The joy of gymnastics!

My "material". Let me tell you, there is a lot of hidden talent there. I just need time to find it.

I used to believe the old wisdom ”it is better to do things that you can do today, instead of postponing them for the next day”. Well, in Africa it is the opposite. “Kesho (tomorrow) is the best” is my new motto.

For few days I might have felt a bit down since things hasn’t proceeded the way I have wanted. But like always. After all tomorrow is another day.

I have found new energy from the students. The topic which I am teaching now is gymnastics. So for past week I have been teaching students the secrets of forward rolls, backward rolls, cartwheels, headstands, handstands, flips, kips and so on. I love it. My friend Sari, being a former Finnish Champion in gymnastics, is probably a bit worried now since the future of Tanzanian gymnastics lies on my shoulders, but don’t worry. There is a little “jumppakärpänen” living inside of me, which nobody new.

So this week and next week I will keep doing the flips. If you don’t hear from me, it is because my neck is broken and I am in the hospital somewhere recovering from some work hazard. Until then, Jani Tanskanen, be aware!

I think it is one of those days. I should be used by now for this African mentality but I guess I am not completely changed yet.

Today I was supposed to have a morning class. Well nobody told me that we had student elections on the way, and that the class would be cancelled. That is ok. I just waited for my student for an hour and cleaned the indoor hall while waiting. You are probably thinking that smart person would have realised something was wrong after waiting for half an hour. But that isn’t the case here. It is usual to wait for half an hour so just after waiting for an hour you start thinking that something can be wrong.

Anyway, while waiting for the students I thought I could help another project which is going on in that indoor hall. We really have an indoor hall here. It has room for three badminton courts so it is quite big. We have decided to repaint the floor since the lines have almost worn out. Two weeks ago we taped the lines for the painters to come and paint. Well, that was two weeks ago and nothing has happened.

I started by sweeping the floor. There was dust everywhere. The tapes are almost gone and people have carried desks and chairs around the hall. So all that work we had done was wasted, not to mention the money for tapes. But here nobody cares if it isn’t your money.

After cleaning the hall I talked to the responsible people about the painting. They said that they couldn’t have done it because the students had gone to town that weekend they were supposed to do it. Then I asked what about the last weekend. The answer was that there was no money for the paint. They all knew that we had bought the paint for them and it was at the office. So like always, nobody cares. So the hall remains not painted. I have decided not to care.

Another interesting project is the football field. Six months ago we planted new special grass on it. Since then it has gone through some huge setbacks. Sometimes the problem has been the weather, sometimes the pump, sometimes the cutter, sometimes the students, but in most cases the ignorance of the college staff. They just don’t care. After six months the college remains with a bush that can not be called a football ground. I stopped caring.

So three year project is ending here in Butimba Teachers College in December this year. Through the project lot of sport grounds have been built, equipment bought and teachers educated. In one way you could say that the project has been successful.

On the other hand, what has also happened; more students have failed their exams, college has stopped doing anything without getting money, and tutors have started to be lazier than ever.

So have we wasted lot of money and energy? Hard to say. Every day I see kids from the college and outside coming to use the grounds. They are in good use during the free time. In that way you could say that the project has been successful. At the same time the gab between the college staff and the project has widened. College faculty sees that there is no more money coming from the project so there is no need for cooperation anymore. It hurts me a lot. I think this shows the biggest problem that we face in this country.

People from “West” come here to Tanzania to do some good. We think that by coming here with our ideas and money we can actually change the country. At the same time the country doesn’t want to be changed. So people come and try to do what they came to do. After a while they get tired and go back home. Next people come and same cycle continues.

If we look back last fifty years, when the development programmes started in this country, and then we look what the country looks like now, I am quite sure that there isn’t a big difference. The problems country was facing then are the same today.

