Sorry for the delay in updates. I'm doing okay and haven't been snatched from my bed or whisked into the African darkness; at least not yet. I spent the night after the robbery in my own room and the following three nights elsewhere. During the day, my head is clear, I can see how silly it all is, I rationalize how safe I am with the guards and new locks, then night falls and it all goes to pieces. Changes, they are a coming.
The first two nights after the sleepless night in my room, I slept on a couch in the S.African girls's room. Did I tell you that they are engaged? Cute little early 20 somethings. So Raf's diveteam consists of a lesbian instructor, her partner, who is doing her divemaster training, and a gay divemaster. He WILL start flying the rainbow flag soon. I'm curious to hear how staff is reacting to seeing me coming out of the "L" room at 6:30am for two days. Yes, I'm open to all kinds of new experiences here, folks, all kinds.
Yesterday was a busy day as a bigwig from the police on a different part of the island came to pay R & C a visit and do some investigating. It pays to have pull around here, apparently. While they were chatting, news via the local grape / gossip vine came in that some of R & C's paperwork that was stolen was found in the village somewhere. So they have recovered bits and pieces, some passports and ID, random things, but still lots to replace. One "suspect" has been held in custody since the night of the big robbery and they are apparently keeping him in for two more weeks. There was mention of some rubber hoses and being close to a confession, I didn't ask for details. The "justice" system here is a full on circus.
Regardless, Raf feels confident that the person who robbed me and then robbed them is one and the same and it is the one who is in jail. Matching footprints and playing CSI has been funny to see around here. He thinks that I have nothing to fear however I remind him of the followig each time he tells me that
1. they know there was more than one weasel involved in the robbery at his place,
2. they've only caught one and the other suspects are "missing",
3. people who know the guy who is in jail are angry with Swahili Divers and the way we have manipulated the police into jailing one of their own.
4. my place is still very poorly lit, with the front entrance being pitch dark, and
5. my closest neighbour last night was 4 huts away. too far to hear me scream.
Oh, and I did tell you that the suspects are guys who walked off the job the day of the robbery at R & C's, right? So this is all revenge motivated by angry people. Yeah, yeah, you're right Janice. Come stay in our guest room tonight until we can sort this out a bit. Gee. thanks. I think I will.
R & C left today to go to the mainland to try to replace the still missing passports and other things they need to take care of. Tonight, I will be moving into another room. There is a "staff area" where R & C's house is, Mac's (the GM)house, and two side by side rooms for the dive staff. The girls are in one and Brad, is in the other. Brad has offered to move to the dorm rooms tonight and I will be moving ot his room. I'll have lots of people around and the 5 dogs are up there too. It may be a bit of a shaky night, but it won't be nearly as terrifying.
I have to admit, I'm a bit nervous with R & C being away at this point. Mac is great, but he's younger than me and not the scariest of blokes. R & C have their Swahili, their weapons, their connections, and just their general presence. I'm pretty sure I'm the oldest staff member here right now and obviously I'm not going to be much help should there be another issue. There are concerns that this has all been an inside job, people watching and planning, so that means word is out that R & C are out of town right now. sigh. It may very well be another very long night.
So we wait and see. I'll give it another fair chance once I've moved into this room and try to settle yet again but if things continue on, I've come to the conclusion that yep, I'm all done. Silly or not, I'm useless as a teacher if I'm not sleeping at night and if I'm not sleeping at night for what I feel are legitimate reasons, then that's the way it rolls my friends, that's the way it rolls.
As for the daylight hours here, I can't really say too, too much. There will be no pictures to come as the bastard stole my brand new, very exciting camera. I know it's only a camera, I know it could have been WAY worse, but I really loved that little thing. Only used it once or twice too. Damnit. Not even really sure what the idiots are going to do with it because the battery was dead when the shadow monster stole it from my room and I have a feeling that the local village folk who are literally barefoot and living the most basic of lives won't have a battery charger. GIVE ME MY CAMERA BACK, A@@HOLE!!! Sorry. I'm moving through the stages. Today I'm pretty friggin angry.
The teaching piece is, for lack of a better word, dumb. I spend most of the day trying to chase down and drag the staff to either a quiet spot or an empty table. It's so different than the previous experiences I've had. I'm used to children who come running and screaming like it's gym class - "teacher! teacher!" or even my last position in Calgary where the women would travel for hours on transit two times a week just to get to their English class. Getting smiles out of these staff members is exhausting, getting them to come to even sit with me is disheartening. R & C really want them to learn so that it will give them better opportunities in their futures as in their villages, they have limited access to education, but to me, they really couldn't care less.
And it's hot. It's so hot. And dirty. I've lived and travelled some really nasty places, but I think I was pretty spoiled by the SE Asian way of life. Amid the filth and the stink, you would see the Thai people wake up every morning and sweep their section of sidewalk in front of their homes or stores. Everyone, everywhere, always sweeping and cleaning. Here, even the housekeeping girls can't be bothered to clean. There are lots of stereotypes and frustrations already being tested here. I have short little legs, I can't move that quickly even when on full speed, but I will go and get three girls, all of whom are taller than me, I'll walk as slowly as I possibly can, and I'll still get to my table, arrange and re-arrange my materials, get a drink, go for a pee, and take a quick nap before they actually make it down to me. And they have been moving the whole time. Slow is a whole other concept here.
I've had to do a lot of helping out with cleaning and arranging rooms. The process would take me all of maybe 45 minutes. For these girls, it's sweep, sweep, LEAN on the broom, sigh, stare out the window, maybe scratch here or there, sigh again, stare out the window a little more, adjust the wraps they wear to protect their clothing from getting dirty, LEAN on the brooms a little more, then repeat the process. I kid you not. Frustration, complete awe at the lack of productivity combined with skin-melting heat is just a ticking time bomb. I will snap soon and it won't be pretty. But R & C talk about it all the time. Since the started up here a decade ago, they bang their heads, yell and scream, show examples over and over again, yet nothing changes. I have seen all the staff, in all areas of this resort, choose to stand and stare and do nothing over any kind of thought process. Okay, I've finished this, but no one has told me what to do next, and yes, I have worked here for 10 months and know the routine, but noone has told me the routine TODAY, so I'm just going to stand here and stare. Seriously, coming from the lands of over-productivity, this has been painful to see. It's sad, really.
So essentially, the teaching has been shit. They keep telling me that eventually everyone will get used to me and be excited to come, I've yet to see anyone get excited about anything, education will not be the motivator. They talked about scheduling and forcing them to come... great. Not only will I be the strange, white english teacher, I'll be the cow who takes them away from their tea and break time. Forcing anyone to do what they aren't interested in doing never does go well. I do miss the smiles and welcoming nature of my last travels. This is an entirely different ball game here. And I'm on the losing team. We'll keep trying though!
Did dive number three today and it was lovely. Haven't been in the water nearly as much as I had hoped considering I'm only steps from the beach. It's more of a rocky beach and lots of nasty sea urchins so not the nicest of beaches but I do hope to get rid of the pasty whites sometimes soon. The diving is nice but haven't been out enough to really give it a fair grade yet. They are of course encouraging me to relax and enjoy, but I haven't been here long enough to experience much other than the down side of island life. Common theme... haven't been here long enough yet. Give it time, give it time, give it time. Plus, I should have a big ole bag of good luck coming soon I sure hope! All of my bad luck has been crammed into this first week of January and it's all sunshine and lollipops from here, right? Damn well better be right!
So anyway, just a quick little note to let you all know that I'm still working on making this work. I'll think of some fun little bits to share about life on Pemba in the next little bit. Hope all of you are well. Talk more soon. xoxo
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