Hi there.
So I have been home for almost, which is hard to believe. Time really does fly! I wanted to write a closing post since I did not write about my last week. I kept trying to write it right after I got home and now here I am two weeks later.
I came to a strong realization about the kids last week. I realized that one of the main reasons they fight with each other so much (aside from the corporeal punishment which I’ve written about before) is because they are not kept motivated nor are they kept busy during school. They each have a notebook which they bring every day and do all of their work by copying the exercise off the blackboard. It makes sense then, that without the use of creative visual aides and colourful things they can see and touch, they would lose focus so quickly. They are little, and little kids need that type of reinforcement in the classroom to really get something out of their learning. I learned this because one day Betty had a meeting and was not at school. I prepared a worksheet for the class (1 math exercise for the stronger kids and 1 for the weaker). I did my English class before that which went fine but they started getting very antsy and rowdy after I ran out of ways to go over the English words with them. Some ran outside, others were just fighting with each other in the middle of class (which are both very common things for these kids to do). And for the kids that stayed quiet, I started handing out the math exercises. And as I did that, the kids that were fighting stopped and ran up to me to get a copy, and some went outside to tell the rest to come back in. And everyone sat and did their exercises quietly and with visible motivation. They never get handouts, let alone their own piece of paper to work on, with shapes and designs. So it showed me I guess that these kids really do want to learn, and it really is the lack of resources there that explain why the primary school learning is often not effective.
Wow. I didn’t mean for that to be so long, I apologize! After school that same day one of the teachers that I formed a close relationship with, Sylvera, brought me to her home to meet her little 2 year old boy. Until this point I actually hadn’t been inside the house of a local so it was really really interesting. She is definitely more well off than the average poor person in Bagamoyo, but that really does say too much. Her house is cement and inside it was a little dirty and the curtains used as doors for the rooms. The size of the house is comparable to a 2 bedroom apartment I would say. She has a whole set of couches which was nice, she has a chest freezer in her kitchen, and she had a TV but it was stolen a few weeks before along with several pillows to her couches. We had a very nice visit (she sent her cleaning lady to get us pop) and then before we left she handed me a present wrapped in really wrapping paper! I was really in shock. I opened it and was excited to see that it was a conga. Congas are large pieces of fabric, and each one has a different design – they sell them all over in fabric stores. It was so thoughtful and unnecessary for her to do that.
That same day I had my meeting at the district education office. It was VERY interesting and there are definitely some pieces of that meeting I’m going to extract and work with to try and make them better. Asked them questions about child enrollment- by law, all Tanzanian children must attend primary school and according to their numbers 1% still do not go. I talked with them about discipline. I asked if they ever thought about the fact that hitting the children teaches gives a bad message to the kids which is why they are so aggressive with one another. They said they didn’t really think one had to do with the other. I wanted to tell them off a little at that point but I kept my mouth shut and continued asking questions. They said that it is these kids’ nature to fight. They also said, which is what I wrote about above, that without proper teaching aids the kids get crazy. By law, they said, only the HEAD teacher (the principal) is allowed to hit a child and must have a proper reason for it, and it must be maximum 6 times. First off, the fact that there is a maximum number of times to hit makes me a little bit sick. And second, the law is even implemented. The district officer clearly understands the issues and that this specific law is not enforced and she said that they are taking measures to stop it. I’ll believe it when I see it. It was interesting that something like 80% of their budget goes to salary for the teachers. This means that just 20% goes to educational resources and administrative stuff like exams. I’m still not sure if I agree with this or not. If less money is given toward salary, then even less qualified teachers will be teaching these kids, and there probably wouldn’t be enough in general. Prioritizing with very little to start with is extremely difficult as we all can imagine. We talked about some other topics- one that I am really interested- porridge at the schools. The kids really only get 2 meals a day, one of them being the school porridge which is basically watery flour. The way it works at some schools is that the community that a specific school is in will come together and decide whether they want to pool some extra money together for porridge. In other schools, the parents that want their kids to have porridge will pay a sum at the beginning of the year. The kids get very little nutrition and the whole system seems inefficient to me. I see some potential in maybe not nationalizing, but definitely broadening the porridge program so that it is the same at every school. It’s something I’m definitely thinking about.
All in all, very interesting meeting and while I was frustrated because I felt there things they didn’t understand they were very kind and took an hour out of their day to meet with me. North Americans would not take time out of their schedules on such short notice so easily- but this is very much in the Tanzanian nature.