Who should we blame it on? Tanzanians of course. We could say that they haven’t used the chance what we have given to them. Or we could look at the mirror and blame it on ourselves. All we have done is come here with our ideas and money and believed to make a difference. At the same time Tanzanians have seen it differently. Money is coming. Let’s take it.

If we look at the development of the country for past fifty years, or if we look at the project that has been here in Butimba for past three years, the results listed are the same. Of course we can say we have done something good. But the reality remains, nothing has changed. A lot of time and energy has been spent on something which probably looks good for a while. But after a short while things will be forgotten and everything continues just the way it was before.

I might sound very negative with my thought now but it is not just the project that we have been working on while I have been here. So it is not just us Finns who have failed. The exact same thing happened with the ICT project which was run by the Swedes. They put millions of euros for five year project. The idea was to get internet and computers to all teacher training colleges in the country. Then hand it over to the Tanzanian government and keep spreading the knowledge further so that by the 2012 all secondary schools would have computers also. Well, what happened? Lead of the project was handed to the government in July and now things have stopped. Computers are missing, those found in the colleges are not maintained, and government is not allocating any money for the planned development. In other words, money given by the Swedes was gladly taken, but no sustainability or commitment from Tanzania was given.

Like I said, this is one of those days. I feel desperate. Things what we are doing to this country are not showing any good results. We have just spent huge amount of Finnish tax money for what. USA and George W. Bush brought USD 600 million to the country while ago, and no results. The infrastructure is bad, gap between poor and rich keeps widening and corruption blooms. Maybe we should just pack our bags, take our money and leave. I don’t know.

But when I go to teach my class, see those eager student eyes asking for information, I find peace. Then I walk home passing village people going home from their daily activities, some carrying water, some trying to sell bananas and some just greeting and asking how my family is doing. Then and there I feel that I am where I belong. These people deserve all the help we can give them.

What a contradiction. What happens in between? Why whatever we do does not reach to those who deserve it? Again I come to a solution that by trying to change bigger things, which you would imagine would help to change more lives, is not doing as much good as, by changing little things. So by giving a pair of basketball shoes to thirteen years old boy makes a bigger difference in life than by building a basketball court for the village. Why? Maybe because by building a basketball court, you have to involve many people into the process which increases the possibility of people thinking how they can gain something through the project, so in the end you have lost lot of money somewhere and caused more problems than solved. But when giving those shoes directly into hands of a kid, you see the result right there and nothing has disappeared on the way.

So this was one of those days. I will have another class in few hours so I am sure I will see the lighter future there in the faces of the students again. But for sure, next time when the possibility occurs to help one person instead of a cause, I know to whom I will turn to. And if I can help without having any money involved, even better. So until next time – Let’s keep the hope alive!

After game drinks - soda of course!

12.9.2008 Today we had a football game. Students had challenged the staff so of course I had to join the team. We didn’t have any preparations so our team seemed to be a bit out of shape. That didn’t slow us down though.

College has received uniforms from the Finnish Football Federation so at least we looked good. It is not that often you get to play in the flag shirt, you know.

The game was supposed to start at four PM but like always in Africa, it started when most of us were ready, that being close to five. Not everyone managed to be there even then. People were coming even after six to join the game.

There isn’t much to tell about the game itself. We lost 3 to 1. I played for half an hour without getting hurt so I think it was successful even in that sense.

Playing under the sun was the toughest part for me. I never seem to get used it. But having the college band playing on the side gave me enough energy and I managed to do my part.

I was the only woman on the field. That attracted lot of people to come and watch the game. It is interesting how conservative this country still is. Women don’t usually play sports, and if they do, they don’t wear shorts. Well, by now I thought they would have gotten used to me. But since we have a new load of students, there seemed to be a big number who was still shocked.

Shaking the minds of the people hasn’t bothered me so far, and it didn’t this time either. The best thing is that after my appearance other ladies are now more comfortable to wear shorts during sports.

Like always after any sports, the after games were the best. But instead of drinking beer and going to sauna like they do back home, we were having soda and sitting in the shadow. The heat was probably the same, but at least the drinks were better.

