Nansio, Ukerewe Tanzania

Red-eye from Accra to Nairobi, brief layover in Kenya then on to Mwanza, Tanzania. The flight from Nairobi to Mwanza is in a small twin-engine commuter and flying at a lower altitude gives us spectacular views of the famous geography in this part of the continent including Mount Kilimanjaro, Ngorongoro Crater, the Serengetti and Lake Victoria. Our overnight in Mwanza is pleasant at a small tourist resort called The Talapia with pool, internet, bars and serving some delicious Asian cuisines: Indian, Japanese, Thai. First thing in the morning we are on a ferry for the three-hour Lake Victoria crossing to Ukerewe. Our reception in Nansio is almost overwhelming and by the second morning we have met the District Executive (i.e. governor), Regional Executive (i.e. mayor) and the equivalencies of city counsellors and the superintendent of schools. We then visited the schools we'll be teaching in, meeting their directors and students who are presented in ranks at attention. We'll be teaching English, Biology, Chemistry and Physics at the high school here and will witness the graduation of its very first senior class. The girls will attend "Form 1", the local equivalent of a high school sophomore at home, assigned there by the director with his unabashed apologies for the state of academics. We received no apologies, however, for the state of our accommodations and today have had to relocate to much more comfortable digs. While the previous 'hotel' a self-proclaimed 'beach resort' was bad enough that we didn't feel at all bad about complaining or leaving, there was a sense of vindication when an Aussie we ran into said he'd bailed on it after his first night compared to the two we endured. In all Nansio is pleasant. It is thankfully cooler here than in Ghana. The people are friendly but very little English is spoken - Kswahili is the local dialect and we are studying vigorously, sad not to have been better prepared having been told that this was an English-speaking area. There is no internet or cell phone reception for us so we'll likely be out of touch unless we travel weekends. Fortunately the time-zone, electricity and satellite were all in harmony last night and we were lucky to catch the inauguration on TV. Kwa herini.