Thoughts on Life in Morogoro

How we perceive and enjoy our lives is strongly affected by our mindset in a given situation, as well as our relationship with ourselves and others. We are also pleasure seeking creatures, as happiness is the gold standard in anyone’s life. As a result, we like to surround ourselves with people or situations that make us happy, bring out the best in us, or at least provide us with an opportunity to seek happiness. We love the feeling we get when we know that we are genuinely happy. What’s even more incredible is the happiness that two people can bring to each other in a relationship – romantic or just as friends. Often times, it seems as if nothing can bring us such happiness. There are also times when everything seems just perfect. As if nothing that anybody could do could bring you down at that moment in time. Unfortunately, maintaining genuine happiness is a struggle in a dynamic world. With each fleeting moment of happiness, you risk encountering a hard ship. In other words, you risk encountering a situation that will make you unhappy. But this really doesn’t matter to you - especially during that one moment when everything seems perfect. Maybe you are doing an activity that brought you the happiness, or you are with a person that you love to be around. You can only hope that the activity or the person will continue to bring you the amount of happiness that you are feeling at that one moment. At the very least, you hope that you will experience that same feeling one more time in the future. Maybe that is what motivates you to keep training hard after you run a personal best time, or you wake up every morning next to someone who you genuinely love. You love seeing their smile every morning. Maybe this is what keeps the bond strong between the two people. Whatever the case may be, such happiness is second to none.

Observing and seeking this sort of happiness has been an important theme so afar in my Peace Corps life. I left a comfortable situation with friends and family that made me happy. I assumed I would find a way to be happy in Peace Corps, but there were uncertainties. I wasn’t sure of the type of people I would meet or the relationships I would form. I especially wasn’t sure of how I would perceive the culture, how the culture would perceive me, and most importantly, how I would adapt to the unfamiliar culture and situation. I prepared mentally and emotionally, I brainstormed expectations with friends and family at home, and finally I went for it.

Fast forwarding one month, I can only report happiness. I have met people here that will undoubtedly become lifelong friends. I found myself smiling A LOT yesterday (July 7) while on the safari in Mikumi National Park. Of course, there were specific reasons for that, but I found myself to be so happy with the people I was with and the situation I was in. The bus we were on wasn’t the best and the seats hurt my ass, but it was all great! I have also come to notice how happy people in Tanzania seem to be. Everyone is eager to greet and maintaining relationships between people far exceeds any other tasks a person has to do. I have also become keenly aware of the pride that many Tanzanians have. They LOVE the fact that they live here. Many people in America have a preconceived idea that Africans all need help. They need food, better leadership, more money, a better house, a car, etc. etc. Sure, politics can create problems in many African countries. There is corruption among the leaders of the country. I would argue, though, that corruption exists similarly in America. Maybe we don’t have the same immediate repercussions or deleterious effects on national development, but we have plenty of issues of our own. As far as other luxuries go, I’m not so sure that the people here would care to have these things. Most people are very well fed, they have ways to get around, and they are very happy. It’s amazing how that works.

In terms of help, yes, I can help. I have had access to an education that many Tanzanians will never have access to. This is the reality and it is a luxury to live in a well-developed country and have access to quality education. I will be able to bring knowledge and ideas to the classroom that many Tanzanian educators can’t. But what I am really beginning to learn, and am very excited about, is how they will HELP ME. I have already developed a tremendous amount of patience. I have learned their culture and (some of) their language. I would say every day I become more and more “Tanzanian”. I find myself looking around and thinking “Wow! This long wait for a bus sucks!” or “This way too cramped bus would never work in America!” I also haven’t found myself searching for anything, but I feel as if I am finding everything. I’m finding satisfaction in adapting to my new culture, greeting people as I walk to the bus stop every morning, and making the 70 minute, 10 mile commute back home after training each day. Of course I found happiness in things back in America and I am not trying to paint a “Mayberry” type of picture. The point I am trying to make is that I feel fulfilled by just about every aspect of my life right now. In Tanzania, I have been able to find pleasure in a lot of different things (some things that are maybe strange by different standards). Perhaps the same things wouldn’t have given me the same pleasure back home in the states. Maybe they would, but it took a different perspective to realize them. I already find myself fast forwarding 26 months in my mind and thinking how I will be different when I get back to America. It seems to me that this is what is so exciting about Peace Corps service. You are forced to find happiness in very basic things. Often times, you manufacture happiness in a crappy situation and you learn more about yourself in the process. In the perspective of my new culture, I have learned the value of relationships with people. In the perspective of being a Peace Corps Volunteer, I have learned the value of the friends you have and have recently made if you didn’t already realize it. Your friends back home are great, but they probably can’t really relate in exactly the same way to the challenges you face during the progression of your service. The initial highs, the culture shock if it’s a problem, problems learning the language, challenges adjusting to your new site and host community (which I can’t comment on at the moment), etc. You really do build a support network that will be essential to successful service with the friends you meet here. You find ways to keep each other happy. By the end of training, you are left primarily with your skills, your PCV friends, and your thoughts. You have to figure out the rest and make the best of it.

This, I think, is one of the most humbling parts of Peace Corps that I have realized so far. I expect that I will have to find ways to be happy in the long run. I genuinely feel, though, that this will be possible. I think I came in with the right mind set; I have ushered in truckloads of patience, and left any expectations in America. As I mentioned earlier, I have already found some really great things that I never expected I would find. So, as it is, I will continue living my Peace Corps life one day at a time, eagerly waiting to see what the future will bring. I expect I will have to continue to adapt as problems come, but that is my strength. I can handle it. I am excited about the prospects!

To move on to more specific (and less abstract) things, training has been going along about the same as I have said before. Language is still a challenge, but I continue to improve. This coming week marks the mid-point of training, and as such, we have mid-terms! Mid-term language tests, most importantly. I will let you all know how that goes… Yesterday (July 7), I had the opportunity to see some incredible animals on our safari! There were many giraffes, elephants, baboons, zebras, hippos and gazelles. Unfortunately, I did not get to see any lions, but it was still a great trip. At one point, we stepped off the bus to take pictures of the hippos in a pond and I remember looking around thinking “Holy Shit!! I’m in the middle of an African savannah!!! I could get eaten by a lion or bitten by a cobra!!!” It was nuts, but so much fun! I have posted a few select pictures on Facebook, so you should check those out if you haven’t already. Of course, I took many more than what are posted on my page. After the safari, we stayed at “Hotel Genesis”. It was a really nice place and we had a blast. We had a grand time dancing most of the night, while drinking fine (said sarcastically) Tanzanian pombe J. There are some great stories to be told about last night, but that will be for another time and not in a public domain ;)

As I wrap up, I will leave you with my upcoming schedule: I begin my internship teaching this coming week. I will be teaching Form 1(~8^th grade or so in the states) Biology for 3 weeks. Also this coming week, I will have the mid-term evaluations for language! Hopefully those go well.. In two and a half weeks I will learn my future site, and have the opportunity to go there for a week, as well as shadow another PCV during that time. It will be essential that I take in as much information as I can during that week, before I move to the site on my own. In short, there are a lot of exciting things coming up in training, so stay posted as I keep you updated on how things are progressing!

I hope you are all doing well back home. Stay in touch and enjoy!!

Travis