23 December 2011

Wow I cannot believe this year is almost over.  I must say I could not have predicted where I would be sitting this Christmas at all! Before I catch you all up on my rollercoaster life, I want to say that I miss you all tons and wish I could be there to celebrate the holidays with everyone.  It has been a difficult week and my first feeling of homesickness has come about as I read my Christmas cards from you guys and think of all of mom’s yummy cookies and peanut brittle I am missing out on J But I am so grateful to have all of your love and support and thank you again for all your encouraging letters- I reread them again today for a little positivity boost.  Enjoy the holidays and know that I am truly grateful to have such amazing friends and family in my life.  Cheers with a glass of wine for me!

Ok, now to fill in on my life a little.  I’ve moved to my site where I will be for the next 2 years.  It’s not exactly how I pictured my first taste of freedom after the first two months living with a family.  Leaving my host-family was really sad.  They were wonderful hosts and I am so grateful to have spent my first 2 months learning from them about Tanzanian culture and practicing my Kiswahili.  I really had no issues at all during my home-stay experience and have my host family to thank for that.  They really made adjusting to the Tanzanian lifestyle easy and simple.  However, having such a great first few months led to quite a shock once I got on my own.

After officially swearing in as a Peace Corps Volunteer (yay no longer a trainee), James, Charlotte, Jen, and I all headed down to Mtwara with our district supervisor.  It was quite a crazy and very bumpy road from Dar es Salaam to Masasi district in Mtwara.  The rainy season has begun and it felt like we were floating down the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory chocolate river.  The 15 hour bus ride consisted of constant jolting and flying (getting lots of air) from my seat repeatedly, hoping the wine bottle in my backpack wouldn’t break each time we hit back down, a good hour stall when we got stuck in the mud, one flat tire which actually got fixed pretty fast, exhaustion from not going to bed the night before to hang out with volunteers one last night, 2 second naps between the giant bumps, and at last Masasi.  There were current volunteers to greet us at the bus stand and we were all very excited to meet each other.  Surprisingly, 15 hours on a crazy bus ride did not seem that bad at all, which surprised me since I thought the long plane ride to Tanzania was ridiculous and I had free wine and leg room and my chair stayed bolted to the floor. Ha

So after a night with the current volunteers (we were able to get one beer before I was ready to pass out with exhaustion) we did some quick must-have item shopping in town and then headed to our villages.  The Peace Corps suggested that we don’t write our village name on blogs, but I am sure that wouldn’t even really be a problem with my village because no one seems to know where my village is.  We all have been joking that it is an imaginary village, but in fact it does exist.  Even on the bus, the driver didn’t know which place I was living in although the bus goes through my village. Anyways, I had a nice welcoming that consisted of villagers surrounding our car, carrying in my bags into my house, and lots and lots of blank stares.  The community has been great so far and my Village Executive Officer (VEO) took me to his home right away to meet some other important members and have dinner.  So far food has been pretty good- lots of rice, beans, some meat my first couple meals of chicken or beef (I tried to explain I don’t really like meat since they eat all the tendons fat etc here but that turned into a long conversation about different meats which led them to going to get meat for me to eat so that back fired) and ugali, which is not as bad as I expected it to be before I got here.  I did buy some pasta before coming to my site and taught the VEOs wife how I cook pasta back home and made a little sauce with tomatoes onions and garlic.  They boil pasta the same here but then fry it in oil and sugar after.  She loved trying it a different way.

My house has been a major adjusting period since it’s not quite finished.  So far I’ve killed 10 rats with poison inside my house, 1 tarantula sized spider, lots of cockroaches, smaller spiders, ants, etc. It’s amazing how normal killing bugs has been when before I made roommates kill spiders for me back home J I have a bed that I am borrowing right now which is great but nothing else is in my house.  This week I bought a small kerosene stove and a charcoal stove (still need charcoal), and some buckets to collect rain water in.  I have two bedrooms, a kitchen room, and a living room.  Everywhere but my bedroom is a dirt floor so cleaning is a bit of an issue, but hopefully I’ll get cement floors eventually.  My choo (bathroom) is a work-in-progress since there is still no door and I am waiting for a fence/courtyard to be made from my house to the choo for a little privacy and security.  I really hate going in there since it is the home of many many creatures but hopefully time will improve that…

