Sun, schools and safari

Journey with Miss Jackson as she lives and works in Tanzania.

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Free-range kuku

Filed Under : Travel by MissJ

May.13,2012

Here is a picture of my travelling companion on the bus yesterday, pecking away at my feet!

As I got on the bus, I worked my way towards the only spare seat. There in the foot well, I found a feathery friend!

I have often shared my foot space on the bus with a chicken or two (and occasionally a little goat!) but normally they are in a box or have their feet tied together during transit so they cannot roam around.

This rather healthy looking kuku (Swahili for chicken) was clucking away and making his presence known to everyone on the bus, along with several other chickens!

The funniest part was when the owner of the chicken was about to leave the bus…At first I think she had forgotten about her beloved chicken and got off the bus. A few moments later she got back on the bus and made an announcement to the whole bus asking if anyone knew where her chicken was. There were several chickens around but one man found and carried her chicken (probably that night’s dinner) from right at the back of the bus down to the front of the bus. The poor chicken protested quite a bit – flapping, squarking and making quite a scene!

Now that’s what I call a free range chicken!

It’s funny things like this that I am going to really miss about Tanzania!

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Lake Nakuru

Filed Under : Uncategorized by MissJ

Apr.29,2012

After visiting Ark Quest, I was invited to join my new friends on a visit to Lake Nakuru National Park on the way back to Nairobi. Lake Nakuru National Park is in central Kenya. It has a large lake in the middle of the park which is surrounded by woodland and bushy grassland. In the park, there are about 56 different species of mammal and nearly 450 species of bird which freely live and fend for themselves in their natural habitat.

We arrived at the national park in the evening, stayed in a guest house inside the park for the night and got up at 5am the following morning to go on an early morning safari. We wanted to increase our chances of seeing some animals as they woke up at sun rise. However, it was a very cold and wet morning and I think many of the animals wanted to stay snuggled in their beds (like I did)! We saw some animals but we saw far more when we went out for another drive after breakfast once the sun had come out and it had warmed up.

We saw lots of zebra, giraffes, warthogs, rhinoceros, gazelle, impala, monkeys, baboons, buffalos and many different types of bird…but unfortunately no lions! I didn’t take many photos because my camera was playing up and I wanted to enjoy looking at them and enjoy the beautiful scenery.

Buffalos basking in the sun

A rhino moments before it started chasing some zebra!

We went to a viewing area for lunch. There was a spectacular view of Lake Nakuru.

On the rocks, I also saw this brightly coloured blue and orange lizard. I have not seen one like that before!

A friendly baboon came and walked over to us and let us have a good look of him. Then, as James was carrying our picnic bag over to the picnic table another (not-so-friendly) baboon charged towards him and swiped the bag from him, sending everyone flying out of his path. He was very aggressive! He then went and enjoyed the picnic in the bushes. What was intended for 10 people, was eaten by one greedy baboon!

Before the attack

After the attack – enjoying our picnic in the bushes!

I really enjoyed my time with this group of wonderful people. When I left, I had only known them for little over a week yet it felt like I had known them for a lot longer!

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Miss J in Kenya….again!

Filed Under : School Life,Village Life by MissJ

Apr.23,2012

Two weeks ago, I had another very spontaneous trip to Kenya! Having never been to Kenya in all the time I have been in Tanzania, I ended up going twice during my Easter holiday (click here to read about my first visit to Kenya). My second visit was for 6 days and took me further into the country, to western Kenya near the town of Kisumu.

The weekend before I went this time, we had had some people visit The Joshua Foundation where I work. There were three men from Kenya who have a school in western Kenya and two visitors from New Zealand. After they left, I heard that they would like someone from The Joshua Foundation to visit their school to do some training with their teachers. I said I would be more than happy to go! At 9.30am on Tuesday we had an e-mail to say that they wanted me to go straight away. I love adventures and the spontaneity of this adventure added to the excitement! I quickly packed my bags, tidied my house, rearranged some other plans which I had made for the week, gathered together some training material and by 11am I was out the door!

I made my way into Arusha town and took the 2pm shuttle bus to Nairobi, the capital city of Kenya. That bus journey took 6 hours. I arrived soon after 8pm and, after going to another bus stand, I got straight on an overnight bus to Mbale, near Kisumu, in western Kenya. This journey was another 8 and a half hours! I arrived in Mbale at 5.30am having had no sleep! I was picked up by Calvine, the director of the school, and driven 30 minutes to the village of Ma’hanga. After a short rest (but unfortunately still no sleep!) we went down to the school – Ark Quest Education Centre.

My few days at Ark Quest Education Centre were inspiring and humbling. I met a group of teachers who are so committed to their school, children and community. They do not have all the resources they need or would like yet they make do with what they have are doing so well. The teachers know the needs of each of their students and the children are treated with value, dignity and respect – something which is never taken for granted here. The teachers are paid very little but work tirelessly to provide the children with the best education they can.

