A Lesson In Courage

“Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the acknowledgement that something is more important than fear.” - Ambrose Redmoon

“Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear- not absence of fear.” - Mark Twain

Looking back and reflecting over my experience as a WorldTeach volunteer in Tanzania, one of the most important pieces of wisdom and lessons that I learned and can give to future volunteers is that the experience of living and teaching as a volunteer abroad is truly what you make it to be.  As I prepare to return home, I leave with a feeling of genuine pride and fulfillment about what I have accomplished during this experience, and it was more than I ever could have hoped it to be.  As both a traveler and a teacher fully immersed in a foreign culture, I reached many personal and professional goals, overcame a lot of tough obstacles and experienced plenty of highs and lows along my journey.  Thinking about all the innumerable challenges and rewarding moments I’ve experienced over the past year, I have discovered that the key to success as a WorldTeach volunteer means facing every new challenge and opportunity that you encounter with a courageous mind, heart and soul, even (and sometimes especially) if it makes you afraid.  Living and teaching in a culture so unique and so different from your own brings with it daily experiences that are all new, exciting, demanding, emotional and sometimes scary.  With each of these experiences comes the acknowledgement of fear and the choice to have the courage to overcome that fear so that you can truly make a difference in and out of the classroom and make the most of every moment that an adventure like this can bring.

From the moment I arrived into the beautiful, unique and dynamic culture of Tanzania, I knew that this year would forever change who I was and how I would see the world around me.  Every new experience was a step into the unknown, exposing me to new challenges that would test my character and form my worldview.  Whether it was the first time using public transportation, bargaining for food at the market, moving into my new home, getting to know my new colleagues, or entering the classroom for the first time, every new encounter was always accompanied by at least some amount of trepidation and fear.  Yet by having the courage to face each fear I was able to open myself up to so many truly amazing and unforgettable moments that made my year in Tanzania so rewarding.  From courageously facing each fear, I met many teachers, neighbors and students that I now call my close friends; I came to fully understand and appreciate an amazing culture so diverse and unique from my own; and I helped to make a positive and lasting impact in the lives of my students, at my schools and in my community.

As a WorldTeach volunteer knowing that there was always something more important than whatever fears I faced, I also learned what it genuinely means to devote yourself to serving a community in need and the rewards that come with that devotion and service.  Teaching in Tanzania was easily one of the most challenging experiences of my life, but I leave knowing that gave everything I had to rise to that challenge for my students and my community with the hope that I have inspired them as much as they have inspired me.  As I face the difficult task of leaving my schools, my students, my friends and my home in Tanzania, my hope is that I have given them the courage to face their own fears and live up to the potential for great things that I saw in each of the students that I had the honor to teach.  My year as an English teacher in Tanzania required much dedication, hard work, and sacrifice, but knowing that I have made a positive impact in my community is enough reward for that commitment to last a lifetime.  

Ending my year of service as a WorldTeach volunteer in Tanzania has been immensely difficult, especially as I reflect back upon all that I have personally and professionally achieved, say goodbye to the friends I’ve gained, appreciate the challenge and joy of teaching, and think about how I have changed as a person from when I arrived.  Adapting to life in another culture and devoting myself to make a difference in a community in a developing country was filled with many moments of fear that I knew I had to find a way to overcome.  Facing those fears and having the courage to persevere through them helped to make my time in Tanzania the most unforgettable and rewarding experience of my life.  I leave Tanzania with a sense of excitement, sadness and pride, but also with a newfound sense of courage that I know will help me to conquer any fear and challenge that lies ahead of me when I return home.

Reflection on a Year- Part Three: Teaching in Tanzania

Don't forget to also check out Part One and Part Two of my Three-part Reflection!

