Hello there to you. After I wrote that piece on maji (water) I got a bad feeling inside that I was too quick to complain for myself. I actually felt bad because I thought I was making a big deal about my personal life being affected more so than the general public. I wrote my dad that and he told me that he understood what I was trying to say, I just hope others do too.

I have just finished class today so I am officially on my weekend now. Went to South African history where we talked about the Tswana and the tug-of-war rope between the British and Afrikaners. I really like this new teacher who is teaching now; I think his name is Dr. Kiagje.... The professor who was teaching before [was] Prof. Mlahagwa. Dr. Kimambo is still teaching East African History soon to be taken over by Dr. Kigalala (similar spelling). West Africa is now [being taught by] some guy who I think is the equivalent of a grad student. The teacher had been Professor Nchimbi.

I have been getting frustrated again with the system here. I saw the head of the Kiswahili department today who said to me, "Are you registered for Swahili 200"? Of course I am, but man, that really makes me wonder if all this graduation is going to happen or not. I think I told you about wanting to teach and that is something that I think about each day and really am excited about. The problem is going to be how to go about getting teaching certification. I don't know if I would do that at ECU or where....

I have been hanging around with this Nigerian guy named Christopher. He's pretty cool and we've had some light discussions on Abacha [Nigeria's military dictator] and what not. He says that he knows the guy 'cause when he was young he was friends with Abacha's kids. He actually had a Christmas card from him, and of course inserted with the card was a picture of their gold medal soccer team. How 'bout that Ethiopian team!?!

I purchased a cheapo little short wave radio/cassette player here when I first arrived and soon broke off the antenna, but the other day I rigged an antenna using electrical wires and can listen to VOA's Africa Today, which is really cool. I mean I could get information from newspapers, but often a few days pass before I can find an English paper around, and you can only tell so much from pictures.

Well, I guess I will talk to you later teacher, because right now I am going to go back to my room, strum on a borrowed guitar and rest a bit. Take it easy and if you have any ideas on what you think would be options or ways of going about becoming a teacher in high school history/geography, I'd love to hear them. Take care, John

Return to Letters from Africa

Return to the Academic Home Page

First Online Edition: 22 July 1997
Last Revised: 18 May 2024