I’ve let a lot of time slide on by since I last updated this abridged and incomprehensive log of events that impress and/or terrify me here at my camp-style home in the Tanzanian bush. A large reason for that is the simple fact that I haven’t spent much time in the village recently. Instead, I’ve been tour guiding and translating for bemused visitors for whose company I can hardly express my appreciation, even though one of them claimed that using my impeccably clean but in-ground toilet was “the most disgusting thing [he’s] ever done in [his] life” (my brother Matt, circa June 8^th, 2008) . And then I accepted my dad’s invitation to gallivant about, roaming as far as Marseilles, France, and even Monte Carlo, a small section of the already-minuscule Principality of Monaco, where I used my undeveloped but undeniably promising gambling prowess to win 30Euros/45USD/54,000TSH in the skill-intensive game of slots (my Peace Corps pittance did not permit me, in good judgment, to try my novice hand at any table games) at the splendid casino made famous by the one and only James Bond. It was ballin’.

But just over one week ago, I returned to my lovely 2-bedroom, 1-choo house in the rural suburbs of Njombe, Tanzania, and my oh my what an eventful week it has been. I intend to make up my long absence from this blog to my loyal readers – who, from careful perusal of the comments, I can see consist almost solely of my loved and loving maternal grandparents (Hi Grammy and Grandpop!) – by posting a verbal and photographic summary of my first week back in the village after my European adventure.

The week started with me, all alone in my house, but within one day, it escalated to thirty-one confused and terrified teenaged girls, ordered to school during their mid-term break for reasons they weren’t quite sure of, plus three mostly-prepared American Peace Corps Volunteers and their more-or-less informed Tanzanian counterparts. For months, my two closest PCV neighbors, Ben and Nicole, and I had been planning a Girls’ Empowerment Conference, aimed at teaching thirty Tanzanian students from three different secondary schools about life skills – decision making, relationships, self-confidence, self-defense, etc. – and giving them basic information about how to help fight the HIV/AIDS crisis in their country.

Ten girls from my school assembled before 3pm to arrange the dormitory and wait for the guests. The guests (twenty-one students and four teachers) arrived, fatigued, after 3 hour and 3-1/2 hour walks from Ben's school and Nicole's school, respectively. We had a bland dinner of rice and beans, and then we played a lovely, hilarious game of Two Truths and a Lie. Because some of the guests were already lolling in their hard-backed wooden chairs, drifting into a non-listening abyss of semi-consciousness, we called it a night.

The next morning, Ben and I woke up early to rearrange the desks into a multifarious formation appropriate for activities such as lectures (the inner rows of desks), discussions (the outer circle of desks), theater performances (the large area in the front of the classroom), etc. We also equipped each desk with a notebook, a note-taking pen, and a special colored gel pen from America. Observe:

The students got settled in quickly, and the brave girls who volunteered to prepare a skit for Monday morning set the stage with the first theater performance of the week.

The skits were based on the themes of an organization called "Theater of the Oppressed," and each day's skit was performed two times: once first thing in the morning and once in the afternoon after lessons had finished. In the morning, each skit was performed without interruption. It demonstrated an aspect of problematic behavior (i.e. choosing a bad role model, putting yourself at risk for HIV/AIDS), which the non-acting students were required to try to fix during the afternoon performance. Anyone from the audience was permitted to stand up, shout "Acha!" ("Stop!"), and change the skit for the better.

Throughout the week, lessons covered a variety of topics and used an assortment of different teaching strategies. Below are some examples:

Building a Bridge: Steps to a Healthy Life
I'd just guided the students to build a bridge from knowledge to a healthy life (the colored strips of paper on the board) by effectuating the skills we plan to discuss during the week, and then Ben transitioned to the first important topic: decision-making.

And later, during a break, the students wrote their thoughts about the "Jambo la Siku," or "Topic of the Day," a controversial statement which coincided with the day's lessons. On Monday, for example, the Jambo la Siku was: "Having an education is the only way for a woman to become independent."

A review game: Hot Condom! Pass the blown-up condom until the music stops, and when it does, the condom's unfortunate possessor must break it open (not as easy as it sounds!) and answer the question inside.

Speaking of contraception, how can we protect ourselves from HIV/AIDS? This student knows for sure, and can even demonstrate on two vertically-stacked bottles of facewash!

Even in other, less interactive lessons, we kept them riveted:

Unfortunately, that's going to be all for pictures, since I had to switch computers and this one refuses to recognize my camera. I would love to continue this post for pages, because the conference was happily fascinating and festive, but that's going to be all for now. Feel free to post questions; I'll try to answer them next time.

And now, back to the bush!