This is Africa moments
1. Mayonaisse sandwiches are not only considered delicious but nutritious and are regularly eaten (bread and mayo = mayonaisse sandwich)
2. Children yelling "opoto" (white person) every time I walk past is considered normal and okay. Swarming me and asking fro money is also okay.
3. You need to bargain for everything, especially if you are white. Immediately upon seeing that a white person is interested in their goods the price will be automatically doubled. So learn to talk price and learn to do it well.
4. Most students wont show up to school for the first 2 weeks just because. It is common and expected for them not to be there. Also, school will be canceled for sporting events or on Mondays after an eventful weekend so people have a chance to rest..
5. People have monkeys as pets. People also eat monkeys. My neighbors had a monkey but they sold it a few weeks ago. I strongly suspect it ended up in someones stew.
6. There are spiders the size of my hand here. I asked my neighbor to kill one for me and after she did I heard her telling my other neighbors that she had to kill a tiny spider for the white girl next door. If that was a tiny spider I may be back in America sooner than expected.
7. My favorite food here is called acheke. It consists of spaghettie, gari, pepper sauce, ketchup,fish, mayonnaise, a little lettuce and some cucumber. Mmmm sounds delicious right?? Haha the first time I saw someone eat it I thought it was incredibly disgusting. Now I am hooked.
8. We did superlatives for all the trainees. I won most likely to marry a Sierra Leoneon. In high school I won most likely to marry for money. My life is ironic.
9. Another my life is ronic moment.. As a child my one request while my family was camping was that we could spend one night in a hotel so I could take a bath. I am now living in a country without running water or electricity and I regularly pee in a bucket. I also need to sleep under a mosquite net, not because of mosquitos but as a protector from mice, rats and cockroaches. What happened in my life that led me to this pioint?? haha
Hey everyone,
Life here is still good. Hmm what is there to update you on... I get boku new things to say (boku = a lot)
Umm first of all, only 2 more weeks and training will be done. Which means I will have no more classes (honestly its like I'm back in high school but with an 11 pm curfew on the weekends) and I will officially be a Peace Corps volunteer!! Yess you read that correctly. Although, I have been living and working in Sierra Leone for 2 months at this point I am still technically not a volunteer. But that will soon change and I will move to my site and my two years of service will officially start!!
Training has gotten much better, although much more tiring, with the addition of summer school. So summer school is a way for all of us volunteers who have absolutely no teaching experience to learn to teach and manage a class of 50 students here in Salone. It has gone pretty well and I have found that overall I do really enjoy teaching (lucky considering that will be my job for the next 2 years). Learning to plan lessons, keep control of the classroom, and explain math to students that not only dislike but fear the subject has definitely had its challenging moments though. Especially the classroom management. I have never really been able to instill fear into anyone and considering all my students are taller than me it probably wont start here. So instead I'm just hoping they like and respect me enough to behave.. haha But to all my friends that are teachers I have new found respect for you and the work you do every day. If you have any tips please send them my way :) However, keep in mind that here we use chalkboards, class sizes are regularly around 50, and students' textbooks consist of the notes they take in class every day.
Learning the local language (Limba) has definitely been challenging. Yes I have moved on from learning Krio and am now learning another new language. Krio was pretty easy since it is a blend of English with other languages but Limba is definitely a challenge. Oh well, everyone here speaks Krio anyways so I can always fall back on that when my Limba fails. And Fadugu, the village I am going to, is pretty evenly split between 3 tribes (Fullah, Madingo, and Limba) so learning Limba is not essential to my integration.
Umm what else is there to say.. umm well my internet time is running out so I guess that is it for now but check the blog because I posted some "This is Africa" moments on there.
Love and Miss you all!! Keep the updates coming!
Sara
Friday, July 29, 2011
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Site Visit :)
The past four days I have been spent on site visit meaning I spent the last 4 days in my future home! It was a very exciting and nerve-racking trip to my village as I would be seeing the community, house and school I would be spending the next two years of my life in. This is probably the only time in my life I won't have a say in the town I will be working in or the house I will be living so as you can imagine I was a little nervous as the station wagon pulled to a stop in the center of town and my house was pointed out to me (oh and can I just mention that we fit 11 people into a station wagon for this journey..) Fortunately though I had nothing to be nervous about. I absolutely love my village and my house. My house is brand new ( i'm pretty sure I am the first person living in it) and very spacious. I have a bedroom, a guestroom, a storage room, and a nice open parlor/dining room. It is awesome. It has big windows so it is very well lit during the day. And as I said there is plenty of space so if anyone wants to visit I have room for you :) The house is almost like a duplex . I have one side of it and someone else lives on the other side but we have different front and back doors so although I am in the center of town and surrounded by people I can also have plenty of privacy if I so choose. The back opens up into a compound (shared yard type area) with the cooking area and the latrine. Chelsea's house is at the edge of the town but since it is a small town it is only like a 5 minute walk from mine. After this visit I have decided that I am very grateful to have another Volunteer in town with me. Although I loved Fadugu, it was comforting to have someone else I was able to relate to and share the ups and downs with during this fairly overwhelming trip.
