PEER EDUCATION MADNESS March 12th

Bike riding is fun. The wind in your hair, the speed of the tires, and the beautiful scenery: people may even say that bike riding is relaxing.

These people should bike ride in Tanzania.

In general – I have a love/hate relationship with my Tanzanian bicycle – I love to hate it. When the bike is in working order (this usually lasts about 30 minutes – 2 hours), I can manage to pedal it to JB’s village (5 K away) without walking, kicking the back tire, or aggressively threatening the well-being of the bicycle. If there is a village that is farther away that JB’s, I generally prefer to walk – or simply to say that I will visit and then cleverly find excuses that allow me to never follow through. The grand exception to the “excuse rule” are Peer Education days – physically impossible to occur without the use of a bicycle.
On our first Peer Education day, I knew it would be long, judging by the amount of students who showed up, and the amount of bicycles that showed up. 6 bikes for 14 students. Never allowing a moment to pass without teaching a lesson, I pointed out that one of the students must have miscalculated and implored them all to re-do the math. All of us were clearly not going to fit on 14 bikes. After many negotiations and pleading – we managed to get 1 more bike – and thus traveled two students to a bike – one driving, and the other either on the front or the back of the bike. Because I’m the leader, I used my authority to secure the smallest student to ride with me…leaving the rest of them to fight over the smaller students.
Mapili, a village WAY OUT THERE, was our first stop on the tour. When we arrived, sweaty and excited, we were met with excited kids and curious teachers – who seemed to wonder what we were doing there. After more negotiations (including me reminding the teacher that I had in fact sent 1 letter and 3 students to talk to supervisors of the school) we were allowed to perform – which went extremely well. The kids were shy and quiet, my PEs were intimidated because it was their first performance, and admittedly things went a little south when one of the new Mapili “teachers” (a student whom I had the year before and who I flunked in my class before he was expelled by the headmaster) stood up and told the kids that I was lying to them (while answering a question), and African doctors proved that HIV was caused by European men and then given to Africans during WW1. Luckily, my counterpart (Simba) fielded the reply, and we headed off to Chikoropola, village of origin for more than half of the peer educators.
Chikoropola school has always been one of my favorites. As we rolled in to the school we were immediately given the rock star treatment – small children followed us (and by us I mean me) everywhere we went, giggling and repeating everything I said. This show was REALLY good, the PEs came out of their shells, the kids participated and sang along to every song, and the head master was very supportive. We left tired but extremely happy, until we realized that we had to ride 45 minutes home.

Uphill.

In the rain.

The ride wasn’t that bad, mostly because it wasn’t a ride, it was a sprint from cashew tree to cashew tree in the pouring rain, and between these bursts of speed the boys rode the bikes and the girls walked. Exhausted, we got back to the house, ate lunch, and discussed the day. All of the kids agreed that it had gone well. We made adjustments to some skits, had a brief meeting, and then agreed that everyone would meet at my house in 2 hours to prepare signs and food for the next day, when we would return to Chikoropola again for a PIMA day.
It was a great start to the great Peer Education tour…coming to a school near you (if you happen to live near a school in the Mnaviera ward of Masasi district, Tanzania)!



PICTURE AND VIDEO EXPLANATION:

All pictures were taken in Mapili, Chikoropola, Makong'onda, or Nakarara performances. All are the students who act during their performances, and one of me and the kids singing a song.