Tunaendelea Vizuri. Kweli.

Hey ya'll

So it's been about a month again. That's how it's gonna be a i guess. Things are going well. Last week i started in on my regular teaching schedule at the two local primary schools and the secondary schools. I'm teaching HIV/Aids education, while also focusing the development of life skills. My sessions thus far with the kids have gone really well. They were really receptive, engaged, and asked a lot of questions. So i've been happy.

I've needed to establish some sort of regularity in my days here and this is giving me the opportunity to do that. Also, working in the schools has given me an opportunity to establish a better relationship with the kids in my community. I guess i'm teaching between 300-500 kids right now. I'm hoping that these teaching periods will give me the opportunity to get the kids to open up about HIV/Aids, sex, and other normally uncomfortable topics. So far they have. The other day i had a kid ask me what can they do if they want to remain abstinent, but still "happy" (ya know). So naturally masturbation was introduced as an option. Then, i get the super awkward follow up question of "how do you masterbate?" I told him to ask his friends. I wasn't touching that one.

Working with the schools has also given me the opportunity to meet and establish relationships with all of the local teachers, most of whom are young and from all over Tanzania. This has been really beneficial. Teachers tend to have a more expanded view when it comes to many of these issues than do the local community members who usually have a very limited education. Many of these teachers of expressed interest in joining with me to carry out projects. So far we've discussed distributing free condoms to the village's bars, guest houses, and health dispensaries. While condoms are available to buy at a cheap cost at the village's shops, in such a small community many kids and teenagers are too shy to buy them there. If they can acquire them anomosously, they'll be more likely to use them. Having free condoms obviously could help with HIV/Aids but i've also been emphasizing the kids about their effectiveness in preventing pregnancy. Very young adolescent girls are constantly needing to drop out of school due to pregnancy.

So yeah, those things are going well. Other than that, i'm slowly trying to continue my work with my women's farming groups. The Agricultural officer, who is essential to the planning process, has been really busy with disputes between land owners and Maasai cattle herders. But he's expressed interest to help so hopefully will get a grant proposal written within the next couple of months.

The conference in Dodoma last month was really great. I saw a lot of my PC friends from training, so that was fun. I drank a lot of beer. I also got a lot of great trainign with my counterpart. It was especially beneficial for him b/c he got a better understanding of the Peace Corps mission and became motivated by the professional manner of the conference.

The hotel that we were staying at in Dodoma was right near Parliament and it had a pretty decent bar. Many of the big, fat MPs would come and drink at the bar at our hotel, so there were a number of conversations that volunteers struck up with them. Through one of these meetings, we were all invited to a session of parliament, as it was in session that week. So we went. I now know where all of Tanzania's domestic budget is going. This place was wiiicked nice. It had a giant plasma tv the size of a small truck and well, just everything was really nice. Crooks. Regardless, it was a cool experience and we were flattered.

This weekend i was supposed to be running in the Kili Marathon, but i hurt my knee a couple weeks ago and i am no longer able. It sucks terribly. I'd been training pretty hard for this thing. The injury seems to be the same tendon problem i had a year ago up in VT when i was sidelined for 2-3 months. I'm hoping it'll up quicker this time, i can't go without running for too long here. Anyway, i'm still heading up to Moshi for the race. There will a lot of volunteers there, many of whom aren't running. I hear there's a really cool bar with a treehouse and a solid reggae band, so that kind of sold me. Being one of the more isolated PCVs in these country, especially when it comes to lack of females, it's nice to get out and see some other volunteers.

Funny story (kind 0f)... there was a teacher from one of the local schools (not one i work with), riding her bike early around sunrise to work, when she got knocked off her bike by a hippo running across the road. She was ok, but naturally shaking up. Those things are HUGE and wicked fast. I haven't been attacked yet, but i'll keep you updated. This time of the year i've been told i need to be especially careful when choting my water out of the river b/c with the increase in rains, the river rises, giving hippos and crocodiles to come up stream from the nearby swamps to check out the scenery. So yeah... not really sure about all that, but i guess i'll announce my presence at the river from now on.

What else? I was involved in an attempted mugging about a month ago. Relax mom. These 3 guys came up behind me and another volunteer on our way back from a bar in Morogoro. One guy put me in a headlock, but i resisted and threw him off him. Meanwhile my friend Lucas knocked one of them wicked hard in the head. So they ran off real quick, only being able to grab my hat that fell off in the scuffle. It was amateur hour. I feel like we delt with the situation as well as we could have. These things happen. We were fine. I miss that hat.

So i hope that you're all doing well. Send me a letter, email, message, whatever. Let me know how things are. Hope the economy is hitting everyone too bad. Glad i'm here while i am. You all go fix that up so all's well upon my return. Thanks\

Much love
Justin or Sully or whatever