10 Year High School Reunion!

This past weekend was my 10 year high school reunion. I'm really glad I got the opportunity to go - it had been such a long time since I'd seen so many people, and it was the first time seeing my friends since I got engaged! I was lucky that most of my high school friends were able to make it! I was happily reunited with my best friend and Maid of Honor, Courtney, as well as three of my bridesmaids - Ashley, Janeen, and Jessica. The reunion was a whole weekend of events - I got to go to Friday and Saturday night's events. Friday's was a mixer and it was a blast! The music was throwback to early 2000 hits, reminding all of us of our high school days! I was reunited with several friends from high school including Amanda and Julie (in the picture below).

Saturday night was the main event! There were a couple slideshows, talking about what grads are doing now and their favorite memories from high school. There were also a few fun "alumni superlatives" - a take off of senior superlatives. I won "most traveled" for my world travels (22 countries and counting!!). We also had a super cute photo booth with big "2003" balloons that we could take fun pictures together. I was so proud of my friend Ashley for organizing the entire thing, she did an amazing job! Here's my favorite picture from the weekend: Me, Ashley, and Janeen in the photo booth!

I can't even imagine how much life will change before our 20 year reunion! So much has happened in the last 10 years. I'm so grateful for my enduring friendships with my friends that will be part of my wedding to Nate (who I also met in high school)! While I've changed a lot, I will always be so thankful for the four years I spent at GHS! Go hurricanes!!

Decade in Review

So... apparently... the decade ended this year! I feel as though last year was all about the end of the decade, but it was not! So in light of the end of the decade, and my love of summarizing with pictures, here is a short summary of the decade!

2001 – Sophomore in high school, became a Drum Major, Sonlight ended, became a Junior, September 11th, my grandfather died.



2002 – Junior in high school, became Student Body Vice President and a Senior, worked my first summer job at RTI.






2003 – Graduated from high school, moved away from home, started college at FSU in Tallahassee.




2004 – Became a Lady Spirithunter, returned to Gainesville for the summer, joined Pi Beta Phi sorority, founded the Breakfast Club.




2005 – Finished sophomore year of college, spent 2 months studying abroad in London, England. Witnessed the bombings. Traveled to Paris, Rome, and Brussels. Started Junior Year at FSU.




2006 – Finished junior year at FSU. Spent final college summer in Tallahassee. Started Senior Year, and turned 21!




2007 – Most eventful year of the decade, has to be broken into first and second half. First half - finished senior year! Awarded Panhellenic Woman of the Year and Senior Hall of Fame. Graduated from FSU Summa Cum Laude.





Second half - moved to Italy to start internship for the UN World Food Programme. Traveled all over Italy and to Spain, France, Switzerland, Germany, Czech Republic and the Netherlands.






2008 – Lived in Gainesville. Celebrated Janeen & Rachel’s weddings. Family went on a cruise! Got into grad school, moved to North Carolina. Started master’s at Duke University.





2009 – Finished first year at Duke. Spent summer in Tanzania. Returned to Duke for final year of grad school.



2010 – The second most eventful year in the decade! First half - Nate and I started dating. Spent two weeks consulting in India. Graduated from Duke with Master’s in Public Policy.



Second half - Nate and I moved to NYC. I started working at UN World Food Programme. More friends got married! Spent first Christmas outside of Gainesville.

The Last Semester

I've started the last semester at Duke! The winter break was absolutely a blast, and I spent a week in New York City before starting back up at school. I got to celebrate the little sister turning 21! We went to a show - Billy Elliot - you can see the picture below. It was incredible! Really amazing dancing especially by a little boy only 13 years old! I also got to see a lot of friends - I was reunited with 3 friends from my time in Tanzania - Hannah, Eva, and John. I also got to see one of my best friends Chrissy who was in town for the weekend from Boston, and my friend Natalie, a founding member of the Breakfast Club :)

Now I'm back at Duke and preparing for graduation! It's hard to believe in just a few months I'll have my master's and I'll be done with school forever! I have 3 classes this semester: Global Consulting Practicum, Communities & Development, and Masters Project II. GCP counts for twice the credit so I only have class twice a week. Mondays are C&D, Thursday night is GCP. Masters Project II doesn't meet... just need to work on it! I have that paper, plus a 25 page SINGLE SPACED paper for C&D. So I'm preparing to commit to my laptop for a while to write!

