Thank you to all those who helped with the Namiyonga village library! The library project was a success and we couldn’t have done it without your support! I received the money from donations in April 2011, and the building process began in May. I had some extra funding from American donators to buy English and Swahili books. York Elementary School (I did a pen pal program with a college friend's 4th grade class at YES) sent several packages with English storybooks and dictionaries. The Cedar and Belgrade Methodist churches sent 6 Swahili/English translation dictionaries. The library now has over 400 books.
I was worried this library project was something too big for me to take on. However, everything came together nicely. It was a long process! First I had to write a grant that I submitted in November 2010. It was a bit frustrating to do all this paperwork on my computer because I had to conserve enough battery on my laptop (there’s no electricity in my village, it’s a 40 min bike ride to a town with electricity..sometimes electricity, it cuts out a lot). The grant was processed and accepted by Peace Corps, which took about two months. My project was finally posted on the Peace Corps website February 2010 and I started asking for donations. My next concern was whether I'd raise enough money. My mom and family helped advertise my project through local newspapers and presentations. My sitemate (another Peace Corps volunteer who lived close to my village) helped me put together a video to advertise the need for funding. I had a lot of friends, family, and community members who donated. My last donator was a well-known New York artist who donates her artwork profits to a few Peace Corps projects every year, and she happened to choose my project!
The actual building process was a lot of fun. I was worried it’d be stressful with too many big decisions to make. However, I had a great library committee to work with: a village officer, head teacher, education village officer, and an elementary math teacher. I was so impressed with what a great team we made and what an opportunity it was for all of us to manage a construction project! The math teacher was actually a carpenter at one time. He drew up the budget for my grant which was almost exact and he managed the entire project with the help of the committee. The library couldn’t have happened without him. Actually, this teacher was the reason why we even started the library project. He came up to me one day and told me it was his dream to have a library in Namiyonga village. I was looking for a way to help benefit the education of kids in my area, so a library seemed like the most sustainable way to go about it.
We had three older men do all the carpentry work, and they were SLOW! The teachers had to push these men to work faster. These old men always had an excuse to not show up for work, whether it was another funeral to go to (villagers go to funerals even if they don’t know who died, because it’s kind of a social event) or a family visit. This is very Tanzanian; work is not a top priority like it is in America. Though it’s good to put family and friends first, it also makes it impossible to get work done. I was worried we wouldn't get the library finished before I left in August (we had 3 months to work on it), so I warned the carpenters they had to finish by a certain date or I wouldn't be able to pay them...saying that Peace Corps would have closed the project account by then. This wasn't true, but it put a fire under them and they worked fast!
The students were so excited to watch the whole construction process. They helped unload lorries full of supplies and kept the library room clean by sweeping and carrying dirt out. We finished the library only a week before I left my village. The teachers were adamant about naming the library. At first they came up with The Becky Scott Library or The Mama Scott Library just because most of the information about our funding status came from my mom. So they knew mom had a big part in the project. I told mom about this, but she didn't feel like it was right to name the library after her. I suggested they could honor my whole family, who they met during my family's visit in December 2010. In Tanzania, the man's first name is the family name. So I had to correct them when they called it The Mark Library. We finally came to a compromise with The Scott Library.
There is still plenty of work to be done in the library. We had one day training for student librarians and teachers before I left. However, the teachers and students are still working on the catalog card system. A new Peace Corps volunteer has moved into my old house this month, so she’ll continue to work with the teachers to run the library. I heard from one of the teachers that the local government is looking to put solar computers in primary schools, and since Namiyonga has a room for it with its new library, they may possibly get accepted for this project. The kids and teachers would learn how to operate a computer for the first time ever. How exciting would that be?!
Soon after the library project was completed, the villagers held a big goodbye party for me. I left my village in August 2011, and then I did a week of safaris in Tarangire, Ngorongoro Crater, and Manyara Park with another volunteer who had also finished her service. I returned to America August 15, 2011. I was ready to come home after 27 months in Tanzania, even though I had a terrible time saying goodbye to my villagers and leaving my beloved cat. It was a bittersweet sort of deal. I was prepared to experience culture shock in America, but I never really did. It probably helped that I came back to Nebraska farm life, where the pace is slower and farmers are connected to the soil and Mother Nature just like Tanzanians are. I was glad to be back with mid-westerners; I always felt like a foreigner being in my own Peace Corps group. Just a difference in the way Americans are raised and the environment they grow up in. I was also so excited to eat healthy, slimming foods! I mostly ate beans and rice and corn porridge in Tanzania, so very heavy on the starches and hardly any variety which Americans love! It’s also great to be with my family again. I did quite a bit of Facebook time when I got back just to see what’s all gone on with my college friends since I left. I was amazed with how much things have changed since I left, college friends are now married and have kids, and they’re working full time jobs, living in other states.
I’m now about to begin a new chapter in my life. I’ve been offered a job as a Family Consultant. So I’ll be moving to Omaha beginning of January. I’m looking forward to a life of independence again and having a more structured job. It’s going to be a challenge at first to get used to driving in Omaha. It was even a challenge driving when I first got home because I was used to the driver seat being on the opposite side, and driving on the left side of the road (Peace Corps volunteer weren’t allowed to drive, but I got used to it just by sitting/standing in the vehicle). Omaha is a ways from my family, which would normally be hard for me. But now I look at it differently, at least we’re living on the same continent! Now that I’ve done Peace Corps, nothing seems impossible.
This is it for my blog, so I’d like to end it by thanking you all for your support, thoughts, and prayers. I’m blessed to have such loving and supportive family, friends, and community. I’m grateful I had the opportunity to experience a new culture and way of life. I’m blessed to be able to experience this all and come back healthy and sound. I’m now more appreciative of the things I used to take for granted. It’s been good to be taken out of my comfort zone and experience the poverty and corruption that people around the world must deal with every day. Peace Corps was definitely a humbling and life changing experience that will stay with me forever.
