Bunju A to Bunju B

Dear friends, family, and faithful followers,

I hope this newest blog update finds everyone well and happy. We have had another eventful week here in Bunju A, Tanzania, and I am anxious to tell you about it.

Since we last met one another in the magical world of the internets, we have visited some friends, done much administrative work, conducted and taught classes and made some amazing connections.

On Friday morning, we were finally able to visit Olof Bethsaida Secondary School and Orphanage, thanks to the generosity of our friend Aichi. Aichi picked us up on the road in Bunju A, and drove further north through Bunju B and into the country. The scenery was beautiful; it is exactly what one expects to see when one pictures “Africa”. There were incredible rolling hills, lush greens, red roads, and a cool misty fog lying everywhere. We climbed and descended many hills, finally entering a game reserve (where I had hoped to see some monkeys, but alas, no luck this time) and eventually made it to Olof.

Olof has an incredibly beautiful campus, and I was so happy to finally get to see the third school being helped by the Tanzanian Education Project. Cassie had warned me that I would be hooked on Olof as soon as I arrived there, but I was not prepared for how wonderful and place and how deserving the students would be. From the entrance, the campus slopes down into a valley, with a few buildings for dormitories, classrooms, administrative buildings, and housing for volunteers. That day, it was cool and drizzling, and we could see some volunteers working hard on constructing a new library for the school. The administrators were absolutely delighted when we told them we would be bringing some books and the girls would be able to utilize their library right away.

Our friend Aichi, who had escorted us to Olof, was interviewing five candidates for a mentorship program, aimed at helping girls who are interested in the sciences. Before our visit, five of the top girls in the sciences had been selected, and that day Aichi was interviewing them in order to select two who would have the opportunity to visit Dar es Salaam and be paired up with a prominent female scientist and learn about her profession. Teresa and I got to sit in on the interviews while Cassie went over some administrative details with MamaChristina, one of the matrons of the school. It was difficult to select just two girls out of the five candidates, as all seemed incredibly intelligent and motivated, but after each delivered a speech about what they would like to become after university, we selected Winnifred and Prisca (hopefully, we will have photos up for you soon!). Both girls were very excited and flattered and are now looking forward to their trip, which they should be making tomorrow!

After we got a tour of the campus, which is very green and decorated with beautiful gardens, we climbed back into Aichi’s car and headed home. When we arrived back in Bunju A, Teresa said she was feeling ill, so we went back to Bibi and Babu’s immediately so she could rest. Later in the day, as we prepared to go visit our friends Billo and Eve (Bibi and Babu’s son and daughter-in-law), we managed to convince Teresa that she should get tested for malaria on the way there, as she had been feeling ill all week. Albert took us to a clinic on the way to Makumbusho (where Billo lives, just outside of Dar es Salaam), and despite our language barrier, he was incredibly helpful as always. Teresa was seen by a doctor right away, tested, and we discovered that she did in fact have malaria. She got the necessary medicine, and decided that she would stay at home for the weekend instead of staying at Billo’s.

DO NOT WORRY THOUGH, TERESA HAS FINISHED HER ROUND OF ANTIBIOTICS AND IS IN TIP-TOP SHAPE!

While T recuperated under the careful eye of Bibi at home, Cassie and I had an enjoyable time with Eve and Billo. They are a wonderful, welcoming couple, and it was so nice to be able to spend the weekend with another part of the Kahatano family. We saw a show with ethnic dancing and it was fantastic! I really enjoyed being a bit of a tourist for the weekend. On Sunday, Billo and Eve drove us back home and spent the day in Bunju A, visiting and checking in on Bibi and Babu.

This week, we are continuing to try and work out the issues of the timetable for Fanaka, as we are getting rid of one period at the end of the day, so we must rearrange teaching loads and when certain classes meet, all within the strictures and requirements of the Tanzanian government. This is incredibly difficult and very trying, but we are almost finished and will have the new timetable solidified before regular classes begin again on July 5th. The reasoning behind shortening the school day is that so many students do not bring lunch, nor can they afford to buy lunch. So students go without eating until their lunch period (7:40am to 2:30pm), and then have two more classes after the lunch period, making the school day last until 4:30pm. Even for those students who can afford lunch, they are tired and unable to function in their afternoon classes. Right now, since the school is so under budget, we cannot afford to feed those students who are going hungry, so our only solution, really, is to make the school day a little shorter.

