When you are in the traditional 27-month long Peace Corps program, a homestay entails living with a family for three months while you learn how to do daily activities of cooking, cleaning, and collecting firewood. When you are a part of the Seed/Peace Corps collaboration and only in country for a year, this is abbreviated to a long weekend. Which for most of us, was the perfect amount of time.
We stayed with a really lovely family. The baba (father) is retired, the mama (mother) owns a small shop she runs out of the front of her home, and our two dadas (sisters) are both in school, one plans to be a lawyer and the other a midwife. And there was the adorable two month old who belongs to one of the daughters, whom we were more than happy to help hold during the weekend. The purpose of the homestay is to deepen our understanding of life in Tanzania, to connect with our host families and their communities, and to hopefully learn more Swahili in our short time.
We arrived on Friday afternoon and spent the evening chatting with our family in their living room and watching some Olympics on TV. We attempted to help our mama cook dinner and she obliged us in allowing us to do some vegetable cutting. Saturday we enjoyed eggs and coffee for breakfast, worked on our Swahili for a bit and then joined our mama to buy some vegetables from the local seller for lunch and dinner, an activity she does nearly daily. In the afternoon we set out to hike the large hill/small mountain that rose up just behind their house. The mountain is called Lion’s Rock and the only building on it is the Prime Minister’s home. We discovered as we approached it that they are building a fence around the perimeter so it appears we may have snuck in one of the last hikes up the mountain. The hike was more like a scramble to the top and our baba skirted up the mountain with ease in his teva-like sandals. I was impressed. Reaching the top provided a good burst of adrenaline and a beautiful view of the dry and dusty capitol of Tanzania.
Sunday our mama showed us how to cook chapati, which it turns out is very similar to a crepe. I gave it a go but Jason became the real master, preparing breakfast for all of us. It was such a lovely morning as the three of us sat around in the kitchen with the morning sunlight coming in, a cool breeze, hot coffee and the promise of freshly prepared chapati. Our mama was so generous in teaching us about Tanzanian culture, what life is like for women and kindly correcting our Swahili. That afternoon we enjoyed lunch out by the side of a beautiful pool. Before we knew it our homestay weekend was over. Jason’s gregarious attitude pairs perfectly with language learning, as he was always engaging the family in conversation and learning Swahili in the process. I’m working on extroverting myself into conversation but for now hoping osmosis will work. Just kidding, I’m bringing my Swahili book on the plane.
