7/19/09

Prior to trying to get the Woodcarvers’ school registered, I had already heard that getting anything done with any ministry in Tanzania is likely to take at least a week. Well, it turns out that it seems to be true. After calling 7/15/09 and being told to come tomorrow (yet again), on 7/16/09, we received the same response. We went anyway in an attempt to find anyone else who had an inkling of what’s going on (My suspicion is that they all know how to get a school registered, but just like to push the job on the person who’s supposed to do it). One man said it may be better to just to get a letter from the university stating that I am a student at the Dar Es Salaam University. Focus, the main chairman, went to a local branch to try to obtain some information as well. He found out that he, as the chairman of the Tanzania Carvers Association, had to write a letter requesting the school to be registered. I’m not sure why that woman at the ministry could not just have told us this on the phone…

Anyway, since then, I have received a call back from Ms. Wang telling me that finding a teacher who will teach for free is tough (which I suppose means impossible), and that they will continue looking (they have stopped looking). I have decided to take the search for another teacher into my own hands and eat at Chinese restaurants everyday as well as hang out more at the woodcarvers place to try to catch unsuspecting Chinese customers.

Yesterday, it turns out, that I found one of those unsuspecting customers, Mr. Tang. Mr. Tang looked like he was about in his mid 20s and he had been sent here to work for a Chinese water supply company. He, like all the other Chinese people here, love the carvings, and wanted to buy a ton of them. On his way out of one of the shops, I approached him and explained what I was doing here in Tanzania. He seemed interested immediately and we quickly exchanged contact information. I showed him the classroom as well as the textbook that I had made. He asked quite a few questions and said he would consider it seriously as well as tell everyone he knew about it. Hopefully, he’ll call back. Who knows?

I have about three weeks left (I leave August 12th for the states), and so I’m a bit tight on time. Teaching has been going well, and the students are now able to construct some pretty neat and hilarious sentences. If anyone would like more information about my teaching experiences I’d gladly oblige.