Barack

I know a teacher shouldn’t have favorites, but here is mine! He bright & full of attitude and energy! His name is Barack and reminds me of another Barack…..

On the Home Stretch

I’m on the home stretch. I have really found my rhythm with the projects. Last Monday I moved into a primary classroom from the nursery school. This class is a mix of 7-10 year olds so one teacher is responsible for teaching 35 children at three different levels. The children are good students and well behaved. They have learned to be patient. Routinely a lesson is taught to one level and as they copy their work from the shared books, the lesson begins with the next level, and so on! Some of their reading and writing assignments have been to copy and learn the words to songs that I am teaching. The songs that I have been using with the pre-schoolers over the years are perfect for this age as they learn to speak English.

My walk to school is taking a bit longer these days as many of the locals like to say hello and give the Tanzanian handshake as I pass by! The town we are volunteering in is mix of shacks next to large gated homes with all the amenities including ‘house girls’ to do the daily chores, security and plenty of water for the green lawns and flowers! In the mornings you will se the children who are living in the shacks filling their water bottles from the irrigation ditches. These are the same ditches where the cattle and goats graze.

One of the most interesting sites in this is town is the local cement factory! Apparently this was backdrop for the original Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory! It is quite site as I walk to town and from our volunteer house at night.

On Sunday October 18th the volunteers who have been working at the One Nursery and Primary school went to the home of Gloria and Obed, the headmasters at the school. We enjoyed lunch and the afternoon with their family. (I have been working in Gloria’s classroom since I switched.) It was also nice to see their home, and spend time with their children. Their two year old hid from us at first as she is quite afraid of ‘mzungus’, (white people) but later practiced her counting skills in Swahili & English!

We continue to have frequent power outages as they ration electricity. Most of the cuts happen in the evening and weekends – just when we are back and could use the light for lesson planning or the Internet, if it happens to be working. Most of the power is hydro electric and Saturday we had a great deal of rain. If the rains continue it will be good for power, but the roads are so poorly drained they easily flood and wash out.

This will probably be my last post! I’ll be in touch when I return!

Zanzibar was pretty amazing. The beautiful beaches to the north tempted us, but five of us in our group spent the weekend in Stonetown. Although quite a part of our local community on the east coast of Tanzania this past weekend we became tourists. Arriving on the ferry we found ourselves followed for the morning by two ‘helpful’ locals who pretended not to understand “no thank you”. In fact, one of the same ‘gentlemen’ arrived at our hotel each morning -- just in case we need to book a tour or find a taxi.

Stonetown is a maze of very narrow streets that are full of life with markets, shops, men having afternoon tea, others navigating by motorbikes and children playing marbles in the dirt! The island is rich in history, much relating to the slave trade. On Friday we took a small boat to Prisoners’ Island to explore the slave quarters, a giant turtle reserve and to do a bit of snorkeling. The waterfront has a lovely newly renovated garden park that is a bustling food market at night. Saturday we joined the Spice tour and got to see exotic spice plants & trees, were treated to a flavorful meal prepared by the locals, spent time at the beach and had a view the slave caves by the sea. The slaves were held captive in this dark and dangerous place and exited out of the cave to the Indian Ocean for transport. Many perished from lack of food and water, many drowned and others were eaten by the crocks that inhabited this dreadful hole in the earth.

The highlight for me was having the chance to visit Jon’s neighborhood, meet his local friends and even dine out in his favorite local restaurant. I had the opportunity to meet with a young man and friend to Jon who was most generous with local gifts, including a hand-woven basket made by his mother.

Oh, and I can’t forget that out modest guesthouse had hot showers, a most comfortable bed and air conditioning. Two full nights sleep in a row! Sunday evening it was back to reality as we arrived to the volunteer house to find that the power was out again – no fan in this heat and humidity. Without the fan it is like sleeping in a sauna.

My projects are keeping me most busy, especially preparing for basic English class. The classes become larger each day. Last week we split the beginner class into two groups. Currently each group has about 30 students, and the basic level can be anything from NO understanding to the ability to read simple passages. QUITE A CHALLENGE!

I can’t believe that I only have a bit over three weeks left. It will probably feel too soon to head back. We’ll see . . . . ?

My best to all!

Hello from Tanzania

Hello from my first week in Tanzania. There are a about 40 volunteers here - most in their 20’s and full of enthusiasm – unfortunately, some are here more for the parties than the projects. Three of us are over 40, and there are a few young girls from the UK that are lovely. Although we have ‘conveniences’ I have been without water in my room much of the time & and our internet at the house is rarely working and we have frequent short power outages.

I have spent my first week on orientation to the use of the local transport to visit Dar Es Salaam and other villages. We do two projects each day.

In the mornings I work at the One Nursery school for children ages 2 1/2 to 6. There are 50 children in a classroom about the 14’ x 18’. Most children cram into the desk with others in the middle. It is hard to describe how loud it is. Some days there are two teachers and myself. Much time is spent writing out the lessons in each notebook by hand for the children to practice, although many really don’t have the fine motor skills to write letters. At recess the children and teachers love singing and circle games and appreciate some new songs I am teaching. The children are also able to practice their writing and drawing– in the dirt.

In the afternoons I teach basic English to the locals. No need to know Swahili. The class is a mix of children, young adults and Massai. All are most friendly and eager to learn. There isn’t a curriculum or materials so I will need to do some planning for each lesson. I made a trip to the ‘western’ mall to buy English language books over the weekend. No printer here to make my own lessons so I will need to hand write and try to make copies in town.

Thursday we visited the Kundichi nursery school located in a local fishing village. They are struggling to find funds for teacher’s salary, tuition and basics – paper, furniture (there is none they sit on the floor & write). It has been open 4 months and the headmaster has not been paid. The headmaster understands early education and has a large classroom so the children aren’t crammed together, but their backs hurt by the end of the morning from doing their work on a concrete floor. The children seem happy. We also attended the daily fish auction and the head master had it cooked for us. This was a way to bring some funds to the village. Lunch was scheduled for 1:00 and we sat down a 3:00 making us hurry back crammed into a ‘tuk tuk’ (small motor bike like car) to arrive after 4:00 with the class waiting to take a test. There was also a games night on Friday where the volunteers played poker and drinking games to raise money. For the many of you who kindly sent donations I have added to the funds! I will match the donations and buy supplies for my own nursery school.

I am looking forward to a trip to Zanzibar this weekend. Jon has put me in contact with a few friends and has given great ideas of places to go and people to see. It will be a nice break. It has been very hot – yesterday it reached 100 degrees and the glue on the sole of my nikes has melted and I have no heels left! I should post again in a week!

Volunteering In Tanzania!

It is with excitement that I prepare to head off to volunteer with Art in Tanzania! http://www.volunteering.artintanzania.org/daressalaam.htm

I will be arriving on Monday, September 28th and living in a volunteer house in Tegeta, Tanzania on the coast of the Indian Ocean just north of Dar Es Salaam. My assignment will be with the One Nursery and Primary school. The school has approximately 150 children ages 3 to 9. 67 of the children are either orphans or street children. There are three classrooms with one headmaster, three teachers and two volunteers.

More to come! I will keep you all posted.....