That afternoon, Kara, Tessa and I went to another secondary school to meet with a group of girls. This discussion was incredible- I really could not have asked for a better experience. The girls are all around my age so they are a bit older than the girls we had met with the week before- and their English was SO much better. One girl was very outspoken. She rapped for us at the beginning and was cute. When we got into the topic of goals and challenges we face she got very emotional. She said that because she is so poor she is always thinking about how she will be able to pay for school, which distracts her from her work. She asked us for advice. All I could tell her (because I could never know what answer would actually help) was that she needs to just work as hard as she possibly could and keep her eye on the prize. But I could tell she is extremely smart and I have high hopes for her. I didn’t know what to say. The best part of the discussion was at the end, which ended up lasting about an hour- the girls asking us all kind of questions. They asked about our political system, our healthcare system, we explained calling 911 in an emergency and they were so excited a bunch of them pulled out pens and wrote the number on their hands. They asked us if people were poor and explaining that was difficult but Tessa did a great job. We explained to them that relationships are not private at home and they were shocked. One girl asked us if we had both of our parents alive, and when we all answered “yes”, she said, “congratulations”.
On my last morning, Saturday morning, all of our group woke up at 5:45 to go to the beach and watch the sunrise. It was incredible way to end off the trip because the view was truly breathtaking.
It was hard to say good bye. Robert and Edda helped me make a cake – well actually- they made the cake, I put the icing on it! And I brought it to class. The whole thing had to be orchestrated very carefully because you can imagine how these kids would react to seeing a cake. I had to get a ride to school, leave the cake in the van while I went into class and asked betty to help me keep the kids calm. She was great- they all sat and I handed them out cake. They ALL licked the chocolate icing off before eating the rest. When I got in the van to go they came running out of the classroom waving goodbye. It was very hard to say goodbye to the staff and to Betty. They are what made this trip so fantastic and I don’t think I can rave about them enough. SO, although they will probably never see this:
Mama Thea, Mama C, Didase, Christine, Robert, Edda, Edna, Paulina, Betty, Chiku, Anna, Tuma, Elias, Saide, Sayede – thank you for inspiring me every day. You are all wonderful people and the trip would not have been the same without you.
Any to my volunteer crew- who I should actually be calling my family because that’s what we are. I am so lucky to have experienced this trip with you. Thank you for being so supportive and so much fun.
I can’t really imagine not going back to visit Bagamoyo- I feel there is a lot of work that needs to be done. Hopefully I will make it back there some day, but for now, I will just say “Badaye”- NOT- “Kwaheri” (“later” not “goodbye”).
Friday, June 19, 2009
Monday, June 1, 2009
Hellooo.
I can’t believe I’m writing with just 5 days left. Oh dear god.
School.
School has been great. My kids are so cute I want to eat them. They are really getting the animals because I’ve been putting actions and sounds to each one. Last Thursday Betty really wasn’t feeling well so I basically ran the show. It went well actually, but I was glad she was there to quiet them down at certain points. I gave her pepto bismol and she said it helped (obviously it helped, pepto= life). Today I had to give them an exam. It’s a little bit absurd that I had to give 4,5,6,7 years olds an exam, but I had to do it. It was on 5 questions and each child came into the room and we asked them the questions. I felt really bad when they didn’t get it but how I could I expect the 4 years olds to get it?!
Last Wednesday we went to the home of a lady with AIDS. She sleeps in a room with her ducks because there is no other place as her children all sleep in the other, very small, room. We went to build bricks for a new room. She seemed well, smiled a lot and was very grateful that we were there. I officially know how to build bricks which is kinda cool. Next time a group goes they will actually finish building the room.
