Returned Peace Corps Volunteers:
Dominic Preiswerk
Tanzania
My name is Dominic Preiswerk and I was a volunteer in Tanzania during
1993-1995. My primary job was as a high school physics teacher. I
taught the normal concepts of Mechanics, Electricity, and Modern
Physics, etc., but, as I found out later, my most important function
was to introduce the students to the culture of science. I also
served as basketball coach; I got this position becuase I owned a
ball. Prior to Peace Corps, the idea that I would be a physics
teacher and/or a basketball coach would never have crossed my mind.
Peace Corps forced the idea that one should not be limited by
expectations.
My site was at Minaki Secondary School near the village of Kisarawe,
about 20 miles southwest of the capital, Dar es Salaam. While this
may sound as if I was within easy reach of the fast-paced, jet-set
life of an East African city (ha!), the truth was that my site,
nestled in the Pugu National Forest, offered only infrequent reminders
of Dar es Salaam. I had enough encounters with snakes, scorpions,
spiders, mosquitos, lizards, ants, cockroaches, bees, monkeys, etc.,
to keep me aware of my situation.
Like many people, I was initially unsure about where or what Tanzania
was. When I first heard that I had been placed there, I though,
"Great, isn't that just south of Australia?" In fact, it's on the
East Coast of Africa just south of the Equator. If I had been told
that I was going to the land of Kilimanjaro, the Serengeti, Ngorongoro
Crater, Jane Goodall's chimps, Zanzibar, "Dr. Livingstone, I
presume?", etc., I would have had a much clearer image of Tanzania.
However, as I found out, most of Tanzania doesn't have anything to do
with the Discovery Channel. The animals and scenery are magnificent,
but most of Tanzania to me is about the people. There are quite a few
of them (about 30 million) and they are very diverse. There are about
130 different tribes, each with its own language, although English and
Kiswahili are the official languages. There are coastal Muslims,
urban Asians, farmers, fishers, businessmen, teachers, orange sellers,
and lots and lots of children. Despite this diversity, some
generalizations may be made. Tanzanians are a very friendly, social,
open people. For many, it is more important to be welcoming than
efficient. Time has no meaning, and there is always room for one more.
School in Tanzania is not quite like school in the States. Julius
Nyerere's credo of self-reliance encouraged the construction of many
boarding schools/communities. The idea was that, in addition to
taking classes, the students would grow their own food and engage in
other projects to help out the school. This perhaps was a good idea
on paper, but made for some teaching headaches. More than a few
periods were cancelled because classes had to weed the farm, carry
water, collect firewood, unload fertilizer, or landscape the school
grounds. Theoretically, the syllabus could be completed, but due to
time and material constraints, more creative measures needed to be
taken. The Strength of Materials sections of the physics syllabus was
covered and discussed at the local bus crash site where words such as
"ductile", "deformation", and "brittle" were given vivid definition.
To me, Tanzania is a country with a personality far different from
that of the West. While increasingly influenced by the industrial
world, Tanzanians will hopefully taper these influences to their own
original way of thinking. When I asked the bus driver if he drove
fast, he pointed to the speedometer and said, "Yes, I use all the
numbers."
e-mail to Dominic Preiswerk
World Factbook entry for Tanzania.
Andy Jacobson andy-jacobson@psu.edu
Last modified: Thu Feb 19 20:19:02 1998