round two
I have been back in Tobre, after my summer of traveling, for over a month. School started the first week of October, the waterpump is now doing its thing in the garden, and the bush is quickly fading from brillant green to straw yellow.
Life is so much easier the second time around. I didn't realize how stressful the first year was for me, until the school year started and I was struck by how much simpler and smoother everything now is. Nothing has changed, besides me. I no longer worry about all the small things: whether or not I'm dressed appropriately, what people think about me, what I'm going to eat, etc etc. I can't explain it well, and I don't think I was completely overwhelmed the first year, but it is just very clear to me that life is just easier now.
As I mentioned, school has been in session for a month now. I'm the head of the English teachers this year, which mostly just means that I get to lead our bi-weekly English meetings. I'm planning on being a pretty strict captain. Only English, an itenerary of the meeting, and holding the teachers accountable.
The women's garden project is rolling along. The ladies planted their potatoes, and have started using the pump. The drilling for the new bore-hole will happen in November. A Peace Corps business volunteer has come to give accounting classes, and the women responded enthusiastically. Next week I'll help them make their notebooks.
Now groupments (garden groups) in surrounding villages have begun to hear about what's happening in Tobre. I've been approached by two different groups, and will hopefully be going to meet with a group in tiny village called Tonri this weekend.
We've also done the pre-screening for the eyeglasses project. I'm going to try to set up the optometrist's visit within the next few days, and am following up on some leads towards getting used eyeglasses.
In general, I'm happy, healthy, and excited about the work I have in Tobre. Yet, at the same time, there are those things in the background that remind me that again and again that village life is not idyllic or simple. I'm worried that one of my fellow teachers is sleeping with the neighbor girl whose tuition I pay. I'm worried about my kindergarten-aged neighbors and the ways in which their environment causes them to experience certain aspects of life way too early. I'm worried about the unnecessary corporal punishment that often happens at my school. The list can go on.
Luckily there is enough to keep me busy. On a less serious note, I've stopped doing my own cooking (laziness), and eat only with my neighbors. Looking back on one of the first blogs I posted, where I was stressing out about not being able to stomach food here, its clear that things have come a long way. Legume sauce, fermented maize mush, boiled yams and oil - I actually look forward to eating it. Things that made me nauseous are now things I crave. I'm sure there's a life lesson to glean from this, but I'm not in the mood to find it.
Life is so much easier the second time around. I didn't realize how stressful the first year was for me, until the school year started and I was struck by how much simpler and smoother everything now is. Nothing has changed, besides me. I no longer worry about all the small things: whether or not I'm dressed appropriately, what people think about me, what I'm going to eat, etc etc. I can't explain it well, and I don't think I was completely overwhelmed the first year, but it is just very clear to me that life is just easier now.
As I mentioned, school has been in session for a month now. I'm the head of the English teachers this year, which mostly just means that I get to lead our bi-weekly English meetings. I'm planning on being a pretty strict captain. Only English, an itenerary of the meeting, and holding the teachers accountable.
The women's garden project is rolling along. The ladies planted their potatoes, and have started using the pump. The drilling for the new bore-hole will happen in November. A Peace Corps business volunteer has come to give accounting classes, and the women responded enthusiastically. Next week I'll help them make their notebooks.
Now groupments (garden groups) in surrounding villages have begun to hear about what's happening in Tobre. I've been approached by two different groups, and will hopefully be going to meet with a group in tiny village called Tonri this weekend.
We've also done the pre-screening for the eyeglasses project. I'm going to try to set up the optometrist's visit within the next few days, and am following up on some leads towards getting used eyeglasses.
In general, I'm happy, healthy, and excited about the work I have in Tobre. Yet, at the same time, there are those things in the background that remind me that again and again that village life is not idyllic or simple. I'm worried that one of my fellow teachers is sleeping with the neighbor girl whose tuition I pay. I'm worried about my kindergarten-aged neighbors and the ways in which their environment causes them to experience certain aspects of life way too early. I'm worried about the unnecessary corporal punishment that often happens at my school. The list can go on.
Luckily there is enough to keep me busy. On a less serious note, I've stopped doing my own cooking (laziness), and eat only with my neighbors. Looking back on one of the first blogs I posted, where I was stressing out about not being able to stomach food here, its clear that things have come a long way. Legume sauce, fermented maize mush, boiled yams and oil - I actually look forward to eating it. Things that made me nauseous are now things I crave. I'm sure there's a life lesson to glean from this, but I'm not in the mood to find it.
posted by betsie at 9:37 AM
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