This month we had a two week break from rain...at the same time our water pump broke. Our water source is about a kilometer from school, downhill. Hmmm, that means the students have to carry a 20 plus liter bucket of water on their heads uphill for a kilometer a few times a day. Yup, a boarding school needs plenty of water so when the students have free periods they are required to get water for the school.

Luckily, I have about 160 liters of water in buckets. But after 2 weeks I only had 40 liters left. And all the seeds I planted in the garden died. At first I thought it was only a temporary problem and was using water pretty liberally but then I found out the problem. The engine for the pump couldn't be fixed here so was taken to the headquarters for inspection. The verdict: beyond repair. Our headmaster found a replacement pump in Dar es Salaam, the required pipe connection, and switchboard for a low, low price of Tshs. 6,000,000. That's around $6,000. Not something the school has lying around. In fact, we had to go to the Ministry of Education to request the funds, which were approved and should be here in 2 to 12 months...hmmm. Well, luckily the rain is back for now. I haven't had to go fetch water yet. We get a good downpour at least once a week so I can fill up all my buckets. I've even begun washing dishes in the stream of water from my rain catchment (don't worry Mom-I still use soap).

Teaching this month has been...well, here are the topics: trigonometry, exponents, radicals, algebra, factorization, and the quadratic equation. So I've mostly been giving lots of exercises. And the students love it! They asked for MORE HOMEWORK! Ok, no problem. So this month I've been busy grading lots of papers. Geofrey and I also started a Peer Educator group. I may have mentioned this before. The group will go to the local primary school and teach life skills such as decision making, building confidence, and choosing role models. We haven't gone out to teach yet, we just started at the end of the month and then had mid-term: a one week break from school. But the discussions we've had have been very good and I'm learning a lot of new vocabulary.

I left home twice. Once for a pool party in Newala. That's right a small pool was built in a small town. I chose to ride my bike-a six hour trip. First it required an hour riding and walking down from the tiny plateau of Chidya and Chiwata to the Makonde plateau. Next I found a well traveled dirt road that cars used to use. These days it's just bikes and feet on a solid road with very little sand. It was slightly downhill and I eventually got cruising on the highest gear at a very fast speed. I spotted a small patch of sand just dusting the road. But I thought it might be trouble, tapped the break, and BAM! I went down on my right side. My left thigh jammed into the bike pedal. I came to a stop with the bike on top of me. Only an elderly woman witnessed the fall. I immediately got up and held the bike. My head began to feel light and I leaned over the bike. I put the bike down and took deep breaths and realized I could barely hear. The woman finally got to me and began to speak to me but I couldn't make out what she was saying. I told her I'd be fine and she continued on. Then I began to feel pain again. I checked my right forearm-blood and sand. I lifted my shorts up to view the inside of my left thigh-a baseball size lump. I checked the time: 1:15pm. About 4 more hours to Newala. Well, I better get going. I could hear again. Unfortunately, what came next was a steep downhill followed by a steep uphill pushing the bike. Then an hour of sand so thick it couldn't be pedaled through. The rest was a nice dirt road on a slight uphill. I had to use all my water to clean my arm but was given two cups to drink and another to wash at the next village. At the following village I was able to fill up my water bottles. I had good talks with the villagers, they were very generous, and was in good spirits despite the fall. Between the last 2 villages I was lucky enough to run into a local student who showed me a great shortcut around the sandy road. As I arrived in Newala I realized how fortunate I was to have not broken any bones and that my bike was undamaged. Suddenly a sore leg didn't seem so bad.

I was visiting Mike who used to be an EMT in the states. Marisa showed up just after me and held my hand as Mike cleaned the wound. Luckily it wasn't so bad so I didn't really need to hold Marisa's hand. But, as expected, after not using my leg for a while it stiffened up real good. The party was fun, only Mike and I enjoyed the water and then I had to bike back-another six hours. Even though I was limping around, biking wasn't so bad. That next week I was Teacher on Duty. This means I had to make sure all students were doing their chores, attending classes, I had to make sure the food was good, and that there was enough water. It's a busy week, you're required to be at school from 6am until 2:15pm and then check on the students throughout the evening. So I spent the week limping around but the students remained well behaved. At one point I began worrying because my leg became very swollen so I had Mrs. Stanley (one of my adopted mothers), who is a nurse, call me to get advice. A day of hot towels, 4 times a day later the swelling was well down (you can view my recovery in the March 2007 photos page). This was good because the next week was our mid-term break, one week off. What did I do? Bike to Newala and then even further to Mahuta to visit Marisa with Steph. An 8 hour day of biking. The next day the 3 of us biked down the plateau using the main road which provides breathtaking views. But I didn't bring my camera. I hope to get the pictures from Marisa soon. Only Marisa came back to Chidya with me; Steph had 5 classes worth of tests to grade so we missed her. But Marisa and I made delicious chocolate donuts-they tasted like Entenmann's (note for Chris: Marisa pronounces that the correct way :oP) and shrimp fried rice.

The rest of the week I spent visiting in the village and preparing for the next 2 weeks since Anna is visiting. She'll be here during a 4 day weekend for Easter. Until next month...or, more likely, June,

Justin