In what was undoubtedly the most rewarding aspect of my time as a WorldTeach volunteer, serving as a teacher in Tanzanian secondary schools provided me with some of the most challenging, memorable and fulfilling experiences of my life.  As someone who had never taught in a formal classroom setting before joining WorldTeach, I arrived in Tanzania a year ago with little more than a strong enthusiasm to teach.  What I would discover over the following year as a first year teacher was a deep passion, love and respect for teaching both in and out of the classroom.  My experiences of teaching English to secondary students at a wide range of levels and in a diverse variety of environments taught me as many valuable lessons as I was fortunate enough to teach.  As I look back on how far I’ve come and how much I’ve learned about being a better teacher in a short year, I can truly appreciate every moment and opportunity I had in the classroom to be a teacher, role-model and friend for every person I had the honor to call my student.

Over the past year, I taught over 400 students throughout three different schools in Morogoro. Teaching at each school (Mzumbe Secondary School, Mongola Secondary School and The Hill Education Center) provided me with an incredibly diverse teaching experience, as I was able to teach at all levels of English ability (beginner, intermediate, advanced).  While it was initially difficult to get adjusted to the Tanzanian system of education, eventually with a lot of trial and error and also the great support from my wonderful colleagues I was able to hit my stride and really feel like I was making a strong positive impact with my students and in the school community.  At each school I was faced with immense challenges as a new teacher (class sizes up to 70 students, no books or resources, etc), but I was fortunate enough to have many eager students always ready to work hard in learning and improving their English skills which made my job a lot easier.  This also made for a lot of rewarding and memorable moments.  Moments like hearing my students give passionate and enthusiastic speeches on ways to help stop the spread of HIV/AIDS, or listening to a student give a thought-provoking and insightful analysis of a poem about slavery, or successfully teaching a classroom of 70 students how to identify different types of conditional sentences.  Also, as there are for every teacher, there were many frustrating moments in the classroom, like teaching a failed lesson, students not understanding me due to language barriers, or seeing some of my students fail their exams after putting in as much effort as possible.  From each wonderful and not so wonderful moment in the classroom I was able to learn from my successes and mistakes and use them to help make me a stronger teacher as the year went on.  With each passing week as I proudly watched my students grow in their education, I also felt myself grow and improve as a teacher and person, as well.

My Mzumbe Form 3 A2 Class

Mzumbe Form 3 A1 Class

Mzumbe Form 3 A3 Class

My Mzumbe Form V HGL Class

 The other highlight of serving as a teacher at my schools was getting to know so many other wonderful and dedicated teachers that I was proud to call my colleagues.  Not only was I able to exchange culture and provide a presence of diversity in the staff room, but I also made a lot of really great friends who served as cultural and professional mentors.  Not only were they my co-workers, but they were also my teachers in many respects, too.  Whether it was at the morning parades, during daily tea breaks or throughout the weeks grading exams, there were always a multitude of opportunities to get to know my fellow teachers and also learn how to become a better teacher from their guidance and advice.  From sharing our unique perspectives as teachers and former students from different educational backgrounds, I truly felt that my colleagues and I were able to fully support one another in making our schools the best learning environment for our students now and in the future.

Mzumbe Secondary School Faculty and Staff

Coming into this year, I began this journey with an open mind and I didn’t really know what to expect from serving as a teacher in a developing country with an educational system that I was totally unfamiliar with.  In a country such as Tanzania, where they take education very seriously and yet are faced with immense challenges, I found the experience of being a secondary school teacher an incredibly dynamic introduction into the profession of teaching.  From my teaching experience, I learned that being a teacher can be one of the most difficult, demanding and also fun, creative and rewarding jobs you can have.  To be a good teacher, you need patience, flexibility and the willingness to want to improve each and every day, and that is no different for any teacher anywhere in the world.  On a good day, there isn’t a better job in the world.  On a bad day, you never want to enter a classroom again.  During my year as an English teacher in Tanzania, I experienced many of those good and bad days, and I’m grateful for every one.  I got to know and teach so many amazing and hard working students, and also befriend and learn from many dedicated and talented teachers and colleagues at my schools.  As I leave Tanzania I can only hope that over the last year I have made as much of a difference in the lives of my students and colleagues as I dedicated myself to make throughout this extraordinary year.

