The team and I finished our teaching duties on Tuesday morning with a early session on early childhood and early intervention and were also shocked and impresssed to hear our university students' plans for the local, close by, Mabughai primary school. Our 25 students compiled their ideas to come up with an amazing list of short and long term goals for the struggling school that is within walking distance from campus. They really put things into perspective for us when they mentioned that the 10 children with special needs were currently being educated in a "chicken coop." Wow! They had some impressive ideas and we hope that they will continue to persue these changes to the school.
After the morning session, we moved the class to the cafeteria for a "chai and bites" celebration! The students were grateful for our month long teaching session and shared their graditude with many thanks and good wishes.
Once finished with our snacks and goodbyes we headed back to our campus house to pack things up for good, rest, and get "books in a bag" materials put together for our Outreach Adventure the next day. We had a meeting planned with Mama Munga (the provost of Sekomu) at 3pm so we fumbled around at the house most of the early afternoon.
We had a nice meeting with the provost and shared some ideas about teaching at Sekomu in the future. As most meetings go, we planned another meeting that evening, to follow up about the meeting we had had!
Before meeting a second time, we headed back to our hostel in town for a short rest and then it was on to the meeting with the universities "legal council" to discuss our research project that we have been discussing with Mama Munga. After much deliboration, it was determined that we, unfortunately, cannot start our research with our "books in a bag" until documentations and procedures have been followed through the Tanzanian Government, or rather Minstry of Education. The government must agree to let us share the books with children in rural areas before we can proceed. The team was disappointed to say the least, but ulimately we understand that these processes are in place for good reasons.
This meeting changed things for our original plans with the outreach team. Turns out it may have been for the better :) Like I always say, there always has to be "light" in the "darkness". Kirsi, the ew outreach director from Finland and her team of 4 met up with us at our hostel this morning and we headed out for the near by village of Soni to meet with parents of children with disabilities. We were anxious to share our publications with parents that the outreach team has already had to the chance to train and work with. The parents received the materials well and seemed excited to receive their own copies once our project was determined acceptable by the TZ government. It made for a long morning, but well worth it. We loved seeing both parents and children get into the books. Afterall, its exactly what we had intended them to be used for :)
After completing an full morning at Soni, we headed back to have lunch with Kirsi and discuss our future plans with "Books in a Bag" involving the help of her outreach team. We are excited about partnering with both the Irente Rainbow Outreach team and SEKOMU to possibly research parents usages of the "books in a bag" materials that have been developed throughout the past year. Prayers said and fingers crossed that the government accepts our efforts to supply literacy materials to children in Tanzanian.
One meal with a colleague in Tanzania just isn't enough when you are leaving the next day, we had another one planned with Mama Munga this evening :) The team relaxed around the hostel, shopped at the market across the street, and packed up for heading back to Arusha early tomorrow. Dinner was scheduled for 7 o'clock so we managed to get luggage jammed into the land cruiser before joining Mama Munga and some others from the University.
We had a lovely meal with Dr. Ngugi, who has been "in charge" of our teams needs while at Sekomu, Mama Munga, the provost of SEKOMU, and a previous Sekomu professor from the United States, Angela McDonald. It was lovely to get to sit down and have a more informal conversation over great food. 6 am is going to come early so we finished up dinner around 9 and are heading to bed shortly!
Tomorrow, the team and I will head back to Arusha where we will make a quick stop at one of our favoriate Tanzanian establishments, Shanga Shangaa. This wonderful store, restaurant, and workshop employs Tanzanians with disabilities. They make wonderful handcrafts that I have brought back as souvenirs every year! After eating and shopping the team will say there goodbyes :( Bronwyn, Valerie, Jennifer, AJ, and Anna will be heading on to safari at Tarangire & Ngorongoro Crater. Marilyn and I will stay in Arusha and wait for the arrival of our family at 3am!!! Once they arrive we will head to Tarangire, Ngorogoro, Lake Manyara, and Serengeti! I cannot tell you how excited we are to see our families after a month long teaching experience in TZ! Though it will be sad to say goodbye to our team, we know that both groups will have a great time on Safari after all of the hard work we have done in Lushoto!