Ramadan is a Muslim religious observance that takes place during September, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, believed to be the month in which the Qur'an was revealed to Angel Gabriel, to deliver it to Prophet Muhammad. During Ramadan, Muslims fast from dawn to sunset every day. This means not to eat, drink or smoke during the daylight hours. For married adults, it also includes refraining from marital relations during the hours of fasting.

The fasting person is expected to do his best to practice self control and discipline, not to get angry easy, refrain from using harsh language or insults and to tolerate, forgive and respect others. Ramadan is a time to fast for the sake of God, and to offer even more prayer than usual.

Did I ever think that it would have an effect on me – no. Well, it does. Our houseboy Ali is Muslim. His daily schedule is to wake up before the sun rise and pray. Then he prepares the breakfast for us and goes back to sleep. When I get back from office, he is sleeping again. I would do the same if I wasn’t aloud to eat or drink during the day.

The sun goes down at seven which is approximately the time for my evening classes to be over. So when I get home Ali has prepared himself a meal which is called Futari. It includes cassava, sweet potatoes, peanuts and coconut. It looks like baby food which is the main purpose. Anything stronger would give you an upset stomach after fasting. I usually join him for Futari.

So past two weeks my diet has been a good breakfast and Futari at seven. Of course I could ask Ali to cook something different for me, or cook it myself but seeing him fast makes me to refrain of heavy food also.

Another “problem” is the awaking hours during the Ramadan. By the time I eat Futari at seven after coming from long work day I am usually so tired that I go straight to bed. Well, that is the time for Muslims to start living. So Ali starts cleaning up, goes to buy more food, or does laundry. When things are finished it is already midnight. At two in the morning Ali prepares himself another meal before going back to sleep.

Praying has never caused me any problem. I sometimes run into middle of his praying session which makes me to back down fast trying to give him privacy. During the Ramadan these session have increased. First I thought that Ali has increased talking by himself, which he does quite a lot by the way. But now I have realised that he just prays more often these days. Sometimes I even wake up in the middle of night to hear him mumble something in the other room. I am beginning to get used to it though.

While Kanda, my house mate, is now away for two weeks, we are living two separate lives with our houseboy Ali. I try to keep up with my schedule while considering the timetable Ali has. At the same time Ali is trying to do his “responsibilities” while I can really see it is tough on him. Imagine working in the 35 degrees hot weather without eating or drinking anything.

To get through this Ramadan, I have decided to do my part. I am doing my own laundry and I am trying to cook every now and then. Cleaning the bathroom is still my job since I seem to know better the magic of VIM. Of course now that school has started it is actually very hard to fit everything into timetable. But there is no choice for me now. Seeing a grown man trying to manage his daily duties while he has no energy of any kind, makes me be more considerate and concentrate on my duties even better.

Cooking though is a tougher challenge. Since the things I prefer or even know how to cook are things which he can’t eat at the time of dinner. So in any case it seems to be the best solution that Ali cooks, and I eat the baby food he prepares. Not like it is a big change in my diet here in Tanzania. My menu keeps on staying boring as usual. That is the price you have to pay when leaving home.

Another challenge is the physical education classes. Big number of my students is Muslims. We have all classes during the day hours, which mean that they join the classes without having eaten or drunken anything during the whole day. I feel sorry for them. But what can I do! It is not like I can start teaching after dark. That would be impossible. I will just keep on teaching to empty faces which adapt something but what, we will find out later.

This Ramadan will take close to five weeks. It is followed by three days of partying. I can hardly wait. Maybe in October we can have something else to eat and I can continue sleeping at nights instead of hearing Ali clean or cook in the middle of the night. But to be honest, waking up for Ali’s prayers is a nice change over the neighbouring chickens.

