Day 6

We were up and out fairly promptly this morning as we were visiting 3 schools today, 2 of which were new to us.

Hamisi, the ACTT agent who covers the Geita area, met up with us and Robert at 8.30am. Our first school was Mbugani Primary School in the centre of Geita.

We supported this school with 3 desktop computers and a printer last year and this year we are adding another desktop. On arrival we were greeted by the head teacher and taken to her office where we discussed how they had been using the computers and then renewed their loan for another year. The Ward Education Officer was also present as was the chair of the school committee.

This primary school has over 3000 pupils. Pupils from Standard 4-6 get the opportunity to use the computers and over the last year around 700 have had some practical experience. The teachers also use the computers as a teaching resource and for research.

After this we were taken to the computer room for a practical demonstration on using the computers by a group of children. Elkana, the ICT teacher told us that with so many children it is impossible to teach them all to be competent using the computers, so he runs after school computer clubs for those who are keen to learn. Most weeks he will do this every day. There is no charge to the children and he doesn’t get paid for doing this. The group of children who met us in the computer room all attended his computer clubs.

There were in 4 groups of children, each of which demonstrated a particular computer skill whilst very clearly explaining what they were doing.

This included Microsoft Word,

Microsoft Excel,

How to make and use folders,

And how to print.

Peter and I were very impressed by their knowledge and the confident way they performed this demonstration.

It was then time to hand over the new computer.

 Finally after a quick look in on a couple of classes, we then went to meet all the teachers.

Interestingly the head teacher told us that just having the computers and printer had reduced their school overheads for sharing and printing exam papers from TSH 4,000,000 to TSH 800,000 per year which was a huge benefit in itself. She also told us that teachers from other schools from the surrounding area come to the school to use the computers, so they are benefitting the wider community.

We were then served drinks and snacks while a group of teachers sang a song that they had written thanking us for the computers.

All in all we thought this was a very successful visit and were very happy with way the school were using the computers.

By now it was about 11am and time to leave and head to our next school. This was Nzera Primary School in Geita Rural region. It took us about an hour to drive there. This school really is rural, well away from any town. Every so often we would did drive through a small village.

Before we went to the school we stopped at the Geita Rural District Education Offices to pick up the Divisional Education Officer who would be with us for the rest of the day. This man was in charge of all 192 Primary Schools in the District.

It was then only a 5 minute drive to Nzera Primary School. This school has over 1600 pupils split into 10 classes so each class has around 160 pupils. For Standard 1 and 2 they have such a large number of children that they have 2 classes of this number. Standard 7 also has 2 classes as they prepare for their final exams.

On arrival we were met by the head teacher (pictured below with the Divisional Education Officer) who welcomed us to the school.

We then also met with the head of the school committee and several other members of the committee, the village chairman and the Ward and District Education Officers. The office was rather small so we were all rather squashed. We went through the details of the loan project and everyone was happy so we then signed the contracts.



We then moved to a bigger room where the teachers were gathered. We would be giving them our normal “starter package” of 3 desktop computers and a printer. There were then various speeches to thank us from different teachers and members of the community and education office.

 After this everyone was invited for lunch.

After lunch we then had a look around some of the classrooms and met some of the children.

By now it was early afternoon and so time to leave. The final school we were visiting today was Kakubilo Primary School also in Geita Rural District. The drive there took us through an area where pineapples seem to be the main crop.

Before we reached the school Robert received a phone call from a teacher at Nzera School so say that we had forgotten to hand over the printer!!! We arranged that we would call in later to drop it off.

Kakubilo Primary is another huge school with 3753 pupil and 43 teachers and is also a new school for us to support. The Divisional Education Officer was still with us and on arrival at the school we were met by the Ward Education Officer for this area as well as the Ward Executive Officer and the chair of the village committee as well as the chair of the school committee plus of course the teachers.

Everyone gathered in one large room so we could explain to them all about our computer loan project for schools. Again everyone was very happy and the Ward Executive Officer pledged to help with the maintenance of the equipment. So we signed the contract and then handed over the 3 computers to the head teacher and some pupils.

They had also prepared a meal for us and all the invited guests. Luckily the lunch at Nzera had not been too big and also it was now about 4pm. The food was actually pretty nice and included fish and rice and of course some pineapple.

Once we had finished eating it was time to say goodbye but before we left the teachers told us that they had a gift for us.........yes some pineapples!!!

So we left the school with a car full of pineapples. We then had to drop the Education Officer back at his office after which we returned to Nzera School. We arrived just as school was just finishing and all the children were outside and we were quite literally mobbed by them.

So having handed over the printer we then made the drive back to Geita. By this time it was early evening so we put our feet up for a bit in the hotel, then had a snack in the bar before going to bed fairly early as we had an early start the following day.