Overwhelmed by Karibu Culture

Welcome. Welcome to Tanzania. Come in. Come into my home. Feel at home. Find comfort here. Sit. Enjoy. What I have is yours. Share this with me. Eat. Eat more. Here is a Coke for you. A beer for you. A cake for you. A mango for you. A gift for you. Welcome. Karibu Tanzania.

This is what I am feeling one month in. Tanzanian “Karibu Culture” has provided an overwhelming sense of welcome over the past few weeks. That welcome has come in the form of home stays, meals sharing, greetings on the street and even the purchase, slaughter and cooking of a celebratory goat! Longstanding friendships with Jesuit Volunteers have established a name for the program and those who have served making this transition a bit easier and significantly smoother.

My days in Tanzania are not void of challenge, frustration, fear or discomfort, however. I have officially been immersed in a place that does not look or feel or smell or sound anything like the first twenty three years of my life has been overwhelming to say the least. That sense of immersion is kind of like the feeling of cannon-balling into an ice cold pool on the hottest day of summer… in that you feel everything, your body is in shock, your senses are confused and all you want to do is adjust, adjust, adjust so that you can enjoy the swim, have fun and move on with your day basking in the sun and sharing laughs. Immersion in this Tanzanian pool party of sorts has been interesting.

I feel as though I have jumped into this pool, I am still waiting to find my place in the pool party, the sting of the water is cold enough that I want out but at the same time refreshing enough to keep me in. This the party may feel awkward for a while but as I adjust to the language, the gender roles, the foods, the goat eating, the cockroaches and buffalo spiders, the drop toilets and bucket showers, the instant coffee and all that is new, I will slowly shift from being overwhelmed to being overly-enthused, overly-embraced and overly-excited!

Since jumping into the pool party that is my life here, I have seen a lot and felt a lot. Many of the emotions were expected (I miss check-ins with family and friends… and Panda Express orange chicken) while other experiences have shed light onto new realizations, new understandings and new definitions of life, love and literally everything. For example, I have realized that children are the same where ever you go in the sense that they are goofy, loving, excited, interested and ADORABLE. The children here, however, have one other quality: adaptable. These kids make soccer balls out of used socks and race cars out of cookie boxes and bottle caps. They spend hours playing and fighting, talking and running with seemingly few cares about their conditions in the heat, the dirt and the poverty BUT then there is a total switch and all of the sudden they are running fruit stands, carrying jugs of water twice their size and all of this with a greater understanding of community and what it takes to be a child, be a member of a family and be a part of the Tanzanian people. Children are just one example of this redefinition and re-appreciation.

Throughout the past four weeks I have been very fortunate seeing and experiencing new people, foods, places and aspects of Tanzanian life. As the second year volunteers prepared to head home to the states, I was able to experience goodbyes that outlined just how impactful and meaningful their roles in this community are. Relationships with students, coworkers, families throughout our neighborhood, Jesuits, parishioners and even random strangers on the street displayed how integral and meaningful those two have become. I then went on a home stay, met an amazing family, cooked some Tanzanian dishes, attended a surprise birthday party and started to see how those JVs were invited to and were able to form such genuine and beautiful relationships with those around them.

Two weeks in, we said goodbye to Dar es Salaam and the neighborhood that we live in, Mabibo, and traveled to Tanga for a retreat with the greater JVC-TZA community. There volunteers from Dodoma, Moshi and my community shared in stories, meals and reflections that outlined ways to support and grow together as one larger community spread out all over Tanzania. As a large group we also spent Christmas in Mabibo and New Years in Dodoma with adventures in between including movie watching, beach chilling, botanical garden picnicking, cultural museum visiting, ice cream eating and so much more. It was also with this group that I partook in eating a goat that was given to us in thanks for our work and commitment of two years. While overwhelming at times to be surrounded by, reflecting with and discovering our places within Tanzania, we grew a lot as a large group and even more in the one-on-one friendships. I love these volunteers.

Returning home to Mabibo, charged with a new energy, excited to start a life here and feeling held by my community and the network of JVs that I just left, Cat and I embarked on our first real adventure using Kiswahili to purchase food and materials to then make a whole dinner from scratch. It was the first time that I truly felt like a Jesuit Volunteer in a different country. Amidst handfuls of people simultaneously laughing at my Kiswahili and helping me along, I felt like I was a part of something greater, something growing, something that is both mine and theirs, something that is what it is and will become something that I will love simply because it is. This is it, a communion, a process and the start of Tanzania and me growing one step closer.

Looking forward:

Possibly my greatest challenge and ultimately greatest purpose here begins in one week. I start work. My first time to be up  in front of students, to be in charge of students, to discipline, to lead, to be inspire learning. Next week I will begin working at Loyola High School teaching in pre-form one Oral English, pre-form one Values and form one Religion. What does that mean? I am not sure. I have several outlines of past JV curriculums, a very helpful network of teachers and administrators and A LOT of excitement. All in all, I am sure it will be great but the task of teaching English to children who only know Kiswahili is daunting. Schooling in this country mandates that high school and beyond be taught in English while primary secular schools teach in Kiswahili. These children are being pushed into a new school, a new degree of schooling and a new language. As one who has experienced the reverse (Kiswahili immersion as an English speaker) I feel for these students. It is scary. While I am working to achieve a level of competency that will allow me to communicate my basic needs, they are working to further their education, their possibilities and their potentials in an academic arena. Both of these are daunting, both will require a lot of patience!