Role Playing at the Teachers' Centre

We have our students perform many role plays.  The goal is to make them comfortable expressing themselves in English and to have a bit of fun at the same time.  In this role play Jeremiah is playing a son.  He is trying to convince his moher, played by Lucy, that he should marry a Canadian girl.  Lucy thinks otherwise and is trying to talk him out of the plan.

Hi Ho Hi Ho It's Off To Work We Go

Some of you have been asking about our work. As we understand it, the challenge is to upgrade the English language skills of teachers, to expand teachers' methodology and to help them to create low cost teaching aids.

Over a year ago, our predecessor, Louisa started the Programme for Improved English (PIE) in Primary Schools. We are continuing that work which is aimed at seven primary schools in and around Kibaya. Each week we run two identical workshops for teachers, one at the CERC building beside where we live, the other at the teacher centre, a twenty minute walk away.

Yesterday ten teachers showed up at CERC. That's impressive attendance so far. We opened with an old standby game of “I spy with my little eye something that begins with the letter ....” The teachers like this one. We had taught it during the first workshop so they were familiar with it and the game moved along nicely. Then we threw in a few other ideas, you can teach colours, adjectives, categories, etc. With each new twist there was a pause and you could virtually 'hear the penny drop'. The ancient blackboard is the only visual aid but they really appreciate it when we write the clues “something that is blue, ...tall, ... made of wood”. I really get the impression this is one activity they will use.

Role playing seems to be above their comfort level but we get everybody up anyway. Some who have been to three workshops already are becoming more comfortable with us are getting used to putting on a little skit. We're not worrying about grammar. We just want people up and talking and having fun.

To practice quick replies we did a game with a set of questions matched to numbers. Each teacher had to reply quickly to a numbered question by drawing from a deck of cards. For example #5 'What would you do if you were rich?' This following one got us some insightful answers:

'What would you do if you could change one thing about your school?'

... make sure the school had enough water.
... have a shelf full of books in each classroom

          ... have enough desks and seats.

... build two classrooms for each standard (one of the schools has 124 eleven year old kids in standard four. (That suggestion would reduce class size to 61.)
... hire competent teachers.

Low cost teaching aids seems to be pretty far down the list of priorities, but they seem keen on whatever we can offer. Activities that cost nothing and don't require much moving around would be high on my list. Let's see what today's workshop brings in the way of ideas.

Daily Routine

Most days we get up at about 7:00 am.  Until then we try to ignore the roosters.  We put a big pot of water on to heat for our showers.  Most people here have outdoor charcoal stoves so our propane gas stove is a luxury. 

When the water is boiling we carefully carry it into the bathroom using oven mitts because Tanzanian pots don't have handles.  This is just one of life's many mysteries.  We pour half the hot water into a plastic basin and cool it down with water from the tap.  Plastic buckets and basins are everywhere here - many thanks to the Chinese. We wash with this water and use the second half of the hot water to rinse off with.  Soap and shampoo are easy to get although they are expensive.

We have been brushing our teeth with the tap water!!  So far this hasn't caused any health problems.  The tap water is not suitable for drinking and so we try to remember not to swallow it.  Water must be boiled and then put through a water filter to make it safe for drinking. 

CUSO-VSO supplies all volunteers with survival kit containing an Indian made water filter.  The survival kit we were given also included a mosquito net to cover our bed and a year’s supply of condoms of both the male and female varieties so we are unlikely to run out.

Breakfast consists mostly of toast and marmalade which we make from the local oranges (green in colour).  Sometimes we can get peanut butter and honey is almost always available.  We have a reliable source of sliced white bread (knock on wood).  Bananas are easy to get and so we often have one for breakfast.  Cheese is completely out of the question.

We have powdered instant coffee with our breakfast.  Tanzanian ground coffee is excellent but very scarce and can only be bought in major cities.   We can get powdered whole milk and so I put a teaspoon of it into my coffee.  Teabags can easily be gotten as can sugar.  Tanzanians have sweet tooths, or is it teeth?

Over breakfast we often practice our Swahali.  We know the numbers and can make simple sentences in present, past and future.  We have advanced to the point where the locals laugh at our accents but they are beginning to understand us.

If we need food and supplies we walk down to the market after breakfast.  The market is made up of many small covered stalls selling fresh fruits and vegetables.  Since there is no refrigeration in the butcher stalls it is vital to buy meat in the morning just after it has been slaughtered and before the flies have taken their share.  Our house has a fridge. 

After returning from the market we work on making lesson plans for our training sessions with the local teachers.  These sessions take place on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.  Each session is two hours but many teachers arrive late.  Motivating them is a big challenge but we do have a small group of dedicated people who want to improve their English skills. 

Lunch is usually a salad with toast or a bowl of soup.  On our last trip to Dodoma we found some Knorr powdered soup so we bought 13 packages.  There are ten left but who's counting?  Today we are going to make cucumber and avocado sandwiches with some mayo we found in Arusha.  Five cats share our deck and for the last few days they have lunched with us opting for fresh and readily available birds.  After lunch we sweep the feathers off the deck and wash the dishes.

