In my last blog entry I didn’t have time to much go into the problems in Itete and I don’t think you can really understand Itete without knowing of some of its problems. For starters, there is no running water in Itete except for at the Mission House and even that is sporadic and dependent on water levels. For everyone else in Itete it is simply a question of far they will have to carry the water.

Another big problem is education. Although I think it is probably more of a Tanzanian problem than an Itete one. For starters, from talking with Robat I have learned that if he does really well on his exams he will go to seminary school. If he does okay, he will go to Teacher’s College (which is only one year long). I guess we have the same problem in the USA that the “best and brightest” don’t go into teaching, but at least theoretically people think it would be a good idea and the educational system doesn’t actively discourage it.

As far as learning English goes, I am understanding why so few Tanzanians speak it well even though they all learn it beginning in Primary School. I sat in on one of Robat’s English classes for the Standard 7 kids. And from my perspective, he shouldn’t be teaching English. Now, I don’t want to criticize, because his English is way better than my Swahili and German put together. But that said, his pronunciation is rather poor and his grammar leaves something to be desired. So sitting in on his class, I didn’t say anything about his pronunciation or his grammar, because mostly the mistakes weren’t that bad. But then he wrote an example on the chalk board: “He will has gone…” I had to say something. I hated to contradict the teacher, but these kids need to do well on their exams otherwise they won’t get to go to secondary school. Unfortunately, however, I don’t know English grammar and grammar rules well enough to explain why his sentence was wrong. So when I told him it should be “He will have gone…” Robat thought I was using slang. And I could not convince him otherwise. The incorrect sentence stayed on the board and was copied by all the students.

In other problems, there is AIDS. The teenagers (and the adults) here, are not really educated on it. Once the kids have finished school, they don’t really have anything to do when not working in their shambas (farms). Boredom, apparently, is a large contributing factor to the AIDS problem (as well as an alcoholism problem). In fact, young female teachers in rural areas are apparently among the hardest hit. When they finish teachers college they are sent somewhere to teach, generally not of their own choosing. So in addition to having nothing to do, teachers like Anna have to adjust to not having electricity or water and not knowing anyone when they reach their teaching post.

And then there are other little things. The other day the was the first rain of the rainy season. Much different than in San Diego. You could tell just by the sky that it was definitely going to rain. Not a sort of – its been cloudy all day – thing, but just a change in how things felt and the color of the sky. Then there were a couple of drops, just a little drizzle. Then the wind kicked up. A lot. Instantly. And a minute later rain was pouring down and Itete was in the middle of a thunder and lightening storm. (Which I though was rather fun, actually, I like thunder and lightening storms. Plus it really cooled things down.) But the wind brought its own problems – somebody’s roof blew of her house. And that will probably not be the end of the damage the rainy season brings with it. If it rains a lot, roads may become impassable and Itete may get cut off from the rest of the world. (Although if it doesn’t rain, things will be worse, because the wells will only get drier and there is no irrigation for the farms.)

Given the fact that a) there is nothing to do in Itete and b) if I stay much longer I could get stuck there I have decided to move on for the time being. Tomorrow I am headed to Dar es Salaam and will soon be headed to Lushoto in the mountains North of Dar to do some hiking before heading off to explore more of East Africa. If all goes well, I will return to Itete in a couple months (with some solar power) when the rains are over and everything is lush and green.