Day 8: Mosqito Nets and Shoe Boxes

Day 8 week 1 on Friday 12 June (although actually being written on Tuesday 16 June due to a power outage on Friday killing the computer. The task now is to try an remember the day lol)

We were meant to have an early start, but unfortunately some of the team were running late, this meant that the morning was somewhat rushed. We got to the school we visited on Thursday to finish giving out shoe boxes and mosquito nets to the younger children. For anyone who doesn't know about the Rotary Shoe Box scheme, it is where families (often through schools) fill a shoe box with gifts or toiletries

which are handed out to needy people across the world. The gift boxes are done for different sexes and age groups. We noticed there was an uneven spread, we had many boxes for older girls and younger boys, which meant that some of the boys had to have girly presents and vice versa. We wonder if it might be more appropriate to have boxes made up which are non gender specific as many gifts given already work for both boys and girls.

After that we dropped Keyila and Amy off at Msandaka before travelling up Killi's slopes to our school. Peter came with us as he is Babo (grandfather) of the projects, although he does prefer the term Technical Director. We (that's Naomi and Ruth if you hadn't already guessed) had arranged to give mosquito nets to the 35 orphans at our school. We were also fortunate to have left over shoe boxes which we handed to the youngest children. Unbeknown to us the school had arranged for an official photographer to come along. It was a very official day as we then planted trees so that the school could remember us and us them. The head girl received the top score in the school for her exam results and we decided to reward such diligence by presenting her with a dictionary to further assist her studies in English once she reaches secondary school. Annazeta is a remarkable girl who was brave enough to come and say hello to me on the first day and we understand that she wants to become a doctor. We have asked to be kept informed of her progress even when she has left the primary school. Naomi and I were slightly disappointed that she didn't want to become an engineer but no matter so long as she finishes university.

We took Peter on a tour of the new kitchen and the rest of the classrooms. The kitchen was going very well and they had started work on the new environmentally friendly stove. This will be so much better than the open fire in an enclosed building that the cook is currently using (and producing very fine meals I must say, no slimming here). We formally agreed to paint two of the classrooms which are not scheduled for demolition in the future. All the classrooms are in a very poor condition but these were the two that didn't need to be re plastered before they could be painted. There is a lot that is required to be done at the school and we hope to be able to continue supporting them for years to come. This was a very emotional day and we were both close to tears at some points during the day, we really are turning into girls.

Apologies again for the lateness of these posts, we are in a country where there are regular power cuts and it has made doing the blog rather more difficult than we thought. Apparently Friday a power cut is almost a certainty, but there has been talk of it becoming a regular thing between 6pm and 10pm. Just makes you realise how lucky we are back in the UK.

We had written more in this blog originally, but unfortunately on the day of writing we lost connection, and couldn't save the extra we had written. We are now on Thursday morning and I can't remember what is written. Oh well we have the gist of the day.

Ruth and Naomi

(Completely forgot to mention, Keilah did a very successful job of getting herself locked in our bathroom. The door sticks and we have to slam it, so neither me or Ruth locked it, and as it turned out it was the right decision. At one point we were thinking of kicking the door in, but Peter the star that he is had the correct tools with him).

Day 7: Week 1 Thursday

Well hopefully firefox will be more stable than Internet explorer and we can write this entry.

Today I (Ruth) went to meet with the local Lions Club with Peter to organise the contract for the joint building of the dorm and showers at Msandaka. Really good people to meet as it turned out that there was another Lions member across the road who could sell me lots of mosquito nets at a good price. We are going to distribute these tomorrow when we go back to the school that we gave out shoe boxes to this afternoon. Unfortunately the younger classes go home in the afternoon (and those are the ones we wanted to distribute nets too) so we have to be there at 8 am in the morning. Arghhhhhhhh that means getting up even earlier (be impressed Gnome the queen of lay ins is even getting me out of bed and then we try and get the other girrrls up). These Lions guys are real go getters when it comes to this sort of thing.

We didn't get to our school today but we felt that the afternoon at .......... (to be filled in later) was well worth while as it seemed to be even poorer than our school which is already very poor. It was at that point that it really hit home to me, when I saw children without shoes, just how poor some of the people are here and how just a few pounds can make a difference.

There are 35 orphans at our school that the community already fund, and they have very little extra to give to start off with. It would be nice to be able to fund these orphans which wouldn't take much and this would then enable the community to use any extra they had to help further fund the new classrooms which have been sat unfinished for over a year.

Keilah and Amy went shopping for materials this morning and spent the afternoon at their school (hopefully they will update you all soon).

This evening we went to meet the Moshi Kilimanjaro Rotary Club who were discussing Tshirts for their 50th anniversary amongst the charity bits. Not a meal meeting but we have been promised dinner at the Lions next week (not that we need any more meals as we are being fed so well there is not much chance of losing weight).