During the afternoons we read on our Kindles, email or work on lesson plans until supper unless we have the workshops with our teachers.  As soon as we get our transportation budget money from CUSO-VSO we'll start visiting the seven schools in our area to help out where we can. 

In the late afternoon our boss, the director of the Community Education Resource Centre, Mr. Ndee, often comes to visit us.  Over a Mountain Dew, Mr. Ndee's favourite tipple, we discuss the day's activities.

We eat supper around 7:00 pm.  We have been making beef stew in a very scary Indian made pressure cooker we bought in Arusha.  It came without operating instructions and often makes furious hissing noises.  Sometimes we eat vegetable stew.  Tonight we are going to branch out and try to make stuffed eggplant provinciale.

In the evenings we watch TV shows that we loaded onto an external hard-drive brought from Canada.  We are now watching old episodes of Cracker, starring Robbie Coltrane.  The computer that we got with our Air Mile points has a battery so we can use it to listen to music or watch films even during the sometimes very frequent and long power failures.  Not to worry, candles are available. 

I am listening to Frank Sinatra as I type this.  The chairman is telling us to take off into the blue and how very nice it is to go travelling and to be footloose with only a toothbrush and comb.

We usually hit the hay about 9:00 pm.

Our simple life is good.

Building Relationships One Handshake at a Time

Maasai Saturday

When you travel through Kibaya, the town where we are living, you are sure to see some Maasai.  Kibaya is at the southernmost end of the Maasai Steppe which extends northward all the way into Kenya. 

It’s easy to identify the Maasai as they are the most colourful tribe in the area.  They wrap themselves in plaid shawls and blankets.  Their sandals are made from motorcycle tires.  The men, who are usually over six feet tall, carry four foot polished sticks, about an inch in diameter and sheathed machetes.  Their hair is often braided in elaborate styles.  Both men and women can wear elaborate jewellery.

The Maasai are pastoral nomads who herd goats and sheep but their lives are based mostly on their cattle.  Cattle provide the bulk of their living.  They eat beef, blood and milk almost exclusively although when we visited a family boma (home) on Saturday we ate mashed pumpkin but that is only because milk is scarce during the dry season.

Kissiyogi (apologies for the almost certain misspelling), our Maasai friend, met us just after breakfast.  His plan was to take us to his village in the morning and then to another village in the afternoon so that we could see an elaborate Maasai ceremony.  Although Kissiyogi speaks English, much of the conversation with his family was translated by another volunteer who speaks fluent Swahili,  

Kissiyogi’s village is in a small clearing in the bush.  There are two houses and a pen for cattle made from thorn bushes.  The houses have a frame made from sticks.  The frame is covered with mud mixed with cattle dung and water.  The mud and cattle dung dries to cement like finish which is painted with designs.  It doesn’t smell like manure.

Inside the houses are extremely dark.  When we went in I stumbled over pots that were scattered on the floor next to a cold fire pit and almost fell onto a sleeping platform made from layers of small twigs.  I am not certain how I would have handled the situation had I smashed a Maasai bed into splinters. 

Light enters the house through two six inch openings in the wall and a small slit near the roof line.  .

The whole experience of being inside the house was very disorienting and confusing.  It was hard for me to understand how the smoke from the fire would exit the house as the fire pit had no chimney.  I was told that when the cooking fire is going, smoke exits through these same tiny holes and the house gets very smoky.  All I could think to do was nod my head.

I had to bend over to walk inside the house and I am shorter than the average Maasai.  I wanted to ask why they didn’t make their houses taller so that they could walk upright in them.  But I didn’t as there is just so much I don’t understand.  I had no idea of where to begin.

Outside, sitting on small wooden stools we drank metal mugs of sweet tea made mostly from milk.  I could taste the smoke from the cooking fire in the tea.  We also ate mashed pumpkin from a communal metal pot which sat on the ground.  We were each given our own spoon.

 The Maasai are polygamous.  Kissiyogi’s father has two wives and thirteen children.  Kissiyogi is still unmarried.   He has only twenty cows as he has sold some of them to pay for his four younger siblings’ school fees.  I suspect that the lack of cattle is keeping him single.

 According to what I was able to understand, when a man marries he provides his wife with a house and gives her ten cows.  Her responsibility is to increase her herd and as such, the family’s wealth.  When a male child is born he is given a cow for each birthday.  These cattle become his money in the bank so to speak.  When they are old enough the children begin to look after the cattle.

Kissiyogi told me that it would be good for me to get a younger second wife to provide me with a few more children.  ‘Having young children around all the time makes you feel happy’ he said.  The Maasai find it difficult to understand how we can be happy without young children around.  Looking over at Kissiyogi’s father, I had to admit he had a point.

We also talked about economic issues.  The Kibaya Maasai have been making agreements with Arab traders in Dodoma for the sale of their cattle.  The Maasai rent a truck and transport the cattle to Dodoma.  When they arrive the Arabs break the agreement and lower the price.  After having paid the rental on the truck and made the five hour trip to Dodoma the Maasai have little choice but to accept the lower price.

When we were discussing these issues I was wishing that there were a few Tatamagouche farmers with us.  They might have offered some concrete suggestions.