8.9.2008 We finally started the school year. We are about two months late, students will have one month long holiday during the Christmas, and then they will have lot of other public holidays during the year, so there is only twenty weeks of teaching left. That means that after twenty weeks of teaching they will graduate as secondary school teachers. I think we all agree that there is a big problem in the educational system in this country.

There is no use of wining. So I decided to roll up my sleeves and made a yearly schedule for our department. By the way, that is the first they have ever seen. I made it quite simple. I put down all the remaining weeks and added the topics which need to be taught in each week. The syllabus is made for two years, and yet we have only one year of studies, it meant that we can concentrate two weeks on each topic, one theory and one practical topic at the same time.

Trying to cover the syllabus in six periods the academic office gave us, would have been impossible. So I added evening periods for our department. Now we have six periods during the day and evening periods each day. Students were happy but the teaching staff was worried. They realised that it would mean extra work for them. Instead of teaching six periods per week, they would have to teach 16 periods, and still it would be divided between all four tutors. Imagine that work load.

So the department was in a bit shock at the beginning. Now that they have realised that I am doing most of the work, they are acting like it was a good improvement. My next goal is to get them more involved. I would also like to learn from them, so I am trying to introduce team teaching. So far I have won one teacher on my side. The other two are less interested.

So from now on I am quite busy with teaching. I have some theory classes during the day, but mainly I concentrate on evening classes with each sport. This week is the second week of basketball. After these two weeks and 16 periods of teaching, they should be professional basketball teachers. If they are, I have to say I really am a magician.

We have 54 names on the list in physical education department. So far only thirty have showed up. The others will join us when they have fulfilled all necessary requirements by the college, such as buying the school uniform, mattress, mosquito net, bucket, broom, notebooks, and pens. When the academic officer approves that student has everything he or she needs they will be approved to enter teaching. Just imagine the University of Helsinki asking for students to buy buckets before enrolling to schools.

College decided to bring back the uniforms. All students in primary and secondary schools wear uniforms. So far at the higher education level students have not needed to wear uniforms. Now they changed it. So people, even older than me, are now wearing uniforms. For men it is ok, their uniform includes black straight pans, white shirt, tie and black shoes. In other words almost the same they would wear in any case. But the ladies, huh, they have to wear a skirt, white shirt, neck tie, white socks and black shoes. And let me tell you that skirt with the white socks do not look good on anyone. I am glad I am not a student.

If I have to find one good thing about wearing uniforms, it is that it helps me to differentiate students from tutors. So far I am still mixing them. Maybe the uniforms will change it for me.

7.9.2008 We had a secondary basketball tournament at the college during Saturday. I was asked to be a referee, which I was happy to do. The games were supposed to start at nine in the morning.

I woke up a bit late so I had to skip the breakfast in order to be at the court ten minutes before nine. I knew back home that wouldn’t be enough to be counted acceptable. Here I knew that it would be early enough.

When I reached the basketball ground there was only one player sitting and waiting. During next hour more people showed up. When the first game started we were already 90 minutes behind the schedule. That didn’t seem to bother anyone. By that time I had been in the direct sun for two hours already, so I was getting a bit tired, not to mention that by the end of the day my face and shoulders had a new colour on them.

The biggest differences here and home in sports are things you don’t really know how to explain. You really have to see them to understand. I will try my best to describe some of them though.

First of all, all games are played outside. Players come wearing their normal clothes which are always dress pants and shirts. In most cases they are wearing flippers. When they arrive they just undress their pants and shirts to reveal the shorts and t-shirts. Afterwards they dress the dress pants with a shirt back on like nothing had happened in between. It partly explains the different smells we have in local daladalas.

Real basketball shoes are a very rare sight here. In most cases players have no shoes or they wear something which I would call skateboarding shoes. Sneakers are uncommon sight.

All players are behaving well. What ever the case is, they never complain. It has something to do with respecting elderly. Even when everyone sees that there was a miss call, or someone had an unfair treatment, they still continue like nothing had happened.