I’ve walked around my village a little and the two neighboring villages.  It is really gorgeous here with beautiful views of mountains in the background.  The village next to me has a great water source from the mountain runoff and it super tropical rainforest looking.  My village gets water from that village during the dry season.  The women have helped me with carrying water from the wells (holes dug into the ground that fill up with rain and mud) since it is a pretty long walk and so far don’t have the muscles to carry a 20L bucket of water on my head ha I tried carrying water on my head with both hands holding it and got about 5 mins before a Mama took my bucket and put it on top of hers and walked to my house without using her hands (Before in Tanga I was able to carry the little buckets on my head with one hand but maybe after 2 years ill master no hands here too J) I’ve successfully washed my clothes by hand at site without my host mama’s help like back in Tanga, cooked oatmeal, pasta, coffee, and lots of PB&J sandwiches, and collected a good amount of rainwater from my roof now. Ah…the simple things that make life good here…

Yesterday, I walked to another village, not the one with the water source, since that is where kids from my village attend the primary school.  There is no school in my village and so kids walk to school about 3K away.  Right now it’s their summer break so they start school again on 9 Jan.  I also attended a meeting with all the village leaders (men and women) from my village and the village with the school to introduce myself and explain a little about what I will be doing here.  My Kiswahili is okay but I definitely need to work on it a lot since I got about half of what was said.  I did well in the training/tests from before in Tanga, but it’s pretty difficult understanding everyone since they talk so fast here.

Overall, I have had a wonderful time in training, and a rough adjustment to my first week at site, but it’s coming along.  I am looking forward to spending a couple days with the other new volunteers this weekend for Christmas and will hopefully successfully make brownies or a cake (I tried banana bread at home-stay which worked pretty well making an oven out of 3 pots and a charcoal stove).  Please continue to send me letters and pictures to fill me in on your lives and make me laugh.  My new address for my site is:

Stephanie Gaffney, PCV
Peace Corps Volunteer

P.O. Box 218

Masasi Town

Mtwara, Tanzania

Cell Number: +255785974821

I really appreciate the packages I have received from Ali, Mom, Diane, and Grandma and Grandpa.  Luckily I got them before Christmas so have hung up some of the Xmas décor and sent out some Christmas cards.  My cookies made it safely too- thanks G and G! If anything is in the office in Dar it might be a little while for someone to bring it down to Mtwara, but from now on send stuff to my new address.  Padded enveloped seem to be arriving fine and just don’t write down anything of high values on the customs slip to avoid fees and deter opening. 

I wish you all an amazing holiday season and Happy New Year!! It’s very weird to think I won’t see anyone for all of 2012… You are always in my thoughts and I would love to hear from everyone via letters or my phone.  Calling from Skype has worked with Kelsey and Mom and I heard about something called Local Phone online that is a good deal for international calls too.  Hope you are all healthy, happy, and enjoying the holidays.  Love and miss you tons! Xoxo

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

Wow I cannot believe this year is almost over.  I must say I could not have predicted where I would be sitting this Christmas at all! Before I catch you all up on my rollercoaster life, I want to say that I miss you all tons and wish I could be there to celebrate the holidays with everyone.  It has been a difficult week and my first feeling of homesickness has come about as I read my Christmas cards from you guys and think of all of mom’s yummy cookies and peanut brittle I am missing out on J But I am so grateful to have all of your love and support and thank you again for all your encouraging letters- I reread them again today for a little positivity boost.  Enjoy the holidays and know that I am truly grateful to have such amazing friends and family in my life.  Cheers with a glass of wine for me!

Ok, now to fill in on my life a little.  I’ve moved to my site where I will be for the next 2 years.  It’s not exactly how I pictured my first taste of freedom after the first two months living with a family.  Leaving my host-family was really sad.  They were wonderful hosts and I am so grateful to have spent my first 2 months learning from them about Tanzanian culture and practicing my Kiswahili.  I really had no issues at all during my home-stay experience and have my host family to thank for that.  They really made adjusting to the Tanzanian lifestyle easy and simple.  However, having such a great first few months led to quite a shock once I got on my own.