As far as everything else, life is great. I am very happy and looking forward to enjoying the last semester here and my trips to India and Italy. I go to India in March for 2 weeks.

Great news: Courtney is joining me in Italy for a week as I present my final master's project to WFP. We're going to run off to a little town in Tuscany for a couple days too - Orviedo. More on that soon! Life continues to treat me better than I deserve. One of my best friends Jessica just got engaged so it's an exciting time!

Posting soon and more frequently!

PS: The pic of Kristin Davis is because facebookers have said to post a picture of someone famous you've been told you look like. Well I used to get Jennifer Aniston back when I was tan, but now I usually get Kristin Davis, from SATC. I wish I got Angelina Jolie, but that's just wishful thinking!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! Or, as they say in France, Bonne année et bonne santé! I have decided to dedicate myself to learning French this spring. No, not as a new year's resolution, but actually as part of my career objectives. It is a language of the UN, it's widely spoken in Europe and Africa - in fact over 30 countries in Africa are French-speaking. Plus, I've always thought it was a beautiful language and I'm excited to learn it!

This spring I'll be working on several things - learning French, like I mentioned, and 3 big projects. The first is my final Master's Project, my applied thesis which I am doing for the World Food Programme. This is by far the priority, and when I'm in New York in a couple weeks I'll be doing some interviews and work on the project. I will also present the final project to WFP in Rome, Italy in April. My second project is my group project for the Global Consulting Practicum, and my client is an NGO called Bodh Shiksha Samiti which promotes urban education delivery for at-risk youth in the slums of Jaipur, India. As part of this class I go to India for 2 weeks in March! My final project will be an elaborate 15 page, single-spaced (!!) term paper for my elective course, Communities & Development course. I haven't decided on a topic just yet, but it will be on an existing community-level development project (according to the syllabus).

Travel, languages, and lots of writing pretty much sum-up the next few months! I'm still torn about where to go next, so expect to see some posts debating what to do. And as always, feedback from my friends and family is always welcome!

Cheers, Dana

Picture: Eiffel Tower at night :)

Farewell Party

I had a great last night in Bagamoyo! I had a farewell party at Hillside, the bar close to CCS. I was so surprised when the entire staff of the Anglican Daycare came! Julius, Agnes, Upenda, and Babu (the cook) surprised me with another beautiful gift – a shawl, to be draped around my shoulders. It’s gorgeous!

I was in the company of great friends I made over the trip – Eva, Matiga, Rasti, Kristina, Carlee, Adam, Dane, Kelly, Devon and Anna – but I was definitely missing a few people. Especially the other half of the fab four – Nick and John – as well as the rest of the original crew. Still we enjoyed an extended curfew and traditional African hip-hop music (hello baybeee)!

I feel like I got most of my tears out in the morning which was good, I was really able to enjoy my farewell party. Everyone asked what I’ll miss the most and it’s no contest – my kids. Each and every one of my 36 kids. I hope they remember me and how much I love them!

Picture: Agnes and Upenda surprising me with the shawl

Last Day at School

Today was my last day at placement. It was really hard to say goodbye to my kids. In 3 months here I feel like they have become a part of my life, they are not just cute little kids but they are little people that I know and love. I feel like I really know them – who is shy, who is outgoing, who is smart, who has trouble. I know their family situations and all of their names. Most didn’t understand I wasn’t coming back – they kept saying “kesho!” which is like “see you tomorrow.” But I am leaving so that is the reality.