Last Thursday 3 other volunteers and I went to a secondary school in the area to talk with some of the girls. I really wanted to do this because I feel very strongly that girls here don’t feel empowered, and there are countless statistics about girls dropping out of secondary school due to pregnancy and such. I was a little bit disheartened at the beginning because there were only a few girls that were actually talking. They told us that many of them can’t speak English well (which I was surprised about because they are expected to learn all their classes in English). Also, many of these girls were painfully shy, especially when it came to talking about guys, relationships, sex and protection. In this culture, relationships and sex is not spoken about- it is extremely private. No one talks to their friends or family about it. It’s no wonder that girls are pressured and mistreated in relationships here- they have no one to talk to about it. Mama C (our program director who I’ve mentioned before and absolutely love) came with us. She was amazing because she translated a lot for us. The girls were so surprised that talking about relationships and things like that is very normal in western culture. One girl told us that boys are “shit” (her words exactly) and that girls are weak. Another girl said that many times, a guy will SAY he will bring a condom but never actually does, and that the girl will engage anyway. This is a huge issue here. Although teaching about protection happens in school, it doesn’t seem like it has picked up momentum yet. One girl said that girls did worse at school than boys. Because it is not a boarding school, the girls go home and night and are expected to help out with chores while the boys study. All these things were very hard to hear. In the middle of our talk, Mama C’s phone went off (I’ve gotten used to the song on her ring tune and I love it), and I started dancing a little and the girls all laughed. They got more comfortable after that because I guess they saw that I’m not just some foreigner whose coming to preach. By the end, I felt so much better about the discussion and I truly feel that we accomplished something. We are going to try to get back there before we go. We made plans to meet them at the beach on Sunday. I left them with the message that education is absolute priority and that nothing should stand in the way of their goals. I told them the stat that 8% of secondary school girls dropped in 2005, and it grows each year…I told them not to become part of that growing number.
On the way to school on Friday morning Kara and I saw a little girl get hit by a motorcycle. There is a main street here that I walk on for about 10 minutes to school and the cars/motorcycles are just insane. At home pedestrians have the right of way- it is NOT like that here! A huge crowd surrounded the girl and the motorcycle driver. After about 10 minutes someone stopped a card driving by and took the girl to the hospital. She seemed to be find except for the large bump on her head thank god. The driver looked like he was in shock. It was a pretty crazy thing for us to see., we were pretty upset about it.
On the same token, I kept meaning to write this because it truly is a culture shock. Last weekend one of our staff, Christine, got in a very bad accident. They have these things called “bagagees” here. They fit three people and looked like little motorized trolleys. They are very small and windowless. They are also cheaper than taking taxis. They’re great for a getting around in town here but Christine took on all the way to Dar (an hour drive on main roads) a week ago Friday night. The bagagee got hit and the driver ran away. Christine was left lying in the middle of the road for about half an hour, without a single car stopping to help her until one guy finally did. He called her husband and our country director (mama Thea) and put her in his car. In Tanzania, there are no ambulances and you cannot just go to the emergency room. You must first go to the police station and sign all these papers before you go. So Christine was lying in this guy’s car bleeding like crazy while he had to go sign papers. Finally, she got to the hospital. Apparently she is at the best hospital in the country. She ended up fracturing her femur. They said it was a miracle she survived. She is in a ward with 30 people and is very uncomfortable. Hopefully we’re going to visit her on Saturday on our way to the airport.
On a lighter note, I had a great weekend here in Bagamoyo. Friday night we went to our favourite bar and Al (one of the volunteers who we all LOVE and was leaving the next day) brought his ipod and I brought mine and we had the guys there plug them in. So we had some great music going and had a blast. Saturday morning I woke up at about 5:45 with several other volunteers to walk to the beach to watch the sunrise. 3 of them were leaving a few hours later so they wanted to go. It was BEAUTIFUL. I took some great pictures but they really don’t compare. After breakfast, we went Nick’s school (a volunteer) because he was teaching them a music class and brought his guitar and everything. It was so adorable. The kids are older than most of the classes that the rest of us have. He teacher 10-12 year olds, so their English is a lot better. He taught them some songs including “I’m yours” by Jason Mraz and they caught on so quickly. I caught some on video- it was awesome. We then had to say goodbye to the volunteers leaving which was extremely sad. After they last we all just kind of sat around being sad for a while until we cheered up enough to go to the beach. It was a beautiful day and I really just don’t get tired of going there! After dinner, there was a Ms. Bagamoyo pageant that some of us went to!! We were SO excited. We were told that it started at 7:30, so we went, bought our tickets, walked in and saw that there was not ONE person there. They decided to tell us then that the show did not start until 9. We went to a bar for a bit and went back for 9. Surpise surprise, not many more people there than than an hour before. We wait until 10:00 (our curfew here) and the show still hadn’t started! Typical Tanzania. We were upset about the show but just couldn’t stop laughing because the whole situation was so absurd. Anyhoo, our friend John, Kara and I took a Bagagee home because we just really wanted to experience it. I was sitting the middle and laughing so hard the entire time. Kara was freaking out the whole time because he was going super fast. It was quite the experience. A group of 20 new volunteers arrived late Saturday night. It is weird to see so many new people here since we were used to have just 15 of us. They are really nice but I will only be with them for a week! On Sunday I wanted to go to a church to see what the service was like (I heard there was lotsof music and singing and I thought it would be cool to go). But of course, we were told the wrong time and got there an hour early. Haha. Anyway, a Norwegian lady who teaches dance at the arts college was holding a free yoga class in this large hot right on the beach so a bunch of us went. It was FANTASTIC. I have never felt so relaxed in my life. She had us all sleeping at the end and when she woke us up, it turns out we had been in the class for an hour and 45 minutes! It was a good challenge and felt amazing. We’re going to try to get another class with her before we leave. We went back to the beach in the afternoon to meet with the secondary school girls. Well, they are almost 2 hours late and a couple of them came. I didn’t care- I was just happy they came! We sat and talked with them for a while and they listened to my ipod and we all sang Rihanna together. We had a great time with them.