Everyone in Fadugu was very nice and hospitable. I really enjoyed my time spent there and am looking forward to moving there in just over a month. We met all the chiefs and elders and many other community members. They were al very receptive and thankful to have received two Peace Corps volunteers. There is one main road in the town with little shops but I will definitely need to either go to Kabala or Makeni to buy some things (like laughing cow cheese and ketchup haha) But it is a nice size and beautiful. It is surrounded by hills and forest so the view is amazing. My school is pretty far away from my house (it is literally in the bush aka African Wilderness) but I love it. I think it will be a relaxing place to work and a good study environment for the children. They are still working on the school but are trying to get it ready in time for school to start in September. It is basically done it just needs the floors and chalkboards and some other things to be finished up. There are only 3 classrooms and an office though so I am still a bit confused about how the schedule is going to work since it sounds like there several classes of students and 12 teachers.. but i guess it will just work on a rotation of sorts?? haha
This leads me to talk about my potential teaching schedule. While Peace Corps suggests we start small and work our way up, my supervisor seems pretty set on making the most of my two years there haha. Which I think I may actually prefer since I'm not one to enjoy idle time. Peace Corps recommends we dont start with more than 15 periods a week but considering each period is only 40 minutes, I agree with my supervisor that I could probably do a bit more. He also, wants me to branch out beyond math though which is what makes me a little nervous but I told him as long as he has the book for me I can probably handle teaching any subject at the middle school level.. So i went from being a math teacher volunteer to probably teaching math and something else like home economics or physical health and education haha.. I am actually very excited to start teaching though and am looking forward to the start of summer school. Summer school starts next week and lasts 3 weeks during which time I will be teaching two class periods a day.
Okay so getting away from site visit.. some people mentioned they wanted to know a bit more about life in Sierra Leone (Salone as is is called here) in general. Well where to start.. Life in Sierra Leone is about as far from life in the U.S. as you can get in the world. I went from living in the wealthiest country in the world to a country that has been hovering around the bottom 5 in terms of wealth for the last several years. Needless to say I have had some adjusting to do. First of all, a good portion of the country goes without electricity and running water (I have neither in my home in Makeni nor at site) Those that do have electricity get it from a generator meaning it is fairly inconsistent. Also, it is crazy for me to think that just 10 years ago this country was still in one of the most brutal, devasting civil wars in history. During site visit I was given a book about a man's experience during the war that took place in Fadugu (my village) and it was so odd reading about how the village was repeatedly destroyed and people were massacred in the place that I am currently living. It is very difficult to wrap my mind around this and to think that everyone I meet was affected by the war and most of the people I know and become friends with or work with had family/friends die during the war. It is something that I am still struggling to grasp since it is so different from my own life experience. Despite the war though people are very hospitable and warm. There is no violence between tribes or ethnic groups nor is there violence between religions. It is just a very interesting place and I look forward to learning more and sharing it with you.
Okay well my internet time is running out so that is all for now! Love and miss you all but don't worry I am enjoying my time here and am being well cared for!
Everyone in Fadugu was very nice and hospitable. I really enjoyed my time spent there and am looking forward to moving there in just over a month. We met all the chiefs and elders and many other community members. They were al very receptive and thankful to have received two Peace Corps volunteers. There is one main road in the town with little shops but I will definitely need to either go to Kabala or Makeni to buy some things (like laughing cow cheese and ketchup haha) But it is a nice size and beautiful. It is surrounded by hills and forest so the view is amazing. My school is pretty far away from my house (it is literally in the bush aka African Wilderness) but I love it. I think it will be a relaxing place to work and a good study environment for the children. They are still working on the school but are trying to get it ready in time for school to start in September. It is basically done it just needs the floors and chalkboards and some other things to be finished up. There are only 3 classrooms and an office though so I am still a bit confused about how the schedule is going to work since it sounds like there several classes of students and 12 teachers.. but i guess it will just work on a rotation of sorts?? haha
This leads me to talk about my potential teaching schedule. While Peace Corps suggests we start small and work our way up, my supervisor seems pretty set on making the most of my two years there haha. Which I think I may actually prefer since I'm not one to enjoy idle time. Peace Corps recommends we dont start with more than 15 periods a week but considering each period is only 40 minutes, I agree with my supervisor that I could probably do a bit more. He also, wants me to branch out beyond math though which is what makes me a little nervous but I told him as long as he has the book for me I can probably handle teaching any subject at the middle school level.. So i went from being a math teacher volunteer to probably teaching math and something else like home economics or physical health and education haha.. I am actually very excited to start teaching though and am looking forward to the start of summer school. Summer school starts next week and lasts 3 weeks during which time I will be teaching two class periods a day.
