With my new and fast friends the 16 of us who traveled over together
found Ashley, our field director, and piled our luggage into the bus that would
take us to our home for the week. It is beautiful here! We arrived at about 11
at night, exhausted and ready for bed, but no amount of sleep deprivation could
keep me from doing two things first.
First, to stop and look up. I
don’t even know how to begin to describe the stars here. They are incredible! I could have stood there
all night, but knowing that a folder with my school placement and my roommate
was waiting for me beckoned me on.
I will be teaching at the Kafule Secondary School in the Ileje district
of Mbeya. Here is the description that I
was given:
School Information: Kafule Secondary School is an O‐level institution
about a two minute walk up the
mountain. It started out as a missionary school
many years ago (similar to everything in the area) and is
now run by the government. There are just over
100 students in each form. Unfortunately, there is not
an influx of teachers so you have a heavy work
load to deal with. The students, for the most part, are
well behaved but you are dealing with extremely
large classes without sufficient space for the students.
The secondary school is set atop a mountain with
an amazing view. There is a decent library with a wide
selection of books. The offices are powered by
solar energy for you to charge appliances (not big
enough for a computer though, you will have to
charge that in town). The headmaster and permanent
teachers speak English quite well and are very
welcoming. The headmaster likes to keep close watch on
the volunteer teachers so open communication is a
must.
Challenges: There is no electricity in Kafule, except for solar at the school.
Electricity is available in the
nearby town of Isoko. To get to town, you will
have to walk for 45 minutes down a steep hill. It’s a
beautiful, but physically intense walk
(especially going back uphill!). The roads going in and out of Isoko
are often flooded in the rainy season, making
travel slow and the buses delayed.
Community: The community is very small and mostly made up of students and
teachers/faculty at the
primary and secondary schools. There is no
electricity in the village so it is always a big celebration
when the generator gets turned on. Kafule is off
the main road straight up the mountain. During the
dry season it can get quite chilly at nights and
a good sweater, socks, and sweat pants are a must.
During the wet season the mud turns to clay so
bring shoes with good soles. It is too high up for
mosquitos but other insects come in swarms. Since Kafule is
remote, your choice of food comes from
the ground. You will be cooking all of your meals
unless you make friends with your neighbors.
Greetings and daily conversations are done in the
vernacular language: Kindali. Most of the older
generation only knows the vernacular language.
Life is also heavy centered on the Moravian church.
School Information: Kafule Secondary School is an O‐level institution
about a two minute walk up the mountain. It started out as a missionary school
many years ago (similar to everything in the area) and is now run by the government. There are just over
100 students in each form. Unfortunately, there is not an influx of teachers so you have a heavy work
load to deal with. The students, for the most part, are well behaved but you are dealing with extremely
large classes without sufficient space for the students. The secondary school is set atop a mountain with
an amazing view. There is a decent library with a wide selection of books. The offices are powered by
solar energy for you to charge appliances (not big enough for a computer though, you will have to
charge that in town). The headmaster and permanent teachers speak English quite well and are very
welcoming. The headmaster likes to keep close watch on the volunteer teachers so open communication is a
must.
Challenges: There is no electricity in Kafule, except for solar at the school.
Electricity is available in the nearby town of Isoko. To get to town, you will
have to walk for 45 minutes down a steep hill. It’s a beautiful, but physically intense walk
(especially going back uphill!). The roads going in and out of Isoko are often flooded in the rainy season, making
travel slow and the buses delayed.
Community: The community is very small and mostly made up of students and teachers/faculty at the
primary and secondary schools. There is no electricity in the village so it is always a big celebration
when the generator gets turned on. Kafule is off the main road straight up the mountain. During the
dry season it can get quite chilly at nights and a good sweater, socks, and sweat pants are a must.
During the wet season the mud turns to clay so bring shoes with good soles. It is too high up for
mosquitos but other insects come in swarms. Since Kafule is remote, your choice of food comes from the ground. You will be cooking all of your meals unless you make friends with your neighbors.
