New Everything

Karibuni Tanzania! Welcome All to Tanzania!

Highlights: (if you are not as interested in ALL of my thoughts, emotions and ramblings)

• Two long, safe flights got me to Africa
• Day 1: beer with the Jesuits
• Kiswahili is awesome but going to be really hard to learn!
• Loyola High School better get ready for the craziest oral English/creative writing/Religion/Values teacher… ever?
• Sorting rice and beans before you cook is a long process
• Transportation here is crazy and an adventure to say the least
• The Sisters of Charity do amazing work all over the world, including here in Dar
• I got a crazy shirt made out of neon yellow fabric
• The beaches are beautiful
• It is hot here. For real, very hot.

Wow, what a week this has been! It is hard to believe that just one week ago I was sitting in Heathrow Airport waiting to board a plane to Africa. The week have been fun and intense and crazy and exciting and inspiring and daunting and silly and so many things! Emotions are running high and the sweat is pouring… everywhere!

As the plane entered Tanzanian air last Sunday a wave of emotion rushed over me. The fear, the excitement and the unknown overwhelmed me. Through the big blue skies and billowing white clouds I saw the tip of Mt. Kilimanjaro as we began out dissent. Just as I look for Mt. Rainier on flights to and from Seattle, this new mountain, this different mountain, this monument of a mountain welcomed me to this beautiful country.

The plane landed safely without any problems and as I looked out the window to see the new place I would call home, the windows began to fog. I thought I was breathing too close to the window but, no, the steam came from outside. The humidity begins. I stepped off of the plane and experienced it for myself for the first time. Yes, I started sweating a week ago and have, for the most part, not stopped sweating since. (if you have plans to visit me, this is not the time of year to do it. Apparently in July is gets cold and dry… cold being in the 70’s but hey, that sounds great. I have not see our thermometer go below 81 degrees and I do not even WANT to know the degree of humidity.)

Sunday consisted of settling in, unpacking and going to mass. We went to the 4pm children’s mass. Picture 100-150 children sitting around the front of a huge church led by a German Jesuit and two adults leading songs. (Squirming, singing and dancing.) These kids loved it. Towards the end of mass the priest called us volunteers up to the alter to introduce Cat (the other 1^st year) and myself. Then Christen, Emily and Gretchen (current JVs) all spoke in Kiswahili to this crowd of excited, clapping, smiling children and told them who we are and where we will be teaching. It was really fun! Mass was hard to follow not only because of jetlag but it was the first time I had been immersed in an hour and half straight of Kiswahili!

It is an amazing language with a lot of passion and beauty in it. Greetings are huge here. Greeting vary depending on who you are and the age, occupation and so one of the other person. Then the time of day changes the greeting as well. Yes, I am learning. Yes, it is hard. Yes, YES YES! I cant wait to know more!!!!!

After mass the priest, Fr Visus, invited us over to the Jesuit Residence for a drink. I had my first Tanzanian beer (called Safari, a lager) with a bunch of Jesuits! Super. They are so nice and welcoming. The volunteers see the Jesuit residence as a second home and I can’t wait to become more comfortable and at home in that space. Goal = become best friends with a Jesuit.

The next day I went to Loyola High School to see where I would be working and to learn about the different classes I would be teaching. I was given the option between grammar and oral English/creative writing... oral eng/creative writing was my obvious choice. After the tour of the school Christen (a second year) took Cat and I to an orphanage and place of refuge for the disabled and elderly run by the Sisters of Charity, thanks Mother Theresa (Christen used this site as a second placement once she picked up the language and got a lighter teaching schedule). There my Kiswahili was put to test as it is expected to meet and greet every person in the compound starting with the elderly men, then women, then disabled girls, then disabled boys and then the orphan children. Aside from a little boy vomiting ALL OVER Cat, the visit went very well and I am excited to visit or maybe volunteer there more!

That evening we had guests over who are longtime friends of JVs (Baba Davie and Mama Davie and their son Ema). It was all in Kiswahili so I was pretty lost. I was in charge of the radio and making sure there was music. I took the name DJShea.

Wednesday we went into downtown Dar es Salaam to run errands and to see that part of the city. It is crowded, fast moving and full of sights, smells and sounds I had never experienced. On that trip I saw the Catholic Cathedral and the Indian Ocean, so I consider it quite the success. We took a Dala (a taxi van with 12 seats where they pack 25-30 people in them… seriously… so many people) back to the house which is in an area called Mabibo. That night we went to dinner at the Davie house. While we were there it rained and rained and rained so hard. Baba Davie kept saying that it was God’s way of saying that we (JVs) could not leave because we are family and were meant to stay there. It was nice but after about 3 hours of rain, against Baba Davie’s desires, we decided we would tough the weather. Haha.

Thursday Gretchen, Cat and I went to the market. You can get ANYTHING at the market. It was amazing. We bought dishes for Christmas because we will have many guests as well as a lot of fabrics. Cat got fabric to make skirts for school and I got fabric to make a shirt. It is going to be so sweet! I will also be able to wear it to school.

Thursday evening we had guests over again. Again, I was DJ.

Friday morning I had meetings with the head of the English Department (Janet) and then the Academic Dean (Fr. Shete) to discuss my role in the school and as an English teacher. We discussed in depth professionalism, curriculum, corporal punishment, extra curricular activities and a lot more. It was informative, inspiring and daunting! We then met up with some of Christen’s students and went to Coco beach which was about 45 minutes from the school. It was beautiful and relaxing. After that, we rushed back using several dalas to get to the Jesuit’s for dinner (we go there every Friday night).

This blog entry is so long. Ohhh geez. I wish I could go on and talk about food, my farmer tan, fixing a toilet, what is it like to enter into a house with two people leaving/two entering/one in the middle, all of the bright colors surrounding me, the anxiety of learning another language and so much more. I guess you are just going to have to stay tuned!

Congrats, you read all of that! Thank you.

Amani (peace),

Shea

Days Away

Here I am, in Edmonds, Washington in my childhood bedroom trying to pack and planning goodbyes. What am I excited about? Everything. What am I anxious about? Everything.

But, here is my blog. Not promising regular posts or anything too in depth but I hope that this becomes a place to share some of my adventures, excitements, fears, emotions, insights and maybe a picture or two.

I would also like to hear about your lives via email or letter!

Here is my address:
Shea Patrick Meehan
Jesuit Volunteers
Loyola High School
P O Box 1140
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Anyways, much love!

-SheaPatrick