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”).