After officially swearing in as a Peace Corps Volunteer (yay no longer a trainee), James, Charlotte, Jen, and I all headed down to Mtwara with our district supervisor.  It was quite a crazy and very bumpy road from Dar es Salaam to Masasi district in Mtwara.  The rainy season has begun and it felt like we were floating down the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory chocolate river.  The 15 hour bus ride consisted of constant jolting and flying (getting lots of air) from my seat repeatedly, hoping the wine bottle in my backpack wouldn’t break each time we hit back down, a good hour stall when we got stuck in the mud, one flat tire which actually got fixed pretty fast, exhaustion from not going to bed the night before to hang out with volunteers one last night, 2 second naps between the giant bumps, and at last Masasi.  There were current volunteers to greet us at the bus stand and we were all very excited to meet each other.  Surprisingly, 15 hours on a crazy bus ride did not seem that bad at all, which surprised me since I thought the long plane ride to Tanzania was ridiculous and I had free wine and leg room and my chair stayed bolted to the floor. Ha

So after a night with the current volunteers (we were able to get one beer before I was ready to pass out with exhaustion) we did some quick must-have item shopping in town and then headed to our villages.  The Peace Corps suggested that we don’t write our village name on blogs, but I am sure that wouldn’t even really be a problem with my village because no one seems to know where my village is.  We all have been joking that it is an imaginary village, but in fact it does exist.  Even on the bus, the driver didn’t know which place I was living in although the bus goes through my village. Anyways, I had a nice welcoming that consisted of villagers surrounding our car, carrying in my bags into my house, and lots and lots of blank stares.  The community has been great so far and my Village Executive Officer (VEO) took me to his home right away to meet some other important members and have dinner.  So far food has been pretty good- lots of rice, beans, some meat my first couple meals of chicken or beef (I tried to explain I don’t really like meat since they eat all the tendons fat etc here but that turned into a long conversation about different meats which led them to going to get meat for me to eat so that back fired) and ugali, which is not as bad as I expected it to be before I got here.  I did buy some pasta before coming to my site and taught the VEOs wife how I cook pasta back home and made a little sauce with tomatoes onions and garlic.  They boil pasta the same here but then fry it in oil and sugar after.  She loved trying it a different way.

My house has been a major adjusting period since it’s not quite finished.  So far I’ve killed 10 rats with poison inside my house, 1 tarantula sized spider, lots of cockroaches, smaller spiders, ants, etc. It’s amazing how normal killing bugs has been when before I made roommates kill spiders for me back home J I have a bed that I am borrowing right now which is great but nothing else is in my house.  This week I bought a small kerosene stove and a charcoal stove (still need charcoal), and some buckets to collect rain water in.  I have two bedrooms, a kitchen room, and a living room.  Everywhere but my bedroom is a dirt floor so cleaning is a bit of an issue, but hopefully I’ll get cement floors eventually.  My choo (bathroom) is a work-in-progress since there is still no door and I am waiting for a fence/courtyard to be made from my house to the choo for a little privacy and security.  I really hate going in there since it is the home of many many creatures but hopefully time will improve that…

I’ve walked around my village a little and the two neighboring villages.  It is really gorgeous here with beautiful views of mountains in the background.  The village next to me has a great water source from the mountain runoff and it super tropical rainforest looking.  My village gets water from that village during the dry season.  The women have helped me with carrying water from the wells (holes dug into the ground that fill up with rain and mud) since it is a pretty long walk and so far don’t have the muscles to carry a 20L bucket of water on my head ha I tried carrying water on my head with both hands holding it and got about 5 mins before a Mama took my bucket and put it on top of hers and walked to my house without using her hands (Before in Tanga I was able to carry the little buckets on my head with one hand but maybe after 2 years ill master no hands here too J) I’ve successfully washed my clothes by hand at site without my host mama’s help like back in Tanga, cooked oatmeal, pasta, coffee, and lots of PB&J sandwiches, and collected a good amount of rainwater from my roof now. Ah…the simple things that make life good here…

Yesterday, I walked to another village, not the one with the water source, since that is where kids from my village attend the primary school.  There is no school in my village and so kids walk to school about 3K away.  Right now it’s their summer break so they start school again on 9 Jan.  I also attended a meeting with all the village leaders (men and women) from my village and the village with the school to introduce myself and explain a little about what I will be doing here.  My Kiswahili is okay but I definitely need to work on it a lot since I got about half of what was said.  I did well in the training/tests from before in Tanga, but it’s pretty difficult understanding everyone since they talk so fast here.