Another thing is, that the level of skills or lack of it, is never a problem for others. Everyone is welcome to join the team. In some ways the nature takes care of itself. Those with fewer skills will learn from others. The experienced ones are always giving advices to the rookies. You never laugh at someone’s lack of talent. Therefore it is very common that teams have players from different age groups. It is the oldest and most experienced ones’ responsibility to make sure that the talent is transferred to the others.

When the tournament is about to start game ball needs to be found. Back home the referee would just choose the best among balls that was brought by the players. Well, here no one has any balls. So we have to apply a permission to use one of the college balls. Since I was there, I just went and got one from the office.

Keeping score was handled quite professionally. We had a real score sheet with FIBA world logo and all. The sheet was a copy so in order to get other copies for teams we had to use blue carbon paper. I have to admit that I have never used it before I came to Tanzania. Here I seem to need it quite often. Imagine the times you are thinking that let me just print this twice or let me just get a copy of this by a copying machine. Those are the times when you realise that you actually need the blue carbon to get a copy here.

Playing under the sun in 35 degrees (close to 100 F) makes you tired and thirsty. Again back home you would just fill your water bottle over and over again and kept on drinking. Here no one has any water bottles. You play until you are so thirsty that you can’t continue. Those who are very daring might visit some neighbouring house asking for water. That happens here quite often. We live near the primary school so kids come every day to ask for water. That is their only “food” during the whole day.

Same applies concerning toilet breaks. Short call can be done by just turning your back, women as well as men. When you need to go for something “longer”, you just visit the house nearby. I am not very familiar with this yet. I don’t like others to visit my bathroom, but even worse is the case, if I needed to visit some stranger’s house. And let me tell you, their bathrooms are not inside with a European style toilet seat. Theirs’ is usually outside with something that could be called as a hole. Well, by now I have learned the most important rule of my visit in Africa. If there is a toilet, use it. Don’t think that you don’t need to go now, you will just come back later. That will never happen.

Following a timetable is more or less a joke. By now I have learned it well. I don’t go places early anymore and just don’t care if something doesn’t happen like it was planned. But when organising a tournament, you would think that following the schedule would be quite crucial in order to get all game played. Well, it isn’t the case. One of the games was supposed to start at noon. The team hadn’t arrived even two hours after starting time. When they finally arrived they said that there had been a funeral arrangement at the school so students had had to help with things. I don’t know if that excuse would go anywhere else but here it worked and the game started when everyone was present.

When I talk to people and ask why they don’t play sports, the answer is quite often that they don’t have money to do it. Back home it would mean that family didn’t have money to pay the high yearly fees set by each club. Here it means something else. It means they don’t have the equipment or money to come to practise. Moreover the time used in sports is usually the time when moms send their kids out to earn some money. So how can you fight this culture?

I have already explained how rare it is to have real sports shoes. Another problem is other clothes. Owning a track suite is rare. If they own it, they were it proudly just like their Sunday-best clothes. Where I come from, track suite is considered quite poor clothing only to be worn when doing exercise.

T-shirts are the most common clothing in Tanzania. It goes well with dress pants or Kanga. Therefore same t-shirt can be used during the day at work and then during the evening exercise. That is not a problem. Wearing shorts on the other hand seem to be still embarrassment to many people. It is considered as underwear in many cases. Not to mention among women, who are very reluctant to wear shorts. So far I have seen less than ten women wearing shorts in this country.

Although shorts are not commonly worn around they are still used in sports. If you have money you might own two or even three pairs of shorts. In most cases people have one pair and they have been stitched together several times. I remember having one embarrassing moment once in a basketball game back in Finland when by an accident my pants were ripped from behind. Here it happens everyday, not to me though. And nobody seems to mind. Maybe you will repair them for next day, or maybe it takes two weeks, but in any case you keep on using those shorts. They are only ones you have.

