Today we were up fairly promptly. We have to do the short walk up the road for breakfast which is no problem. We saw Millie this morning and so “checked in” officially!!
Robert picked us up at 9am as we were going out to Jamhuri School. This school has 5 computers from us and we are now going to loan them one more.
The teachers and pupils at the school make good use of the computers and have an IT teacher who is enthusiastic. We spend a little time with the head teacher who explains that there is now a new school national curriculum. There is now a subject called Science and Technology which is taught to children from Standard 3 upwards. Previously Tehema (ICT) was only taught to Standard 5, 6, and 7. So this has meant the school having to rethink their timetable for the computers.
We visited the computer room and handed over the computer.
After that we had a look around a few of the classrooms. It is really noticeable how less crowded these are compared to the schools in Geita and Chato. The children in this school stand a far better chance of getting a good education. It also means that all children in this school should get a good opportunity to use the computers. I have added a short video of the in one of the classes singing.
On our walk around the school we met a couple of ladies from the local community who sat on the edge of the school grounds selling fried banana chips and mandazi to the children. They were friendly and invited us to taste the banana chips which were very nice but when I asked if I could take their photo they said no ......... a good reminder that some people don’t want their photo taken so you should always ask.
We spent about an hour at the school and then left as we had arranged to pick up my sister Alison and her husband Steve, at Kilimanjaro Airport at 12 noon. They were flying in from the Serengeti after a safari and going to spend a couple of days with us in Moshi before flying back to the UK.
They landed pretty much on time, so after meeting up we drove back to Moshi and stopped for lunch at Kili Home Bar.
We had a large lunch - chicken, chips, bananas, salad and greens, all very good. We then went to the ACTT offices so they could meet the staff and after that Robert dropped us at More Than A Drop where we spent the rest of the afternoon and evening catching up.
Day 15
This morning we had great views of Kilimanjaro while we ate breakfast.
Robert picked us up at 9am as were visiting 2 schools this morning. The first school was Kaloleni Primary.
We have supported this school for 3 years and they have 5 computers. We weren’t giving them anymore this year as their communication with us has been a bit hit or miss recently. However they have a new Head Mistress so we had a good talk with her about improving their reporting and hopefully if they do improve we might add something else next year. We then renewed their loan for another year.
While we were talking to the teachers and the community members, Alison and Steve had a good talk with the students who were demonstrating their computers skills.
We then had a look around the school. However Standard 7 were doing their exams so had taken over about 5 of the classrooms so all the other children were crammed into about 3 classrooms. All these children were very excited to see us.
After about an hour we left and drove Mabogini School in Rural Moshi. We started supporting this last year and they have 3 computers and a printer. This year we are giving them a further computer. We met the head teacher and the chair of the school committee, signed the new loan contract and handed over the new computer. The electricity was off at the school so they couldn’t use any of the computers during our visit.
However the head teacher gave us an update on how things were going. The school has nearly 500 children but only school 7 teachers. They now share the computers with a neighbouring school where teachers have also done the computer training with ACTT, which is great as it means twice the number of children get to benefit from them.
I was very pleased that the chair of the school committee was present as we always try to encourage the local community to get involved. He thanked us for our continuing support to the school and said that without it these children would never have had the chance to learn how to use a computer.
Also with the change of curriculum and a recent proposed move by the government to make schools use online reporting for many school records and results, the head teacher sees the computers being used more and more.
The Head Teacher then gave us all a gift of a bracelet and then showed us around the school. The children were all having religious education lessons so were in mixed age classes for each religion.
After another hour we left and drove back to Moshi. We went for a coffee at the Union Cafe and bought some coffee beans,
and then went back to ACTT for lunch cooked by Mama Irene.
In the afternoon Alison and Steve wanted to do a bit of shopping and then we went back to More Than A Drop for a beer in the garden.
This evening we were having dinner at Robert’s house which is always a treat. Robert’s wife, niece and youngest daughter, Domitra were there, along with his friend Evodi and his mother and also a neighbour and a neighbour’s children.
Domitra is now 4 and We had bought her some building bricks which she loved. To start with she wanted us to build things but soon she and her friend Au were doing it themselves. She was also good at counting the bricks and telling us the colours in English. (though I think the correct answers may have been a lucky guess).
Mama Diana, Robert’s wife now has a thriving chicken business so we got a chance to see the chickens.
A bit later in the evening Au’s younger brother also came and joined us but was very tired and was soon nearly asleep so Peter took him back to his mum’s house.
As usual Mama Diana had cooked us a lovely meal and we enjoyed a very sociable evening there.
After we had eaten it was time for Domitra to go to bed but of course she didn’t want to. My sister had bought her a pink hippo that she had made so we eventually got her to go to bed by giving her this.
Then after another drink we also left , having had a lovely evening.
No comments:
Post a Comment