A Flurry of Activity

Jambo (Hi)

There is a flurry of activity and learning at our house, getting ready to go to Tanzania.  Here are some of the things we've dealt with so far:

Make sure things are taken care of on the Canadian side - the house, the car, the cat, the bills.
Learn to blog - we're absolutely new at this.
Start to learn Kswhili - maybe it's not as hard as I think.
Learn about fund raising - and get started, it's amazing where good ideas come from.
Learn about development work through the CUSO/VSO on line courses.
Get vaccinated at the International Traveller's Clinic.
Get eyes checked and visit the doctor.
Make lists of what to take - What's the climate like?  What about clothes?
Reassure our family and friends that this is a good idea and that we are not out of our minds.  So far reactions have ranged from  "but you'll get eaten by a lion" to "we're green with envy, when can we visit?"

The lists go on and on.  There's never a dull moment here any more and soon we'll be off to Ottawa for an intensive five day course in international development.  I'll keep you informed about our progress.  Please check in with us regularly.

Kwaheri (Bye)
Debra

First Post

This is my first post of my first ever blog.  How exciting.  Debra and I are about to become volunteer teacher trainers with CUSO-VSO.  On October 1^st we should be flying, to paraphrase an old jazz ballad, over the oceans on a silver plane to Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.  After an in-country training course and some lessons in survival Swahili we will make our way by public bus to our posting in Kiteto.  You may not be able to find Kiteto on a map.  It’s in central Tanzania a few hours away by bus from Dodoma, the capital city.

CUSO-VSO is a non-profit, international development agency that works through volunteers.  For fifty years CUSO-VSO has sent over 15,000 skilled volunteers, rather than aid money, to more than 40 developing countries.  We will be working and living in the heart of Kiteto, teaching side by side with co-workers in the Community Education Resource Centre (CERC).  We will be living a similar lifestyle to them.

I aim to share my teaching skills with Tanzanian teachers who are committed to building better futures for their students.  I hope to learn as much as I teach and I hope you will follow my postings on this blog.

Peter