It’s so good to be able to communicate with family and friends so easily now that we have internet connection. And thanks for all the positive comments about the blog, the photos, etc. I appreciate that, first of all, someone reads all that I write, and secondly, that you’re finding some of it interesting.
I’ve been looking at the syllabus for English (it’s a new one since 2005) and it looks like I’d be able to handle that. I do like teaching the younger secondary students, those who are just beginning their learning in English. It’s nice to be able to give them a good foundation since they need it in all of their subjects in secondary school. On Tuesday we have the meeting that has been arranged with the heads of Diocesan departments, so it will be good to hear what they have to say. I am especially interested in making some arrangements with either the parish or our outstation so that I can begin some tutoring for those who are finishing their primary school education next month. Those who go on to secondary school would benefit from some intensive English learning before January, when they begin secondary. I would hope that could go on even if I do the English at the Village of Hope secondary school. At that school there are seven English periods each week, and since they plan on having two classes of each Form (grade), then I would be doing 14 periods per week for the first year. That would give me time yet to do some tutoring, so I’d like to see how that works out.
I was taking note of and reflecting on all the different kinds of work people do here in order to make a living. Because there’s so much construction going on, that is the occupation of many. There are the real fundis, those who have studied a trade like carpentry or masonry and do the jobs needing those kinds of skills. And each fundi has at least one assistant who carries the cement or water or boards or whatever. Then there are the folks who water the cement as it sets – many of these are women. Others find large rocks or boulders and one sees them all over, pounding the rocks into smaller pieces so that they can be used for building. There are different sizes needed for different work, it seems, so in so many places you can see the different piles of rocks out, ready for sale. I understand these are sold by the bucket, and many folks, even the old and young, get their money from doing that. You see many young men doing the hard work of digging the foundations.
Besides the building industry, there are lots of other ways folks make their livings. When we had a small table made for the kitchen at a carpentry shop down the road, in order to get it to the house we hired a young man to carry it on his head. When the bed, made at the same place but considerably heavier, was ready to be delivered a young man with a two wheeled trailer that he pulls brought it with that. Some folks have small stands along the road where they sell fruit or vegetables or cooking oil or charcoal – whatever needed as other people walk by. So these sellers go to the main market in town and bring these things back, add a few shillings to the price, and in that way make something to live on. I had my umbrella fixed by a man with a table under a tree, and Connie had her shoe fixed by someone under a different tree. You see bicycles on the road in the mornings, coming from outer areas with sacks of charcoal on the back. They have cut trees and made charcoal for use in the town. Other folks on bicycles are carrying containers of milk – all going into the city to sell them. The "informal sector" is alive and well here in Tanzania, and probably not given enough credit for its contributions to society.
Another wild life sighting: We had a large scorpion in our yard the other day. I had never seen such a large one, and this one was black. My experience of scorpions was of the reddish-brown ones, and much smaller. This one was at least 4 – 5 inches long, and he was ugly looking. I went to borrow a hoe from our neighbor in order to kill it, but the neighbor himself came to do the job. It reminds us to be careful when we’re caring for our plants because he had camouflaged himself pretty well in the shade of the plants.
I guess my "favorite" wildlife are our friends, the mosquitoes. But that's matter for another day....
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