OK. I think I’ll leave it at that. I’ll try to get back here again before I go but I may be too busy trying to pack everything into my last week.
I hear the weather is crap at home so hopefully I can bring some sun with me!!
I hope everyone is happy and well.
xoxoxoxoxox
I can’t believe I’m writing with just 5 days left. Oh dear god.
School.
School has been great. My kids are so cute I want to eat them. They are really getting the animals because I’ve been putting actions and sounds to each one. Last Thursday Betty really wasn’t feeling well so I basically ran the show. It went well actually, but I was glad she was there to quiet them down at certain points. I gave her pepto bismol and she said it helped (obviously it helped, pepto= life). Today I had to give them an exam. It’s a little bit absurd that I had to give 4,5,6,7 years olds an exam, but I had to do it. It was on 5 questions and each child came into the room and we asked them the questions. I felt really bad when they didn’t get it but how I could I expect the 4 years olds to get it?!
Last Wednesday we went to the home of a lady with AIDS. She sleeps in a room with her ducks because there is no other place as her children all sleep in the other, very small, room. We went to build bricks for a new room. She seemed well, smiled a lot and was very grateful that we were there. I officially know how to build bricks which is kinda cool. Next time a group goes they will actually finish building the room.
Last Thursday 3 other volunteers and I went to a secondary school in the area to talk with some of the girls. I really wanted to do this because I feel very strongly that girls here don’t feel empowered, and there are countless statistics about girls dropping out of secondary school due to pregnancy and such. I was a little bit disheartened at the beginning because there were only a few girls that were actually talking. They told us that many of them can’t speak English well (which I was surprised about because they are expected to learn all their classes in English). Also, many of these girls were painfully shy, especially when it came to talking about guys, relationships, sex and protection. In this culture, relationships and sex is not spoken about- it is extremely private. No one talks to their friends or family about it. It’s no wonder that girls are pressured and mistreated in relationships here- they have no one to talk to about it. Mama C (our program director who I’ve mentioned before and absolutely love) came with us. She was amazing because she translated a lot for us. The girls were so surprised that talking about relationships and things like that is very normal in western culture. One girl told us that boys are “shit” (her words exactly) and that girls are weak. Another girl said that many times, a guy will SAY he will bring a condom but never actually does, and that the girl will engage anyway. This is a huge issue here. Although teaching about protection happens in school, it doesn’t seem like it has picked up momentum yet. One girl said that girls did worse at school than boys. Because it is not a boarding school, the girls go home and night and are expected to help out with chores while the boys study. All these things were very hard to hear. In the middle of our talk, Mama C’s phone went off (I’ve gotten used to the song on her ring tune and I love it), and I started dancing a little and the girls all laughed. They got more comfortable after that because I guess they saw that I’m not just some foreigner whose coming to preach. By the end, I felt so much better about the discussion and I truly feel that we accomplished something. We are going to try to get back there before we go. We made plans to meet them at the beach on Sunday. I left them with the message that education is absolute priority and that nothing should stand in the way of their goals. I told them the stat that 8% of secondary school girls dropped in 2005, and it grows each year…I told them not to become part of that growing number.
