The patterns of Shukrani

After a few weeks at Shukrani there is a "pattern" to our life here. While not always running according to a timetable, there is a certain predictability to our days and weeks.

A call to prayer will come from the loudspeaker at the nearby mosque at 5.00 a.m. Sometimes it will serve as an alarm clock and wake us up, but most days we seem to sleep through.

At around 6.30 - 7.00 am it is light enough to let us know that the day is beginning. One of the first things to do is to switch on the hot water service. About an hour later we have hot water for a shower.

Some time during each week day Beth will be scheduled for class, and when not teaching she can be found in the library cataloguing or sorting books. For me there are three days of teaching, but on the others I might be found in a computer class (just making a nuisance of myself) or auditing the college books.

This time of year it seems to rain every day. It may not rain for long, but it will rain. Getting the washing done is easy, getting it dry can be tricky! If it doesn't rain during the day, it will rain at night.

The power will fail. Friday evenings seem to be a standard time for power failures, but there is no guarantee. Last week there was no power for four hours during afternoon class time. Unfortunately desktop computers don't run without electricity. The diesel powered generator had to be fired up so the students could at least practice some of the things they were learning. Sometimes the power will simply drop out for five or ten minutes - and that creates few problems. Power outages are just one of the things that happen. On the domestic scene loss of power isn't a major problem, since most people cook with charcoal or wood fired burners, and only a small minority would rely on electricity in their homes.

The Internet will be slow! At its best here it is rated at 256 kbps. Often downloads will run at about 10% of that speed, if you are lucky. It is also expensive. 54 Mb of downloads cost 22,000 Tanzanian shillings (about A$27). Since they dropped out midway through the process due to a power outage the net result was a wipeout.

It is quiet at night! With no radio and no TV evenings are spent reading, preparing or marking lessons. I have already finished four books, including "Birds of Prey" and "Monsoon" by Wilbur Wright. Occasionally we may indulge in a video from the limited private stocks of our hosts.



When we walk to the market some children will say "Good morning" or Good afternoon" in English. When we reply and then ask "How are you?" they won't know what to say, since they have already used most of the English words they know.

When we walk down the street and greet someone someone "Habari za asubuhi" and they reply "Nzuri, asante sana". As soon as they say something else we won't know what to say, since we have reached the end of our conversational Swahili!

When we go for a walk around the streets one of the small children will say "Mzungu" (foreigner). They are right, we are foreigners. In this part of the world, and particularly off the main road they don't see many foreigners. We are getting used to being stared at by little children. They think we are odd. They may well be right!

If we are stuck for words or have trouble communicating someone will come to our aid. While many people here speak only Swahili there has never been an occasion when we have been stuck. Someone will quietly help us out. Students from the college or total strangers have translated for us and helped us communicate.

Life here is predictable in an unpredictable way...but it's good, and we are still enjoying being at Shukrani College.

O yes...one other. The roads will have potholes. This is the beginning of Soweto road, just off the major highway!