Today we did homestays. That means we were paired up and sent off to spend the day with a local family. The point was to give us a hands-on experience with the townspeople, see how they live, do what they do on a daily basis. So my partner, Hannah, and I walked to a little nearby farm this morning with a cooler of clean water and two bags of provisions – cabbages, sugar, soap, etc. Ready to meet us at the door was a girl our age, Yohana, and her grandparents. Bibi and Babu (grandmother and grandfather) spoke only Swahili, but Yohana had pretty good English and was essentially our hostess for the day. First, we sat down and had a cup of chai tea and then Yohana showed us around the farm – pigeon peas, coffee, banana trees, cows, chickens, goats, three little mud-and-stick buildings. Then we sat down in one building (which consisted of a bedroom, a common room/living room/ dinning room thing, and a storage room full of corn) to prepare lunch. Hannah, Yohana, Bibi, and I opened a lot of beans and cut up the cabbages. It took a long time but it was really fun and relaxing. We felt comfortable with our host family right away. It was like the kinship you feel with distant relatives as you cook Thanksgiving dinner together or something. We chatted like we were old friends catching up and even shared a few laughs with Bibi, Yohana as translator. Then we went into the other building (which was comprised of a kitchen room and another storage type area) to cook lunch. All the buildings had dirt floors and the kitchen area had a slopping roof over the fire circle. There were only a few tiny square holes for windows and the whole building filled up quickly with smoke. This was not easy to get used to and my hosts found it hilarious that my eyes continued to water profusely the whole time. They also cracked up at my “Swahinglish” calls of “moshi in my macho!” (smoke in my eyes!) Pretty entertaining. Somehow, I managed to help with lunch. We made the cabbage and peas and also ugali which is a fluffly paste made out of maize flour and water that they eat with pretty much everything. After lunch, Hannah and I decided to make something special for our host family. We went out and picked lemons off a tree in the yard and with the sugar we brought, made lemonade. We figured they would like it because they make their tea super sweet here. Yohana and Bibi made sour faces, though, and didn’t particularly like it. Babu, on the other hand, downed three cups full, and that made us feel good. After that, Yohana took us on a little hike up to the top of the hill that the farm is on. The three of us sat up there for over an hour, just talking and laughing and enjoying the sunny day and beautiful view of the entire valley. When we returned, it was time to milk the cow. I was so excited for this! I’ve never milked a cow before and I must say it was an interesting experience! And hilarious as well. Everyone was really amused by my initial inability to get any milk out. I almost died laughing too. I couldn’t believe when it was over that it was time to go.  We had spent about 9 hours with our host family and had such a perfect day. It was nice to really get to know some of the people that live by us. It was also nice to have a peaceful day away from the hustle of 27 other students. One of the best parts about the homestay was sharing with our friends when we got back. Everyone had had experiences comparable to ours – days full of smiles, feelings of acceptance and companionship. Good times.

Location: Karatu, Tanzania