Time for bed (said Zebedee) for this couple of thirty year old blonds who just can't hack the late nights and early mornings.

Day 6

We had a beautiful view of Kili first thing in the morning. As Ruth & I are further up the slopes at our school we were hoping to get some amazing pictures once we got their. We spent the morning doing a bit of shopping and exchanging money, so unfortunately by the time we got to the school the clouds had once again come out. We still have over a week so must not get upset.

Peter joined us at the school for the day, as for a change he had no meetings which was nice. We brought some new footballs as they only have 1 for over 400 students. As you can imagine there was a lot of excitement (they did manage to burst one of the four by the end of the day, oh well we can always take more on our next trip)

Me and Ruth are not quite programmed for entertaining children but Peter suggested we teach the children and English song. We agreed on Old Macdonald, perhaps we should of done a bit of planning first as it took us a little time to agree on the exact words, you'd think for such a simple song it would be easy, but no, not only did we confuse ourselves we confused the kids. . But we got there in the end. They are remarkable good at reading English and were starting to sound quite good, not quite choir material but I think that might be our fault. Afterwards they kept mooing and miaowing at me, or doing bull horns which was very funny. Now that Peter has started us off we are hoping to do some more games with them. All we need is that little push :-)

We have worked out our finances and due to the good exchange rate from Tanzania shillings to American Dollars we have discovered we have some extra money. This means we can do some extra jobs, so next week we will be painting two of the classrooms. We are hoping to get everyone involved so we have suggested they get lots of rollers, that way me & Ruth, the teachers and some students can all get involved. We are looking forward to this as it will be great to get our hands dirty.

The kitchen is going well we should be putting the roof on soon. They are so confident that they are going to be demolishing the kitchen on Saturday (Packed lunches next week me thinks).

Keilah and Amy did some shopping and then heading up to their school, they got there quite late but seemed to get alot done. We picked them up about and headed back to Mam Lucy's for dinner. The girls wanted to learn African cooking so headed off to the kitchen, while me, Ruth and Peter chatted to the family. Their son joined us for dinner, he has spent alot of time in England and you can tell as his English is as good as any of ours (which may not be saying much), he has married and English girl but they both live in Tanzania running a volunteer organisation. Obviously runs in the family. All in all another enjoyable evening.

Me and Ruth heading off to bed whilst Amy and Keilah stayed up sorting out things for their project until 1 am, I really don't know how they do it.

Well that brings us up todate at the start of Day 7: Ruth is off buying mosquito nets, the girls are at their school and I am doing the paper work, so we are all busy. Looking forward to this afternoon visiting other schools and handing out the shoe boxes and nets, should be another good day.

Naomi

Day 5: The kitchen starts to take shape

Strange to think it is already day 5 (although it is day 7 when i am writing this) as we have feel like we have been here for much longer. Maybe it is the 13 hours we spent at the airport, plus an overnight stay in Amsterdam or the fact everyone makes us feel so at home.

On Day 5 (although only Day 2 at the school) we left the lodge at 8:30 (those who know me may find it hard to believe I have been up before 7 every morning and had breakfast everyday so far) which meant we got to the school just after 9. The builders were on site and already making good progress.

Because at the moment it is heavy building work there is little for us to physically do which is a shame, but we hope to be helping out with painting work in the future. The teachers however took us in again and once again we helped with marking the papers and teaching us Swahili (They love the fact we are so keen to learn). I can now pretty much count to 100, and I am learning various greetings and their corresponding responses. I am now working on days of the week, months are strangely pretty much the same as English. Still can't do my name is, and I would like .... but I think I am doing pretty well after only 2 days. Ruth is doing pretty well too.

The children are getting used to having us around, but there is still alot of excitement when the camera comes out. They all want their picture taken and to see the outcome, so I think I am going to have lots of pictures of children by the end of the trip.

We learnt that the summer holidays start next week (which explains why there so seem to be many classes going on and the teachers are sitting in the staffroom marking papers most of the time, I was beginning to think they didn't have many lessons to teach lol), so the children won't be around. Although we have been told that the teachers will be there on occasion, and that they have arranged for the children to visit every so often. This Friday they will be planting trees in our honour which is exciting. (As it turned out the kids joined us every day)

Amy and Keilah are working hard, and have not had time to update yet. They are doing really well with the deaf children, apparently Tanzanian sign language is similar to American and as they know the American version they are able to communicate well which is great. They have agreed that their library will have a mural on one wall (outside the original brief, but a wonder idea and the children are really excited) They have decided on a design and the students are going to help draw and paint it. Maybe something for us to think about in the future for our school. Although there is still an awful lot to do here before we get to that stage. Their school is obviously very quiet which is a complete contrast to our school. With the children not having to do classes they spend most of their time running around playing games.