Take a look at one of my classes in action!

Reflection on a Year- Part Two: Living in Tanzania

Don't forget to check out Part One of my Three-part Reflection!

My domestic life in Tanzania provided some of the greatest frustrations and challenges, but also some of the biggest personal successes and achievements.  When I came to Tanzania I was already very independent and adept at living in a new place and adjusting to a new environment, but life in Tanzania brought more unexpected trials and tribulations than I ever could have anticipated.  There were many weeks when I thought it couldn’t get tougher, and just when I thought I had the solution to whatever problem was facing me another challenge seemed to come my way.  Although adjusting to the ups and downs of life in a developing country had it’s difficulties, there were also many aspects to life here that I genuinely enjoyed and appreciated that made my experience here that much more fulfilling.  Living in a country like Tanzania, and especially at a place as beautiful as Mzumbe, has been an exceptionally formative experience where I have learned to enjoy many simple pleasures and could have the peace and freedom to truly value this experience.  While there were countless challenges to life in Tanzania, I can proudly say that I overcame each one and in the process learned more about myself than I had ever expected at the start of the year.

A large part of why I had a fortunate year living at Mzumbe was because I was lucky enough to have a nice, quiet and sufficiently equipped house.  Although it was a bit big for just one volunteer, it suited all of my needs for the year just fine.  Compared to what most families have for housing in Tanzania, I would say I quite comfortable living at my house for the year.  However, for everything that was great about the house, there was often a drawback, as well.  It was quiet, despite the constant rooster calls all day starting at 4AM.  There was running water, except for the few weeks it was shut off. And the fact that it was only cold water and it sometimes turned brown and dirty during the rainy season wasn’t too pleasant.  I had regular electricity, excluding for the 6-month period when it was turned off every other day.  It was easy to keep clean, yet I often had to fend off the occasional bug infestation.  Every setback that came was always unexpected, but the main lesson I learned was to always be prepared and know that there is often a solution to every (domestic) obstacle.  Once I knew to anticipate every problem that might come my way, it really wasn’t so hard to deal with (or at the least, ignore and put up with) the roosters, lack of electricity, dirty water, or bugs.

Along with mastering my Tanzanian life came the acquirement of new domestic skills and also the appreciation of how easy they can be in the U.S.  I learned how to hand wash my clothes, which was an extremely tedious chore and taught me to never complain about doing laundry with a washer and drier ever again.  I learned how to cut the grass by hand which, like hand washing clothes, I hope to never have to worry about doing without the help of a machine ever again.  I also learned quite a few new cooking skills, which I actually am truly appreciative of, and really enjoyed learning and perfecting.  I can now make a killer bean burger, a pretty good homemade pizza, and every combination of beans, rice and vegetables you can think of.  The drawback to cooking was that shopping for food was never easy, and using local transportation to make the trek to the market in town and haggling for decent prices was nowhere near as easy as taking a short drive to the nearby supermarket.

Despite many challenges, I felt more than fortunate to have spent my year in Tanzania living at Mzumbe.  I truly had more than I could have hoped for.  I had an incredibly inspiring and beautiful atmosphere.  I had a peaceful and quiet environment where I could just relax, listen to music, read and focus on my teaching preparation.  I had a lot of facilities nearby, like (albeit slow) Internet and market vendors for any basic needs.  I had amazing trails all around me that allowed me to keep up my running and kept me motivated to stay healthy and in shape.  I couldn’t have asked for a better living situation that kept me focused on doing the best job I could as a teacher, volunteer and member of a local Tanzanian community.  My life at Mzumbe was altogether challenging, difficult, but also extremely rewarding, and it has provided me with the skills and appreciation to fully value and respect the conveniences of life in the U.S. more than I ever did before.  Although I learned countless lessons from my year in Tanzania, I probably learned more lessons about myself from my day-to-day life than from any other aspect of my experience this year. From those lessons, I leave Tanzania more confident than ever that I can face just about any challenge that comes my way.