Vacational to Vocational

After returning from Lushoto and resting for a few hours I headed back out into the world to visit a family friend who works at VETA College. VETA stands for Vocational Education and Training Authority. The school has just over 400 students, about a third of whom are boarding. They come for three years to study everything from welding, to plumbing, to tailoring, to secretarial work. I’ll fill more in about where this fits into the educational program here in Tanzania when I get around to doing a big posting on the education system, but for now I’ll just say that it’s an enormously big campus for only a few students at a very reasonable price (less than $200/yr for boarders and less than $60/year for non-boarders).

After touring the campus we returned to my friend’s home where she stays on campus with many of the faculty members for a cost of 10% of her total salary. Now that I know a thing or two about cooking and serving TZ style I was able to help her in the kitchen before sitting down for food. This was the first house I have been invited to that didn’t attempt to send me home rolling down the street like a bowling ball, but I was able to take the appropriate cues and show my due appreciation for the great food that she served.

As we were leaving her house at the end of the evening something landed on my head and fell down in front of me. I dreadingly looked down at the floor to see what it was and spied an oversized pile of bird poop and a small, slimy lizard at my feet. I unconsciously reached for my head at the same time and let out a heavy sigh of relief that I had come closer to having a Parent Trap moment than being blessed with good luck by my feathered friends!