The director of the school, Calvine, started the school 4 years ago. He and his family come from the village of Ma’hanga where the school is. He had a desire to see the cycle of poverty broken in their village and beyond. He knew that education is the key to that breakthrough so decided to start a school. At first, he hired a room in the village and started with just a few children. He provided the children with a meal and he hired a teacher to teach them for just a short time each day. Since then, the school has grown a lot and still continues to grow. At the moment there are 215 students from preschool up to standard 8 (the end of primary school in Kenya). They have moved out of the hired room and with the kind donation of money and manpower from students and teachers at Bethlehem College in New Zealand, they now have 10 classrooms. They made the classrooms using the local method of wood and mud. The outside of the buildings have since been covered with cement. They are looking fantastic.

Calvine has a team of friends who help to oversee and support the school. They are all lecturing and studying in universities across Kenya and are very busy people yet they use their time and resources to help the school wherever they can.

Upon arrival at the school, we went on a tour and were warmly greeted by each class in turn. As soon as we walked into each classroom, the children erupted into welcome songs and poems. The timing and presentation of their items was amazing! The classrooms were full of smiles and they really were pleased to see us!

One class singing their welcome song

video of children singing their welcome song

video of children reciting a poem for us

Each morning, the children and teachers gathered together and have a time of singing, praying and learning from the Bible. This was a very special time and once again it was wonderful to hear their amazing voices.

Children singing songs with actions

One boy reading a story from the Bible to the whole school

One morning, as the children were gathered outside, about 10 children paraded towards the front where the flag pole is. One boy raised the flag and they then paraded out again. They all knew exactly what they were doing and their timing was perfect. Unfortunately, I was too slow to get it all on film but managed to get the last bit recorded on my video camera…
video of parade

One afternoon, all the children and teachers gathered outside on the playground to play games and sing songs. Below are some pictures and videos. As you will see from the video, many songs here in East Africa are call and response songs where the leader sings something and then the rest of the group sing something back to them. The children (and teachers) had so much fun!
video of singing game

I had the privilege of working with the head teacher, deputy head teacher and senior teacher. I did two training sessions with them later they will train the other teachers in these sessions. During one of the sessions I taught them some activities and games to get their children involved in their lessons. One of the games I taught them was Bingo. Just 30 minutes after I had finished the training I heard ‘BINGO!!’ being called out from one of the classes! Teacher Kennedy had already taught them how to play maths bingo! They were having so much fun and I was very impressed!

Me with the teachers I worked with – Alan, Edward and Kennedy

BINGO!!

I really liked these display posters. They were made from the inside of old rice/flour sacks!

After school one day, we went to visit some of the children in their homes. One of the children we visited was 8 year old Nifa. She walks 8km to school every day along uneven, dusty (or muddy!) roads….and then 8km home every day. For such a little girl, that is a very, very long way! Some children walk as far as 15km each day to get to school! One of the school’s dreams is to have a school bus to help these children get to school more easily.

Nifa with her mum and little sister

The school has a beautiful garden with many trees and plants which have been planted by various people who have visited the school and helped to build it. I felt privileged to be asked to plant a tree in the garden.

Me planting a tree while the children sang behind

Literally the second I finished planting my tree, the sky opened and it poured down with rain torrentially! We rushed into the classroom to keep dry but the rain sure is loud on the iron roof!

When it rains, it pours!

While we were there, they were in the process of digging a big hole for 10 new toilets. Of course these toilets will be different to the toilets you have in England! These are holes in the ground / squat toilets. Once the 30 foot hole has been dug, they will begin to build the floor and cubicles on the top. What a lot of hard work! I this picture they were roughly half way! A lot more digging to go!

As we left the school, the children read out speeches and goodbye letters. They sang several songs including this goodbye song…
video of goodbye song

The head teacher (in the blue shirt) giving a speech

I hope to be able to visit the school again and work with the teachers some more (and check on how my little tree is growing!) before I leave in July.

After leaving Ma’hanga, we travelled to Lake Nakuru National Park….I’ll save that for another blog post!

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A Prickly Pet!

Filed Under : Tanzanian Wildlife and Beauty by MissJ

Apr.21,2012

This little hoglet (baby hedgehog) was seen trotting around our compound for two days without his mummy. My friend, Renee, thought she would make a good mummy so she is looking after him until he is big enough to look after himself. We think he is about 4 weeks old at the moment. His new home is a dark box with old clothes and a water dish.

With a little bit of help from the internet, she discovered that fresh termites are his favourite meal….15 in the morning and 15 in the evening! He squeeks when he is hungry! In a few weeks they’ll release him again.

Here are some videos of him munching on his termite treats…
hedgehog eating
hedgehog eating…again!