Overall, I have had a wonderful time in training, and a rough adjustment to my first week at site, but it’s coming along.  I am looking forward to spending a couple days with the other new volunteers this weekend for Christmas and will hopefully successfully make brownies or a cake (I tried banana bread at home-stay which worked pretty well making an oven out of 3 pots and a charcoal stove).  Please continue to send me letters and pictures to fill me in on your lives and make me laugh.  My new address for my site is:

Stephanie Gaffney, PCV

P.O. Box 218

Masasi Town

Mtwara, Tanzania

Cell Number: +255785974821

I really appreciate the packages I have received from Ali, Mom, Diane, and Grandma and Grandpa.  Luckily I got them before Christmas so have hung up some of the Xmas décor and sent out some Christmas cards.  My cookies made it safely too- thanks G and G! If anything is in the office in Dar it might be a little while for someone to bring it down to Mtwara, but from now on send stuff to my new address.  Padded enveloped seem to be arriving fine and just don’t write down anything of high values on the customs slip to avoid fees and deter opening. 

I wish you all an amazing holiday season and Happy New Year!! It’s very weird to think I won’t see anyone for all of 2012… You are always in my thoughts and I would love to hear from everyone via letters or my phone.  Calling from Skype has worked with Kelsey and Mom and I heard about something called Local Phone online that is a good deal for international calls too.  Hope you are all healthy, happy, and enjoying the holidays.  Love and miss you tons! Xoxo

My host family: Back row standing- Dada Pili, Me, Dada Asha, Baba. Front row sitting- Mama, Kaka Hassani, Dada Saumu, Kaka Ali

                                                                                                                                  

Sad to Leave Each other- Kat and I at our Swearing in Ceremony in Tanzanian clothes

Last night with my CBT- Chuck, Julie and Kat

Just put a Khanga over it!

Hello!! So let's see what I can write in about 10 minutes that i have left on this internet cafe computer...Just want you all to know that I am having such an amazing time! I miss everyone to death but other than a little home/friend missing everything is going so well!

Let's see...After the first week in Dar of getting to know everyone in the group we drove up the coast to Muheza district.  I am living in a village called Kilulu with an amazing family! There is a mama, a baba, two dadas (sisters- 12, 17), and two kakas (brothers-2 and 10).  They have had 2 other volunteers before me and are wonderful.  Don't worry...I am definitely not starving here! They think its really funny that they are trying to get me fattened up and get a woawoawoa which is a huge ass hahaha So tons of food that isnt bad just a little boring at times and I am always always full! Last week at school we also had the mama make us amazing guacamole so got a little mexi food back :) 

School is 6 days a week and I live with Chuck, Julie, Kat, and two teachers that are in my village.  At least once a week the whole group of 41 Volunteers meet up for training and we always have a lot of fun catching up on each other's experiences.  I really do love everyone in out training group and have an amazing group in my village which is the most beautiful green tropical place ever! Although there are tons of bugs and its super humid and hot, I have adapted fairly well.  They choo (bathroom) is just a hole in the ground and surprisingly it has not been as bad as I was anticipating.  I got sick once from a food dish but that lasted less than 24 hours and other than that I have been very happy and healthy...minus my bathroom buddy that happens to be a fairly large trantula that i have staring contests with when showering! Oh ya showers...I acutally shower twice a day since its soooo hot and all the mamas make all the volunteers shower 2x a day so Im actually showering more than i ever have...granted the water is a little darker and its with a bucket and my hands. The girls in my group started running which is great to see the morning sunrise and get out some emotions and what not.  My baba is really amazing and takes us out at night to where all the big village guys hang out and drink coffee and eat cashew cookies :) My Swahili is getting better but coming along slowly...luckily Tanzanians are extremely patient, nice, and forgiving of any cultural mess ups or language slips. So far we learned how to make permagardens and tomorrow are supposed to make them at the primary schools in our village.