The church and school got me a gift – a beautiful conga – and presented it to me at the end of the day. I was moved by the gesture, especially since they have so little and yet gave me such a nice gift. I felt progress with my students – we finished the alphabet today and their handwriting has really improved! I may not have taught them much, but at least that is something I am proud of.

Tomorrow I leave for the USA – I fly from Dar es Salaam to Doha, Qatar where I stay the night. The next day I fly to Washington D.C. where my mom will pick me up and drive to North Carolina. Sunday we drive to Florida where I will be for 2 weeks.

Picture: The Minister of the Church and Cook presenting me with the conga. I’m also holding lightness because she was crying from falling down earlier.

Donations to the School

Last Thursday the packages sent by my family and Courtney FINALLY arrived! There were 5 boxes in all so there was a lot to sort through – pencils, pens, colored pencils, crayons, stamps, stickers, construction paper, soccer balls, flashcards, and books! I was like a kid on Christmas opening those boxes!

Monday was the best day – bringing everything to school and seeing the look on my kids’ faces! Five of my kids – Paulo, Paskali, Alice, Saidi, and Naifati received backpacks. They were carrying their school supplies every day in plastic bags ripped and broken. All of them, especially Naifati were so surprised and excited. The twins were practically in shock – I don’t think they’ve ever gotten gifts. Paskali wore his backpack around the rest of the day – he refused to take it off! I also wrote each of their names on the backpacks so that they would know that the backpack was theirs.

My kids each got pencils and pens of their own. The oldest kids who will be starting Standard 1 at the primary schools in January received the bright composition books, my younger kids got the notepads. The crayons, colored pencils, balls, flashcards, and books will stay at school for all of them to share. They did get to color and play with the balls and they were so excited. What they were actually MOST excited about were the pencil sharpeners! I’ve mentioned before, but they never have pencil sharpeners so they have to sharpen with their teeth. Between the boxes my family and Courtney sent, they now have over 10 for the whole class! Some of the items will stay at CCS – the construction paper from my parents, the loose lined paper from Courtney, and a couple books – so that future volunteers can use those things at their schools too.

My dad also included a soccer ball pump so that is safe in the office at the school, but as the soccer balls get used and get deflated, now they have a way to fill them back up! I even taught Abdul, one of my kids, how to use it! I really love this because it’s sustainable – hopefully my school can use those soccer balls for years to come! I gave out a bunch of the stickers for my kids to play with too, which they promptly stuck all over themselves! They are really hilarious, I just love them.

It was a wonderful day and my kids were so appreciative. BIG HUGE thank you to my mom, dad, sister Jenni, Mama Doris, and Courtney for supporting me and my kids and sending boxes – that are not cheap to send to Tanzania in the first place – with no guarantee that they’d get here. I love and thank you all from the bottom of my heart!

Picture: Me with all 36 of my students after they got all their school supplies!

Corporal Punishment

This is a hard post to write – a hard thing to think about, much less observe. Corporal punishment is technically outlawed in Tanzania but it still happens – it’s when teachers are allowed to discipline students physically by hitting them, usually with a stick or ruler. There have been a few instances in my class, as the teacher knows I disagree he refrains most of the time from using it.

One time that was particularly bothersome to me was during exams and Mariam, one of my sweet girls, did not know how to write “simba” but she knew that the picture was a lion. My teacher was frustrated I think, and so he told her to put out her palm and he whipped it with a stick 3 times. She cried. I cried. It was terrible. I couldn’t help but wonder what kind of message that sends about education – get it right or be hit?

Another case was this week, when 3 of my students forgot their notebooks. Well I believe that Paulo and Pascali (my twins that both forgot) didn’t bring their books because the day before at school the plastic bag they carry their books in broke. My teacher whipped each student’s palm 3 times with the stick (I guess that’s the typical corporal punishment penalty, at least at my school). Then they were all sent home and told to return when they had their books. This made me quite angry – these kids are only 5 years old and they walk to school alone – they aren’t grown-ups and they’re going to forget things. All 3 boys cried – Paulo, Pascali, and Haridi – then headed home. An hour later Paulo and Pascali returned, carrying the broken bag with school supplies in it. Haridi didn’t return until today.

