Going back to Lugalo

Hey everybody hows things?

I'm now writing to you from Mwenge in Dar Es Salaam. Since I last wrote, I made a short but very sweet visit to the village where I worked last year, and caught up with my Tanzanian partner Loveness in Iringa. The last week has been very different from the rest of my journey, as I am now back in places I have been to before, surrounded by friends instead of strangers. Having said that, it was lonely arriving back in Iringa, because I had so many memories of hanging out there with the other spw volunteers last year... HastieTasties is still there, Neema crafts is new and improved, but our konyagi fuelled parties were sadly absent... Having said that, I couldn't help going back to the disco where so many of our messy nights took place- I went with my friend Ntenje, a zambian ex-spw volunteer who is now working in the iringa office. There were a few new songs but they still blasted out Cher do u believe, at the end ofthe night... thankgod...
I was kind of nervous about going back to Lugalo- this year the final set of volunteers have been working there, but I couldn't stop worrying that one of the school girls who showed much potential last year might have dropped out of school or got pregnant... Arriving there, I was strangely relieved that from superficial appearances absolutely nothing had changed. The catholic church, the secondary school girls' hostel, and our ramshackle house all stood in exactly as we had left them the year before. Theo, the little boy who used to play in our house every day was still wearing the same lurid orange and green tracksuit, the trousers of which now ended half way up his calves. Asha and Furaha, two of the schoolgirls we worked closely with last year were still around, Asha still as coy as ever, andFuraha with the same dry sense of humour.

Loveness and I spent the afternoon catching up and telling stories with the new Tanzanian volunteer in our village, Suzy and the mama from next door. The big change from last year, was that the pervy headmaster of the secondary school (who some of you might remember from last year...), has now refused to let SPW teach in his school because he says that sex education encourages teenage preganancy. He claimed that this decision was based on a vote cast by the students, but i seriously doubt this democratic device ever left the staffroom. As result, the student health club is now no longer able to run. I was upset to find this out- it was less bout education and more about empowerment. By the end of last year,those students were beginning to take control, plan meetings and events, and feel like their ideas were worth something. All that has been stamped on by their demogogic headmaster, and the rigid backward nature of the school system here.
The good news however, seemed to be that in the primary school the kids have really taken on board what they have been taught- Suzy said that the students who were in our classes last year, remembered a lot when they recapped again this time. With a solid basic education in reproduction, HIV and lifeskills such as assertiveness, I am optimistic that those kids will go on to make better decisions regarding relationships and sex in a few years time.

The three year cycle of volunteers in Lugalo has now ended- physcially, nothing we achieved will be visible in the near future. The health magazine library has already deteriorated, and the health club is no more- but hopefully some of things that we taught will have stuck... only time will tell....

think this entry has been long enough... Iwill be in touch soon to tell you about Dar Es Salaam and the inspiring things my friends are up to here.
lots and lots of love xxxxxxxxxx