The Sea Container that Keeps Giving

Currently we are working on some advertising projects for the Stationary Shop business. We decided to post some hand painted wood signs in front of the Stationary Shop as well as around town promoting those items that makes our store only our store sells. We knew that we would spend at least 70,000 TZ shillings ($47) on two small and two medium sized signs. So Mwenda (the shop manager), Fabian (our carpenter) and I decided we would do it ourselves by utilizing some supplies left over from the sea container in order to stretch our donations as far as possible.

Since the sea container arrived two years ago every piece has been utilized. The wood boxes, generously donated by American Packaging, which held all of the donated books and school items was an unforeseen gem. These boxes became shelves, desks and chairs for the library, lab tables, doors and even bunk beds. Every fastener, screw and nail was saved and is still used today.

Mwenda and I went into the back room of the assembly hall at school where some supplies were being stored to scrounge up some wood pieces for the signs. Fabian assembled the scrap pieces from the used nails to make a clean surface to paint on. We used the paint brushes that TEP purchased two years ago and bought eye catching paint for just 8,000 TZ shillings ($5). I spent a few days prepping the surface with a white back ground, sketching the words and carefully painting each letter. Everyone reminded me a hundred times over how Eileen was the best artist for painting letters and she should be here to take my place, I fully agreed.  Although I was much slower than Eileen would have been, the signs turned out great. This was such a simple, cheap way to increase business and keep our shop not only self sustainable but thriving. 

-Cassie

Rainy Day

It’s been raining a lot the last few days. Everyone slows down when the rain comes. Many shops close, the children hide under the over hangs and as the women continue to work the men wait for the rain to end. Even when it rains at home I am consumed with thoughts of naps and here is no different. I love a good rainy day. I think the years of seizing sunny summer vacation days outside with the only excusable break being on a rainy day. You could cuddle up, watch a movie and nap all day- guilt free.  It could also be because coming from a construction family, there was nothing more glorious than a rain day. Similar to a school snow day, rain meant no work and what could be better than that. Every morning before school my first thought (and despite being 24 and not in school, still is) was ‘oh please let it be a snow day.’ Although I loved the idea of no school and enjoyed playing with my friends, a snow day still meant getting on all your snow gear and sweating as you struggled to put on your boots on. There is still nothing better than a nice long nap on a good rainy day. Although there is no nap in store for me today, I can’t help but dream.

Today, I am working on write ups, research and paper work for TEP. The power has been much more reliable this trip than ever in the past but when it rains the power goes in and out. Now that it’s on, I’m taking full advantage to get some administrative work done. The biggest fundraising campaign that I am completing the research and documentation on is getting support for FANAKA’a teaching staff. Even in US schools teacher’s salaries are the largest burden on school’s budgets. FANAKA’s inability to pay competitive salaries on time is threatening closure of the school. Last month we finally paid back salaries all the way from January. If we could get a sponsorship of a few teachers that would ensure the school could stay open. A qualified teacher gets paid about $315 a month and our teaching staff is ten members. Relieving this burden would also allow the school to invest in a qualified and trained administration.

Currently, a responsible teacher that we trust is our school’s principle, director, discipline master all while teaching two subjects for 4 grades. He runs the school even though he is over worked and not trained in administrative matters. The best method to improve the school quickly is to hire a director or school manager that is tied to education and enrollment goals. These individuals are tied to well known teachers and often bring large amounts of students and resources with them. This is the new strategy of all the top schools and there were a good handful of schools that two years ago scored lower than FANAKA on the national examinations that now are at the top. We know investing in a trained management could change FANAKA forever, however there is no way we can swing it without some hefty support.   
-Cassie

Fabrics Galore 6/21/12

Fabrics Galore

 Today Cassie took me into town (Dares Salaam) to the textile market. When she told me about this place, she said there were lots and lots of fabrics of all sizes and colors. I thought; ok this will be fun to go and see not really knowing what to expect. We hopped on a bus and headed to the textile market. When we got there it was nothing like I was expecting. I was thinking there would be a few very large shops of fabrics; but there were blocks and blocks of different stores for textiles. There was every color of fabric there that you could imagine from plain colors of blue and pink to tie dyed fabrics, to fabrics that had paintings on them, and even some fabrics that had gold stitching on them.

