About Cross-Cultural Solutions

Hi gang, I thought I'd write a little bit about Cross-Cultural Solutions & the program here.
It's been so amazing!! I had no idea of what to expect when I came here. The program is run SO efficiently. Not only have I volunteered at a school here, but I have been totally immersed in the Tanzanian culture, thanks a lot to them.

We have some staff members here that take good care of us. Sara is the best! She's a 27 yr old woman who always has a cell phone in her hand to make sure everything is running smoothly. If you have any kind of question or problem, she'll get to the bottom of it. Moses is an older gent, as well as Mama Grace. They oversee our programs. David helps too, taking control of paperwork, passports & in-country permit things. We have 3 drivers that take all of us to our placements every day- Richard, Simon & Athumani. Although unfortunately, Athumani has been in the hospital w/ malaria. It's so common here w/ the local people. They don't take the preventative meds like we do.
We also have several grounds keepers- our property is SO beautiful!!! They're always working outside planting new things, watering the plants & they actually trim the grass w/ a hand-held machete. God bless them for doing all that work out in the hot sun!
There's several security guys too that are always patrolling the gates. We have a cooking staff (YAY!!) & a house keeping staff too. They're all so fabulous, we really appreciate them all!

We also have 3 local volunteers. 3 young men who go to some placements along w/ other volunteers of CCS. I did not have one of them w/ me, they typically go to the preschools to translate. After placement, they go to college classes. How neat!

CCS has offered us some pretty neat "classes". Our 1st 2 weeks were very busy. Our placement is only 8-12pm, but they filled our days! We had classes outside every day- Kiswahili (learning the language-was very cool) & talks about Tanzanian culture, education system, traditions, customs, traditonal healers (fascinating!) & more. It was so neat. I feel like a chocolate covered strawberry- totally DIPPED in the lifestyle & culture!
It was all very important though. For example, there's a particular handshake they do here which is cool & when you visit someone in their home, you're supposed to bring them something like sugar or cooking oil. NO flowers- they're for dead people!

We also had day trips which I wrote about that CCS organized for our cultural learning. It's all part of the program. My friend & roomie here-Leann, did the CCS Russia program last year. She said they followed the same format there as well w/ Russian classes & cultural learning. They are on the ball! We have been very familiarized w/ Tanzanian culture through the program. It's awesome!!
The food has been fabulous too- a lot of beef, potatoes, cucumbers, tomatoes, onion, mangoes & bananas.

So, all in all, it's been a tremendous learning experience in so many ways. I love it!!
Jes