Some 75 KM east of Kigoma stands a small, highway town that is home to one of western Tanzania's most elite teaching colleges - Kasulu's Teachers' College. KTC's President believes in the power of using sport as a tool to teach, but does not yet have the funding for a faculty member or a full program, so he asked us to come and run sessions for his students over four days. As the student teachers would bring our teaching style and methods across all of Tanzania where they would hold positions as 1st year teachers, we easily modified our schedule. Each day and night, with one session delayed due to a Biblical deluge of water from the sky, we taught the student teachers the CaC curriculum and then held evening sessions with children from the local villages. Throughout the days of our stay, the President continuously informed us of the joy that the teachers were having. But, more importantly, he said they found the methods so effective! The students even offered to pay for us to stay an extra week out of their own pockets. Because of other commitments, we compromised promising to look into sending fellow CaC coaches for two weeks next year.In a touching moment, the President and Vice-President concluded our stay with a presentation of a "plaque" and a series of thank you speeches.
With a heart full of pride for our good work, we climbed into the vehicle of a friend who had offered us a free ride back to Kigoma for our flight. As the street are not paved, we were happy to see he had a nice, four wheel drive vehicle that looked like it had enough room for the six of us. I soon learned that six would be eight as he had two other friends. I entered the front cab and sat twisted like a pretzel next to the stick shift. Another large man squeezed in next to me. With no seat belts to be found, I spent the next two hours gripping a handle bar in front of me holding on for dear life as we sped at break neck speed over dirt roads and river beds. My knuckles were white the entire trip and my forearms cramped for the rest of the day. But still, I was glad to be in the front. The other five folks hopped in the back to discover the truck was full of 30 boxes of scented prophylaxes. As we traversed the rough terrain, these boxes would tumble down on them, leaving them not feeling "protected" or "chocolaty fresh." But things would turn for the worse as we passed little villages on the way home as at each one our co=passengers bought groceries through the windows. It started with 25 tomatoes (that soon became soup), then 10 full rods of sugar cane, to peppers and onions, and finally culminating with fish! Now, the temperature outside was close to 95 degrees, but because we were on a dirt road we would need to close our windows every time another car passed to protect our faces from rocks and debris.The remainder of our trip proved quite a lesson - I can hold my breath for a full hour!
Stinky and sweaty, but with love,
Christiano
