I spent June-August living with a host family in a village outside of Morogoro. This is where I completed my Pre-Service Training (PST) alongside my fellow volunteers. All trainees are required to meet at a large training sessions at the CCT on certain days--training includes: Medical Info, Safety Info, Language Training, Cross-Cultural Training, and Technical Training (For Teaching). We also completed an internship at a secondary school/language training in smaller groups (My group was composed of 5 people, but some groups had 6: Aly, Michelle, Sam, and Tracy also lived in Majengo Mapya) Days spent at the secondary school/in our host-village were called "Community-Based Training" or CBT days. I spent my internship at St. Denis Secondary School.
Some facts about Morogoro, as provided by the Peace Corps:
- It is located in East Central Tanzania (About 200 km West of Tanzania's capital, Dar es Salaam)
- It is the capital of one of Tanzania's 21 regions.
- The average annual temperature is 79 degrees. I spent my time in Morogoro during the dry season. It got warm during the day, but chilly at night. "Winter-Time"
- Morogoro receives tropical rains. The short rains go from November to January, while the long rains go from March to June. The dry period lasts from July to October.
I spent the rest of my time serving as a secondary English teacher in a village called Mlola. I no longer stayed with a host family during this time. I lived in a very rural area near Lushoto, in the Tanga region. The city of Tanga is VERY hot and humid, while Lushoto is cooler. My village was further away from the mountains, so it was warmer than Lushoto, but far less hot than Tanga. Tanga is on the coast and the water is BEAUTIFUL (I went swimming in the Indian Ocean). Lushoto is in the Usambara Mountains and also BEAUTIFUL. I had a three-bedroom house located on my school compound. I had a small fenced-in court-yard, an outside pit-latrine and shower area, no electricity, and no running water. There was no electricity in my village, though plans are being made to get electricity within the next several years. My site was compromised due to a security issue, so unfortunately I was pulled from that location in late October. My service ended in early November after being medically separated.
What did I accomplish?
- I participated in an intensive 10-week program in Morogoro. Training consisted of:
- 132 hours of Swahili language training;
- 140 hours of technical training, including educational pedagogy and practice, and development theory as well as internship teaching;
- 100 hours of health, safety instruction, administration/policy, and cross-culture.
- I taught O-level English classes to a total of approximately 100 students, utilizing innovative teaching strategies and techniques to promote higher levels of critical thinking and intellectual growth.
- I successfully raised my students’ average test score by over sixteen points within just four weeks, despite a heavy shortage of textbooks and dearth of other resources.
- I trained and collaborated with two other colleagues to teach students effective test-taking strategies, resulting in increased teacher capacity and higher examination scores.
- I increased my students’ language capacity by teaching English songs and cultural lessons about America outside of class.
- I promoted mutual intercultural understanding by engaging with my local community, sharing my own life experiences and knowledge, while also gaining an intimate understanding of village life in Tanzania.
- I tutored English one-on-one to secondary students five hours per week.
- I researched funding opportunities and guided fellow colleagues on the protocols and procedures of establishing a school library and computer laboratory.
- I attended a three-day training geared towards heightening malaria awareness and bettering disease prevention in communities throughout the Tanga region.