In addition to revamping the timetable, we have drawn up several proposals including a proposal for a study hall period (as when students do not have class, they run rampant on the campus, and then are difficult to corral for their next class, which disrupts the entire day), a system of positive reinforcements to reward those students who excel in their class and make improvements, new discipline procedures, and a set of guidelines for teacher conduct. Hopefully, these new administrative proposals will help the school run more smoothly in the future and eliminate issues of tardiness on both the parts of teachers and students. Our headmistress, Matilda, is working incredibly hard, taking on these new proposals, even though she is trying to finish up all of the grading from last examinations, and we are especially grateful to her. Also this week, Cassie met with Allen, the bursar (head of finances) for Fanaka to discuss some important budget issues.

Also this week at Fanaka, the shelves in the library were finished! They completely cover one wall of the library and look wonderful! I am so eager to get them stocked full of books for the students.

We were also able to see the shop Babu was able to rent out in order to raise revenue for Fanaka. It was really exciting to see some fruits of our fundraising efforts. We have an ambitious goal of getting the shop finished and stocked by mid/late July. Bibi and Babu’s son Billo will be taking part of his holiday out to help get the shop up and running. It is right along the main road coming into Bunju, so hopefully we will get some good business.

The sea container has yet to arrive, but the office in Dar continues to assure us that it will arrive at Fanaka this week. We are all hoping that this will work out, as we begin accruing port fees tomorrow.

In conclusion, we have made some exciting progress, seen some interesting new things and come up against some more hurdles. I am keeping a positive outlook, though sometimes the prospects and magnitude of how much work we must do seems daunting. There is so much work yet to do, so many more funds yet to raise, and of course there is never enough time. However, I am cherishing every minute here, and though working on “Tanzanian time” is sometimes incredibly frustrating for me, I absolutely love being here.

Thanks again to all our friends and family working hard at home. We miss you dearly.

xoxox,

Eileen

Slowly but Surely

Hello again family, friends, supporters and followers,

Here we are one month in and very busy preparing for all current and upcoming projects. Unfortunately, as African Time promises, everything is running very slowly but we are making sufficient progress. The shelves are being built in the library as we speak, the ELA Paint Project will be finalized tomorrow and the ELA School Bus will be up and running by the start of school on July 4^th. As founder of The Tanzanian Education Project it is extremely rewarding to see our donors money morphing into the much needed projects I’ve been yapping about for the past year. Most importantly, I have been able to accurately evaluate the severity of old and new problems. To my dismay the problems with students’ inability to pay for school fees, untrained teachers and a non- existing budget is threatening our schools’ survival. Worst of all, since I was here last year, the hopes to drill for a new well has been crushed as water levels are lower than ever. Since arriving, clean water has been our biggest, unforeseen challenge.

Since the start of the TEP, the focus has always been self-sustaining initiatives in order to empower the school and the students to take care of their problems with their own solutions. It is great to see that we have unconditional support for such projects by our staff, friends and family here in TZ. Although I am personally committed to our mission of self-sustaining projects, it is clear that we need to address some basic concerns like water before we expect these children to utilize their education. The three of us have put together numerous proposals for upcoming projects that unfortunately our budget this time will not cover. We hope to launch the Hydrate to Educate (H2E) project as soon as we arrive back in the USA. Of course we won’t stop there as many existing and new problems still need our attention.

Over the weekend we went to the home of Albert (Fanaka’s and Bibi and Babu’s driver). We are very close with Albert and his family so it was good to see where they live. Over the past few years Albert and Mama Sophie would save about $15 USD a month from their paychecks to build their home brick by brick. After Lena (a previous volunteer) and I left Bunju A we donated money to their building efforts. I learned that with our help they were able to connect to the generator for power. This gives their children Sophie and Donny the ability to study at night. It also better ensures the overall safety of the environment for the family. It feels good to see how a small donation to such a deserving family can make such a positive impact.

This week Teresa and I visited an old student of mine named Allen. I taught him as a Form 3 but due to his inability to pay school fees he had to move to a different school. I was able to contact him and set up a time over holiday to see him. We ate lunch with his family and shared stories about his new school. I have missed him very much as he is a very unique, clever character that made many of my days at Fanaka brighter. Hopefully we will be able to see him again in the next few months.