Circumcision Ceremony

On Saturday afternoon we attended a circumcision ceremony.  The Maasai circumcise both male and female children.  Circumcision marks the entrance into adulthood.  I was happy that we didn’t witness the surgery.  People in our culture have a hard time accepting female circumcision so much so that it is referred to as genital mutilation.

We did get to see the dancing and celebrations.  About thirty young men of the tribe gathered in a circle about ten feet in diameter.    Accompanied by throat music several men enter the circle at a time and do standing jumps, at least three feet in the air.  It is mesmerizing to listen  and watch . 

As the sun set we were invited into a Maasai house for stewed beef and Pepsi.  Inside this simple house, constructed entirely out of sticks, mud, cow dung and water, one of the Maasai text messaged on his cell phone while drinking a soda pop.  Two worlds colliding.

On the walk home, using the flashlights on our cell phones to guide our way, we had a lot to think about.

 

Bukoba and Back

Distances are deceiving in Tanzania. 

The country looks small on a map but getting around is a serious trial.  The roads are terrible.  The well-travelled but unpaved back roads that we have been on are not nearly as good as the walking trail that runs by Patterson’s Wharf in Tatamagouche.  They are rutted dirt tracks. 

The paved roads often have more pot holes than asphalt and the bus drivers race.  I suspect they make bets with each other as to who will reach a certain point first but I can't be sure.  More times than not the buses break down and the passengers wait patiently by the side of the road until field repairs are done.  We have been on speeding buses that have forced school kids to jump into ditches.

The purpose of going to Bukoba was to pick up a four wheel drive truck that our colleague in Kibaya, Tessa, had bought, sight unseen, from VSO.  The plan was to take buses to Bukoba, pick up the truck, and drive home.

But, as they say here, TIA - This is Africa and things hardly ever turn out as planned.  When they don't   you learn to ‘Make Another Plan’.  Making Another Plan is standard operating procedure.

The first leg of the safari was from Kibaya to Dodoma.  Two hours down a dirt track and then two hours along the pavement.  On that bus we met young Moses, a twelve year old who was travelling, by himself, to Dodoma to be interviewed by a private school.  He was hoping to win a scholarship. 

Not surprisingly, the bus broke down.

While the driver worked on the engine we drank orange Fanta by the side of the road and chatted with Moses.  Kids like Moses with their quiet confidence, independence and a hunger for education against daunting odds hold the future of Tanzania in their hands.  It is impossible not to like kids like him.  It is impossible not to root for them.

Around mid-afternoon we arrived in Dodoma and went straight to Liesbeth and Frederick’s house, as prearranged.  Liesbeth and Frederick and two volunteers from Holland.  They have a beautifully decorated place with paintings of the walls and African sculpture on the tables.  A skylight sets things off nicely.  They have made a cozy home in Dodoma.  They also have hot showers and wireless internet which were much appreciated.  We ate delicious pancakes for breakfast topped with the local honey and ground coffee, unusual treats for us.  We were thankful for their hospitality.

The next leg, from Bukoba to Dodoma took two days.  We stayed overnight in Kahama. 

The road from Kahama to Bukoba runs dangerously close to the border with civil war torn Burundi where refugees had been known to kidnap bus passengers.  During this part of the trip we were accompanied by a guard holding an AK-47.

We got into Bukoba around mid-afternoon and checked into the Lake Hotel, an old colonial hotel that has gone from faded to tatty.  According to the Lonely Planet guide book, in its hay day Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner had drinks in the garden and with a lot of imagination I could just barely envision it.   It was close to the shores of Lake Victoria and so we were able to spend an hour or so walking along a sandy beach.  It wasn’t Blue Sea Beach, but it was nice just the same.

We also were able to have supper of Chicken Tikka Masala and to meet up with several other VSO volunteers and hear their stories.  Margaret, Jonathan, Michael, Djoke, Marc and Godwins all came to meet us.  VSO volunteers are like family and meeting up with them is always a very special event.

The truck Tessa had arranged to buy turned out to be an unsafe clunker.  She rejected it and so the original purpose of our trip was derailed.  But TIA and Make Another Plan and return home by bus.

At the crack of dawn we were ready for another marathon bus trip to Mwanza.  There we arranged for a Land Cruiser and driver to take us to Arusha through the Serengeti Plain and past the Olduvai Gorge and the Ngorongoro Crater.

Through the Serengeti we saw giraffes, wildebeests, zebras, jackals, baboons and even a lion.  To be driving through the same place where our earliest ancestors first walked was a very special privilege.

A full day in Arusha was spent relaxing, buying kitchen supplies and western food in the supermarket.

The final day of our trip was a ten hour bus trip on yet another dirt track.  Clouds of dust covered everything.  We were packed in like sardines.   At one point Tessa was holding a baby.   We were lucky to have seats. My feet were propped up on cases of bottled water and cooking oil and a Maasai warrior was balancing himself by holding onto my leg. Live chickens squawked somewhere just behind my head.  Tessa had seen two goats loaded into the luggage compartment.

It was good to get home.

We covered a lot of ground on this trip.  I can hardly believe that we have only been here for a month.  TIA.