 

There were also different sizes of fabrics. There were fabrics used for wipe cloths to fabrics for clothes to fabrics for blankets, blinds or tapestries. They were gorgeous! The streets were lined with piles and piles of these fabrics and many rows of fabrics. Some of the piles reached from the ground to as high as I stand. I could run my fingers right through these fabrics to touch and feel any of the fabrics I wanted to. Some of the textiles were very soft while others were a little rough. There were hundreds of people selling these fabrics. Every step you took was another person selling these textiles.

 

I bought a lot of them; I bought some big and some small. It was an experience that I will remember forever.

-Katie

 

Lucian ‘Father’ Muna

For those of you that are not familiar with Father’s story, I encourage you to follow some past blogs so you can understand the magnitude of his heart wrenching situation. In short, Father is a boy I met during my first stay at the Kahatano residence. He gets his name because his Father shares his name; similar to how we use Junior.  When I met him he was the sweetest, most intelligent, unbelievably loving and charismatic 7 year old boy I had ever met. Unfortunately, his single mother is mentally ill. For years he has endured extreme physical and mental abuse under her care. Her erratic attitude and manipulative behavior plagued all those who have tried to help him which left Father at the edge of hope. For those TEP’s volunteers who have meet Father all believe his warmth and intelligence is worth investing in.

Unfortunately, The Tanzanian Education Project must keep true to our mission of self sustainable projects. Due to my education and firsthand experience in Tanzania, I full heartedly believe this is the only way to positively impact a population for the long haul. As much as I love Father; and many other children over the past three years, I remained 100% dedicated to our mission and refused to take part in the sponsorship of school fees. Other volunteers and I have tried to support Father personally however it was not enough to keep him safe.

My greatest fear was and still is to get a call that Father has been beaten to death or something equally as awful. Last year I received word for weeks that Father’s situation was getting worse. He was suffering at school, becoming more aggressive to other children, walking around late at night and begging for food. I worked with TEP board members to try to come up with a solution without using TEP resources. As we were working on a solution, I received many calls from an unknown Tanzanian number at 2 am TZ time. It was Father crying hysterically, when I could finally get words out of his mouth all he said over and over was Cassie please, Cassie please help, help me. Amongst his cries, I heard his mother laughing. I used every ounce of energy to hold it together as I tried to pry answers out of him. Finally, I heard him scream and the phone crashed to the ground. That was it. I tried for hours to reach him but had no success.

 Being half way across the world knowing that this little boy reached out to me in a situation no child should ever endure broke my heart.  I called everyone I knew in Tanzania to get someone to check on him but being so late I knew it was a stretch.  Finally, I woke a friend and close colleague named Simoni early in the morning. He doesn’t speak a word of English so in my broken Swahili I tried to tell him the situation. He raced to Father and took him from his mother’s home. Although badly shaken with bruises and scrapes covering his body luckily there were no broken bones this time. It was this very moment that I knew TEP must use its resources to save Father from his living nightmare. My board members agreed that we could no longer sit by and allow this innocent little boy to die on our watch.

Due to TEP’s close personal and working relationship to the people of Bunju we were able to remove Father from his abusive home and get him enrolled in one of the best primary schools in Tanzania in less than a month. This quick turn around is what makes The Tanzanian Education Project so effective. Yesterday, Father proudly shared his examinations with Katie and I. With A’s and B’s, it was clear that in a safe environment his intelligence flourishes. He is currently at the top of his class and has raving reviews from his teachers.   Although the challenges with his mother continue, I know our involvement has been essential to saving his life. I am confident that those donors who wish to support his school fees directly still believe in TEP’s mission and trust we are staying to true to self sustainable projects.

-Cassie Parkhurst

Not a Village Anymore

I am shocked at the growth of Bunju A since I’ve last been here. Actually shocked is an understatement. I’ve never been one to deal with change that well but my god, what happened to ‘my’ little village. So many beautiful trees have disappeared. The population and number of cars are easily five times what they were. What was country land is smothered in homes and the volume of noise is astonishing. I never thought the traffic could get that much worse, I was so very wrong. I spent years learning about urban sprawl and always understood the enormity of its power but seeing it in action is beyond belief. When I first landed in Bunju A in 2009 city problems like crime, prostitution, corruption, pollution to name a few seemed so far away. Although some of our students would face this life once they left the walls of our schools, these issues were not of great concern. Now or in no time these issues will be very real for Bunju and very real for our students.