Thank you for the Holloween wishes! That was a funny attempt in broken Swahili to explain that in America kids dress up and go door to door dressed up as ghosts cats bats pumpkins and monsters and ask for candy. Haha at least the kids liked my drawings and my family liked the skittles I brought from home.  We all got together for our training (41 people) and had a costume contest- I dressed as a Tanzanian woman with a woawoawoa and put a pillow under my khanga (large pience of fabric with crazy prints that is worn as a skirt).  It was fun to see what people came up with with no craft store and only a couple days to prep.  We got candy from the trainers too which was amazing to have chocolate even though as you know i never really like chocolate but anything american is fun to have right now!

Today my village group (CBT group) came to Tanga to get amazing food and check out a bigger town.  We had pizza!!! And beer!! And ice cream!! After a couple weeks of white rice, ugali, and fried dough we were extremely excited to have something else! Next weekend the whole training group is going to a hotel on the beach for a weekend vacation :) I am so excited to have more good food, swim in the pool and ocean, and be around english speaking americans/ have a break from sounding and acting like an idiot haha

Although I might seem to be missing a lot of things from back home, I really do love it here.  I dont think I could have been placed anywhere better.  Everyday I look out at a beautiful view of mountains, green everywhere, coconut palm trees, amazing sunrises and sunsets, and the most beautiful sky of stars at night! Life without electricity is really no issue at all.  I havent even opened my bad of electronic type stuff for entertainment.  The kids here provide enough entertainment even on days where I am a little sad or frustrated, their smiling faces will always put me in a great mood! My family here is extremely supportive and amazing and my new friends/other volunteers are so great to have and I feel like weve all known each other forever.

Anyways, I got some emails from you guys and will be sending off some letters soon I promise!! Sorry this was oddly written and probably doesnt make sense but I want yo all to know I think about you all the time and miss you so much but I am doing very well mentally/emotionally and physically!!  Send me letters as much as possible and pictures are always fun too!! Hope everyone is doing well!!! xoxoxo

Goodbye Compound Hello Muheza!

I've been in Tanzania for about a week in Dar es Salaam doing our initial training week.  So far I am having a great time and so excited to be here! I have 41 new friends from my training group who are either health educators or environmental workers like me.  Everyone is so fun and we are all getting very close!  We have been living in a nun compound in Dar, but it has been a very easy transition from life in Cali.  We all have our own rooms that have a full sized bed, electricity, shower head, sink, mirror, and a fan.  The food has been pretty good: lots of rice, wilted greens, potatoes, chicken with pretty much no meat, tons of fried dough, and lots of chai.  We have had a lot of vaccinations, training in safety, some cross cultural classes, and a little bit of Swahili lessons.

Tomorrow we leave for our homestays in Muheza that is in the Tanga region.  I'll be living with both a mama and baba but not sure on how many kids or other relatives there will be.  They will most likely be a Muslim family.  I'll be living with them in my own room, but will most likely have no electricity, no running water (yay bucket showers!), and a family choo  (pit latrine). I am really excited to see what village life is like and try more traditional Tanzanian meals.  I am really excited to learn Swahili as well since I only know greetings right now (Greetings in Tanzania are the most important thing and include a serious of different ways of saying hello and asking how your day, morning, chai, family, life, children, chicken, etc. are doing).  We will be living with families that probably don't know English and will be in Swahili class from 8am-5pm 6 days a week so I should start improving fast.  I'll be in the same village as two girls and one guy, but once every week the whole group (41 people) will meet for a day.  The Peace Corps staff is amazing and I am looking forward to getting to know them more, especially my language and culture teacher.

