Saturday Hello

We have finished our two-day Teacher Seminar, it went amazingly well - hopefully we will have time to write a thorough description soon, but tomorrow morning we leave for our twop-day Maasai Village excursion, so will not have access to computers for a while -- so all you readers will have to wait until we get back to hear more from us!

 

And we will try to post some photos, too, when we have more time.

 

We are all doing well, the teachers who came to our seminar loved it - they want us back next year for a longer time, and one enthusiastic evaluator called us all "awesome"!

A day in Moshi

June 28 Julie, Helen, Terry, Cathy and I drove to Moshi for the day while the rest of the group hiked Mount Meru. We met Molly for lunch at the Coffee Shop and she escorted us on a tour of Amani Home which has been recently relocated and is a beautiful new facility. Mary toured us arund the building and grounds and we were very impressed. Moshi is also a lovely little city. We reconnected with our hikers around 6 pm and organized ourselves for our first day of teaching to follow. Nancy O'Brien

The Little Things

Well, we are on day 5 of our trip - about half over for the PHF part (many are continuing on to travel on their own after our journey ends), and I thought I would add some comments about the experience so far.



First off, I have to say, as "den mother," that every single person on the trip is amazing! The enthusiasm, willingness to try anything, professionalism, and energy everyone exhibits is wonderful. We work together and we laugh - a lot - together.



I think everyone has had a moment (or several) where the enormity of what we are doing has hit them. There have been times of tears and of serious reflection as we recognize the gift that education is to the children and teachers of Tanzania.



We have learned patience as we sit and wait for food in restaurants -- the Tanzanians do not prepare anything in advance in order to avoid any waste at all, so meals take a long time to come to the table. We have learned to appreciate the smiles of small children who wave as we drive or walk by.

Already it seems we have been here so long, and we still have so much more to do!

I guess I will take my turn!

Today was a great day! The group that met with Theo yesterday went on student verification visits today, and those of us that did that yesterday met with Theo today. We also went to a school, what a stark contrast compared to the school we came from. The walls are bare, there is no colors, no maps, no computers, no internet, no books (text books or reading books) and lots of kids. I was in a class 4. They were learning about maps, but without a map in the classroom. There were forty kids, the teacher really did have a great relationship with his students, but there are just so many of them. The school was run by Mama Tesha as Taryn had said yesterday, I am guessing she gave background information about the school, so I am not going to do that again.

We also discussed with Theo (the head mistress at PHF) the downfalls of Tanzanian education. The huge positive though is there are teachers who are hungry to learn, so

hopefully we will be able to give them things they can take back with them, and if not implement them, at least start thinking about different ways to teacher their students. They mainly use lectures now, the teacher talks and the students copy! It was interesting, though, because as much as we talked about areas of improvement they can make, it also made us much more aware of our shortcomings in the US in education! So much for us to learn from each other! I am excited to see what the rest of this experience has in store for us!

Jill

Teacher Blog

Hello from Cathy Schack...one of the Triplets of Chicago. My group visited St. Margaret's School, and Taryn will tell you all about it. A few of my impresseions include the hospitality of head mistress Mama Tesha and her staff at the primary school. They rank highly as an outstanding program. I visited a 7th level math class. The children were attentive and grasping their new material. The topic was: Symbols of Inequality. This felt like an entirely appropriate subject on so many levels. It is an honor to be here.

Our Visit to St. Margaret's School in Kisongo

Today we visited one of two schools Eneboyiushu Secondary school and St Margaret's primary school in the village of Kisongo on the edge of the Maasai steppe. Terry B., Nancy and Janine visitd the secondary school while Carrie B., Helen, Cathy and myself (Taryn) visited St Margaret's. St. Margaret's is an English medium school, which means that they, unlike government (public) school, teach classes in English, not Swahili - although Swahili is taught a single period per day. We met the head mistress of the school, Mama Tesha, and some of the teachers. We took a brief tour of the school and saw the areas of proposed expansion that will eventually include a secondary school. They have recently started construction on a new dining hall, but are currently awaiting more funding in order to continue construction. We each went to different grades (I went to fifth grade) and were able to observe the teachers and students. I asked the teacher's permission to take pictures of the students and told him that I taught 5th grade in the U.S. He smiled sensing that at least we had that in common. I recorded notes in a journal, stopping frequently to take pictures. I wanted to include part of what I had recorded in my journal as I think it sums it up rather nicely:

I am sitting in a level 5 calssroom in between classes. It is m and 39 children. They are all dressd in huter green and yellow uniforms. They turn around and look at me, curious, and when I look at them, they smile and turn away shyly. Some, mostly boys, allow me to take pictures - some posing as attentive students reading their books, others with broad toothy grins. The teacher enters and the children stand and sing a greeting to the teacher. Swahili class begins.

We are in Africa. Today it truly hit me. I was incredibly moved by the differences and awed by the similarities. Children are children, not matter where in the world you are. How wonderful.

The Pursuit of Glory and Happyness

What a day!  Terry, Ginger and Rob (that's me!) set out this morning with two Tanzanian teachers, Raymond and Nicholas, the project engineer Max, and our amazing driver Zach.  We were off to find and interview 2 potential PHS students, and we knew the trip could be an adventure.

 

After a short trip east out of Arusha, we were disappointed to find that the road we wanted to turn onto was no longer passable, unless our van could float.  So without hesitation we took the long way around - bumping and bouncing our way over smaller streams, by the Tanzanite mine, alongside fields of maize (very different from corn!), rows of sunflowers, a coffee plantation, flower farms and mango trees.  We watched girls carry water or wood on their heads, and cyclists roll by on cell phones (they have a better network set-up here than we do in NYC).  

 

Finally we arrived in the students' village.  But alas, Glory was not to be found.  She was in town staying with her aunt and taking classes.  We did spend time with her family though, playing with the children and showing them how to use binoculars, but the decision of whether or not she would attend PHS would have to wait until she could be interviewed in person.  Luckily, someone there knew the other student, Happyness, so we were back on track and hoping for better luck.

 

We wound our way through farmland, punctuated by small but beautiful homes and tiny shops or dhukas with shiny red signs made by Coca-cola (clearly the world's best advertised drink). Of course when we arrived at our destination, Happyness and her mother were not at home.  It could not be that easy!  They were off looking for water, so we set out looking for them.  Chomping away on simosas and popmaize (very different than corn), we were already happy just soaking in the sites and enjoying the warm Tanzanian sun, but our day was to end on a wonderful upswing.  We spotted a woman in the field who turned out to be her mother and with a cheerful mom in the van we were able to find her charming daughter in no time.   Happyness ran to the van and jumped in, not hesitating to join all these strange wazungu and teachers.  She was a born risk-taker and the interview at her home didn't take long.  Happyness was coming to PHS!

 

So after an equally tiring and rewarding journey into rural Tanzania, Glory would have to wait but Happyness was here to stay.  I must admit that we were all impressed with the amount of energy and dedication it took to find just 1 of these students.  PHS now has over 100 students enrolled and that means an enormous commitment of time by the teachers and the staff who have set off to interview each and every family and student.  It was wonderful to witness and I can't wait to see what tomorrow has in store.  Wish I was going to get to teach Happyness... Until next time.  Rob