Despite all the changes there are many things about my home here that have remained the same. There are many familiar faces around town that still remember my name (remembering names has never been a skill of names but I don’t care who you are, after two years, that’s just amazing). Many of my friends and family are still here: Albert + his family, Simoni, Mwenda, Belinda, Babu’s sister to name a few. Of course many of my family have moved on to do other things and I miss their company already. Babu is still my rolly polly, mumbling, warm and funny grandfather. Bibi now has a beautiful grave in the yard with a little oasis that she would love. Every morning Babu makes his rounds on the property to check on his crops and animals and Bibi is perfectly placed so Babu can continue to spend time with his ‘beautiful bride.’

A day doesn’t go by in America that I do not think of my family here so seeing their smiles and feeling their love means the world to me. I can’t wait to reconnect with more friends and look forward to expanding my African family.

Per usual, I have hit the ground running with TEP work and have started to evaluate our past and current projects. I am working with our local point people here to get their feedback and will be reviewing their financials, goals and successes over the next few weeks. We also have a meeting with all of our important players that have been working incessantly on TEP projects since we have last been here and will finalize our plans for this summer as well as future projects once we have more donations.  

As always, thanks for reading and thank you for your support.

-Cassie

Christmas Morning 6/13/12

Christmas Morning 6/13/12

A few days ago, I went to the stationary shop. I went there just to see how it was doing, what it looked like, and who was running it. The shop was doing well; they had a lot of books, pens, pencils, a computer to type, print, copy, and also a lot of trinket goodies. I was looking through a few of the books at saw a lot from churches in Waupun, the schools in beaver dam such as UCPS, the elementary school and saw some from the high school also. I then saw a book that had my own name on it!!! It was awesome to see!! It made me feel so good that my childhood books were going to children and families in Africa. If I still had these books in America, they would just be sitting in a box in the basement or had been thrown away. The fact that they were being used by someone else was so awesome to know. 

 

Today, we, as in Cassie and I, went through a lot of the books in the library. I found two more books that had my name on them! One was a book I remember vividly remember reading as a child. It was a book that about the three little bears and it had valcroue bears that could be used throughout the book. Another book was one that I had gotten as a gift from my Uncle Larry and Aunt Lisa as it had a little note in the book. How awesome to know the books that were donated are actually being used by the students on a regular basis and bringing joy to students lives. These students do not have nor get gifts very often.

We also brought a few books back to the house to give the children that live around the house where I live. Their faces lit up! It was like Christmas morning to them as none of the students own a single book. How sad is that? Seeing the children read and look through all the books made me feel so good that the Beaver Dam and surrounding communities are making such a different to children in Tanzania.

-Katie

Heading Back Home

I got my first moment of nervousness and excitement about 15 minutes out from the Chicago airport. It was fleeting as I didn’t want it to get the best of me before getting my ducks in a row with check in. My trip started off with just one hick up and that was a run in with a lady from SWISS Air. She stopped me, along with a few other more stressed individuals, to tell me my carry on would have to be check because it was (in snotty, short European accent) ‘too big.’ Of course it fit well into the requirements and even after I emptied it out so it couldn’t have been more than 15 pounds, I thought I would do what I could to fight it. (Again in snotty, short European accent)  ‘I don’t care, either the bag is checked or you not on plane.’ Just a slight annoyance but it was not a reflection of the rest of my journey.

Switzerland was extremely beautiful. It was drizzling as we landed and every picture you’ve ever seen of the lush rolling hills is all true. It was absolutely breathtaking. It makes me hate my 17 year old self even more than I ever have before. (My distant non English speaking relatives, asked me to come nanny for them the summer before senior year. I opted for pool time and friends instead.). The airport was so nice and my layover was just a few hours. As it was approaching 3:30 am WI time, with no sleep under my belt, I was starting to feel too old for this journey.