Greetings and daily conversations are done in the vernacular language: Kindali. Most of the older
generation only knows the vernacular language. Life is also heavy centered on the Moravian church.
Living Situation:
Volunteers will share a house located across from the primary school. It is a two minute walk to the secondary school. The home has four rooms: two bedrooms, a living area, and a kitchen. This living space opens to a back compound enclosed by walls. Across the enclosed yard there are four smaller rooms: toilet (ceramic hole in the ground), bathing room, storage room, and a second storage room that also serves as a kitchen area. Our home is the most modern in the area. Like Kafule and the surrounding area there is no electricity unless you invest in solar paneling. Our source of water comes from a tap in our back compound. The water flow is quite steady. During the dry season (June‐ November) it will go out for a day each week but always returns. The school equipped the house with plenty of cooking utensils and furniture.
Excited, anxious, nervous, joyful, homesick, blessed, I don’t really know what to tell you I am feeling right now, a little bit of everything I guess. But I can tell you one thing that I am certain of; I serve a God who answers prayers. I am amazed at how the smallest details are becoming a part of my prayers and answers are coming faster that I can thank Him for them. Big prayers are being answered as well; I found out today that my village has one of the best churches of all the sites! I know I am not the only one who has been praying for a strong home church so thank you for those who have been lifting up that request! Please keep your prayers coming for this training time, for my classes as I know my students will be behind academically (last years WorldTeach volunteer taught math at the Kafule school but before her no one had taught math in the school for 4 years because no one knew the material well enough!), and for my roommate Dahlia and I (she seems very sweet but I have not gotten to spend much time with her yet).
For a quick look ahead, we will be at Mpenga Farm Stay until Saturday. We will spend the weekend in Dar which is probably when I will have internet to post this, and then we will heard to Iringa where we will meet up with 3 of last years volunteers who have extended their stays. They will be helping up learn how to lesson plan and prepare for what life in an Tanzanian classroom is like. And then we will get a chance to actually teach before heading to out sites. We leave for out sites Monday September 3rd and will have a few days to settle in before we begin teaching on the 10th.
The One With The Tanzanian Ministry of Education (written 8/17/2012)
Yesterday we got to go to downtown Dar and visit the office of the Tanzanian Ministry of Education (located right across the street from where their president works). We got to meet the heads of the English as well as the math and science departments. They were very encouraging, but also very real about what this year is going to look like for us which made the entire meeting a little overwhelming. They talked about the huge classes (but told us we would make it work), about the challenges of living in a totally unfamiliar culture (but told us we would figure it out), about the lack of resources (but told us we would be creative), etc. Speaking of lack of resources, we were told that one school got a new science lab so they now have test tubes, the mark of an advanced laboratory here in Tanzania!
But the one thing that I was most impressed with leaving that meeting was that these schools, which to me seem totally off the map, lost and forgotten, are in no way that. These people at the ministry know each school, the teachers, headmasters, and nuances that come with each location. Tanzanian education is for lagging behind for lack of heart but for lack of hands. There are simply too many students and too few teachers and because of that I am incredible grateful that I can be here!
The One With My First Lesson Plan (written 8/17/2012)
Today we had a full day of instruction on both lesson planning and culture shock. I got to write my first ever lesson plan employing my new bag of teacher tricks and had a lot of fun doing it! I still wont get my syllabus explaining what content the school wants me to cover in each of my classes until I get to my site so for now these are just practice but I am definitely feeling more prepared after today. We also talked about homesickness today. If you would keep this in your prayers I would really appreciate it. Living in a new culture involves constant ups and downs which I know will be challenging but I know that God listens and loves in both of those times.
**I know that this was a few posts at once but it saves me time to load them all at once (since it takes about 4-6 minutes each time I load an internet page). Sorry it if gets confusing!**
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