Braza Braza Braza! (Brother Brother Brother)

           The past two weeks have been very fun with all of the students. I have been spending more time with the students after classes, in clubs, and during free time. Once the students feel comfortable with you they have millions of questions to ask about you. They will run up to me saying “braza braza braza!” or “Mr. Chase, Mr. Chase!”  When they say braza they mean to say brother, but it just comes out as braza. It is fun to hear because it shows that they have a respect for me, and also that they have an interest in me. When I hear them say it, it is hard not to put a smile on my face.

My Form 1 class

            In computer class the students often struggle understanding my English. It is tough for them because of the different terminology of the computer, and probably because I end up talking too fast. So to help the students understand I like to write on the white board first, then I show how to do it on the computer projector. After I show the class how to do a task on the computer projector the students then have many questions. I have found it very useful to individually teach a student in each row the material after I have explained it. Once the student understands I then have that student teach the person next to them what they just learned. My belief is that once you can teach what you have learned is when you really understand it and are able to remember it. I have seen more improvement from the students with this method, and they feel an accomplishment once they teach their classmates too. It keeps everyone involved, and the students brighten up once they get it.

Joseph, Form 1 Student

            For clubs I have been doing rugby on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and I help with commerce club on Mondays. In commerce club we just started talking about the stock market. We have the kids playing a simulator stock exchange where the kids get to virtually trade stock. At first the students did not know what companies to put their money into not understanding how many companies are out there. First they could only think of Coke and Toyota, but once we helped show them different companies just with products in the room it began to click. They all started to say many companies that they know about from watching soccer on T.V., clothes they know, shoes, cars, and electronics. They are beginning to understand the idea of stocks and how to buy and sell them.

            Rugby this past couple of weeks has turned into American Football training for the kids. This is because next month Tanzania is having the first American Football game it has ever had. It will be played here in Arusha. It is going to be played between two Universities and it is supposed to have a very big turn out of people and television stations like ESPN and Discovery Channel. Our Peace House students have been asked to put on a little simulation during the half time of the game. So, Chris and I have been trying teaching the students the game of American Football by practicing throwing, catching, and scrimmaging. They are starting to learn and they seem to really enjoy playing with us. We also have showed them some NFL highlights and they were so amazed by it. It seemed like they could have watched those videos for hours and hours. The game will be played a couple of days after I leave so I will not be able to see the students perform, but if the ESPN thing is true I may be able to see it at home depending on when they air it.

            Other than that not many new things have occurred. I could continue writing about lots of other stuff but I will save that for next time. The students are all have government testing in two weeks so I will be going to the island of Zanzibar for those days. From what I have seen on Google images it is supposed to be beautiful. I will take lots of pictures of it. I have also failed to show you guys pictures of where I am so here they are!!!

Front of School

Volunteer Houses, I live in far left

Peace House sheep outside school

Me at farm with corn growing

Me in nice part of Arusha town

Back of School with classes on left and right, library is in middle

Student dorms

This last weekend I went onto a Safari with Chris, Julian, Simon, and three other new volunteers. We went on a five day four night safari to Tarangire, lake Manyara, Serengeti, and Ngorongoro crater. We got to know are safari guide through some friends that we had met in town a few weeks earlier and got a very good deal.  We spent each night in tents so some animals got very close

Elephant Family

The first day at Trangire was very nice for our start. We got to see tons of elephants a few feet from our truck, which was pretty amazing. It was hard to keep from touching the elephants but it was against the rules. We also got to see giraffe, gazelle, antelope, mongoose, warthog, and monkey.

Great Rift Valley

The next day we drove to Lake Manyara located in the Great Rift Valley. The vertical walls of the valley were huge and my favorite part of the long drive. The park here is a mix of jungle and flat land so we got to see lots of chimpanzees and blue monkeys in the jungle and zebra, giraffe, and antelope in the flat grass lands. Here were saw our first lions, it was a male and a female resting under a tree. It is so cool to see these animals in the wild.  Later in the day Chris and I would stare into the eyes of the chimpanzees even though it may not have been the smartest thing to do. It is seen as a challenge when you stare into the eyes of a wild animal. Some of the chimps would get very scared when you looked into their eyes, but the bigger chimpanzees would get very mad. It was good entertainment for a while.

Ngorongoro Crater

The next day was a long drive to the Serengeti. First we had to drive through the Ngorongoro crater, which had another crazy view. Driving to Serengeti we got to see the last of the great migration. It is the travel of thousands of wildebeest across the plains of the Serengeti towards Kenya in search of more grass to eat. During the day we did not see much but at nighttime it got very intense.  Before dinner even ended we had a family of elephants in our campsite.  These things were huge and many times we were warned that they were dangerous. When we were heading to bed Chris and I had some bull elephants next to our tent. We could also hear the yulps of hyenas and we could see their little eyes shining out in the grass. All night we would wake up to the sounds of elephants farting and the occasional growel. The craziest part of the night was around 3 am when we woke up to roar of a lion and then the roar of an elephant as it soon ran past our tent. I thought for sure that we were going to get trampled because I could feel the ground shake as the elephant ran. It was so scary but I loved it. The next morning we went on an early morning game drive to see the sunrise over the plains. We did not see any hunts that day but we got to see some leopards with the cubs in a tree eating a antelope leg. We also got to see a pride of lions laying on the rocks and some cape buffalo.

Sunrise in Serengeti

Fighting Hippo

At night we drove to the rim of the crater for our last night camping. This night was not as crazy but we still had zebra and cape buffalo grazing out side of our tent. We could feel them pulling up the grass next to our tents. I forgot my sleeping bag in the car that night so I spent most of the night cold and awake listening to the constant rip and chew of the animals.  That morning we got up early again to drive into the crater to see the sunrise and some animals. It was hard to soak it all in because every view was amazing. I made sure to take lots of pictures, and also I took some video. This last day we got to see some black rhino, more lions, elephants, hippos, hyenas, wildebeest, and my favorite the cheetah. We actually got to see two cheetahs hunt for a small gazelle. We spent a few hours watching before they made their move. They spent lots of time stalking it and creeping forward before they attacked. They did not get a kill but it was still very cool to watch. I got it recorded on my camera.

The trip was amazing. I got to see all of the big 5, which are lion, leopard, cape buffalo, elephant, and rhino.  The views were just as cool as seeing all of the animals. I got lots of pictures and cant wait to share them all with friends and family. When I got back I got to tell all of the students about all of the animals and scenes. They were all very excited to hear about all the stories. You can tell that the people of Tanzania are very proud of their parks.

            Other than the Safari I have been hard at work with the students and computer class. It is fun to see the students get better with the computer each week. We have gone over basic uses, and the Microsoft programs. Now I have gained more respect for all of the substitute teachers out there. It’s hard to keep all of the students on task when there are games and Internet on the computers. They know that they are not supposed to but some still do. It just proves that wherever you go kids are kids. They like to push to see how far they can bend the rules. I am the same way.

Chris and I got a scare before the safari. We both came down with symptoms of malaria. I had the body aches, chills, and I was lethargic. The symptoms lasted about a day and a half until they went away. We concluded that we got some food poisoning from some food we had gotten in town earlier in the week. I got over the sickness but now I am more care full with the food that I eat because it was a horrible feeling.

Hope all is well back home