I have already met some extremely nice and interesting people. I have spent hours talking about TEP’s mission and have given out a handful of business cards. This is just one thing I love about this job and I can’t help but spew the passion I have for this in every passing. I networked with a German NGO and may get some support on our vocational computer school, met two families that are moving to TZ for water projects, language initiatives and mission work. I spent hours sharing with a girl from corporate America who gets 6 paid weeks of sabbatical every few years. It’s genius really and I’m 100% jealous. I wish more companies saw the benefits of such a program whether it’s paid or not, Americans need more time to experience the world.

All my luggage arrived safely but literally (I swear I’m not exaggerating), one of my bags was the last one off the plane. Always keeping me on my toes… Bilo, Eve (pronounced Ava) and Hari picked me up. It truly feels like seeing my Brother and sister in law after a year and a half of being away. Hari is SO beautiful and warmed up to me quickly. I cannot believe how precious he is and how much he reminds me that time continues to move when I am away. But nothing like the reminder that we are in African as Hari sits on Eve’s lap in the front seat as we swerve through horrendous traffic and soon to be dead pedestrians (not really but I wonder how long it was take me to adjust to the death trap roads this time).

Bilo and Eve welcomed me into their homes with open arms and fed me a delicious TZ meal of rice, beef and mangoes. I have missed the food so much even though I worry how fast I will get sick of it. I can’t wait to taste my first glass of fresh squeezed juice, tear at a flakey Chapatti (flat breadish food) and ravage a questionably dirty bag filled chips mayai (homemade fries with fried egg and shredded cabbage and carrots on top).  The smells and sounds remind me that I am finally back and I love this place.

It is also clear how badly I need Swahili lessons because I’m worse than I thought possible. I hope to get started on those right away so I have the rest of the time to practice. I will be heading to Bunju tomorrow after getting some errands done in Dar. I cannot wait to see Babu, Albert and the rest of the gang. I know it will be heartbreaking to go home without Bibi there because the void of Benny being gone never did ease. For those of you that are not familiar, Benny was my right hand man and good friend during my first trip. He past just a few weeks after I left after losing a battle to malaria fed pneumonia. TEP dedicated FANAKA’s library in his honor. Bibi is my grandmother that passed in 2010 and was the monarch of our family and school. She ruled with stern kindness and wanted the absolute best out of everyone. A moment in her presence pushed everyone to be better and is the most inspiring person I have ever met.

It will also be great to rejoined with Katie and hear all about her first two weeks. I am chomping at the bit to get started on TEP’s projects. It will be a busy three months as always but I look forward to making our donors proud.

Thank you for keeping TEP’s mission alive by reading our entries and sharing with friends and family. I am extremely appreciative of those who have shown emotional, financial and networking support, without you TEP wouldn't be here making a difference.

-Cassie

Mambo! 6/9/2012

Mambo! 6/9/2012

These days have been pretty exciting for me (Katie). On Thursday, my 12th day, I got up and went to the school as normal. I helped a teacher type and print some documents he needed typed. I hung out with the children a lot of that day also. They are so great; so many questions. I then went up to see Babu's goats; but they were not there. They were out grazing so we had to go back on Friday (6.8.2012) to see them. Babu has about 35 goats; big and baby ones. They are so cute. Today, Friday, the school closed. Two grades, or as they call forms here are going home for a month. The only two, two and four, are staying at the school to prepare for their national examinations. These are so important they cannot afford to take a month break from their studies. I found out today that I will be teaching English for form 2. I am very excited about this!! I talked with the students pretty much all day today. They give me some really good insight just on life as I have never realized how lucky we are in America. They all had to walk or take buses home when they left. Not a single parent or family member came to pick the students up for their month long break. They each only had a backpack of belongings in which they brought to school. It is very very sad to see. But yet, they are all very happy with where they are and where they come from. On Saturday I went to the town of Bagamoyo and went and saw a few museums and the Indian Ocean. We went to a restaurant on the beach. The waiter, Babu and Albert all laughed at me because I asked for a menu. They do not have menus here.

-Katie

Handicapable 6/7/12

Handicapable

Even though in America, the statement "handicapable" may be true, in Tanzania, this statement is many times untrue.

