I’ve been in Arusha 5 days now and it’s crazy but it already feels like home. I am so grateful for how welcoming everyone is and how easy it has been so far to settle into life here. I will have dinner with the different families and team members each night this week which will be great for getting to know people.

En Gedi is the name of the Joshua Foundation base. At En Gedi there is the teacher’s college, dorms for the students, 3 pre-school classrooms (the kids who go there are aged 4 – 6 so it’s more like a NZ new entrants and Year 1 class) and several houses. There are beautiful gardens and a great feel to the place. I am living in a house called Kituo (I think) with 3 other women. Miriam and Corrine are my house mates upstairs and are also here working as mentors like me. Another mentor, arrives in a few weeks time. The photo above is taken from the deck at my house. The sunset is so fast here that you can literally see the sun sinking in the sky. Very cool!

At the moment the trainee teachers are here on a block course of about 6 weeks and they have classes in a range of things, including English, Thinking Skills and Computing. They have 2 more weeks of this course and then they have their mid-term break. While they are on break, we will be doing training together as mentors. From early September onwards the students are then placed in schools in 3 different villages and we (the mentors) will spend every 2^nd week out at our given school working with those students. On the off weeks we will be back here at En Gedi. I’m starting to get to know the trainee’s and they are a lovely group of students. I’m really looking forward to working with them as they get into classrooms. I am able to take lessons in Swahili with one of the gate guards so I will start that from Monday, most afternoons. I’m really looking forward to learning the language and the Tanzania’s I have met are so encouraging when you do try to speak it and appreciate the effort.

It’s been a fun few days so far getting shown around Arusha. On Firday I was able to play in a soccer match between the boys from college and another local team. It’s a whole lot dustier playing on the dirt here but heaps of fun! I went for dinner at a local Indian restaurant which was very good and got to meet a few of Corrine’s friends. Miriam took me to the town centre on Saturday and did some shopping. Almost everything you need is available here; it’s just a matter of knowing where to find the right little shop! Town is a pretty busy place on a Saturday and it was great to get shown around and buy a few bits and pieces. On Sunday I checked out one of the churches in Arusha and went to to the local Movie Theatre. I do like the fact that it costs about $6 to see a movie instead of $15 in NZ! My next job is to learn to ride the daladalas, which are vans that you can catch to and from town for about 40c. I’ll catch one in with Corrine this week to do the market shopping and then hopefully I’ll have it sussed to get around myself!

I know this post is a little on the long side, but I wanted to give some idea of what life is like on base here. Thanks for all your prayers for safe travels. The internet is a bit sporadic at the moment but I’d love to hear from people and hear what’s up on your side of the world and what’s happening in your lives. My email address is joellecbrown@gmail.com or skype joelleb09 (I haven’t managed to get on Skype yet though). I’ve got a Tanzanian cell phone number now too and it’s pretty cheap to text so drop me an email if you want that number and I’ll send it to you.

x Jo