life. I don’t want to miss this time.