Hi everyone. I said I'd make a blog and here it is... though I'm realizing now that after a long (extremely hot and sweaty) day of work here in Tanga, Tanzania, I might not really feel like putting a whole lot of effort into developing a fine piece of writing for this blog thing. In any case, I'll try my best to post something about what I'm doing while I volunteer in Africa for 3 months, even if I'm not writing the elegant prose I wish I had the time to perfect.
I left Vancouver on January 18th and arrived in Dar es Salaam, the capital city of Tanzania on January 20th after two very long plane rides and a crappy layover in London Heathrow airport. I'm volunteering with an Non-Government Organization called Tanzania ecoVolunteerism which is based out of Tanga, supposedly the third largest city in Tanzania. I heard about the program through Midoli who spent about the same amount of time here a couple years ago, and contacted the co-ordinator to see if I could work with children wherever I was most needed. The information I received before I left was a bit vague, but Mohamed (TeV coordinator and founder) and I have now come up with a plan of how I will spend my time here.
Just 6km outside Tanga, in the rural village of Kiomoni, Tev has built a school with 3 classrooms that provides free education to children in the surrounding areas. In Tanzania, Primary school begins at age 7 or 9 depending on the availability of facilities in the area. From what I have gathered, the Primary program lasts 7 years, so some children are not finished until they are 16 years old. Secondary school lasts 4 years before 2 years in high school and the opportunity to continue into Post-Secondary Education. Because children start the education at age 7-9 they have a difficult time adjusting to the culture of school. The Kiomoni centre attempts to remedy this by accepting children ages 4-5 and providing them with basic schooling to prepare them for the culture of going to school. Last year a peak enrollment, 93 students were attending Kiomoni regularly. The school year begins in January, so enrollment is just beginning now. When I went to visit the centre for the first time today there were only 11 students. Sadly, I found that the teaching was not very stimulating, leaving the children to work on their own with little instruction, and the teachers who are meant to teach English can hardly speak it.
But the kids are ADORABLE!!! Anyone who knows me well can imagine how excited I was to meet all these gorgeous little 4 and 5 year olds who were very interested in meeting me.
Some of my goals here for the next 8(ish) weeks are to help teach English, Math (counting and numbers) and Nutrition to any children who can attend the school. I'll also be starting a "Feeding Program" where I will arrange for milk and bananas to be delivered to the school each day so that each child can have some food during break time. The children only attend from 8am-12pm so my afternoons will be spent with the teachers and teaching assistants, helping them to develop their English skills. This is obviously pretty daunting, seeing as I am not a teacher and I am trying to think of lesson plans based on what I can remember from kindergarten! Not to mention, I am now teaching adults too, how to speak English and how to teach. I was worried about whether or not I will be busy, but I'm sure now that I'll have no problems filling my day now.
I'm living in a hotel at the moment because the hostel for volunteers has just been treated for mosquitoes and still smells like chemicals. Hopefully I'll settle into my new home soon. Last night, Mohamed invited me to his home and his daughter Shadya (who attends York University in Toronto!) cooked me an amazing meal - all local foods and the best chai tea I've ever had. I'm already meeting lots of people, Safiya, Shadya, Dalu, Mzee Haji, and many more who are helping me work on my Swahili. Life in Tanga is pretty laid-back (read: time seems to have no meaning when it comes to getting things done), so I'm adapting to that as well as a massive culture shock. Anyways, its the end of a long day and I could definately use some time to relax...
Kua heri for now,
Kaitlin
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