What? I can't sneak at least one Lord of the Rings reference into a post during this trip?
It wasn't my intention to go the entire trip and only post twice. However, because there wasn't a lot of travel during this trip, the posts I wrote about my day-to-day here often led to talking about the current political state in Tanzania and the status of the education. It underpins much of what we do and why we do it.
And given the current political state in Tanzania, I don't want to post those blogs until I am out of the country.
I know that I am a nobody in the grand scheme of items being written online about Tanzania, but I'm on a private Internet tower Jifundishe installed. Better safe than sorry.
I have two posts that I'll post shortly after I leave - perhaps even during my 5-hour layover in Amsterdam - but in the meantime...
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| Looking at Mt. Meru from the main street of Ngongongare Village |
It's my last night in Tanzania and it's hitting me harder than it has in previous trips. Previous trips have always included travel at the end, but this time I'm leaving Jifundishe and Tanzania on the same day. Also, I've been working at the front desk which means I've met more people and made more friends.
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| Emmanuel and Juma, best friends who always bring a smile to everyone's faces |
My emotions started to get the best of me when Frida, my cook and cleaner who refused my request for a photo in 2016, started crying when she saw me in a kitenge dress today and asked me for a picture. When I asked for one in return, she obliged. I ended up teaching her how to take a selfie.
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My Tanzanian mama. She might be paid to cook and clean for me,
but the laughing at my jokes she does out of the goodness of her heart. |
It was down hill from there. My last time checking and tracking who was overdue. My last time closing the library. My last time telling Anande not to stay too late. My last time chatting with our night guard, Kelvin, on his rounds. My last time watching the sunset on the porch. My last time...
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| Anande and Amalia came to visit me one Sunday to make mandazi. |
It also doesn't help that everytime Anande and I do prep-work for upcoming events, she laments that I won't be here. I won't be here for the "End of Exams" Ceremony at the end of November. I make a note that maybe next time I can plan around being here for that. I won't be here for the Houston Scholarship selection in January. Maybe I can plan around that. I won't be here for the start of school in February, official graduation in March, the start of the A-Level program in May, so many things I will never be here for.
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| The Independent Study Project students who are writing exams every Monday this month. |
Here's hopefully making it through Wednesday without crying; 10,000 Tanzanian shillings says I fail.
