Labda Hata Mimi

Tropical computer maintenance: Frog hibernates in PS/2 nook.

SO last week was my first year anniversary in country. I am thrilled and contented. As my friend Kristen pointed out on her blog, this is now home in most senses. I don’t worry overmuch of schedulelessness, further appreciate relationships within a community.

I have spent more time here living in one place than I have ever anywhere else with exception for my parents/childhood home. It is funny, living in one place for a year: through college I am able to remember things by the orientation of my living quarters because it was roughly a couple of semesters only but now I feel as if I am compressing more memories into the cognitive space than it can hold. Thankfully, my home-stay and training, which now feels a years off (it is) is in its own unique space. I looked back at pictures and it helps me remember the conditions for most Tanzanians.

The truth of most of my existence in the past 9 months has been very different. I am very privileged in my corner of arid Tanzania. I am in a community of some fifty teachers of teachers (”Tutors”) with most modern amenities (taps, electricity, couches, TVs, often computers). They are well educated, keep up with me and often lead me in many ways, not just cultural. There are three other academies of various sorts in my small town with similarly well educated folks.

Last week one of my counterparts (that is Peace Corps parlance for “resourceful friend”), Allan, gave me a few lessons on electric circuits. Though computer maintenance isn’t too wild from a Western perspective, he is pretty much as quick as I am at it by now. I have picked up a bit of soldering for swapping out blown capacitors and such. For the last several terms we have offered a class on that for a few student teachers to run labs at their schools using pretty solid Cisco-donated materials.

This term, we are both excited to start a Computer/ICT club with computer design lessons & competitions, typing competitions, and English competitions. Through an education grant from the US ambassador here, we will reward 1gb USB flash drives for our best participants. It was just announced this morning in a mix of Swahili and English to our 800 new, smartly dressed student teachers filling the great hall. I have high hopes. My friends at other Teachers Colleges have tried to pull off clubs in the past but had issues detaching the dull classroom Office-suite routines from the more creative pursuits.