At the beginning I seemed to be bothered with people, especially men running around with their fly open. In some cases I tried to advice them with discretion to zip them. Soon I realised that all zippers are broken so there is no need of telling anyone about it. They all know they are broken. It still doesn’t slow them down.

Another thing is the transportation fee. In Finland we fight against the problem that parents are taking their kids everywhere and spoiling them. No one is able to walk or use the public transportation anymore. Parents are driving their kids everywhere. Here the problem is a bit different. First of all there are no cars. Our college accountant has a car but he is one of the three people I know who owns a car. (Just a quick side note. It must be a coincident that all college accountants have nice cars. None of the other staff members have any cars.)

There are two basketball grounds in Mwanza. One is in town and the other is here at the college. We are now building another near the secondary school so soon there will be three grounds available. To get to practise you have to walk many kilometres. You can use the daladala but the cost is too high for families with little income. So for the first time I have realised that all basketball teams here actually need a sponsor. It is very hard to compare that players will need transportation fees in order to come to practise. Back home it would be considered as a way to think that you are something better than the others. You only come to practise if someone pays for you. Here you come to practise if there was any way you could do it.

Despite being enormously behind the schedule we succeeded to finish the tournament before the sun went down. Nine games were played and those who qualified for the next round were determined. I had a great day and left home with a red nose, dehydrated and hungry. Next week we will continue.

First of all the internet connection is back. I finally posted my stories from September. Sorry for delays but there is no hurry in Africa. I hope you enjoy them.

LiiKe (NGO that I ”work” for) is starting a new project from next year. The idea is to start teaching physical education in 11 new colleges. In order to do so there are some things which need to be done before in each college.

We started the visits from Tarime. Tarime is the in the Northern Tanzania just by the Kenyan border. The weather there is wetter since the rainy season is starting there already. It was a nice break from Mwanza hot weather.

I have been in Mwanza now for over half a year. The college is the only college which implements physical education in the country at the moment. The situation is that bad. It doesn’t make it any better to know that the teachers who teach it are fed up with their work. I have almost lost the hope with these guys.

Visiting Tarime brought back the hope. Seeing six teachers interested in sports and teaching it already now on their spare time without a pay was exactly what we needed. I am happy to cooperate with them from now on. The energy I got from the visit will last at least till the end of the year so there is some hope for the project after all.

Driving to the Northern border was fun. The scenery is beautiful. We drove by the Serengeti border and saw plenty of baboons on the roads. We even had a close call on the way, not with a wild animal like you would think. We were almost hit by a cow. They seem to own the roads here.

Now the first re-visit is over, ten more to go. I can’t help but think that this seems like the beginning of the year. I started my year by visiting colleges, and now it seems that it is the way to end it too.

I will be teaching in Butimba every chance that I got. I miss that already. We are supposed to have close to fifty students with seven females. I hope we get more females. Anyway, tomorrow is the orientation for the studies so I will be a lot smarter then. Let’s see how things go from now on. At least the month started very positively.

26.8.2008 Thank you everyone. I know that lot of people had contributed to our basketball situation here in Mwanza. I was supposed to get all the shoes which were collected from all you nice people in Finland. Last week the teachers who were coming back from Finland were supposed to bring them. Unfortunately there was a mixed up. Now we have lots of badminton equipment and basketball equipment is still in Finland waiting for next people to come.

So at this point I can’t say anything else but thank you for all those who have contributed. We haven’t received them yet but in September and October there are people coming here again. Then hopefully the shoes will reach us.

We are really expecting them. To tell you the truth, I have never used any shoes into a condition which our shoes are here. Same goes with the balls. I don’t remember ever seeing a ball burst in Finland. Here we use all the balls until they burst.

So again thank you for everyone. When we finally receive the things you have contributed, I promise to write all about it and send you some pictures. We are impatiently waiting for them so let us wait. Good things come to those who wait.

25.8.2008 I am so excited. Students are supposed to report today. I know that they won’t all be here today but at least some percentage will show up.