Lastly, today was another use of corporal punishment. This time, Ramadhan and a boy from another class (not sure of the name) were I guess playing at the beach when they got mad at each other, and Ramadhan kicked the boy so hard he scraped his skin and he was bleeding. The boy cried and Ramadhan was punished – again 3 whips with the stick on his palm. Then Ramadhan cried. I couldn’t help but think, no wonder the kids hit each other, they are learning that from the teachers.

Physical punishment shouldn’t be the answer but it’s clear why it is. There is a lack of social norms surrounding expectation of education and so while maybe parents let their kids go to school they don’t have the same expectations of performance. Many schools in Bagamoyo are funded by NGOs and outside organizations, there are few (if any that I know of) that are self-sustaining: the remaining schools are government-run. Physical punishment also yields immediate results and the kids fear the teachers. Whereas for students to be good without physical punishment the process is longer, less concrete, and definitely less easy. Lastly, physical punishment is also used by parents so you can see how it is socially acceptable – parents use it at home, teachers use it at school.

Is it any wonder, though, why kids in Tanzania hit each other more than kids in America? That is how they learn to express anger and frustration.

It's FINALS WEEK and one week till Tanzania!

Oh my gosh this is EXACTLY how I feel about statistics.... so close to the end! So ready to be done with school! So ready to be on a jet plane on my way to Tanzania!!!

My itinerary is:
Washington DC to Doha, Qatar
Doha, Qatar to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
van from Dar to Bagamoyo

I should have reasonably consistent access to email! That is good news! I will be doing my very best to post really fun pictures and stories of my travels. If possible, maybe a video or two!

In other news, I really want to adopt a puppy when I get back! I think it would be really fun. If I get one I want to get a Beagle. Beagles are so sweet! I don't know I feel like I have too much free time at Duke. I need to be more busy so I don't waste so much time doing nothing.

Look at the sweet beagle! I want him!!!! Also I am glad I've decided to return to the program next year. I think I just have to get more involved and meet new people. There's a lot to look forward to in the fall:

September
-Basketball Campout
-Birthday weekend in NYC

October
-Fall Break in Boston with Chrissy
-Allyson visits
-Halloween in Chapel Hill

November
-Net Impact conference in Ithaca
-Thanksgiving

Also in the fall Rachel will be coming to visit one weekend and I might go to DC for a short weekend or something. We shall see! It will be interesting to see what happens, I am really looking forward to having a break from school for the summer and focusing on immersing myself in Tanzanian culture, learning Swahili, meeting new people, traveling, challenging myself, and growing as a person.

I will miss all my friends and family! Make sure you click to follow the blog so you get my updates. :)

And the winner is....

Angelina Jolie is the most beautiful person in the world, according to Vanity Fair's 2009 poll. You won't get any arguments from me... anyone who knows me knows I'm a pretty big fan of her!

I am so burnt out on school... getting behind the last months because of being sick is really a pain now, there's just so much to do - I want it all to be really good, too.

In other news, I'm hoping for a getaway next weekend to New York City to visit the lil sis... being in North Carolina is claustrophobic for me in so many ways. Good news: Tanzania visa came in!!! Yahoo!!! Shots are done, visa is done, meds are done, I'm pretty much all set to go, much to the dismay of my parents.

I am missing all my friends from college these days, even the few hours I get to spend with them when I'm in Gainesville or just on the phone, it makes me miss being with them. It's hard with each of us pursuing our own dreams, we are all in different places all over the USA and world, in some cases. Wish I could make it stop for a week, and just celebrate and play :)

I'm ready to be in Tanzania. Is it May 9th yet? I'm actually really excited about SLEEPING on Thursday... I get to sleep in... this is so exciting. Tanzania is 3 weeks from Thursday that I get on the plane. Just 3 weeks!!!!

3.5 weeks and counting....