The Rural Homestay- Reflections
 by Prof.Jack Shepherd, FSP Director
We arrived in Chesa Communal District about 1:30 last Friday (Jan. 8) for
the rural homestay part of the FSP. Our point of contact was the Nyamahobogo
Secondary School, where some of the family members met us, but where we
largely disembarked from the bus and started fanning out across a large
rural farming community. Chesa is about 300 km from Harare and on the road
between Mt. Darwin and Rushinga, near the Mozambique border. The farming
district runs along a wide ridge line (about 20 miles by 100 miles) and
the views in every direction reach out for 80-100 miles to distant mountains.
It reminds me very much of New Mexico. We paired the students in ten farms.
Each farm therefore had one Dartmouth woman and one man, except for one
farm which was largely female and requested two women. I drove the students
to most of the farms in a rented Toyota four-wheel drive. Some were up
to 10 km from the paved road. Israel Chokuwenga, our rural homestay coordinator,
and Angelina Taverina, a 19-year-old woman who acted as the local contact
(along with the headmaster and head teacher of the secondary school). Each
student pair rode with me, Israel and Angelina in theToyota to their farm
family. Each pair also brought in a reed sleeping mat for themselves and
20 kg of maize meal, four liters of vegetable cooking oil, 10 kg sugar
and a large pack of tea for their homestay family which was eagerly received
and welcomed by them. Israel did the introductions in Shona -- the students
have now had about 15 hours of Shona instruction, so they too could greet
their homestay families.
The welcome was incredible. Little children running alongside the Toyota
shouting the name of their homestay Dartmouth students. Some had been practicing
their English, as best they could, which matched our Shona, so we got crowds
of little watotos shouting "Jonathan! Jonathan!" or "Goodbye Melissa! Goodbye
Melissa!" At each farm we greeted the elders, were directed to seats with
the students to reed mats on the ground with the women and children. Let
me describe two particularly poignant welcomes: Braden and Bill ended up
going to the farthest farm homestay, about 10 kms from the paved road.
We entered the compound in the Toyota and met the elders, who directed
Israel and me to seats on the porch of one building. The Dartmouth students
sat on reed mats with the women. Children wantered about and the compound
filled with goats and cows. Across the compound a young women expertly
ground millet on a large square stone using a small brick-size stone to
separate the grain and ground it into a white flour which she she brushed
into a small basket. Israel explained our visit as he had in December when
Kathleen, he and I first came to the farm. The eldest man welcomed us and
blessed us. Braden then went off with the women; Bill with the men. Their
preliminary evaluations show that Braden worked in the fields with the
women planting and hoeing, carried water, cooked and played with the compound
children, while Bill had an easier time with the men, who also worked,
but not as much as the women. They all slept separated by gender: Braden
and the women in the women's hut; Bill and the men in the men's.
Charles and Sally were the last students to reach their farm families.
We pulled the Toyota into their compound after dark and when we turned
off the engine we could hear the most lovely African singing coming from
the only hut showing light, from a small fire. The family was at worship,
singing hymns in Shona and praying. This was rural Africa: the singing
and praying, the darkness and light from the fire, a night sky filled with
more stars than any of us had ever seen before. With no air pollution,
the stars could be seen right down to the horizon. The family soon came
out to greet us and to welcome Charles and Sally. The eldest, whom Kathleen,
Israel and I had met in December, was especially warm in his greetings.
He had then spoken of the "trust" he felt in taking "children" who would
come from so far away, and he epeated that blessing now in his welcome.
A young woman, named Promise, immediately befriended Sally and, I understand,
they worked and talked together over the entire weekend. The homestay tasks
were similar to those of Braden and Bill (and the other students): weeding,
hoeing, planting, water chores, herding, cooking. The preliminary evaluations
are excellent. The students suddenly went from city life to a deep rural
experience, and reflected on both and especially their new rural Moms and
Dads, brothers and sisters. When we complete the evaluations this weekend,
we will send along a composite of them for you to enrich the web further
and to read.
All the best, Jack
January 16, 1999
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