Last Day at School

Today was my last day at placement. It was really hard to say goodbye to my kids. In 3 months here I feel like they have become a part of my life, they are not just cute little kids but they are little people that I know and love. I feel like I really know them – who is shy, who is outgoing, who is smart, who has trouble. I know their family situations and all of their names. Most didn’t understand I wasn’t coming back – they kept saying “kesho!” which is like “see you tomorrow.” But I am leaving so that is the reality.

The church and school got me a gift – a beautiful conga – and presented it to me at the end of the day. I was moved by the gesture, especially since they have so little and yet gave me such a nice gift. I felt progress with my students – we finished the alphabet today and their handwriting has really improved! I may not have taught them much, but at least that is something I am proud of.

Tomorrow I leave for the USA – I fly from Dar es Salaam to Doha, Qatar where I stay the night. The next day I fly to Washington D.C. where my mom will pick me up and drive to North Carolina. Sunday we drive to Florida where I will be for 2 weeks.

Picture: The Minister of the Church and Cook presenting me with the conga. I’m also holding lightness because she was crying from falling down earlier.

Donations to the School

Last Thursday the packages sent by my family and Courtney FINALLY arrived! There were 5 boxes in all so there was a lot to sort through – pencils, pens, colored pencils, crayons, stamps, stickers, construction paper, soccer balls, flashcards, and books! I was like a kid on Christmas opening those boxes!

Monday was the best day – bringing everything to school and seeing the look on my kids’ faces! Five of my kids – Paulo, Paskali, Alice, Saidi, and Naifati received backpacks. They were carrying their school supplies every day in plastic bags ripped and broken. All of them, especially Naifati were so surprised and excited. The twins were practically in shock – I don’t think they’ve ever gotten gifts. Paskali wore his backpack around the rest of the day – he refused to take it off! I also wrote each of their names on the backpacks so that they would know that the backpack was theirs.

My kids each got pencils and pens of their own. The oldest kids who will be starting Standard 1 at the primary schools in January received the bright composition books, my younger kids got the notepads. The crayons, colored pencils, balls, flashcards, and books will stay at school for all of them to share. They did get to color and play with the balls and they were so excited. What they were actually MOST excited about were the pencil sharpeners! I’ve mentioned before, but they never have pencil sharpeners so they have to sharpen with their teeth. Between the boxes my family and Courtney sent, they now have over 10 for the whole class! Some of the items will stay at CCS – the construction paper from my parents, the loose lined paper from Courtney, and a couple books – so that future volunteers can use those things at their schools too.

My dad also included a soccer ball pump so that is safe in the office at the school, but as the soccer balls get used and get deflated, now they have a way to fill them back up! I even taught Abdul, one of my kids, how to use it! I really love this because it’s sustainable – hopefully my school can use those soccer balls for years to come! I gave out a bunch of the stickers for my kids to play with too, which they promptly stuck all over themselves! They are really hilarious, I just love them.

It was a wonderful day and my kids were so appreciative. BIG HUGE thank you to my mom, dad, sister Jenni, Mama Doris, and Courtney for supporting me and my kids and sending boxes – that are not cheap to send to Tanzania in the first place – with no guarantee that they’d get here. I love and thank you all from the bottom of my heart!

Picture: Me with all 36 of my students after they got all their school supplies!

Corporal Punishment

This is a hard post to write – a hard thing to think about, much less observe. Corporal punishment is technically outlawed in Tanzania but it still happens – it’s when teachers are allowed to discipline students physically by hitting them, usually with a stick or ruler. There have been a few instances in my class, as the teacher knows I disagree he refrains most of the time from using it.

One time that was particularly bothersome to me was during exams and Mariam, one of my sweet girls, did not know how to write “simba” but she knew that the picture was a lion. My teacher was frustrated I think, and so he told her to put out her palm and he whipped it with a stick 3 times. She cried. I cried. It was terrible. I couldn’t help but wonder what kind of message that sends about education – get it right or be hit?

