Saying Kwaheri to service in Nyamuswa, Mugumu, Robanda, and Tarime

The following blog post is brought to you by Griffin.

It’s the last week of service! At the time of writing there’s two days of service left before we pack up and head to Zanzibar.

Service has been such a tough five weeks, but its rewards are even better. All of the hard work put in throughout the last month and then some, resulted in great relationships, Swahili skills, and lessons learned! My placement has been in Makangoro Secondary School and in the Mara Cultural Heritage Center in Nyamuswa, where I live.

About an hour down the road from Nyamuswa Vaughn is living and serving in Mugumu. Vaughn is staying with the very hospitable Mchota family. His Kiswahili is really coming along and he is becoming very practiced at politely declining yet another cup of chai. He spends his day observing and helping out at the Nyerere DDH Hospital which originally was started by the Mennonite Church but is now run by the government.

And then 45 minutes beyond Mugumu, literally out in the Serengeti, Jacob is placed in a teaching role in the small town of Robanda. He is a primary teacher and somehow has been able to remain intentional about his running. Jacob tells some crazy stories of seeing wildlife while out for his morning runs. When Jacob isn’t teaching, running, or napping at his host family’s home, he might be found at the local barbeque shop in his very small rural town.

North of here about 15 minutes from the Kenyan border, Jordan is placed in Tarime. Jordan’s host father is a Mennonite pastor in Tarime. For his service placement Jordan has taken on a number of different roles. During the week Jordan either helps out in a local welding shop or helps his family with their nearby farm. On the weekends he helps with instruction at a weekend kids club called Compassion.

For myself here in Nyamuswa it was a stark adjustment to the schooling system here in Tanzania at first. From the different grading system and the exam-based classes to the lack of English comprehension in an English based school. I ended up teaching English, though a lack of teachers at the school resulted in my head master trying to make me teach all day, every day, despite my lack of any teacher training. Additionally, I needed some days off to do work at my other placement, MCH! The teachers at the school have all begun to ask me to take them back to the U.S. when I go, now that they know I’m leaving soon.

At MCH, after sitting through several long meetings completely in Swahili, I’ve become the external coordinator of MCH without providing any input to the meetings whatsoever. It’s my job as external coordinator to get support from people outside Tanzania and knowledge to them, so if you’re reading this go check out the MCH website once you’re done!

Nyamuswa is a quiet little town with not much to do, but the people here make it special. I’ve felt welcomed here from day one, playing soccer with kids on the street, or conversing with an old lady out on a mission up the big hill to the village center. I attended a witch doctor funeral, visited the village leaders, saw the sacred trees, ran a charity 5k, visited Musoma, and explored the dirt paths. I’ve been told many times that now I am Tanzanian, and I’ve begun to feel that maybe, just a small part of me is Tanzanian now.

I won’t miss feeling bored with nothing to do except read books that I’ve brought, but I will miss the people who made this trip count, the community members. To all my friends that I’ve met here I thank you. Bernard, Selena, Sara, Simary, Ahmed, Pastor Marara, Joseph, Gibson, Hitler (yes, there’s a kid here named Hitler), Wadioba, Sunday, and more thank you for getting me through service with your patience, kind words and warm smiles.