Ussango

Just wanted to tell you a little about where I’m staying here in Tanzania…

The place is called Ussango and it’s about 4 hours south of Mwanza. We are about 7km off the main road and it’s a fun, bumpy, dusty ride down our lane. I am living in a compound with Father Chuwa and Father Henry…and there are about 10 other people who live here… Maggie is Father Chuwa’s assistant and has been given the unfortunate job of looking after me…hehe. There are about 5 other girls who I interact with here and they all have varying levels of English. I’m not always sure how much we understand each other…but there’s always lots of laughter.

The food is amazing and I've been trying out some of the local dishes like Ugali...My room is great and even has a "real" toilet unsuite!!!

There is a church, a health clinic, a hospital and the Sister’s compound right next to us…and across the field is St Thomas Aquinas Secondary School. It is a boarding school so there are always lots of students about to chat with…I have been to quite a few of their classes to tell them about Canada and to chat in English. The Form Three students (out of four levels) have a class on Tuesday and Friday nights that I attend. It’s a class on Moral Life and right now, the topic is HIV/AIDS. After going through some basic training at the Aids Committee of London, it’s very interesting to see how it is taught here. The students always have lots of questions for me…I forget what it’s like to be in high school so the students laugh when their questions make me blush…

I have been having lots of Swahili lessons…I practice on the children here with my counting, days of the week, body parts…and with strange animal noises…I’m kind of like the Pied Piper here with my balloons, kids music and dancing…



Every Sunday, we travel around to different parishes for Mass and at the end of each one, I get to tryout my Swahili…as I have say a speech introducing myself in Swahili…usually people just laugh but I think they get the gist of what I’m saying…

I’ll be heading off to Moshi on June 5th…then to the Serengeti for a Safari….Can’t wait!