Another case was this week, when 3 of my students forgot their notebooks. Well I believe that Paulo and Pascali (my twins that both forgot) didn’t bring their books because the day before at school the plastic bag they carry their books in broke. My teacher whipped each student’s palm 3 times with the stick (I guess that’s the typical corporal punishment penalty, at least at my school). Then they were all sent home and told to return when they had their books. This made me quite angry – these kids are only 5 years old and they walk to school alone – they aren’t grown-ups and they’re going to forget things. All 3 boys cried – Paulo, Pascali, and Haridi – then headed home. An hour later Paulo and Pascali returned, carrying the broken bag with school supplies in it. Haridi didn’t return until today.

Lastly, today was another use of corporal punishment. This time, Ramadhan and a boy from another class (not sure of the name) were I guess playing at the beach when they got mad at each other, and Ramadhan kicked the boy so hard he scraped his skin and he was bleeding. The boy cried and Ramadhan was punished – again 3 whips with the stick on his palm. Then Ramadhan cried. I couldn’t help but think, no wonder the kids hit each other, they are learning that from the teachers.

Physical punishment shouldn’t be the answer but it’s clear why it is. There is a lack of social norms surrounding expectation of education and so while maybe parents let their kids go to school they don’t have the same expectations of performance. Many schools in Bagamoyo are funded by NGOs and outside organizations, there are few (if any that I know of) that are self-sustaining: the remaining schools are government-run. Physical punishment also yields immediate results and the kids fear the teachers. Whereas for students to be good without physical punishment the process is longer, less concrete, and definitely less easy. Lastly, physical punishment is also used by parents so you can see how it is socially acceptable – parents use it at home, teachers use it at school.

Is it any wonder, though, why kids in Tanzania hit each other more than kids in America? That is how they learn to express anger and frustration.

My little kids are little people!

I really have gotten the impression from my kids here in Africa that they are like little adults – forced to grow up so fast. Kids in Bagamoyo – and Tanzania – walk sometimes miles to school – alone. When I was 4 years old I don’t think I played outside alone, much less walked miles to school by myself!

One of my students, Nashfat, had been absent at school for about a month. Thursday she came with her mom and her mom was explaining why. Apparently her baby teeth aren’t falling out but her other teeth are growing in anyway – so she’s had several removed. No novacaine and cotton gauze in her mouth. It just broke my heart because she was so tough – not crying or anything. But when I scooped her up in my arms she just laid her little head down on my shoulder and lightly clutched my shirt. I cannot even express the amount of love I felt at that moment for my little Nashfat! I just adore these kids they are the light in my life.

Today on my UKUN home visits I happened to pass 4 of my kids! I hear them shout “Dana” (but it sounds like DEENA) and they come running up to me and Charles on the motorcycle! Nashfat was one of them and she ran so fast and just lept up into my arms! I also saw Ramadhan, Abdul, and Haridi today. A lot of my kids leave in the areas most affected by HIV and AIDS so it’s not surprising that I saw them – I guess I should expect that to happen more and more!

So my life is back to normal – I get to Anglican daycare around 7:45am and I stay till noon. I have lunch at CCS then I do UKUN home visits from 2:00-5:00. Then dinner at CCS, maybe internet and to a bar for a drink. I bike to Anglican and UKUN which is great, I feel part of the community and I really feel like I live here. Thanks everyone for the support of my decision to stay a few more weeks! I really feel like I’m making a difference!

Picture: Me and little Nashfat!

Simple Kindness

This is my tenth week teaching the 5-year old class at Bagamoyo Anglican Daycare. Something I’ve noticed is that each kid in my class is unique – they are little people with their own personalities and learning styles. I’ve learned that many have home lives that are extremely difficult and almost too sad to mention.

