Arrival To Tanzania

We made our way to Bunju tonight and the drive into Bunju was a commuter’s nightmare, a two lane road bumper to bumper, all the while breathing in all the smoke and exhaust which is so thick it irritates my skin. We arrived at Babu’s after a long and bumpy ride, where he opened up his house to me. Babu showed me picture albums from his wife Bibi’s funeral and showed me pictures of his family. He showed me around the house and introduced me to everyone living there. The barrage of names and people was a little bit too much to remember but after sometime here I am sure I will get to know the people much better. Afterwards we enjoyed a nice meal of rice and beef and made our way to our quarters on the school grounds.

We are living in the teacher’s quarters on schools grounds in a nice little house with two rooms and three beds. According to Cassie and Katie we are living in some really nice digs, and compared to others we are but as long as I have a decently nice bed to sleep in and some food in my stomach I am good to go. I thought that getting away from the luxuries of home would drive me nuts but being away from that 24-hour news cycle and Facebook and just the general bombardment of information the internet provides is actually quite relaxing. The language so far has been my biggest hurdle, carrying on conversations beyond the general niceties is hard, I only know greetings and goodbyes.
 

Today was my first day in Bunju, and at Fanaka. Cassie introduced me to the school administrators and the teachers and walked the school grounds with me and introducing me to every single class. She told them that I was the new volunteer and would be taking their pictures for the next couple of weeks. So far the kids have been a little stand offish but began to warm up as the day went on. I could tell that I was a little bit of a distraction from their studies when I walked into or by a classroom, someone new for them chat about. The school is bustling, the students move from class to class as the bell rings for them to do so.

I am so lucky to be raised in the American school system because many of these kids don’t have nearly as much as I did in school. Unfortunately the classroom are filled with the bare necessities.All any have is the desk in front of them and a pen and paper to write with. The library is small but it is the pride of the whole school it is filled wall to wall with novels and textbooks. The students here are very fortunate because what they have is pretty good compared to other parts of the country. TEP has done a lot to help out the students here but much more is needed to continue the real work that is getting done here. The need for real dedicated teachers is the most pressing necessity, passionate teachers, like Katie, help inspire their students.

After some school business and further introductions we headed down to the schools stationary shop on the main road in Bunju. The road is lined with merchants selling everything from food to cells phones. As we walk down the road it becomes quite apparent that we stand out like sore thumbs, especially me. The children like to shout “Munzungu(sic)” which means white person, at you quite a lot. It is actually a term of endearment. We did some light shopping, buying a phone for me and picking up some bottled water and bread. The air is so humid here that any activity is a cause for mass sweating, something that is new for me being from dry and arid Colorado. Cassie, Katie and I spend the afternoon catching up on some work and talking to a former teacher, Peter, in our living room. He has a lot of questions about America and I try to answer the best I can. The people here are filled with myths about the States and I was glad that I could clear some of these up for Peter. I would get them in detail but I’ll leave that for another time.

We ended the day watching some of the students play Football (soccer) where they finally warmed up to me and my camera. They love hamming it up for the camera. As night drew the a close we walked back to Babu’s for a dinner and afterwards we walked back to the school and were greeted with some beautiful singing from our neighbors and our beds.

Sean Leyva

7/31/2012

No Pay, No Gain

No Pay, No Gain

Today I came to school as I would have any other day. The classrooms were full, teachers were teaching and everything seemed to be going as usual. But around 11:00am, it changed. The Second Master went around to each classroom and announced a list of names off. These students then got up, gathered their things and left. After this was finished, only a few students remained in each classroom. I was not sure at first what this was about. After questioning other teachers, I found out it was because the students that left did not pay school fees.

This is a big problem not only at FANAKA, but at many schools nationwide. Children want to learn and want to succeed but many cannot afford too. The country is on a donor system. They rely on foreign aid to sent children to school. If a student does not have a donor, they most likely cannot afford a good school. Therefore, they have to go to a very badly run government school or to no school at all. Visually seeing how many students were sent home and watching their sad faces having to leave school made me realize how big this issue actually is. What happens to these students who do not get an education just because they cannot afford it?
-Katie

Drop of Rain

When I met Bibi in 2009 she would call me her ‘Drop of Rain.’ One night she gave a passionate speech to the boarding students about strength, enthusiasm and dedication that is needed when giving back to the world. She used my commitment to FANAKA as a living example that the world relies on those who give back. She made it clear that it was also their responsibility to give back to the world in a meaningful way. ‘It is through the power of community that one finds the strength to be at its best,’ she told them.

It was through the hard work of all of our volunteers and supporters that this analogy really came to life. Before she passed she would tell all of her friends and family that when she thought the drought that hit FANAKA would not end, The Tanzanian Education Project was their savior. Over the past three years we all have worked nonstop to make FANAKA the school it should be. In additional to our advising and teaching hours we  invested in the library, water harvesting system, chickens, sports facilities, learning aids and the stationary shop. Unfortunately, the condition of the school has not flourished as we had hoped.

It was known for years that the primary problem the school faced now that Bibi was gone was a lack of leadership, passion and management. However, the school and TEP did not have the funds to support such a manager’s salary so we did our best with what we had. It is now clear that if we allow the current management to continue the school will face closure. When we were days from facing the heartbreaking reality of the school’s condition and thus TEP’s departure from FANAKA, our ‘Drop of Rain’ appeared.

 His name is Fred and he is currently the Headmaster and school manager at the highest scoring High School in Dar es Salaam. He runs his school with a very small budget, less tools than FANAKA and no international support. He has offered to volunteer his services to FANAKA for six months while the transition of management occurs. Already his ideas, excitement and work ethic are contagious. Katie and I feel a new sense of urgency but most of all a skilled companion in this fight to save the school. I believe this is our make or break it moment and there is nothing more relieving than to have a strong leader. Of course we need the cooperation and hard work from the school for our ideas to work but at the very least this is a vital step in the right direction.

