Dini Sessions

Well another two weeks have passed and I’m not sure where the time has gone. I am in the schools constantly.   I love my work in the schools and it brings its own rewards.  I feel I am making some progress with the staff, who are now engaging in the weekly Dini sessions where I deliver a different topic each week.  The aim being to improve their knowledge and understanding of the subject topics and in particular mathematics, which the Government have identified as a real weakness in schools.  I am teaching them using what in Tanzania they call participatory learning and we in the UK would view as active learning.  I constantly have to find ways of delivery where the teachers actually have tasks to do rather than listen to me talk.   It is working but I spend each weekend planning the next session.  I am also delivering lessons either as demonstration lessons with all the teachers watching or team teaching with an individual teacher.  I recently planned a English lesson on time and made 10 clocks out of card and then had the pupils working in small groups of 4, using their own clock to set each other times which they then had to identify.  The best part  of the series of lessons was when I asked them to make their own clock and gave them each a split pin each to attach the fingers.  Would you believe almost every child made their own clock.  I attach a picture of one of the series of lessons.  Note the state of the classrooms and no ceilings!!  Its all good fun.  I have now started my Play Leaders training for standard 7 pupils.  They are so enthusiastic.  I should have some pictures to share with you next week.  I have been laid low over the last four days with a tummy bug.  Picked up when visiting another ill colleague.  It was a long walk to this colleagues house and I was perspiring a little when I arrived.  She offered me some diluted orange squash and I didn’t ask the question – has the water been boiled and it clearly hadn’t.  I was in bed the first day, all day and didn’t see a soul and felt quite sorry for my self.  I wondered at one point if I died how long would it be before they found the body!!  Morbid thoughts.  Its at times like these that you want to be in your own home.  Well that’s it for now.  I attach a superb picture taken of Kilimanjaro with full snow covering.  Hope you like this Jenny, Daniel and David!!!

Safari to Lake Manyara

Well almost two weeks have passed since I arrived back in Tanzania.  I feel as though I have never been away.  You quickly click into the polypoly way of life.  In fact you have to or it would drive you nuts.  Time means nothing out here. The Swahili  word for punctuality I think is - kuwahi but I'm not sure that Tanzanians be fully understand what it means.  Yesterday, Saturday, I invited a group of pupils from one of my schools  to watch an episode of Planet Earth.  They should have arrived at 2 pm but the first arrived at 2.45 and the last at 3.30.  They looked in awe throughout as the images they see are so new.  This week I showed the episode on Jungles - Equatorial Jungles.  They have one on their door step but know so little about it other than it valuable for firewood. I will tell you more about this weekly events on a later posting.  Now I want to tell you about my recent safari to Lake Manyara which I had the opportunity to go with a group of pupils before I came home for Easter.  Its an annual trip that the Village Project organises.  The only thing that put me off was the thought of a 5 hour journey there and back. I accompanied the Gap students and teachers from the school.  The management of the pupils on the bus was a piece of cake.  You wouldn’t have known there were any children there until the black bags that they had all been issued with came into operation.  I think almost all of them were sick.  Travelling on a bus on a long journey was a new experience for them.  But they didn’t complain once.  Can you imagine in UK?  The pupils stayed in a hostel adjacent to the park, looked after by the teachers, and the other adults slept in tents.  One of the worst areas for mosquitoes !!!  I have never really been interested in doing a safari but once we arrived in the park the tension and excitement of the children was infectious and as soon as we moved off into the bush (travelled on bus) the animals appeared like magic.   Every animal you could name.  I have loads of pictures, if anyone to would like me to come and bore you with them , let me know! I include only two in this posting.  They are the pictures of an elephant.  We suddenly came upon this elephant and stopped to observe when suddenly his ears extended and he moved towards us.  The driver beat a very hasty retreat.  I was told later that the movement of the ears indicated that he was about to charge!  The children had never seen many of these animals despite the fact they are native to their country.  It was an exciting two days and the journey home passed quickly, thanks to the Gap students who led the children in  a countless number of animated songs.  Can’t wait for the next safari.
    

Back online

Hello all

I am now back in Tanzania arriving on the 22nd April.  There have been no posting since my last one in February because there has been no internet.  I wonder how we ever manage without it!!!  In fact I have managed very well because I have written several letters to friends and family.  Yes me writing letters.  Although my mobile phone bill needed a loan.  Its good to be back with internet restored and be able to share some of my experiences with you. (by the way you can e mail me anytime you like - day or night) I was in England for 4 weeks of which I spend 10 days with my daughter in London and my grand daughter.  How she has changed already.  She will be one on May 20th.  Time seemed to fly by but I managed to paint my conservatory and lick the garden  boarders back into shape and attack the moss in the lawn.  For those dear friends I spent time with thank you for your generosity and hospitality.  But I must say the eating out and in became too much and the stone in weight I lost has been almost recouped. It is good to be back  to Ragate's cooking and simple meals although I was in a school on Thursday and the large bowl of rice and fish and greens was too much.  They did allow me to take a small portion of it and the rest I'm sure went to a good cause. Its good to be back with my Tanzanian friends and they seemed genuinely pleased to see me.  But the box of M&S chocolate biscuits were well received in the first school I visited.  I must say it seems as though I have never been away and the polypoly way of life soon clicks in. I was told, before I arrived, that it was cold and rainy.  They think 15c is cold!  It is more rainy and has rained everyday but would you believe it is warm rain and 30 minutes after it has rained the sun comes out and all is as it was.  I do love this climate.  So you can see I am back in action and would love to hear from anybody out there.  Even David Baggerly!!  Here are a couple of my first pictures.  Guess what!!? 