I have twins – Paulo and Pascali – who my teacher always referred to as the “bad boys.” This became evident as I saw them pick fights, yell, cry, and fail to pay attention in class. However, as time went on I noticed they were also usually late to school, their uniforms dirty and probably not washed in weeks, lacking shoes and backpacks carrying their notebooks in a red and white striped plastic bag. Both are malnourished – the skin pulls at their eye sockets and joints. Their knees are covered with boils, their arms dotted with scattered scars. They never smiled… I found them to be truly sad people, made even sadder by the fact that they are only 5 years old.

During the summer weeks at first they didn’t come to school. But the last three weeks they have and I was able to give them some special attention. I spent 20 minutes with Pascali practicing writing capital letter “D” over and over again until it didn’t look like an “O.” I revised Paulo’s work over and over again to get him to write in a straight line, a seemingly impossible task even though he has a lined paper notebook! Each day I said to them “tutaonana kesho” [see you tomorrow] hoping to encourage them to continue coming to summer school classes.

This week normal classes resumed and I noticed a difference. The twins now sit in the front row of the class and pay attention, repeating after me and looking at the board. They get so excited when they do well enough on work to get a sticker – they will revise their work repeatedly to get that sticker! They cause less trouble in class (although still some, Paulo constantly talks chalk dust and wipes it on Wahida, one of the girls in the class). Today Pascali smiled and it warmed my heart.

Every day I tell them “Nakupenda” – “I love you.” Every day I encourage their work. Every day I remind my teacher not to hit them even when they are bad. He seemed confused at first but I asked him to watch them. He finally noticed the difference, a change in their attitudes and behavior. He looked to me and said “simple kindness?”

Simple kindness indeed.

A Wonderful Surprise

There’s no doubt that malaria is an unpleasant experience, but by Wednesday my illness had taken a toll on my spirits. I confided in Mama Thea, the Cross Cultural Solutions country director who diligently checked on me and ensured I had all I needed, that I was quite sad – mostly missing my kids. I thought, they don’t know why I’m not at school, they will think I abandoned them. As I teared up she told me that it wasn’t uncommon for kids to sometimes visit if their teacher is ill, she said she would see what she could do.

Thursday morning I managed to keep down breakfast – two pieces of toast and an egg – but felt quite tired and returned to bed. A few hours later, around 10:00, there was a knock at my door and Didase (CCS staff) said “hurry now, they are here!” Half asleep I wandered out to the front yard in hot pink pajama pants and a giant baggy tee shirt wondering who he was talking about.

To my total surprise and delight, all of my kids were sitting in the front yard at CCS singing to me. Of course in my weakened state I started to cry, my kids are absolutely the sweetest things. The teacher I assist explained to them in Swahili that I had been sick with malaria, and that class today would be time to visit me and cheer me up. My kids responded “Pole Sana Mwalimu” which means “very sorry teacher” when they heard I had malaria. I can only imagine how many of my kids have also had it, strangely I felt this connection to them, unspoken, but how they must be able to relate to my feelings.

Adrenaline kicked in for a while and I played a few games with them: paka paka simba (which means cat cat lion – it’s their version of duck duck goose haha!). Also we sang a few songs – Jinereza, jinereza which is the “introduce yourself song” and Bingay bayo which is a dance song. For jinereza, this is what you say:

Jinereza, jinereza, jinereza jinereza mama (everyone)

Mimi apa ni Dana
Mimi mama angu ni Quenta
Mimi baba angu ni Larry
Jiyeresha sasa

So this is what I say – my name is Dana, my mom is Quenta, my father is Larry, this is how I introduce myself. Then everyone sings the chorus and the next person introduces themself and so on.

The second song is absolutely hilarious when the kids do it – it’s a dance song. I’ll post a video when I’m back in the US because it is priceless. They say “Bingay bayo bingay bayo tu namtaka na Dana tu muonay, ni boyaka… bingedee bingedee baca ching! Basically they fill in the name and when your name is called you go to the center of the circle and when they get to the end bingedee bingedee baca ching you basically break it down – do a little dance and baca ching means you pop to the ground then back up. Of course to see my little 4 and 5 year olds do this is hysterical – they can move their little hips and they’re totally uninhibited!