Okay so getting away from site visit.. some people mentioned they wanted to know a bit more about life in Sierra Leone (Salone as is is called here) in general. Well where to start.. Life in Sierra Leone is about as far from life in the U.S. as you can get in the world. I went from living in the wealthiest country in the world to a country that has been hovering around the bottom 5 in terms of wealth for the last several years. Needless to say I have had some adjusting to do. First of all, a good portion of the country goes without electricity and running water (I have neither in my home in Makeni nor at site) Those that do have electricity get it from a generator meaning it is fairly inconsistent. Also, it is crazy for me to think that just 10 years ago this country was still in one of the most brutal, devasting civil wars in history. During site visit I was given a book about a man's experience during the war that took place in Fadugu (my village) and it was so odd reading about how the village was repeatedly destroyed and people were massacred in the place that I am currently living. It is very difficult to wrap my mind around this and to think that everyone I meet was affected by the war and most of the people I know and become friends with or work with had family/friends die during the war. It is something that I am still struggling to grasp since it is so different from my own life experience. Despite the war though people are very hospitable and warm. There is no violence between tribes or ethnic groups nor is there violence between religions. It is just a very interesting place and I look forward to learning more and sharing it with you.
Okay well my internet time is running out so that is all for now! Love and miss you all but don't worry I am enjoying my time here and am being well cared for!
Monday, July 4, 2011
July 3, 2011
I am currently in training in Makeni, Sierra Leone. We have 10 weeks of training and then it is off to our villages to move in and begin teaching. We just completed week 4 of training and found out where we will be going to teach. I am going to a village called Fadugu which is right off the highway about 1 1/2 to 2 hours northeast of Makeni and 30 mins south of Kabala. It is in northern Sierra Leone so it is mountainous and should be a bit cooler there (although the heat actually hasn't been a major issue surprisingly enough). I am told that the villagers grow vegetables up there. I am certainly looking forward to fresh vegetables. It is a town of about 8,000 and another Volunteer will actually be in the town with me (although teaching in t he government run school) which is very exciting! Three other volunteers will be in Kabala. I am going to be teaching in a Muslim Junior secondary school so things will be pretty different. The school was built by the community, has about 325 students and I might be the only female teacher. There is no school on Friday as that is the Muslim day of worship. Instead we start our week on Sunday. I must wear dresses or skirts with hems below my knees to work everyday. Pants are not allowed. The local language is Limba (sp?) so I now have to start learning a new language (we had been learning Krio).
On Friday and Saturday, July 8 & 9 the supervisor of our schools come to Makeni to meet the volunteers. On Sunday, July 10 we travel to our villages to see our schools and new homes. The following Wednesday we must find our own way back to Makeni!
I am very excited to start teaching. So far I have really enjoyed the practice teaching sessions we have had and am looking forward to summer school to start! During summer school we teach actual students for 3 weeks. Teaching will be a huge challenge though especially as a math teacher. Students here tend to be very behind in math and most volunteers seem to say they spend a majority of the time catching students up on old material rather than teaching new material. Also, even though I will be teaching what would be middle school level, I will most likely have several students that are my age or older.
A little about my host family.. I am actually living with the Homestay Coordinator for Peace Corps (i.e. the man who found all the families for people to stay with and is staff of Peace Corps) so I lucked into a pretty good family. There are about 8 of us living in the house (6 rooms total) but I get a room to myself which is nice (and also a Peace Corps rule so no I am not spoiled or lucky in this regard haha). But the 8 people include Benjamin (Homestay coordinator/ my dad), Mamusu (mom), Simeon aka Obama (my 3-yr old brother that everyone calls Obama), Mabintey (sister/aunt - technically my aunt since she is Benjamin's sister but she is 23 so more of a sister/friend figure), Mbalu (sister/aunt - same deal as Mabintey), Aminata (girl that works for the family, approximately 13 yrs old, it is fairly common for people to have someone living with them to help with the chores), and then two brothers of Benjamin named Abdul and Pastor that I think live in the same house but you never can be too sure here.. Families are big and confusing here so it sometimes hard to tell who is actually related and who is being called broda "brother" in more of a friendly way. But mi fambul dem (my family) is pretty cool overall so I've been happy living there so far.