So since morning there are more and more students coming to the college. They are all carrying a mattress, a mosquito net, a bucket, a broom and one small bag. They look like going camping. I am only thinking if that was me. If I was to come here for a year, could I really manage with one small back? Well, I think we all know the answer for that.

The procedure is very interesting. They are all supposed to have joining instructions. If they don’t fulfil them, they are sent back to meet them. Instructions include things like school uniform, other requirements for their chosen major (e.g. track suit and sneakers for PE), medical check-up, money for school fees and of course all necessary cleaning equipment for part of the school work (broom, bucket and grass cutter. Students have all lined up at the registration office. There is only little space inside the office so the line continues far from the door all the way to the other buildings. Students have their mattresses and bags with them, and waiting in the sun is a torture, so you would think that they would complain and lay on the ground. But no, not here, maybe in Finland. Here they have lined up and wait patiently, even for six hours.

So this week is all about registering. When students have met all the requirements, they are pointed to their rooms. Then they start waiting again. Fortunately they are served food already so they can start getting used to their every day menu, ugali and beans.

After this week, more than 50 percent of the students should have registered. I have been told that teaching will start next week. I don’t believe it though. I am planning on starting evening classes for all interested. I can’t just wait anymore. Students are here, so let’s get this show on the road.

This "bus" was full so we decided to wait for another one...

So we decided to go with the better air-conditioned one

24.8.2008 One more week to for the students to come so I decided to visit my students who are on the field practise. I took a bus to Shinyanga and had a great time.

Shinyanga is a little town, two hours away from Mwanza. Big percentage of 1200 students from Butimba was posted there for their eight month long field practise. As soon as I stepped out of the bus I run into some of them. It was a nice reunion.

My plan was to pay a visit to my physical education students. I knew that lot of them would be somewhere around Shinyanga, I just didn’t know where.

I started by contacting one of them. She told me the name of the school and promised to walk towards me. I asked directions and after an hour walk in the hot sun I found her. The school was nice, four buildings with emptiness around.

Shinyanga is very windy town. There aren’t any trees around so dust is everywhere. I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt, as usual, but after walking one hour I was covered with dust. In my opinion I was as black as the others.

I spent a day following her teaching. She teaches Swahili and physical education. Since there are no grounds she mainly concentrates on Swahili. Classrooms look spacious without students since there are only few desks. When the students arrive they all turn crowded. Hundred students in one classroom, most sitting on the floor or on a rock carried from outside. Teacher uses the blackboard which is too high for her so the whole seen is quite absurd.

After six hours of teaching the day was over. Students gathered around the staff house to hear the important notes from the teacher-on-duty. After ten minutes of briefing everyone left home.

We walked to my student’s house. She has a room with another female teacher in a house owned by a fifty year old mother. There are four rooms in that building, one for the mother, one for the girls, one for the boys and a family room. Toilet and shower are outside, or maybe I should say the hole with a tab is there. It is meant to work as a toilet and shower. All cooking is done outside which is the case everywhere anyway.

After the usual must, eating with the hosts, I headed back to town to find a place to sleep. I was offered a place at my student’s room but decided that two girls already in one bed was enough. There wasn’t room for me.

Next morning I called to my other two students to come and get me from town. The other one had to leave to her relatives but the other invited me to see her place. We met at the bus station. After sending the other student on the road we hired bicycles and started our long, hot ride into the bush.

I loved it. My driver spoke very weird tribal language but I could tell that he wanted to know everything about me. During our one hour drive we got to know each other quite well, although I am quite certain that we didn’t understand each others at all.

He was a good driver. The road was dusty, sandy and full of potholes. I had to hold on quite tight to stay on the bike. We drove up and down the hills, through plain deserts and against the wind. I know that I am not the lightest person in the world so I felt really sorry for the driver at times. After seeing the other big mamas on the back of the others, I thought to myself that maybe my driver was luckier after all.