As their visit wore on I became more tired. As a treat for them, in Tanzania when you have a visitor it is custom that you offer them a drink. So my kids got a soda each! They were totally excited about this – a lot of them had orange Fantas and proceeded to stick out their orange tongues at each other. In this way (and so many others) they are just like American kids.

Their visit lifted my spirits – and my teacher was kind to take some photos of us playing. I look sick of course, but hopefully my happiness translates through the pictures. My kids are the light in my life here, they keep me centered and I know why I’m here, what I’m learning to hopefully improve the hopes for their futures. Mama C, my program coordinator came out and asked them what they want to be – mwalimu (teacher), doctor, policia, and they shout “mimi apa!” when they hear what they want to be. My thoughts, my prayers, my energy will continue throughout my life to make their dreams a reality.

Strangely enough, this day where I was stricken with malaria and feeling so low, suddenly became a day I will not only remember as one of my best days in Tanzania, but one of the truly happiest moments in my life – to see my kids singing to me and running to hug me and make me feel better. They are beautiful, unselfish, absolutely incredible little tiny people who I love dearly.

Tanzania Nationalized Education

Photo credit: Nick Bishop

As a teacher and a volunteer I’m learning quite a lot about the Education system in Tanzania. Primary schooling is done entirely in Swahili with English as a subject. However, secondary school is done entirely in English with Swahili as a subject. Multiple problems arise: the kids don’t know enough English to study other subjects in this foreign language, the kids don’t understand the teachers when the teachers speak English. Additionally, many teachers just teach the subjects in Swahili. This might not be such a problem if education in Tanzania wasn’t nationalized – but it is – thus all examinations are in English as well.

What I’ve seen is that kids don’t really understand English. They repeat letters and sounds and words but there is a block in terms of actual comprehension, even at the secondary school level. The teachers don’t make a lot of money and lack the resources and community support to change the education system.

I’m not sure of a perfect solution, but I find switching the main language from Swahili to English at the secondary school level (kids are 10 by this time) to be extremely problematic. Something should change – it’s a policy question – but how it should change, I’m not sure yet.

Adventures in Bicycling and Singing

I have a newfound respect for bikers! I have recently purchased a bike so that I can go by myself to school in the morning and to my afternoon placement at the ngo in the afternoon. The morning ride is beautiful – I bike past hotels, the fish market, and I get there in record time! Cars fly by me though it can be quite scary!

Also, the little kids see you biking and they will run behind you and hop on! I had 3 hanging on the back yesterday I was convinced I was going to crash and have all 4 of us in big trouble! I don’t have a front brake and this isn’t a mountain bike so going up hills can be something of a challenge (and downhill, for that matter, I have to be careful not to pick up too much speed!).

Saturday Nick and I taught music – an additional music class – at the primary school. We taught them Jason Mraz’s “I’m Yours” and to hear them all sing in unison was amazing.

“I won’t hesitate no more, no more
This cannot wait – I’m sure
There’s no need to complicate
Our time is short – this is our fate
I’m Yours”

We also sang the Beatles “Let It Be” – it was an amazing morning. Their voices give me chills! I wish you could hear.

School Update

Today I taught my students how to draw self-portraits. Their pictures are so cute! The kids got so excited that I brought colored pencils. It’s great to see them so excited and all the kids returned the pencils at the end of class I didn’t even have to ask! They are so unselfish, so unassuming, I just love them.

I also brought a pencil sharpener today. The kids don’t have their own and neither does the school, so they sharpen the pencils using their little fingers so the pencils are dull with wood splintering off the sides of the pencils. They were so excited to see a pencil sharpener! They all WANTED to sharpen the pencils so I let them take turns. This was insane to me… I got to thinking about back to school shopping when I was a kid, picking out my very own pencils, pencil sharpener, colored pencils, crayons, notebooks and stickers. Here they lack even the basics, and what I can bring in everyone has to share. It’s a dramatic contrast which makes me feel exceedingly lucky – both to have had the privileges that I had as a child and to see firsthand what it is like not to have such material benefits.