Be looking for pictures and praying for a safe journey/travels (in flight and during our 8 hours back to Arusha tomorrow!!) We've had a great time sharing our Lushoto adventures with you and hope that you will enjoy hearing and viewing pictures from our Safaris :)
Usikumwema (Goodnight)
Lala salama (sleep peaceful)
After the morning session, we moved the class to the cafeteria for a "chai and bites" celebration! The students were grateful for our month long teaching session and shared their graditude with many thanks and good wishes.
Once finished with our snacks and goodbyes we headed back to our campus house to pack things up for good, rest, and get "books in a bag" materials put together for our Outreach Adventure the next day. We had a meeting planned with Mama Munga (the provost of Sekomu) at 3pm so we fumbled around at the house most of the early afternoon.
We had a nice meeting with the provost and shared some ideas about teaching at Sekomu in the future. As most meetings go, we planned another meeting that evening, to follow up about the meeting we had had!
Before meeting a second time, we headed back to our hostel in town for a short rest and then it was on to the meeting with the universities "legal council" to discuss our research project that we have been discussing with Mama Munga. After much deliboration, it was determined that we, unfortunately, cannot start our research with our "books in a bag" until documentations and procedures have been followed through the Tanzanian Government, or rather Minstry of Education. The government must agree to let us share the books with children in rural areas before we can proceed. The team was disappointed to say the least, but ulimately we understand that these processes are in place for good reasons.
This meeting changed things for our original plans with the outreach team. Turns out it may have been for the better :) Like I always say, there always has to be "light" in the "darkness". Kirsi, the ew outreach director from Finland and her team of 4 met up with us at our hostel this morning and we headed out for the near by village of Soni to meet with parents of children with disabilities. We were anxious to share our publications with parents that the outreach team has already had to the chance to train and work with. The parents received the materials well and seemed excited to receive their own copies once our project was determined acceptable by the TZ government. It made for a long morning, but well worth it. We loved seeing both parents and children get into the books. Afterall, its exactly what we had intended them to be used for :)
After completing an full morning at Soni, we headed back to have lunch with Kirsi and discuss our future plans with "Books in a Bag" involving the help of her outreach team. We are excited about partnering with both the Irente Rainbow Outreach team and SEKOMU to possibly research parents usages of the "books in a bag" materials that have been developed throughout the past year. Prayers said and fingers crossed that the government accepts our efforts to supply literacy materials to children in Tanzanian.
One meal with a colleague in Tanzania just isn't enough when you are leaving the next day, we had another one planned with Mama Munga this evening :) The team relaxed around the hostel, shopped at the market across the street, and packed up for heading back to Arusha early tomorrow. Dinner was scheduled for 7 o'clock so we managed to get luggage jammed into the land cruiser before joining Mama Munga and some others from the University.
We had a lovely meal with Dr. Ngugi, who has been "in charge" of our teams needs while at Sekomu, Mama Munga, the provost of SEKOMU, and a previous Sekomu professor from the United States, Angela McDonald. It was lovely to get to sit down and have a more informal conversation over great food. 6 am is going to come early so we finished up dinner around 9 and are heading to bed shortly!
Tomorrow, the team and I will head back to Arusha where we will make a quick stop at one of our favoriate Tanzanian establishments, Shanga Shangaa. This wonderful store, restaurant, and workshop employs Tanzanians with disabilities. They make wonderful handcrafts that I have brought back as souvenirs every year! After eating and shopping the team will say there goodbyes :( Bronwyn, Valerie, Jennifer, AJ, and Anna will be heading on to safari at Tarangire & Ngorongoro Crater. Marilyn and I will stay in Arusha and wait for the arrival of our family at 3am!!! Once they arrive we will head to Tarangire, Ngorogoro, Lake Manyara, and Serengeti! I cannot tell you how excited we are to see our families after a month long teaching experience in TZ! Though it will be sad to say goodbye to our team, we know that both groups will have a great time on Safari after all of the hard work we have done in Lushoto!
Be looking for pictures and praying for a safe journey/travels (in flight and during our 8 hours back to Arusha tomorrow!!) We've had a great time sharing our Lushoto adventures with you and hope that you will enjoy hearing and viewing pictures from our Safaris :)
Usikumwema (Goodnight)
Lala salama (sleep peaceful)
No comments:
Post a Comment