Volunteer Styles

First, I have to correct a mistake. The Village Chairman in my all-Christian area who I thought was a Muslim is actually not. His dad is from a mostly Muslim area of Tanzania, and they both wear the traditional Muslim hats most of the time, but it turns out their Christian and there really are hardly any Muslims this far from the coast.

Volunteer Styles
Everyone has his or her own style of volunteering and of adapting to life in another country.

There are some volunteers that seem to depend on things from America, especially some environmentals (not meaning to stereotype too much) have a fair amount of free time that, by their reports, they devote much of to cooking elaborate meals. I'm sure I get an exaggerated account of their grandest successes and hear more about exceptions than the rule, but I have also heard from other volunteers of the more plain style that they have been shocked to see how luxuriously some of the other volunteers are living. Other reports tell me that some spend most of their time decking out their houses with exotic gardens and landscaping. Some of this is encouraged, to lead by example of good/sustainable/intensive gardening practices, but I've heard that some take the example bit rather far and do little else. There are also volunteers that I lump into this category (especially the 'mentals in this case) that don't have such elaborate lifestyles in their villages, but go into the towns almost every week and live it up there. As one example of this category, my distant neighbor Connor has a house that reminds me of college life when I visit. His housemama cooks for us while we sit on the couch watching movies on his laptop. He also spends a ton of money on American food in town and gets sent a bunch of stuff too. It's great when I visit, and I want to say that I'm trying not to be judgmental or hypocritical, but it's a little tough. Mostly, this is just how I see it. All that said, many of these volunteers still do lots of good work and help their communities a great deal.

The opposite extreme is the isolationists. I joined Peace Corps expecting a certain degree of lonesomeness, and some people deliberately isolate themselves, often requesting and getting the most rural sites. Two of my "neighbors" are like this in different ways. They both spend more time in the village than average without going in to town (but they are also dating, so they visit each other more than most volunteers). However they differ in that Jacob doesn't try to isolate himself as much, but leads a lifestyle very similar to that of his other teachers, eating rice and beans almost every day, and spending lots of time in his garden. Jeska, on the other hand, I believe it's more creative food (I've gotten a couple stories of her scaring her neighbors with some more creative dishes like sauteed apples with honey), but she goes months without getting to town, and although she recently got cell phone service at her site, she just turns it on to check her messages once every 3 days or so (that bit is by Jacob's account, so it might be a little exaggerated).

I sort of think of myself if a happy medium. I think I'm leaning more towards the village life side, I rarely cook elaborate meals for myself, though when I have company who will appreciate it, it's no holds barred. Recently, I've gotten some lovely packages with food in them, and the ramens have been nice for making a quick meal, but the fancier things (stove top stuffing, muffin mix...) are just kind of piling up, and I'll probably save them for when I have guests.
I definitely don't take steps to isolate myself. As I said, I came expecting a degree of loneliness, but quickly found friends in my village and also found that about 3 weeks of time in the village is enough for me to get frustrated with the slow pace at which things happen and make me want some time in town with friends--mostly Americans to complain to. And to stock up on peanut butter. Whereas most of the meals I prepare are of the rice and beans variety with some vegetables, for breakfast and sometimes lunch a peanut butter and banana sandwich is the thing I can make quickly without waiting for charcoal to be ready, though recently we got a couple new teachers and the school has started providing meals for a few teachers, and often I'll eat with them. Being on the busy schedule makes that very convenient, I think my average day in the office, including lunch, is around 9 hours. That just wouldn't be possible if I took an hour plus to cook a decent lunch. I've now found a mama in the village who makes good bread, and her daughter is a student so it gets delivered to my house, which is awesome. She has yet to do it, but says when the wheat harvest comes in she'll make whole wheat bread.

I definitely have come a long way from the days in training when I looked down on the volunteer I visited a little for all his empty peanut butter tubs, and I explained to my host sister when she commented on how many socks I have that I don't like putting on dirty socks. A long long way.

I also can't can't really imagine what the Peace Corps experience here would have been like even recently without cell phones and Internet access in the cities. The speed at which these amenities have arrived gives me a very positive outlook on development and progress here--an outlook that's often hard to maintain back in the village where it's needed most. Maybe more on that next time--which ought to be quite soon as I've got a little training in about a week. Until then, take care.