A funny story – I was teaching and one of my star pupils jumped off the bench and ran up to me with his backpack and started hitting me with it! I was so startled and surprised I kept saying “kaa chini! Kaa chini! Acha! Acha!” – which means sit down, sit down, stop it, stop it. Well turns out there was a GIANT stick bug on me and he was trying to kill it! Eventually it fell off my back and on the ground, and the kid stepped on it. He’s probably my hero even though he’s only 4 years old!

I’ve had a few questions about school supplies: there’s a difference in terms of what can be sent to me and what can be sent to the school. The basics like pencils and paper that the kids would keep should be sent to the school, and extras like stickers and storybooks can be sent to my program. Of course you can send anything to either place and it will definitely get used!

My school:
Anglican Church
c/o Julius Simeo
P.O. Box 148
Bagamoyo, Tanzania

Cross Cultural Solutions:
Dana Vettel
Cross Cultural Solutions
c/o Zik Kundy
It’s so great to be developing relationships with the kids too. One of my kids, Naithfat, doesn’t have a backpack like the other kids. She brings her things to school in a torn black plastic bag. Another kid, Abdul, is so smart I can’t stand it! He should be advancing in school faster he already knows everything I am teaching the other kids. Nurdin is my know-it-all troublemaker but he’s super smart too so I am trying to create challenging assignments for him. My little star is Emanuel and he’s so sweet, he’s very quiet and well behaved and he tries so hard. It’s really sweet.

Alright time for lunch… bye!

TGIF!

Post

Some more fun stories!!!!

Okay so in Bagamoyo I have learned that dogs and cats are wild animals – we see them on the streets and out in the forest areas. What’s funny is, goats and chickens are domestic animals!!! Everyone knows which is theirs, they stay in the yard of their house: the goats can provide milk and the chickens provide eggs (and meat, of course, if the family chooses to do that). The people couldn’t understand having a dog or cat as a pet! They view them as scavengers, like vultures, who roam wild and eat scraps of food and such. I found this really funny.

The roads in Bagamoyo are all dirt. But see dirt roads I always thought would be flat and dusty. Not the case! The roads are extremely bumpy with huge wholes in them, the road is dirt and rock together. On the roads you will see dalla-dallas (buses), bicycles, people walking, and the occasional camel!

Fridays at my school are fun days – the kids play sports and I teach singing. The best part: class is held on the beach! So I was on the beautiful Bagamoyo beaches playing with the kids. The sun shines so brightly and even at 8:00 in the morning it has risen so high above the ocean that the water glitters, it’s blue-green and beautiful. My kids were fascinated with my sunglasses that I was wearing at the beach and wanting to learn new songs. I taught the Hokey Pokey which was hilarious – they didn’t really get the words to the song but they LOVED the motions especially when “you do the hokey pokey and you turn yourself around” – they are so freaking cute. I was teaching 90 today so I am pretty worn out!!

I’m starting to plan some weekend travel, in a couple weeks some of the volunteers want to go to Ngorongoro, a crater in northern Tanzania. It’s a small crater but one of the oldest sites of life in the world, with a variety of animals in one small place – lions, zebras, elephants, everything! On that trip I think we’re going to also stop by Mwanza, which is where you can see hundreds of flamingos on Lake Victoria. The weekend after that there is the Walk the World hunger awareness walk and I’m going to walk it in Dar Es Salaam with a couple other volunteers if we can get the details worked out!

Attached is my favorite pictures with my kids, it is us on the beach, and another teacher took it. I love them!

Drumming, Beadmaking, Carving, Updates!

Mambo!!!! POA!!!!

This is a greeting in Tanzania – it means “how are things” and poa means “cool!”. It’s common everywhere so I like to use it. Things in Bagamoyo are wonderful and intense, overwhelming and humbling at the same time. I feel fortunate to have this experience and the opportunity to share it with those of you who are reading.