Hello everyone, it is Katie writing here. Well the holiday break has come to an end at FANAKA. On Monday, the school reopens to all the students. During holiday, I have been teaching form 2 English to a few students who live nearby that can travel back and forth everyday. One of these students was named Bernard. Bernard is a young man, that would show up everyday to class ready to learn. He loved to be called on and to be included in the class. From the looks of it, he looked liked every other student in the classroom. There was only one difference, he has a major hearing problem.
Bernard has a very hard time hearing. He can barely hear me speak when I  speak to him and he haa a very difficult time understanding English as it is more difficult to read my lips because he does not know the language as well as Swahili. This hearing problem holds Bernard back a lot. The teachers at the school do not have proper training on how to deal with a student who has a disability of any kind. Most of the teachers just ignore him in the classroom and do not call upon him nor do they allow him to participate in the classroom because they do not know how to include him or how to teach him. He just sits and observes and has a very difficult time understanding. He does not even have the books that he can read to try to understand by himself.
 

This is not just a problem for Bernard but a problem for many many students in Tanzania. We are very fortune in America to have the system we do to help people who have disabilities. Not only do we have special teachers who study and train to help students who has any type of disability, but we also have a system of many organizations and groups that allow students with disabilties to participate in extracurricular activities such as sports, music, arts, dance, etc. In Tanzania they cannot even get a proper education let alone a proper job that will be financially stable.

Luckily for Bernard there are people in Germany who do sponser him and do pay for him to be able to have a hearing aid device (even though it has been broken for a few weeks and will not be fixed until he gets the money from his sponser) and to get an education. There are many students here who do not have this chance. What happens to these students?

Katie's First Few Days

Day 1- 

The flights went by super fast. The one to London was smooth. I slept some of the way, watched a few movies and talked to  a few poeple who were sitting around me. The guy that was behind me was actually from Tanzania so he gave me some insight and pointers, which was kind of cool. The layover in London was long, 8 hours, but it went by fast as I was able to access the internet and talk to my parents for one last long period of time. The flight to Dar es Salaam seemed to take forever. I feel asleep, but when I woke up I saw that I still had 6 more hours to go. I watched two movies on that flight so that helped the time go by but still took forever. When I reached Dar, the airport was very small. The customs were not bad at all and were easy to get through. I found my luggage rather easily and Bilo, Babu's son, came and picked me up and he found me right away. When Bilo picked me up we came to Bunju the village I am staying in. The traffic is crazy here , a lot of people. It is very different from the US as we all assumed. There are people everywhere on the sides of the street. The cars can drive anywhere. When I reached Bunju all of the people are very nice, even though it is hard to communicate with them as most of them only speak Swahili. The rest of the day was spend relaxing and catching up with time change.

Day 2- 

On this day I woke up bright and early at 7am. I went up to the school, Fanaka, which is right down the street from where I am staying, at Babu's house. Babu is swahili for grandfather. He treats everyone as his own. At the school I met the teachers and faculty, all very nice. For the rest of the day I went back into town, Dar, to exchange my money to schillings. I then spent the rest of the day hanging around the house with a few of the children that live here. There are 5 children that live in the house along with their parents and Babu's sister. I spent some time with the children. We played soccer, catch, raced, and I even taught them a little bit of english. I also took a shower, which was an experience as a lot of you know its out of a bucket of what you just poor on yourself. Different but not too bad. There is also a toilet but I just have to dump a bucket of water down it to flush. The weather is actually not too bad. It is not nearly as hot as I had expected, or maybe my expectations were very high. My bed is actually pretty comfortable. The food is not bad. They are slowly allowing me to eat more things at each meal as they want to do it slowly so my stomach does not get upset as I am not used to these foods. I have mainly been eating bread, rice, beef, and fruit. They mainly drink tea and coffee. Even though occasionally there will be fruit juice at the table.

Day 3 and 4-

Both of these days have been about the same. I have woken up at 7 am each day and gone to the school, FANAKA. I have just been working with the head master and the second head master to figure out a schedule that I can follow for what I will be doing in the schools. In Tanzania, the schools run different then they do in America, as they call the US. They have primary school, with 8 stages and then they have secondary school with forms 1-4. They then have a national test at the end of form 4. If they pass, they go onto forms 5 and 6 and if they fail they cannot go on to school; except for special occasions. These tests are a big deal and they are constantly talking about examinations in the school.  Next week the students take their regional examinations. The students then have a month break; except form 4 as they need to prepare for national exam in November. After the break, I will be teaching English in Form 1, as the students struggle a lot with english. The schools are supposed to be taught fully in English but the students and teachers struggle a lot with it. I will also be teaching math in form 3. The afternoons have just been spent hanging at the house with the people here. The children are great; even though we cannot communicate well, they are nice and love all the attention they can get. They had a very old soccer ball and I brought an air pump and that seemed to change their lives! They love it! Its amazing how one little thing can make a big difference to them. Makes us think how greedy and selfish some people are in the US. Even the adults thanked me as they were able to play around with the ball too.   