In his box there is a little hot water bottle to keep him snuggly warm. After his satisfying dinner of crispy termites, it took him a while to get comfortable in his cosy bed. Here’s a video…
hedgehog getting cosy!

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Rice!

Filed Under : Village Life by MissJ

Apr.18,2012

Rice! It has been eaten all over the world for thousands of years. We normally buy it in the supermarket but where does it come from?

The village of Magugu is famous in Tanzania for its rice and many people here rely on growing and selling rice for a living. The Head Teacher in Magugu and his wife have a rice farm in a village near to Magugu. I asked him to tell me the story of how they grow their rice so I could understand how rice ends up on our supermarket shelves.

This is what he told me….

Firstly, rice only grows in very wet conditions. Magugu is to dry for rice to grow therefore it is grown in nearby villages and brought to Magugu to be processed.

Once the ideal land is found, the weeds and grass are removed from the field and the soil is turned over using a plough or tractor. The land is then divided into smaller sections and barriers are built around each section using the soil. Rice needs wet, boggy conditions in order to grow therefore irrigation systems are put in place so that when it rains, the rain water comes into each section and stays there. The barriers stop the water from escaping. Once it has rained and each section is very wet, the is mixed with the mud underneath.

Any grass which has started to grow is quickly removed. Meanwhile, seedlings are grown in a nursery and when the ground is wet enough, the seedlings are planted in the ground. A certain distance is left between each of the rows of seedlings.

After 1 week, the rice plant starts to grow. After 2 weeks, manure can be added to provide the rice plant with extra nutrients to help it to grow better. It is important to remove all the weeds as they will make it difficult for the rice plants to grow well.

After 3 months, the plants start to produce the rice and after another 1-2 weeks the rice bends down. This shows that it is mature. At this point, it is important to stop the birds from eating the rice!

When the plant becomes light brown, it is ready to harvest.

The rice is cut using a tool called a sickle

The rice plant is beaten on the ground so that the rice comes off from the plant. It is then taken to to the processing factory in Magugu.

Each individual piece of rice is covered with an outer shell called a husk. The rice is laid out on sheets in the sun to dry it rice out. This takes 3-4 days if it is in direct sunlight.

Here is the rice drying outside the factory in Magugu

When the rice has dried out, it is taken to the factory to have the husks removed by a machine.

The rice is then put into big bags and sold to people who package it and sell it. Smaller quantities can also be bought.

If you travel on the bus through Magugu you can even buy small bags of rice through the window of the bus!

The children at Joshua School Magugu have rice and beans once a week. This is always their favourite meal.

To find out more about Tanzanian food click here.

Interesting fact: In Swahili there are 3 names for rice:

Mpunga – the rice plant / rice which still has the husks on

Mcheli – rice which has had the husks removed but is not cooked

Wali – cooked rice

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Miss J visits Kenya

Filed Under : Family Life,Village Life by MissJ

Apr.6,2012

This week, I went to Kenya for a very short visit to go and see the home and family of Teacher Samuel from Magugu, who originally comes from Kenya. His wife and children still live there.

Arusha, the town where I live in Tanzania, is about a 2 hour drive from the border to Kenya. I got a bus to the border, met Samuel there and then we got a dala dala to the village of Ilbissel, 30 miles from the border. Ilbissel is a village inhabited mainly by traditional Maasai. However, Samuel and his family are not Maasai. They originally lived in Western Kenya but were forced to relocate due to flooding.

Looking down on the village of Ilbissel

Ilbissel is normally a very dry place but when I was there it rained! In the dry season, it is common to see many wild animals around the village very close to where they live including Zebras, antelopes, giraffes, ostrich and hyenas. They live just meters from the main road from Tanzania to Nairobi (the capital of Kenya) and apparently in the forest on the other side of the road live many lions.

The view from the entrance to the courtyard where their house is.

Samuel and his wife, Diane, have 5 children. Their oldest 2 children are twins called Joyce and Kelvin. They are 14 years old. They then have another set of twins called Anita and Chelsea who are 10 years old. Their youngest son is called Day Canon. Samuel is also a twin and his aunt has had several sets of twins – twins obviously run in their family! At home, Samuel is referred to as Baba Joy and Diane is Mama Joy after their eldest daughter. I did not meet Joyce and Kevin as they were away at boarding school. Anita, Chlesea and Day Canon had finished school for the holidays the day I arrived so it was nice to spend time with them at home although they were very shy with me!

Their house is within a small courtyard where six families live. It was quite small and compact with hutches outside several of the houses where the families keep their chickens and rabbits. Samuel’s family have 5 rabbits and 10 chickens. They keep the rabbits for their meat and sell the eggs from the chickens to generate an income for them.

The entrance to their courtyard

Inside the courtyard

Every day is washing day!

Day Canon feeding the rabbits

Samuel feeding the chickens rice. They were beautiful with such interesting colours and patterns.