On the way to school on Friday morning Kara and I saw a little girl get hit by a motorcycle. There is a main street here that I walk on for about 10 minutes to school and the cars/motorcycles are just insane. At home pedestrians have the right of way- it is NOT like that here! A huge crowd surrounded the girl and the motorcycle driver. After about 10 minutes someone stopped a card driving by and took the girl to the hospital. She seemed to be find except for the large bump on her head thank god. The driver looked like he was in shock. It was a pretty crazy thing for us to see., we were pretty upset about it.
On the same token, I kept meaning to write this because it truly is a culture shock. Last weekend one of our staff, Christine, got in a very bad accident. They have these things called “bagagees” here. They fit three people and looked like little motorized trolleys. They are very small and windowless. They are also cheaper than taking taxis. They’re great for a getting around in town here but Christine took on all the way to Dar (an hour drive on main roads) a week ago Friday night. The bagagee got hit and the driver ran away. Christine was left lying in the middle of the road for about half an hour, without a single car stopping to help her until one guy finally did. He called her husband and our country director (mama Thea) and put her in his car. In Tanzania, there are no ambulances and you cannot just go to the emergency room. You must first go to the police station and sign all these papers before you go. So Christine was lying in this guy’s car bleeding like crazy while he had to go sign papers. Finally, she got to the hospital. Apparently she is at the best hospital in the country. She ended up fracturing her femur. They said it was a miracle she survived. She is in a ward with 30 people and is very uncomfortable. Hopefully we’re going to visit her on Saturday on our way to the airport.
On a lighter note, I had a great weekend here in Bagamoyo. Friday night we went to our favourite bar and Al (one of the volunteers who we all LOVE and was leaving the next day) brought his ipod and I brought mine and we had the guys there plug them in. So we had some great music going and had a blast. Saturday morning I woke up at about 5:45 with several other volunteers to walk to the beach to watch the sunrise. 3 of them were leaving a few hours later so they wanted to go. It was BEAUTIFUL. I took some great pictures but they really don’t compare. After breakfast, we went Nick’s school (a volunteer) because he was teaching them a music class and brought his guitar and everything. It was so adorable. The kids are older than most of the classes that the rest of us have. He teacher 10-12 year olds, so their English is a lot better. He taught them some songs including “I’m yours” by Jason Mraz and they caught on so quickly. I caught some on video- it was awesome. We then had to say goodbye to the volunteers leaving which was extremely sad. After they last we all just kind of sat around being sad for a while until we cheered up enough to go to the beach. It was a beautiful day and I really just don’t get tired of going there! After dinner, there was a Ms. Bagamoyo pageant that some of us went to!! We were SO excited. We were told that it started at 7:30, so we went, bought our tickets, walked in and saw that there was not ONE person there. They decided to tell us then that the show did not start until 9. We went to a bar for a bit and went back for 9. Surpise surprise, not many more people there than than an hour before. We wait until 10:00 (our curfew here) and the show still hadn’t started! Typical Tanzania. We were upset about the show but just couldn’t stop laughing because the whole situation was so absurd. Anyhoo, our friend John, Kara and I took a Bagagee home because we just really wanted to experience it. I was sitting the middle and laughing so hard the entire time. Kara was freaking out the whole time because he was going super fast. It was quite the experience. A group of 20 new volunteers arrived late Saturday night. It is weird to see so many new people here since we were used to have just 15 of us. They are really nice but I will only be with them for a week! On Sunday I wanted to go to a church to see what the service was like (I heard there was lotsof music and singing and I thought it would be cool to go). But of course, we were told the wrong time and got there an hour early. Haha. Anyway, a Norwegian lady who teaches dance at the arts college was holding a free yoga class in this large hot right on the beach so a bunch of us went. It was FANTASTIC. I have never felt so relaxed in my life. She had us all sleeping at the end and when she woke us up, it turns out we had been in the class for an hour and 45 minutes! It was a good challenge and felt amazing. We’re going to try to get another class with her before we leave. We went back to the beach in the afternoon to meet with the secondary school girls. Well, they are almost 2 hours late and a couple of them came. I didn’t care- I was just happy they came! We sat and talked with them for a while and they listened to my ipod and we all sang Rihanna together. We had a great time with them.
OK. I think I’ll leave it at that. I’ll try to get back here again before I go but I may be too busy trying to pack everything into my last week.
I hear the weather is crap at home so hopefully I can bring some sun with me!!
I hope everyone is happy and well.
xoxoxoxoxox
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