We made it to a village after an hour drive. My bud was a bit sore but I couldn’t complain. The driver was soaking wet, yet didn’t complain at all. I paid him the money we had agreed, 1000 shillings (60 cents). I felt really bad. He even asked if we wanted them to wait for us for our return ride. We said we didn’t know how long it would take. They said they wouldn’t mind. I gave them money for soda and agreed to be back.

Three of my students were staying in that village. It was a very small village with one main road. Behind the main road were lots of mud huts with grass roofs. My students welcomed me into one of them. They had a nice room with a small space for cooking. Two mattresses were on the floor while one bag, nicely packed stayed in the corner and was covered by a kanga from all the dust. Shoes were left outside, of course. I said that the place looked very nice trying to be encouraging. They thanked me and said that they were very fortunate to find such a nice place. I tried to agree with them.

After being introduced to the neighbourhood we went to get our bicycle guys and decided to visit the school. Even though it was Saturday the students were at the school.

We drove 40 minutes on a dusty sand road, passing amazing huts after another. I loved it. People greeted us and seemed to have a blast seeing me on a bicycle. I don’t think there had ever been another white in so far into bush as we were. I was really the centre of attention.

This school had two buildings for classrooms and three outside toilets. There was no water or electricity anywhere in ten kilometres radios. Since there were only two classrooms, students were divided into teaching turns. Therefore school was operational six days a week.

After following the teaching for a while we walked around the “neighbourhood”. There were no sport grounds there either. Since the surroundings were mainly flat land, with some equipment and lot of creativity, lot of things were possible. Unfortunately they didn’t have any equipment.

We visited the security guy’s house right beside the school. He wasn’t around but his wife and five children were there. Wife was making cooking pots from the cow’s waste. She was really doing a nice job. I was “forced” to buy two which I did happily. I didn’t think that I would use them for cooking though. At least I need to wash them few times before doing so.

Later we rode back to the house. We ate lunch sitting on the floor, eating by hands from the same cooking pot. We had rice and beans which I can proudly eat by my hands already.

Since it was starting to get dark, I suggested that I should get back to town. They felt bad that I didn’t want to stay over night but I passed the offer by convincing that I had another meeting early next morning. I also needed to take a shower and it would not have been possible other than by a bucket and a scoop in that village.

We walked to the bicycle stand where “our guys” were waiting for us. They run to us and greeted us with a big smile. We hopped on and started our journey. I enjoyed every minute of it.

These drivers don’t have any other income. They drive that 12 km distance every day as often as someone is willing to pay for them. They do it 2-5 times a day, which makes their daily salary 2000-5000 per day (2-3 euros). They do it with a smile.

I was so tired that I asked the driver to take me straight back to my guesthouse. But just before reaching the guesthouse we hit a big stone and the wheel came off. I felt bad that it had been due my heavy weight. My driver felt bad that he couldn’t take me all the way to my guesthouse. He felt so bad over “disappointing” me and I felt ashamed of being so heavy that even the bicycles can’t carry me. I gave him 5000 (3 euros) which was more than his daily salary. He almost fell on his knees which made me even more embarrassed. I decided to quickly disappear knowing that things couldn’t get any more awkward. I didn’t even care about over-paying. I knew that he had earned every penny for sure. I just hoped that it was enough for him to fix the wheel to continue his business.

When I finally got back to my room, I took a shower, cold but I didn’t mind, and fell right into sleep afterwards. I didn’t wake up until the next morning when the neighbouring church started its Sunday service at 6:30.

Since it was Sunday, I didn’t have any schools to visit. Instead I met with more of my students to catch up with them. They all seemed to enjoy their field practise. They all had different stories to tell, interesting places to teach, and most of all great attitudes towards the whole situation. I on the other hand, would have been totally the opposite.

Again it was a great lesson for me. No matter how life threats you, there is always a reason to be thankful and appreciative over things. I just wish that I would learn to think like they do.