At the end of the day we again walked down the hill to wait for our driver. He was late as usual lol, but once again we got to meet some interesting people. We met another Pastor who was an elder at the church. He was 73 (sabini na tatu) which is a good age over here. A very nice man and as with most people over here fascinated my mine and Ruths' names due to the biblical link. They seem to think we were destined to work together lol

In the evening we went to Mama Lucy's for drinks and nibbles, she is a Rotarian and does alot of close work with Peter over here. The usual Tanzanian hospitality. Possibly had a few too many drinks as their staff are very good at putting another beer in front of you without you noticing. (Kilimanjaro beer is yummy by the way. Mama Lucy is hoping to sort out some mosquito nets for us to distribute at some other schools on Thursday which I am really looking forward to

As I type this on day 7, things are progressing around me, Ruth is off to buy nets and the girls are at their school, I have been told to stay here and keep the blog up to date. It seems that I have been tasked with updating the blog, so I apologise that it is my random thoughts. I am hoping the others will add their thoughts at later dates, particularly Keilah and Amy as I can only add short elements regarding what they are up to.

Naomi

Day 4: Kilmanjaro makes an appearance

Today was the first time we got to see the top of Kilimanjaro peaking through the clouds. It had been cloudy all day and was once again hidden but as we were driving back the clouds began to clear. All I can say is wow, and I can't wait for a completely clear day.

At the start of day, we all went to see the local director of education for the area me & Ruth are working in. He wasn't around but we met his second in command. She was so happy to have us here and working on the projects. She already has many ideas for the future. Then we split up into our two groups to go to the different schools.


Myself and Ruth went up to our little Primary school this morning and was greeted by children chasing the van. They were so excited to see us and surrounded the van, when we got out they kept grabbing our arms and saying good morning. It was so adorable and took us quite some time to get to the office to speak with the head. The other girls then left and we settled down for the day with the school. Unfortunately the builders hadn't shown up, the excuse being it had rained over night and was too wet. Just goes to show builders are the same world wide. Being Africa it had dried very well by the time we got there, and we could not see why they couldn't be working. The same frustrations, I could still be working Enterprise on rural bends back home.

The school: Existing classrooms and the new classrooms, still awaing funds to complete.

Not to matter we surveyed the site using traditional methods of pacing out, slightly inhibited by the kids as they were intrigued by everything we were doing. At one point I was walking around the site with about 5 kids on each arm, bizarre experience. Once the camera was out they were even more excited and each wanted their picture taken, you should of seen their faces when I showed them the picture afterwards. Words really cannot describe!!!!!!!!

The teachers welcomed us with open arms and are determined to teach us Swahili, I was given a crib sheet of numbers and every so often the head mistress would shout a number at me to translate back into Swahili. They found it so amusing everytime i got in wrong, which was often. Ruth has learnt the word for bull, and is trying to work out how to ask what the word for shit is????? I now have a few greetings jotted down, as i do not have a memory for language, but a few things are starting to sink in. By the end of the week I will be fluent ha ha ha.

The teacher I was sat with for a time has an infectious laugh, as you can imagine we were giggling at each other, particularily when we couldn't understand what either of us were saying. She was lovely and very patient with me.

I will leave Ruth to tell you about other events of the day........Naomi x

We had a good chat to Mr Meena and Mr Hamis (the old headteacher and now school warden for 12 schools in the area) about the construction of the kitchen and the programme of works. Feels like I am still at work. It looks very positive for the work to be completed before we leave. The school govenor has said he will make sure the builders turn up tomorrow even if wet to talk through the work. Apparently at the completion of our stay, we will plant some trees for them to remember us by.

After providing us with a morning snack of ground nuts, bananas and sweet tea we were formally introduced to the children. The children sang a welcome song to us which was just so lovely.

I went and braved the long drop (toilet) today which was just the same as roadside toilets in France and maybe even smelt slightly better. They had provide soft paper for us, which they wouldn't normally use, amazing. (Naomi - holding trousers amd knickers whilst squatting over a hole and making sure your trousers don't touch the ground is a real art.) On my way back one of the older girls wanted to meet me and say hello, unfortunately I can't remember her name but I hope we will meet again and she will help with my Swahili and vice versa.

We were fed at lunch time with the teachers a lovely meal of goat stew, avocado, cabbage and cucumber. Always seem to provide glass bottles of fizzy drinks with meals. The hospitallity in only two days is so much more than we would expect in the UK.

After the school day was over, we walked back to the tarmaced road with some of the teachers and what seemed like all of the children following us. We managed to get the kids to walk in front of us after Naomi stopped to take some pictures of the river (they are taking us up to the waterfall later this week).

