To Tanzania!

Welcome to my blog! Since this is about my trip to Tanzania, a country that admittedly I knew very little about until now, I figured I should give a little background info on the country.

Tanzania is located in Eastern Africa, directly south of Kenya which is where the equator runs through (just to give an idea of the climate). Tanzania also borders Uganda, Burundi, Congo, Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique. On the eastern edge is the Indian Ocean as well as the island of Zanzibar (also part of Tanzania). Tanzania is famous for some of the more well known geographic sites of Africa. Lake Victoria, the largest lake in Africa and the largest tropical lake in the world. The Serengeti also goes through Tanzania; it's one of the best places for safaris. Mt. Kilimanjaro is also located in Tanzania.

Morogoro, the exact city I'm going to be in, is about 3-4 hours from Dar es Salaam. It's cicled on the map below:

Morogoro is the capital of the Morogoro region (regions are the states of Tanzania) and it's located at the base of Uluguru mountains. It's also close to a number of wildlife parks. The city's population is just over 200,000 people. The Sokoine University of Agriculture is in Morogoro. I will specifically be in the Kihonda district of Morogoro which is where the Wesley Primary School is at, an where I will be teaching.

Tanzania is one of the poorest nations in the world; in the 1960's and 70's, socialism was implemented but more or less has failed. Subsitence agriculture is the main form of livlihood, although tourism is another large industry. Malaria and HIV/AIDS are huge problems in the country. Education is compulsory for up to grade seven but stops for a number of children after that. The good news is, due in part to a common language, Tanzania is a safe country and has been for a number of years.

Tanzania's official languages are English and Swahili; Swahili, or Kiswahili in Swahili, is used for everyday matters and is spoken throughout Eastern Africa.  English is reserved more for official uses such as government and higher education. This makes the student's English education all the more vital as they cannot go on to high education without understanding English. At the school, we teach in English except for Kiswahili class. I am in the process of learning Kiswahili, and was shocked to learn that I actually knew some, and most of you do too! Disney's The Lion King drew upon Swahili words for a number of character names. For instance, "Simba" literally means lion; "Rafiki" means friend. Some other basic phrases are:

Hello- Jambo!
How are you?- Habari gani?
What's your name?- Jina lako ni nani?
Praise the Lord!- Bwana asifewe!
Good bye!- Kwa heri!

I have found learning Kiswahili  to be a very interesting. Since it is a Bantu language, the grammar is very different. Unlike English with lots of crazy verb agreement, tons of exceptions and rules running all over the place, verbs are very easy. Two letters in every verb determine the tense and the prefix determines the subject. Even better, there are no real exceptions to this so once I learn a verb, I can write it in all three tenses with all six different subjects. The other great thing about Swahili is the pronounciation. Every word appears exactly as it is written. In comparison to English where we have cruel things like "they wound the bandage around the wound" this is wonderful! However, nouns are a little different in Kiswahili. Every noun is in a "noun class" of which there are eighteen. Each class has its own demonstratives, possessives, and format for adjectives. This does mean that you have to learn which class every noun you learn goes with or your grammar will be very, very wrong. Sometimes I find this overwhelming; it's very likely that my Kiswahili grammar will be awful, or at least at first it will be.

Mercifully, God has blessed my language learning experience before I even arrived to Tanzania. I lived up in the twin cities this summer and worked at a hospital as a CNA; a huge number of my coworkers come from Africa, two specifically from Kenya so they spoke Kiswahili. We even had a patient who spoke Kiswahili, so I would get to go listen to them talk to each other. Even better, when one of my coworkers found out I was going to Tanzania and was learning Kiswahili, he told me he had been a Kiswahili teacher before. Later that night, he handed me about six pages of paper and told me if I needed anything else, just to let him know. He had taken the time to write down 70 everday words that I would need to know. He also told me every time I saw him to make sure I talked in Swahili and to make sure I learned something new every time I talked to him. I couldn't believe it! I know it's not profound, but I feel I need to say it: God works in the coolest ways :)

There are three major religions in Tanzania, but the numbers I have seen differ a lot. Basically, Christianity, Islam, and tribal religions are the major ones. Islam is more concentrated towards the coasts, especially in Zanzibar which is 99% Islamic. The different groups get along reasonably well, and both Islamic and Christian holidays are recognized in Tanzania. I have yet to learn what the exact makeup of Morogoro is like, but since I will be going through the United Methodist church which has a church there, so I will not be the only Christian!

Well, that was a lot! I'm very excited that soon I will be able to experience all of these things rather than just read about them. I know there's lots of aspects of the culture I haven't talked about yet, but I feel like I should wait until I'm there and can really explain it. Right now, the countdown is 9 days until I leave America, 14 days until I get to Tanzania. Until then, it's four more nights of work, packing, spending time with family and friends, and a few days in England with some friends. Busy, but exciting!

God bless!
Kjirstin