Today I taught colors at my school. The kids had a harder time grasping them because they already know them in Swahili! I’m trying to get them to associate the new words (blue) with Swahili equivalents (buluu). I have good news, for those of you who have emailed me asking to send school supplies you can – directly to the church actually – and the address is below:

Bagamoyo Anglican Church
c/o Julius Simeo
P.O. BOX 148
Bagamoyo, Tanzania

Our cultural activities this afternoon were great! I learned how to do wood carving, bead making, and drumming! I was best at wood carving actually – I’m going to finish the piece I started tomorrow with the teacher! The teachers came from a little art school on our road – it is a small building but them make beautiful jewelry and play amazing traditional Swahili music. The teachers find orphans off the street and teach them these trades so that they have a craft and do not resort to other means on the streets. They don’t charge either, it’s free, and they buy the equipment and materials with the sales of the jewelry. Amazing cause and the guys are totally awesome.

I found out my school goes on summer vacation for about 4 weeks so I am going to go work with a women’s empowerment NGO during those weeks in the mornings. I can run my own project ideas and help out the organization. That starts June 12th and I will spend 4 weeks with this organization. In 3 weeks our cultural activities wrap up and we can add an additional placement. I’m going to be placed with UKUN, which is an HIV/AIDS organization that does home visits and research on AIDS in the area. It’ll be really challenging, sad at times, but important to the overall experience. I’ll spend 9 weeks with this organization.

Also, Nick, another volunteer and I are going to be presenting a discussion on HIV/AIDS in terms of the cultural and social attitudes and how to address them to the secondary students at the school we visited yesterday. The kids are really eager for us to come they have so many questions – everyone knows HIV/AIDS is bad but it’s taboo to talk about it, sex, protection, all these things. We’re going to the school in a few weeks and we will have a discussion with them about how to maybe affect change from the inside out, empower these students with knowledge about the disease, facts they can work with, and a discussion of the social attitudes we’ve seen ourselves. It should be really exciting.

More soon… I am having an incredible time here. Ninikosa familia na rafiki yandu (I miss my family and friends).

Lessons as a Teacher

I taught today, the first time, and it was really incredible. I felt like my students were just reciting letters and numbers but not understanding what they meant. So for English we did some letters - ABCD. I wrote them huge on the chalkboard, as big as I could. It was amazing as soon as I focused on teaching I stopped worrying about pens and pencils and paper. I pointed to letters and mixed up the order, then called on students to practice in front of the class. I felt so empowered at the end of the day! I bring stickers to put on the papers for good work and they just love the stickers! Some did the writing assignment twice just to get another sticker!

For math it was harder. Counting is in English AND Swahili and these kids are little, 4 or 5 years old! So I had 6 students in front of the class and started teaching counting by bunching the kids up and asking how many. Then we counted across in English and Swahili. Each kid in the class came up and did it too! One two three four five six! Moja Mbelli Tatu Nne Saa Set! It's hard to teach bilingual classes when I myself do not speak enough Swahili yet! The kids are so sweet though and they try so hard.

After class we went to a secondary school where I saw firsthand the troubles of Tanzanian education. Primary school is conducted in Swahili with English as a subject, but admission to secondary school and all classes are in English, with Swahili as a subject. Many don't learn enough English in primary to get in to secondary and once they are there they can't understand math in English when they were taught it in Swahili. There isn't a large supply of teachers who can teach in English so secondary ends up being taught in Swahili even though all exams are in English (all exams and syllabus are nationalized, something I actually really like).

Nick, another volunteer, and I are going to return and speak to the HIV/AIDS club. The kids are trying to stop the impact on the country and so we plan to host a discussion - about the biological realities and the social challenges of trying to change cultural and social attitudes towards the disease. The key is change from inward out, not outward in. Nick and I hope to empower the students and explain from our perspectives situations and offer our perspective from the USA.

Life is wonderful but crazy. More soon.... baaday!