Sleeping Under A Mosquito Net or Answers To Your Questions

Thank you for your questions!

Yes, I sleep every night under a mosquito net. I also burn a mosquito coil in my room during the night. And I slather my ankles, arms and neck with repellent. I take preventative medication weekly, all because malaria is a very real threat. In the 6 weeks that I have been here, five Westerners have come down with malaria, and have gone to the hospital for the test and the prescription. All have recovered quickly after taking the medication. My own daughter has had bouts of malaria when she traveled in Africa and India, even while taking every precaution, and she made me promise to be vigilant. A promise is a promise. So far, so good. (Quick, knock on wood!)

Every day for lunch I eat in the school cafeteria. Remember "Diet for a Small Planet" and the theory of complementary foods? I am living that diet. We have rice and beans or rice and lentils. We may have rice and cooked greens. Before the budget cuts, we had meat and rice pilau once a week, but no longer. A traditional and typical Tanzanian meal is ugali, with is a thick doughy staple made from ground maize and water. It is served with greens. And there is always a spicy tomato salsa called pilli pilli. (I eat my breakfast in the volunteer kitchen downstairs from my room, and usually have yogurt. Of course I have a cup of hot tea, too.) I have dinner in the kitchen, and the volunteers take turn cooking. There are thirteen people in the "kitty" this week. Eating with this large a group is a big change for me. We usually have rice and stir-fry, or pasta, or stew. Sometimes people prepare meals for special occasions, like "bangers and mash" for a birthday celebration. The boarding students, who are in Standard 4 (4th graders) through Form One (8th graders), have bread and tea for breakfast (milk and their twice-weekly eggs had to be eliminated for budgetary reasons) and rice and beans for dinner. The children, and many of the adults, eat their meals with their right hand, but I have used a spoon, as do some other adults. I have really liked the lunches.

School starts at 8:30 and ends at 3:30. Once a week, the students stay until 5 for clubs. In library club, Miss Margie is reading The Boy Who Was Afraid and the students are eager for each week to come so they can hear more of the story. You know this book by a different name, Call It Courage! School buses pick up all the staff, and all the younger students, who do not board. I have heard that it is the largest school bus fleet in Tanzania, and I believe it. I go to school in Mr. Emmanuel's "Little Red" bus. In the afternoons, I always ask the bus drivers which bus to take, and they point me to "Big Pink" or "Little Purple," depending on the day and the routes. Most mornings, as the buses are all leaving the Moshono campus for their various routes, we all push "Big Pink" to get it started. You asked about the price of gasoline. The buses use diesel, and the price that I see posted is 1,330 Tanzanian Shillings per liter. One dollar is worth about 1,300 shillings. Do you know how to convert liters into gallons?

Once a week there is a school assembly which starts with a prayer, after which the students are allowed to offer prayers for others. The most common ones are "I am thankful for my dad," and "I am thankful for my mother," and "I am thankful for my sponsor." Then the singing of the national anthem is followed by the school song. Visitors, if any, are introduced. Then there are presentations by selected classes. The older students have done skits about HIV/AIDS, and the most recent one ended with the comment, "I hope you have enjoyed our presentation. Remember this. You can change your trousers. You can change your shirt. But do not change your friends because they have AIDS. Remember, AIDS may be just around the corner." As one Form One student told me, "Africa without AIDS is possible." Seeing the education that these students are receiving, I too, believe this is possible. The second presentation at the recent assembly was by one of the Standard One classes, and it was adorable. They did a chant with choreography, saying in chorus, "we are moving forward, forward." Following the class presentations, individual students are recognized for special effort, and they receive a certificate and small gift, perhaps a pencil. Photos are taken, and then sent to their sponsors. The assembly concludes with the revealing of the house points. Think of Harry Potter, and the various houses at Hogwarts. At St. Jude's there are four houses, Red, Blue, Yellow and Green, and the students have their house color on their collars. Red house has been dominant during my stay here.