Whilst waiting at the road for our driver we were greeted by the local church pastor (Lutheren) and elders and given a tour of the church. They offered to get the choir to sing a song for us as it was choir practice but we were worried that Godwin would be waiting for us. As it turned out we had plenty of time, not a problem as the choir continued to sing as they left the church and crossed the road to where we were waiting. At this point the clouds around Kili were clearing and we had a wonderful view all the way home.

Having bought vodka at the airport, Peter remembered today to get tonic water and we have been happily supping since we got back so apologisees forthe rambling (again after she deleted it some of it - arghhhhhhh).

Lots of joy to all and keep eating the chocolate at Jacobs as it can make such a difference over here..............Ruth


The day for Keilah and Amy was not as eventful as far as the projects were concerned. We spent the morning in meetings with Peter. We met with the Assistant Director of Education for our distract to discuss the lack of teacher support at our school (Masandaka School for the Deaf). It was adverbial tug of war concerning the need for teacher houses and transport at the school. To be fare the school i located far from every where with dirt roads that become rivers when it rains, and beautiful children who live on sight as it's a boarding school. I was interested to observe the political dynamic in the meeting, though uncomfortable...as with most school systems this department is struggling for money and has not made this particular need priority because they have so many other priorities. Peter has appointed himself as one of many advocates for this school.

The afternoon was a short stint, but a good start. Amy and I broke up into our respective rooms and groups. She, to work on the wall mural in the library, and I to give an introduction via role play on what a Library is and how the students will be responsible for the over all functioning.

We came back to the lodge to find a lovely view of Mt Kili from our lodge garden...breath taking moments like this, the sound of eager children laughing, or the vibrant display of color in every day motions confirm what seems slightly astonishing (especially after the struggle to get here lol!)...We're In Africa!

Day 3: Cloudy Sunday?

Our First REAL Day in Africa:

We had a very relaxing start (likely to be the only one for the next two weeks i imagine) and a nice breakfast of fruit and toast. Amy & Keilah headed off to experience church in Tanzania......

(We managed to catch the last 30min of the church service in Swahili. It was lovely...the dancing and singing, the auctioning off of a chicken to help a man in need, the lovely Sunday suits and dresses...Enjoyable! This was followed by the service in English...slightly dry, but we made new friends before we left, even met a young medical student from Oxford.) Whilst Naomi, Ruth and Peter stayed behind to discuss plans for the next few days.

Once all back together we headed off to see the schools that we are go ing to be working at. First we visited the school (Nkwasangare) where Naomi and Ruth are building a new kitchen. It is in a beautiful spot with Kilimanjaro as the back drop. Not that we have been able to see it today as it has been too cloudy. The school was very basic and in the process of expansion, although they have run out of money so the new classrooms have been waiting to be finished for over a year.

Apparently the school has been in existence since 1873, but was originally located in the church across the way and was only moved to its current spot in the 1970's. There are pictures painted on the outside walls to teach the children geography, anatomy, maths and various other subjects.

We met Mr Meena who is a science teacher at another school (lambo extended primary), and previous head Mr Ranol and the current headmistress Ms Lema.

They gave us a tour and told us about all the plans for the kitchen. The foundations have been laid and the walls are starting to go up, we look forward to finishing the project in the next 2 weeks.

As we were about to leave two of the school guardians came to greet us (Mr & Mrs Kwayli). They invited us for a walk and took us to their home where they somehow managed to produce an incredible meal out of no where. It was completely unexpected and quite overwhelming. How many people could provide a meal for 10 without any prior notice, amazing.We now have an open invite and have been told to go down while we are working at the school.

After, leaving we took a trip to Mr. Meena's school, Lambo. He showed us around the grounds and gave us an exclusive tour of his "Science Corner". The man is absolutely brilliant. A published author of 9 government approved science books, with 6 pending... He believes in practical, hands on leaning that involves all of a pupils 5 senses. The room is filled with papers, experiments, models, and quotes on learning and life.

These included:
"To build a child is to build a nation, so when we are educating him, we should not split him into 3. Let us give him courage, sense of belonging, confidence and love in learning".

The man loves to teach and although he is returning next year, desires to continue teaching in his local village...including writing a self help book titled "Thorns of the World". He was a real inspiration!

Unfortunately because of the wonderful suprise lunch (not complaining) we didn't make it to Keilah and Amy's school, so they will be heading there tomorrow, while Naomi and Ruth go back to Nkwasangare. Hopefully N&R will get to visit the other school at a later date.


The Team

Day 2: The Eagles have landed

We FINALLY made it to Tanzi!!!!

Somewhere around 9:30 we arrived and by 10:30 we were having cold beer on the Porch...
We met with our final member (Amy) of the team and our driver (Godwin).

We had a short tour and quick bite before heading to bed at 12...

Not much more to say...we're just happy tobe HERE!!!!

-The Team