Day 5 and 6-

Well these last few days have been pretty similar. I have been waking up around 630 and leaving the house by 8. School starts at 8 and ends around 2:30. I have been sitting in a few classes each day. I have sat mostly in English and Math as those are the classes I will be teaching when the students come back from break. The classes are taught pretty similarly to those in the US the kids act the same as students in the US, some try, some struggle, some don’t care, and there are the goof offs also. I could pick them out right away. The rest of the time I have been busy typing up the student's exams for next week. Next week is their examination week, like finals week in WI. The teachers here are not good with technology, I know the most about computers in the school right now which is shocking as I thought I did not know much. They are amazed at how fast I can type. I spent some time at the stationary shop that was started by the donations given to The Tanzanian Education Project. The shop is going pretty strong; it is very nice. It is funny looking through books and seeing Beaver Dam and Waupun WI in the covers. I have talked to a few of the students. They are sooo interested in America. They looked through some of my pictures from home and are AMAZED I have my own car. Families here are lucky to have one car as most get around by bus. Another question I am constantly asked is if I am married. This is crazy to think that because I am 20 I should be married according to them as that is when they get married here in Africa. I guess that is another culture difference between the two places.

Day 7 and 8-

My first weekend in Tanzania. It was good and relaxing. Saturday I spent a lot of the day typing away at exams. I got to know the teachers a lot on Saturday as I spent a lot of time with them. They are so curious about America. They ask a lot of questions. They cannot believe the house I live in and the car that I drive. They are really impressed with my computer I have to; as the whole school only has one well working computer and a few that work but not very well. They are also very surprised about the cost of things in America; I had to explain how we make more money but the cost of living in America is much higher than here. I told them minimum wage was 7.25USD and they thought I was crazy! I spent some time with the girls of the school also. They are all so nice. They love trying to teach me African dances and Swahili, I am not good at either of them. The rest of the day was spent relaxing. On Sunday I woke up and went to church. The people I stay with are also Lutheran so that is nice. The church was in complete Swahili so I could not follow but the people and the service was amazing; except that it lasted for 3 and 1/2 hours. There were about 4 different choirs and a visitor gospel singer. The pastor was a very good speaker; kept my attention even though I couldn’t understand what was being said. I could somewhat pick out the Bible verses though. The service had a lot of singing and dancing. Very different from my church in America. I also, yes mom, washed my clothes by hand, with a bucket, I did do it. They were very helpful and showed me exactly how to do it. It actually wasn’t so bad. I also went for a Sunday drive around the town and countryside. We can NEVER complain about bad roads again, they are terrible here , all side roads are dirt and have ALOT of holes. One has to travel very very slowly. The sidetowns are very very sad to see; I thought the homes around me were poor, the ones in the countryside are even worse. We then went to another church were they had a singing service for students. A member of the household is a member of this church. It was neat; there were probably around 75 kids, ages 3- 23 all singing, dancing, etc. The children were up on stage leading the songs. They had AMAZING voices. One 12 year old even did a rap and he was really good! 

Quack Quack Quack

Another successful Duck Race finished up in May. Thanks to the hard work of so many volunteers and of course the Beaver Dam Noon Kiwanis, TEP’s largest fundraiser ($3,100) went off without a hitch. This fundraiser consists of 1500, $5 tickets sold to sponsor numbered yellow rubber ducks. These ducks are then thrown into the Beaver Dam River and the winning duck wins $1000. Over the past two years TEP has had the opportunity to join the efforts of the Beaver Dam Fire Department and the Water Works Project to make this fundraiser stronger. I thank those wonderful organizations for their efforts to improve Beaver Dam. I am so proud of my community and their support with this fundraiser because without it TEP wouldn’t come close to making the impact on the children of Tanzania that it has.

 Thank you to all that participated!
 -Cassie