On Friday we will be visiting Olof Bethsaida Secondary School and Orphanage, the third school the TEP supports. There I will be completing some work for our partner African Children’s’ Haven Girl Science Scholarship Program. It is great to work with such a great program and organization. We are excited to learn from Olof’s successful Garden Project, Chicken Project and the Eye Glass program thanks to the hard work of previous Olof volunteers.

Plans for next week: Finalize budgets and proposals for Garden Lunch Project, Chicken Project and Eye Glass program. We will also be visiting other secondary schools to learn from them and develop more contacts in the education field. Implementing decisions made during our teacher/staff meetings. And hopefully unloading the sea container (new delivery date is set for June 24^th- keep your fingers crossed).

As always thank you for reading and your continued support!

-Cassie

Lady Gaga and the Back-Up Dancers

Week three is behind us and we have lots of news to cover. Final examinations are over and the students are not the only ones who are thankful for that! Friday, after we proctored the last exam, Cassie, Eileen and I decided that since the kids had been working so hard they deserved a little treat. We performed a “skit” which involved me singing and playing guitar, accompanied by my two backup dancers. We performed “Baby” by Justin Bieber and “Bad Romance” by Lady Gaga. Of course, the kids loved it and have not stopped asking us to sing those songs ever since.

The weekend flew by and included a lot of work on typing up documents for needs assessments of the three schools, budgets, and working on the documentary. We also got final estimates on the cost of building shelves, desks and chairs in the library at Fanaka. Then for fun Bilo, Bibi’s son, took us to Bagamoyo on Sunday to see the coast. It was very beautiful and interesting to learn about the history of the city. We all enjoyed splashing our feet in the warm Indian Ocean, collecting shells, and searching for crustacean organisms in the low-tide pools (ok maybe the last one was just me).

Monday marked the start of the holiday term in which students from form II and form IV come to Fanaka for a half-day of review classes in order to prepare themselves for their national exams in September. I am teaching both forms of biology classes and Eileen and Cassie are teaching forms of the English classes. It’s very exciting to be teaching about a subject I am so passionate about, but overtime I have come to realize that it is truly a challenge to teach complex concepts to a group of teenagers, especially because English is not their first language. I admire how hard they work in order to grasp these concepts because I know it was hard enough for me to understand, even with the advantage of learning it in my native tongue.

We also had a staff meeting at Fanaka to discuss the major problems that the school was facing and how the Tanzanian Education Project’s programs could fix them. Also included in the discussion were various administrative problems affecting the school. We set up three committees to address them in an organized fashion. In each committee we have a volunteer representative and we have meetings set for next week.

The discipline committee, represented by Cassie, aims to reform the current discipline policies that are clearly not working at Fanaka. We are all brainstorming new systems to implement at the school that will be effective and simple so that the staff will continue to follow them after we are gone. The academic committee, represented by Eileen, aims to reform the problems with the current time table, reinforce the rules of speaking English only on the campus, and possibly setting up a system of positive reinforcement for students in order to encourage them to do better. The last committee is the sports and clubs committee, which I am representing. Our goal is to get a budget for fixing the soccer and volleyball fields, implementing new clubs, and addressing any other needs that the school has in this sector which hopefully will raise enrollment and make the school more money.

We all taught our first real lessons on Tuesday. Mine was form II biology and it was very exhilarating! The students told me they needed help with understanding the role of carbohydrates so we went into amino acids, proteins, lipids and all that good stuff. Giving them real-life examples and analogies to make them understand is very rewarding.

We will continue to teach our lessons for the rest of this month and hopefully do a good job of preparing these students for their national exams. The new term starts July 5^th so we are also hoping to have all administrative problems reformed by then!

Unfortunately, the sea container arrival date has been pushed back again to June 19^th because of the strike in South Africa.

Plans for next week include continuing the construction of the library at Fanaka, starting reconstruction of library space at ELA, visiting Olof, visiting nearby schools in order to see how they make their library and disciplinary systems work, committee meetings, and holding the normal classes.

Thanks for reading!

