Part Three: Site Visit in Njombe or Checked Out My Future
Bachelorette Pad
18 November 2012
I have returned from a week of shadowing a current Peace
Corps volunteer in her village and visiting my site at Image village in the
region of Njombe. From Iringa to Njombe, I experienced my first third world
country bus accident. Our bus clipped an oil rig tank coming from the opposite
side of the road thus our bus was forced off the road to the side where luckily
the unpaved messy dirt was able to prevent the bus from rolling and flipping
over. By the grace and mercy of Lord Buddha, we, the passengers, were not hurt
or injured. Somewhat freaked, yes, you
bet! God forbid that we flipped over because my face would be smashed
against the window as I was sitting on the side where the bus would hit the
ground first. Not to mention the people
and their belongings on the other side of the bus crushing me to my demise…
I am back in my mosquito net covered bed at homestay in
Lusanga A and have resorted back to my sticky perspiration complimented with
the usual miserable bodily itch that feels like welts when I touch them. Aside
from scratching my body with one hand, the other tries to quickly catch flying
bugs with the other. I will become sufficiently ambidextrous at the end of my 2
years of service. Good thing I’m in the dark
with no electricity because what is on my body may be a frightening sight. There is definite value in living in the dark
with no electricity and not owning a mirror in the house when you know with a
high degree of certainty that your appearance would be better off
unacknowledged. I have never liked cold weather and would prefer warm over
cold any day…but now I am changing my tune. Or
body temperature preference, in this case.
David Lettermen’s
Top 10 List of Wendy’s Jackpot in Peace Corps Housing and Site
10. Higher altitude in the mountainous and
hilly Njombe region has chillier climate which means lower risk of malaria and
other ailments induced by heat and humidity.
Translation: no more chronic sweaty, grimy
and itchy body from bugs and mosquitoes along with a lesser probability in
chance encounter with creepy crawlers.
9. Cheese Country
and food is cheaper.
Translation: the money I save from
produce, I can buy cheese…and lots of it!
8. A big brick house
with finished wooden ceiling, different colored rooms and a fireplace to enjoy
a mini library of 40 popular and excellent books left by a former volunteer.
Translation: A cool crib to
chill in! Thanks Peace Corps!
7. A perfect house
for hosting holiday parties as there are a big indoor and outdoor kitchen and
many furniture including several huge tables (can you say ‘buffet’?) and 2
queen size beds
Translation:
I don’t have to spend money to buy furniture and worry about transporting it back
home strapped on the roof top of a dangerous bus speeding up the winding road.
More money to buy cheese! Read again translation #3.
6. The house has
electricity from hydropower; thus electricity is available everyday during
rainy season and some days of the week if no rain.
Translation:
some electricity is still better than no electricity or read #3 again.
5. A water project
is currently underway in which tap water with a faucet will be placed very near
my house.
Translation:
I don’t have to pay someone to fetch water. Money saved will subsidize more
cheese purchases. Students will be fetching my water until the construction of
the tap water system is completed.
4. 2 primary schools and
1 dispensary/clinic with a village population of 3,700 with nearly 700
students.
Translation:
Big student body and residents to work with to keep me continuously active so I
don’t become insane from living in a rural village with nothing to do.
3.The costa, mini bus, stops in front of
my house to Njombe town.
Translation:
Front door service means I can sleep in more to catch the morning bus to town
and walk less back to home with a backpack full of cheese, I mean food, from
town.
2.Outdoor choo inside
my enclosed backyard. My toilet is basically “doing it outdoors” but with a
semblance of 4 walls and a roof. Think of fancy camping.
Translation:
no more stale stinky stench indoors.
1.
Next to
my house is a duka, a tiny store,
selling black powder hair dye!
Translation:
At my whim or in an “emergency”, I can go from “old to gold”, anytime!
Extra Credit: the kind lady whom I’ve hired to clean my
house, tend the garden, and wash my clothes is a seamstress.
Translation:
One stop service!
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