solar panel pictures:)

i've been back a week. Mom thought it would be funny if i kept writing stories on my blog like "today I went shopping and got the cutest jeans at Nordstrom!" (don't worry, I haven't gone shopping at nordstrom, haha--- i promise i learned a thing or two in africa). i feel the transition is very odd, you just sort of fall into the groove of your life here, and then have to remind yourself you were on a dusty road in tanzania last week. but more importantly, remind yourself of the friends you miss there.

anyway, my pictures of the solar panel! here they are!

Mama Imakulata and I


Fatuma, one of my students, checking her email for the first time.


Four of the women looking at the new English books and writing notebooks I gave them.


Me and most of the women's group.


One of the three lightbulbs and being powered by the solar panel!


The solar panel.


Imakulata in front of her home/ the women's group, there's some glare but you can see the solar panel on the roof there.


The solar panel again.


Salim sporting my old backpack.


Salim and the backpack, ready for secondary school.


That's all for now, until again when I go on another adventure which will be soon I'm sure... Thanks again to everyone who kept up with my blog and special thanks to those who donated. I have rec'd some of the donations already and to those who haven't gotten around to it, remember to mail them to me when you get a chance! Thanks for all your support and I hope you enjoyed the pictures above. I know it sounds lame of me but if you ever want to see the receipt for the solar panel also, I've got it (I know how it is to make sure where you're money went!). Much love.

Please mail donations to:
Suzy Price
2638 Prestwick Court
La Jolla, CA 92037

i dont want to go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i havent been on the internet in a week now because i was lying on a gorgeous beach in zanzibar that cost next to nothing (paje, zanzibar - google images - you'll be jealous) it was your typical white sand beach with crystal blue water, but not built up AT ALL, hardly any hotels , and just palm trees as far as you could see!!! it was amazing!!! but all i have to report is that i spent 90% of the time trying to get a tan, and we went snorkling out on a boat one morning but we were like at least 15 feet from the reef below and it was poor visibility, there were fish but all in all i thnk i am just spoiled after going to places like the great barrier reef. but at least now i can check 'swimming in the indian ocean' off my life list of things to do. it was amazing though. a great way to finish the nine weeks.

now, i am in moshi. roughly 9 hours until i am on a plane home. two 11 hour flights, back to back (22 hours in flight. yay.) then getting to LAX and matt's picking me up!

i got back to moshi yesterday and went straight to the women's group to great news: the solar panel is installed and working, mama imakulata flipped the switches for me to show me and i took pictures of the panel for you to see, i'll post 'em when i get back to the states!!!!!!!!!!!!! they were SO HAPPY to see me after a week they ran out to the taxi as i pulled up and were kissing me and hugging me, it made me want to cry all over again. i gave Salimu (the one boy in our women's group, a brilliant student!!! he's going to secondary school now) my quiksilver backpack from college, because its one less thing i have to pack and i know he needs it more than me, seeing as how i'm done with college:) he was so excited i think he felt way cool. i took pictures of him in it. Also, there are two new volunteers at my women's group (Tumaini Women's Group is their official name) who i haven't met, but the women's group told me they are great, they are continuing everything i have started, and using the brand new english books i bought the group! also, later last night, through word of mouth in the new volunteers, i met a couple new volunteers who somehow already knew who i was and said the new volunteers at the womens group have been talking about me, they said "the women miss you a ton!!!" ---awwwwwwww. and also i talked to mama imakulata just a little bit before i had to leave yesterday, her mother is 87 or so years old (UNHEARD of around here) and she had a stroke a couple of days ago and now her right side is paralized, so she is bedridden. i wish i could have done something to help out the situation but unfotunately i leave today. --what else, what else... i said bye to the women afterwards and they were so sweet i cried all over again.

also after nine weeks in africa, i had to go to the hospital yesterday for the first time. yep, on my last day in africa. man was THAT an experience. basically i have dysentery and amoebic cysts or something, some sort of a parasite from something i ate which is no surprise. dysentery though? i thought people only got that on the Oregon Trail?


OH MYGOSH but this takes the cake. so the women told me yesterday that they had gone to the internet i bought them with the new volunteers and their assignment was to each write ME and email!!!!!!!!!!! i was so excited to check it, i just read them right now and cried again. i am an emotional mess right now, but i am just so proud of them and their written english! CHECK out some of the emails- i copied and paste d for you!!!!!:

Dear Suzy,

Thank you for your email.

We miss you very much.