Work in schools

Another week flashes by but time seems to stand still here! I have had an interesting week in schools this week.  My sessions with the teachers, there are two a week, have been enjoyable and I think well received.  Both the schools I have worked with have responded positively to the sessions. Well at least they joined in.  The focus has been management in the classroom and all teachers have thoughts, experiences and views to share.  There has been lively debate.  The aims of the sessions have been to encourage teachers to share their experiences and to come to a common understanding.  I have also continued my work with table tennis and have this week started delivering sport sessions to 14 to 16 year olds and you know how challenging that can be even without the language barrier.  Also observed some physical education lessons which the pupils are very enthusiastic about.  Here are few pictures to share with you.

Return to Tanzania

You might all be wondering what's happened to me?  There again you might not!  I returned to Tanzania on the 13th January and will be here until the 24th March.  I can't believe that I have been here already for three weeks.  Although time means little out here it certainly passes quickly. Although it was great to be home, and thank you to all those friends who made me so welcome, it is strangely good to be back. I have developed a real affection for the country, its customs and its way of life and in particular its climate.  The simple way of life suits me.  I enjoy the slowly slowly. For me its like going through a time warp - back to the 50's when people cared about each other, neighbours looked after each other, people talked to each other and no cars.  However, I can no longer say that it never rains because this week it has rained everyday in the afternoon and last night there was a mighty thunderstorm that kept me awake because of the beating rain on the tin roof. Yet it is still relatively warm and despite the rain I have been walking to the schools in a short sleeved shirt everyday, even when its raining. Warm rain!?  It was good to be back in the schools and teachers seemed pleased to see me but it might have been the chocolate I brought back and shared with them.  I have already been higher up the mountain and sat in my favourite spot and the photos attached are shots of the mountain from there.  I have also brought out with me a telescope because the sky at night is something to see.  Thank you Stephen Bell.  However at the moment there is too much to take in.  I have been looking at Venus and see the twinkling star as a shining planet.  Its remarkable.  I also have some playmates out here now with the arrival of the Gap students who are here for 7 months teaching English and a new lady managing the Vocational Training Centre.  Evenings are no longer so empty.  Well thats it for now.  I will soon be back in the routine of regular updates.  Love to all.

Home

You might be wondering why there has not been a recent update on my blog - no its not that I have been eaten by a lion or bitten by a poisonous snake or offended a local father of this very attractive young lady I have met.  Its not even because the Tanzanian Government have asked me to the leave the country because of my radical out spoken changes I want to instigate.  I think the attached picture explains all.  However I wonder why I have come back to the cold and rain and the economy that seems to be  in melt down.  Its great to see lots of friends - yes I do have one or two and I am still looking forward to seeing those friends who are trying to avoid me.  But I do miss my new Tanzanian friends who I have learnt much from over the last few months and in particular what is valuable in (my) life.  By the way the winner of the puzzle is Di Shanley for her caption of 'Pigs might fly'.  The Stairway to heaven is a funeral parlour and the pig was tethered outside this awaiting its fate.  The lucky lady is being taken out for a romantic meal for two with me!!!  But she doesn't know yet.  I return to Tanzania on the 13th January.  Happy Christmas to you all.

The Social Gathering

As many of you know I am working mainly with three schools. These first few months have been essential in the building up of good positive relationships with the teachers in the schools.  I thought it would be useful to meet the teachers socially to develop these relationships by inviting them for a meal at my house.  The first teachers invited were from Masia Mamba.  I hope I haven't paid a too bleak a picture of my accommodation because apart from the continuous loss of electricity it is very good.  There were 10 to be accommodated which I just managed around my table as you can see from the first photograph.  I decided we would have pre-drinks in the gazebo with a few nibbles before then moving inside to eat.  That was my first hurdle - what should I cook. I decided on a starter of tuna with salad to be followed by Bob's version of bubble and squeak and followed by an assortment of cheese and finally finish with yogurt and fresh pineapple.  I have a small oven  which has two rings and two kerosene burners. The morning didn't start well with no electricity but I didn't panic.  The bubble and squeak is a beef dish with onions, carrots and leaks with a topping of  potatoes and cabbage.  Thankfully the electricity came on just as I put the two dishes, precariously balanced in the oven, to cook.  The guests should have arrived at 2 pm and by 2.30 I began to get worried.  Had they mixed up the time thinking I meant Swahili time.  That's another thing to tell you about - Swahili time!! Another time perhaps. They arrived at 3 pm (Andy Page and Sandra all is forgiven- an in joke with friends who are always late)  just as I began to think about abandonment and opening a lunchtime stall in the gazebo. Time means nothing to them and arriving at a set time unknown!  They all but 1 drank beer and thankfully I had purchased a grate of Kilimanjaros. The pre-drinks and nibbles went down well.  We didn't sit down until four and thankfully because the electricity is so low the food was just cooked to a turn.  The food went down really well and the conversation flowed for the next two hours.   They have the same hang ups, aspirations, fears, desires and needs as all my friends!   A home from home.  They loved the food and the different courses.   They particularly liked the yogurt which they had never had before.   Although I was amazed when they asked why the lettuce was not cooked.  We drank much beer and finished with a nice local coffee and whisky.   They now think I am the best thing since sliced bread!! But I think its cupboard love!!!