-Teresa

Star Wars Garb Meets Traditional Tanzanian Dress

Greetings, dedicated followers! This week, I (Eileen Moeller) will be your faithful correspondent. Last week, Cassie Parkhurst, the founder of The Tanzanian Education Project, gave you the run-down of how our travels went and the happenings of our first few days in Tanzania. Cassie, myself, and our colleague Teresa O’Neill will be switching off every week as far as who updates the blog. So, this week, you get to see our adventures in Tanzania through my (Eileen’s) eyes, and next week, you will be updated by our very own Irish lass, Teresa.

We have been in Bunja A, Tanzania, for a little over a week now. In the past week, we have visited Dar es Salaam, laid out plans for the libraries at both ELA Nursery School and Fanaka Memorial Secondary School, supervised exams, had the Fanaka school bus assessed, visited the students at ELA again, and made many new friends among both the faculty and students at Fanaka. I cannot express how much I am enjoying my first trip to Tanzania. Bibi and Babu (our adoptive Grandmother and Grandfather) are wonderful hosts, and treat us like queens.

Last Friday was our first full day at Fanaka. Half of last week, and all this week, students are taking their final exams before a one-month holiday during the month of June. The students work very hard, and all three of us (Cassie, Teresa and I) usually spend some time with individual students after exams helping with English, Biology, Math or Civics. We have also been able to split up teaching loads in the past week, and we will start teaching when classes resume the first week of July.

I, thankfully, will have an opportunity to put my Liberal Arts degree to use, as I will be teaching English to Form II, III and IV students (similar to sophomore, junior and senior in high school) and probably start a drama club-- friends and family, please take a moment to appreciate this full use of an otherwise useless degree, because once I leave this country, it will probably never happen again...

Teresa will be teaching Biology for Form II, III and Mathematics for Form III, and Cassie will be teaching English for Form I students, as most of her time will be spent doing administrative and planning for Fanaka and The Tanzanian Education Project. We are all anxious to begin teaching, but in the meantime, we will be planning further and building the libraries in Fanaka and ELA nursery school during the holiday. We will also plan out the library for Olof Bethsaida Secondary School and Orphanage, but have not yet been able to visit the school, as it is still rainy and the roads are too muddy.

In other news, we have received more word on the sea container! The news is both good and bad, in that we learned there was a strike in South Africa, so the container had not actually yet reached the port in Dar, so we are not accumulating fees. However, now we have to wait until June 10 to get our books. Though we are frustrated that those valuable supplies which were so generously donated will take a bit longer to get into the hands of students, we are grateful our budget hasn’t taken any more hits.

For those who may be interested as to why, I, Eileen Moeller (Spyleen to some close friends) decided to join Cassie on this grand adventure, please allow me a moment to enlighten you. As a concerned activist and aspiring world-saver, I have for a few years been looking for a volunteer opportunity where any money I spent would only go towards my travel and lodging, and to those I would be assisting. With many volunteer placement programs, the bulk of the money paid to the organization stays in the United States, which doesn’t benefit any needy parties. When Cassie came back from her first trip to Tanzania and began TEP, I was taken in by her enthusiasm, and amazed by how close and concerned about this family and these schools she became in just a few months.

After asking many questions, and making my family worry a lot (ha), I finally bought my ticket to Tanzania. I will be here for three months, and I already know after a week and a half among this fantastic family and at these schools that three months will be much too short a time. I am already in the process of making plans to come back early next year, hopefully for six months or so. There is much work to be done, but Bibi, Babu and their family are enthusiastic and incredibly grateful for our help, and anxious to start the many projects that ELA and Fanaka need so deperately. I can’t even imagine how much more dedicated I will feel to TEP after visiting Olof (hopefully later this week).

Plans for this week: Finish drawing up ground plans for the three libraries (etched out by yours truly), finalize pricing and construction with carpenter, locate building supplies for the libraries, finalize all paperwork for the arrival of the shipping container and continue working on the budgets for ELA and Fanaka.

With that, I wish all of our friends, family and other concerned parties well in the coming week, and I hope you are all enjoying your summers. May the Force be with you.

PS: It turns out Kongas (traditional skirts/dresses worn by most African women) look really great with Star Wars t-shirts. :)

Pictures From Our First Few Weeks

Teresa and Eileen Working On Puzzles With The Students.
Teresa and Eileen Playing With The Students, Enjoying The Sun.
One of the Smiling Faces That Makes all of our Hard Work Worth It.