I probably won't have much access to internet within the next couple months while at my homestay but wanted to post one last entry to say I am safe and happy! I am sure the next time I write I will have tons of wild stories of miscommunications, learning how to use a choo, and living with a new family. Thanks again for all my letters and pictures everyone gave me before I left!! I promise I'll try to send out some letters soon so you can get them eventually :)  My address will still be the one posted on this page and I would love to read about you guys! Love you all and miss youuuu xoxo

Orientation in Philadelphia

October 9, 2011

I can’t believe I am actually off! It’s been quite an interesting time already getting prepared to leave to Tanzania for two years.  I’m always an over-packer, but thought I was doing really well since I was still under weight requirements.  But….It turns out I could not carry everything I packed! Oops! So after a great last sushi night with everyone still in Orange County, I repacked for the 5^th time! And got about an hour of sleep before I took my last longgg hot shower J

These past few weeks have been a whirlwind! I am typically not too emotional of a person, but I guess that’s because it’s not every day you have to say goodbye to everyone and everything you love and know.  I must say I truly enjoyed my summer after finishing at UCSB.  It has been a long time since I’ve lived back home for so long and I am glad I did.  I enjoyed cooking many new things with my mom, getting dropped off at a bar by mom and picked up by Ashleigh with Steven  and Ali A. (hahaha that was one fun night!), countless memories with all my loves in SB, doing the breast cancer walk with mom, time at home doing absolutely nothing, driving my sister crazy, spending time with Grandma and Grandpa, reliving high school with Ali M., Ali A., and Matt now that we’re all back in Laguna Niguel…, seeing my brother off to Ireland to pursue his Masters Degree!, reuniting with Alibaba, San Francisco with Hannah and Megs, 4^th of July Fiesta and Pukes and Staggers in SB, and so so so many more memories!!  I’m going to miss you all so much, but I will carry these memories and many more with me!

I am so happy you are all participating in the game of sending letters to me!  I have a bunch of stuff to read on my plane rides and have opened a few! Alibaba, Cor Cor, and Luce- I love love love the photo album!! I haven’t opened the other gift but think I am going to love using it J  Ali M. and Ali A.- amazing photos too!! I love how creative you are and piecing together everyone into the pictures…especially since I ran out of time to really print any photos!  Alibaba- Your poem is amazing! hahaha I already started using my journal Ashee but had to stop reading your letter and the others from everyone else since I started having to hold back some tears :( The game continues to see who will be the winner of sending me the most love- so start sending them to Tanzania  pleaseeee!

October 10, 2011

So made it to my staging orientation in Philadelphia! The flights were not bad at all and getting to the hotel was quite simple since I did not need to carry my bags too far to get to a shuttle…we’ll see how carrying them in Tanzania goes!! Colin got to the hotel right before I arrived so we checked in my room, met the other volunteers from the West Coast, and we all went out for dinner and some beer.  I knew meeting everyone here would bring a lot of relief to this whole process since we are all going through the same thing.  Everyone is wondering how we’re going to carry so many bags, how big the spiders are going to be, and whether or not alcohol is still free on international flights J Off to orientation...

...My orientation went great!! They did a wonderful job of getting us to open up and get to know each other.  We did different skits and activities to learn the best ways to cope and handle anxieties and how to stick to our aspirations and the core goals of why we are a part of the Peace Corps.  I really like everyone in our group! A commonality definitely exists for us all and I love how open with each other everyone is.  I just  can’t wait to get to Tanzania now!! I ended up being the only girl who checked only one bag (thanks Ali!) so was convinced to check my hiking pack tomorrow to make my carry-on a lot easier.  So packed again- but for the last time thank god! Ha After our long orientation, a few of us went to a last nice dinner to have Italian food and good wine.  Off to get one last good night’s rest before heading to the airport tomorrow! Love you all xoxo

Here are some photos of me attempting to carry my body weight in luggage at 6am on only one hour of sleep 

Getting Ready...

Hey everyone! I decided to start a blog for everyone to have a slight idea of what I am doing while I serve as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Tanzania from October 2011 to December 2013.


My official job title is an Environmental Extension Worker for the program Environmental Education and Sustainable Agriculture in Rural Communities (EESARC).  I will get to work in both schools and with the men and women of agricultural communities, as well as become involved with many secondary projects.  And....I will learn what it is like to live without running water, electricity, and many other luxuries we tend to take for granted.  So for now, I have been enjoying my last couple months of beautiful Southern California weather, hot showers, every variety of food, flushing toilets, the lack of mosquitoes and rodents in my bedroom, and my own car.  I'm starting to get anxious about packing for two years with a baggage limit of 80 lbs! However, I am extremely excited to begin this adventure and hope you will all stay in contact with me via this blog and, more importantly, with lots of letters!  I will post more information soon!


~Steph