Overall, things are going better. I feel like my last post may have been a bit of a downer but now that I am somewhat adjusted to life here I really am enjoying it. I honestly can't imagine doing anything else with my life right now and although being in a post-conflict African Country means I have to do without a lot of the amenities I am accustomed to, it really is exciting to be here as the country rebuilds and it will definitely be a learning/growing experience for me to do without so many things over the next 2 years. In 2009, Sierra Leone was ranked the poorest country in the world. Today, Sierra Leone ranks 2nd or 3rd from the bottom. While I am getting used to things like not having an indoor toilet or lights after 7:30 p.m., it is definitely still crazy when I wake up in the morning and have to go out to the well and get water before I can bathe or look around the market and see dozens of women walking past with big containers of vegetables or bread on top of their head. It is definitely a surreal experience but one that will last with me forever and one that I am very glad I have been able to take part in. So to everyone considering doing something like this (I know a few of you are in the process of applying to the Peace Corps) I whole-heartedly recommend you give it a go if you are committed. Despite the ups and downs I really am loving it and do think it is an incredible opportunity.
I ran yesterday for the first time since I arrived. It felt very good. There are not many places to run to here so I ran to the soccer field. People stopped and stared and yelled out as I ran by. When I got to the soccer field I did some stretching exercises. Little children copied my movements. It was funny to watch.
That being said I do miss you all tons and want to stay in touch. It is difficult to get to an Internet cafe so keeping in touch via email is hard. I would really appreciate hearing from you by letter - what you are doing, how you are doing, general news. My address is: Sara Metzler, Peace Corps Volunteer; Peace Corps; Post Office Box 905; Freetown, Sierra Leone. It takes a while for mail to reach me, but it does reach me.
Love, Sara
On Friday and Saturday, July 8 & 9 the supervisor of our schools come to Makeni to meet the volunteers. On Sunday, July 10 we travel to our villages to see our schools and new homes. The following Wednesday we must find our own way back to Makeni!
I am very excited to start teaching. So far I have really enjoyed the practice teaching sessions we have had and am looking forward to summer school to start! During summer school we teach actual students for 3 weeks. Teaching will be a huge challenge though especially as a math teacher. Students here tend to be very behind in math and most volunteers seem to say they spend a majority of the time catching students up on old material rather than teaching new material. Also, even though I will be teaching what would be middle school level, I will most likely have several students that are my age or older.
A little about my host family.. I am actually living with the Homestay Coordinator for Peace Corps (i.e. the man who found all the families for people to stay with and is staff of Peace Corps) so I lucked into a pretty good family. There are about 8 of us living in the house (6 rooms total) but I get a room to myself which is nice (and also a Peace Corps rule so no I am not spoiled or lucky in this regard haha). But the 8 people include Benjamin (Homestay coordinator/ my dad), Mamusu (mom), Simeon aka Obama (my 3-yr old brother that everyone calls Obama), Mabintey (sister/aunt - technically my aunt since she is Benjamin's sister but she is 23 so more of a sister/friend figure), Mbalu (sister/aunt - same deal as Mabintey), Aminata (girl that works for the family, approximately 13 yrs old, it is fairly common for people to have someone living with them to help with the chores), and then two brothers of Benjamin named Abdul and Pastor that I think live in the same house but you never can be too sure here.. Families are big and confusing here so it sometimes hard to tell who is actually related and who is being called broda "brother" in more of a friendly way. But mi fambul dem (my family) is pretty cool overall so I've been happy living there so far.
Overall, things are going better. I feel like my last post may have been a bit of a downer but now that I am somewhat adjusted to life here I really am enjoying it. I honestly can't imagine doing anything else with my life right now and although being in a post-conflict African Country means I have to do without a lot of the amenities I am accustomed to, it really is exciting to be here as the country rebuilds and it will definitely be a learning/growing experience for me to do without so many things over the next 2 years. In 2009, Sierra Leone was ranked the poorest country in the world. Today, Sierra Leone ranks 2nd or 3rd from the bottom. While I am getting used to things like not having an indoor toilet or lights after 7:30 p.m., it is definitely still crazy when I wake up in the morning and have to go out to the well and get water before I can bathe or look around the market and see dozens of women walking past with big containers of vegetables or bread on top of their head. It is definitely a surreal experience but one that will last with me forever and one that I am very glad I have been able to take part in. So to everyone considering doing something like this (I know a few of you are in the process of applying to the Peace Corps) I whole-heartedly recommend you give it a go if you are committed. Despite the ups and downs I really am loving it and do think it is an incredible opportunity.
I ran yesterday for the first time since I arrived. It felt very good. There are not many places to run to here so I ran to the soccer field. People stopped and stared and yelled out as I ran by. When I got to the soccer field I did some stretching exercises. Little children copied my movements. It was funny to watch.
That being said I do miss you all tons and want to stay in touch. It is difficult to get to an Internet cafe so keeping in touch via email is hard. I would really appreciate hearing from you by letter - what you are doing, how you are doing, general news. My address is: Sara Metzler, Peace Corps Volunteer; Peace Corps; Post Office Box 905; Freetown, Sierra Leone. It takes a while for mail to reach me, but it does reach me.
Love, Sara