We all need our drops of rain in life. TEP’s donors and supporters are that every day for me and our mission to give back. Now on the ground we hope Fred can assist us in making our donors proud.

-Cassie

Busy Bee’s- HELP NEEDED

Katie and I have been busy bee’s the past few days working on documents to help improve the school. Using our experience excel, we have been analyzing teacher’s salaries and the school time table. From my past experience, this process is usually a nightmare so it is nice to help our administration with this task. We are also producing school flyers, brochures and a school magazine to help with advertising  The paper donated with the sea container and our skills in design and English will ensure this undertaking is done quickly, professionally and much cheaper than if the school were to hire out the work. We also plan to share these documents with Donor’s so they can see the many things FANAKA has to offer our students.

In additional to these documents, Katie and I have been busy gathering footage for the documentary we want to put together. Some of you may remember when we showed our last documentary at the Beaver Dam High School.  I would like to make a similar event as well as show American students, clubs and other organizations of our work in Tanzania. Unfortunately, I do not have any experience or skills in this area so if you know anyone with imovie or movie making experience please send them our way!

 NEEDED: ANYONE WILLING TO DONATE TIME, SOFTWARE AND/OR SKILLS TO CREATE A DOCUMENTARY. Internships and independent study credits available. Please contact me at cassie.parkhurst@yahoo.com. 

Challanges and Barriers 7/13/12

Challenges and Barriers

Hello everyone, Katie here. I hope everyone is doing good. I have been very busy here in Tanzania. The school has now reopened. I am teaching form 2 English and form 3 Mathematics. This has been a very big challenge for me. One of the reasons for this is the lack of materials, but the biggest challenge is the HUGE language barrier between me and the students.

In America, we are very fortunate. Every student in a school has a book for every subject, they all have pens, paper, pencils, etc., the teachers each have a computer, there are whiteboards and even in some classrooms are new smart boards that is a computer based whiteboard. But yet, in America, teachers still complain that they do not have enough to teach properly. Here in Tanzania, the students do not have the proper utensils. They struggle to pay for pencils, pens and notebooks. Half of the students in a classroom will not have one or multiple of these. The students do not have books, my class shares about 8 books for 32 students. The school would not even have these books if TEP would not have started the library to take this off "The Germans" plate so they could bring money to buy syllabus books. I even have the proper training in the classroom to use visuals, charts, maps, activities, etc. but I cannot because there is not the supplies to be able to do so.

The other problem is the language barrier. As you could probably guess, I am not good at speaking Swahili and I do not know very much of the language. The students are supposed to be taught full in Swahili, but without a proper education system along with under qualified teacher, this is but always true. Some of the students can speak very well, but others do not even know what how are you means. They do not know how to answer. All of the students examinations are in English so their scores are not good because they do not know English. Not only is it difficult for them, but it is very difficult for me to try to get through to them and to try to define words for them that they do not know. It can get very frustrating very fast. These are jsut a few of the difficulties with teaching in Tanzania.

Culture Clashes 7/2/12

Culture Clashes

 Katie Here, I have just returned from an adventure of a lifetime. I have spent the last week traveling around Arusha, the Ngorongoro Crater and The Serengeti. I went on a safari through these areas with a touring company. It was an amazing trip as I saw many different animals and landscapes that took my breath away. Besides that, one of the most amazing things about going on the safari was meeting all of the different people on the safari and at the campsites.  In my vehicle there was a driver and a cook; both of Tanzanian heritage, and then there was an elder woman from Hong Kong, two men, around the age of 24, that were both from Colombia and me, an American. As you could expect there were some major culture clashes.

One thing, which I realized right away, was our different way of managing our time. The Colombians were very relaxed and laid back. They always took their good ole' time showering, sleeping, eating, etc. We were ALWAYS waiting for them. They were even the ones saying lets leave earlier and they would NEVER be there at the time they personally set. Me and the elder woman from Hong Kong would get very frustrated with them. As in our cultures, if somebody says a time to meet, you are there at least 5 minutes early. It made us very mad to have to wait for them. The Tanzanians were always on time on the trip, as they were the workers, but they understood and would not get mad at them for being late. A big motto in Tanzanian, in which there are many bumper stickers and shirts made with this saying on it is, "No Hurry in Africa". Which is completely true as everything is done very slowly here.

Another clash was how we spoke, every group spoke a different language, Swahili, Spanish, English and Chinese. Everyone knew English but some people not well. Communication was difficult at times. It was a very different experience as we needed to form other ways of talking and to allow others to know what the others wanted. It also made me feel sad that I only know one language fluetly, English. Most people, from other countries, know a minimum of 2 languages. It made me realize that even if we say in America that we have a great education system it may not be as good as we think because many people in America only know English. We expect others to know English but we do not take the time to learn their language.
There were a few more clashes that were not as big of deal but still had an effect on the group. The attitudes and how we dressed. The Colombians dressed very casually. They wore jeans and t-shirts the whole time. The Tanzanians wore uniforms and the women from Hong Kong was much more dressed up. She wore khakis and nice jackets and sweaters. Another clash was how we spoke. The Colombians used a lot of slang, along with myself. The woman from Hong Kong spoke very properly and did not understand our slang.  She was also a lot more serious than the rest of us. We were all laid back but she was very strict and professional about everything. This may also have had to do with our ages. Overall, it was a great experience and I think everyone should be put in a situation where they are with people of many different cultures.