Bye,

ANNA and WEMA

Dear Suzy,

How are you? Did you have a good holiday?

We have two teachers called Linsey and Alexandra. Linsey is from Scotland and Alexandra is from Portugal.

Today I am going to the hospital, my mother is sick.

I thank you very much for your gift.

Best wishes,

from Imakulata

Dear Suzy,

How are you? I hope you are well. Back to me Im well with my daily activitlis .Thank you for your gift and cooperation stadying .My hole family are well. Many greetings to you my dear. Thank you. Love Napenda..

Dear Suzy,

How are you? I hope you are well. I want to tell about our group. We got two volunteers, one is Linsey from Scotland and Alexandra from Portugal is very good teachers. And they are very good teaching. We continues to understand English language. I believe one day we can stand and to speak good English .And tell me about your safaris in Zanzibar. And I want to say thank you for all things you was do in our group. Thank you and God bless you.

Its your student

Salimu Juma.

Dear Suzy,

How are you? Did you have a good holiday?

It is very hot here. I have been making lots of skirts and dresses.we have two new teachers called Linsey and Alexandra. Linsey is from Scotland and Alexandra is fomporugal. we have been learning about shopping and how to use the internet.Todaywe are at the internet cafe.we are also going to learn about business skills' health and more georgraphy.

Best wishes from christina .


----

so thats it for now!!!!! i am leaving this wonderful place after nine weeks in africa, and it surely isnt without tears. its actually really hard for me to get excited about home at all because all i can see is the immediate pain of leaving here. leaving people here is so hard, leaving people in uganda was hard and it just doesn't seem right to build such strong friendships - with volunteers and locals alike - that you just fly thousands of miles from, forever maybe. i hope not for forever. i hope i could drag you all with me next time, to meet the people i've met, and some new ones also. i have been lucky in every way to be here, ive learned so much, more than i could have ever taught anyone in a lifetime. i also came here to figure out whether or not i could live in the 'third world' for years at a time. i definately can. if all i have to deal with is dysentery and cold showers, i'm all in. its worth it. the way people live in communities here, the new stones to overturn daily. there are millions of times where i wanted to just snap my fingers and be back in the states, but i know what im getting there. its great but its all expected, the life of work- go out on weekends - hang out with friends. its all amazing and i miss it, but none of it is the unexpected, the unpredictable that life is here. nor is it pole pole, its fast paced and stressful. there is good and bad and corrupt here but there is never boring or dull. i like that. i like not knowing what the next thing will look like, because it keeps you looking forward to something.

i pray that all of you reading this particularly the younger ones, have a chance to do this. screw that, you DO have a chance to do this. you can make it happen. people at home use excuses like "I have no money i have to work, etc. etc.". Thats not true, you do have money, and loans and credit cards, and ways to make it happen. People HERE do NOT have money. They can never leave the town their in even. You just dont realize how good you have it and how easy it is to get here until you get up,leave your life, and spend some real time with people elsewhere, not vacation time but time to just get to know people. if you dont want to leave because youre afraid of losing comforts like electricity, boyfriends and girlfriends, then i truly am sorry for you. because ive thought about it a lot, and i do feel that at 22, i have lived my life pretty fully so far, i am satisfied with every minute of it, happy with my life at the present moment and dont need a thing more. i truly love my life.

there is a swahili proverb that i saw on a kanga that inspired me a lot, and i wrote it down but cant find it in my purse at the moment. basically it means
"I am satisfied with my life". I love it because not only is it how i feel right now, its a reminder of what i want to feel like: content. Just happy with the present:)

Now that i'm done with my preachy you-should-come-here speech, i want to say i am so excited to come home. ive missed you all tremendously and thought of you all the time, cried over missing you and wishing you were here. I can't wait to come home and not only share my stories, but hear yours as well, about whats gone on this whole summer ive been MIA! So about nine hours til my flight, i'm off to go say bye to africa and cry on my way out every minute. Once again, I feel that i'm being ripped away. but I guess i just have to trust in the future, and that somehow someday i'll wind up back here, or content wherever i end up... thanks for your emails, your support both emotionally and financially with the solar panel, and your prayers and most of all, your eyes reading this blog. just reading stories about people here gives them a voice bigger than they're afforded here. thanks most of all to east africa- from uganda, rwanda, DRC congo, tanzania, and zanzibar for giving me the stories and experiences it has. i deserved none of this experience but gained it all. and for that i feel so spoiled, but overjoyed in a way i couldnt ever put into words.

much love and see you soon,
Suz