Samuel, Diane and their five children live in a very cosy two roomed house with an additional tiny room for their kitchen. The one room is a bedroom and storage room and the other room is the living room which also has a bunk bed in it for the children.

Mama Joy cooking in their kitchen. She is a very good cook and I had some really tasty food. Her chapatis were amazing!

They are in the process of building a new house very near to their current one. The walls are built and they have purchased the doors and windows. They are now just waiting to save enough money to build the roof and cement the floor and walls. They took me to visit their new home. When it is finished it will be very nice and spacious with 3 bedrooms, a bathroom, kitchen, living room and dining room! They also look forward to being able to keep more chickens and rabbits when they are at their new house.

The family (minus Joyce and Kelvin and plus several neighbours’ children outside their new house)

They normally get their water from a nearby well. They have to pay a small amount of money for each bucket of water they get. However, there are times when there is no water in the well. They then walk a bit further to get water from a natural spring. They took me to visit these springs. The water looked very dirty but Samuel assured me that after they have boiled it and put in a tablet to purify the water, it is safe to drink without them getting sick. Even after a 10 year drought, there was still water in the spring. In the trees above, there were many monkeys. We spent a long time monkey spotting. The children loved it!

The children tracking the monkeys in the trees

Unfortunately, the monkeys were camera shy! Can you spot them?

Wild animals come to the sping to drink water and when it is very dry, the animals fight over the water. Near the springs, we saw this hyena footprint:

On our walk around the village I was interested by the types of houses I saw. Many of the houses were made from corrugated iron. They must be very hot during the day under the sun…and very cold at night!

The children having a rest while we were on our walk

I stayed for just one night and shared the bunk bed in the living room with the three chidren and the kitten who thought it was time to play, not sleep! Why do cats always choose people who really do not like them?! It started raining very heavily in the middle of the night and as soon as the rain started, the family rushed outside to put buckets out to collect the rain water – nothing is wasted! They also collected everything up off the floor including the coffee table and bags because the rain water leaks through the front door and floods the living room! The rain was so loud on the iron roof which, together with the early morning cockerel and really needing the toilet but not wanting to go out in the rain to the toilet on the other side of the courtyard, meant I didn’t get much sleep!

Day Canaon playing with their cat, Kitty.

A few little characters from their courtyard dressed for the middle of winter:

I had a fun time with Samuel’s family and maybe one day I will be able to return and visit them in their new house!

My journey back to the Kenyan border was slightly more eventful than I would have liked! I went in a car – just a regular 5 seater car which people pay to travel in. Of course, the driver gets more money if he has more passengers! I was sat in the front with the driver. However, in between me and the driver was another person who had his legs either side of the gearstick! For about half of the journey I also had a girl of about 11 also sat on my lap! There were four adults and two children squashed on the back seat and THREE people in the boot (I really don’t know how they managed that)! That’s a total of 10 adults and 3 children in a 5 seater car! As soon as one person got out, their space was quickly filled with another passenger – much to the disgust of the other passengers!

Soon after we set off, a screw went flying from the car. The driver stopped and explained it was from the breaks! He tried to fix it himself but thankfully decided it was better to go back to the roadside mechanic in the village. Once it was fixed we were on our way again and I viewed the journey through the cracked windscreen and pretended I couldn’t see the broken speedometer!!

Thankfully, my journey from the border back to Arusha was slightly more comfortable!

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Parents’ Day at JSA

Filed Under : School Life by MissJ

Apr.1,2012

The children at Joshua School Arusha have just finished school for Easter. They have the whole of the month of April off for holidays. On Thursday, the school invited the parents to their termly Parents’ Day.

The morning started with all the children parading across the field and into the classroom while singing.

Click this link to download and watch a video of the children parading and singing.

The parents, children and teachers then enjoyed a time of singing together
Click this link to download and watch a video of the parents, teachers and children singing.

Each class then did a variety of presentations including songs, dramas and readings to share with the parents and other classes what they have been learning about during the term. As always, there was an abundance of singing, dancing and laughter

Click this link to download and watch a video of preschool children singing a song.

Standard 1 sharing what they have been learning

Standard 2 singing

Standard 2 sharing some memory verses

Preschool children listening very carefully

Children from Standard 3 performed a drama

At the end of the morning, children were given certificates to celebrate their success.

On Friday, the last day of term, the whole school got together again and had some more singing, dancing and presentations. It was so lovely to see the children and teachers having fun together. Such a lot of fun!!

Standard 3 performing

Me watching

Joining in with all the fun!

Teacher Celina with some children in the audience

Their amazing teachers even performed a dance!

It is delightful to see this school expanding each year and seeing the children growing and developing in a community where they are nurtured and valued for who they are – something very unusual here in Tanzania! I am so excited about the future of this school. Teachers are providing the children with quality education, quite different to the education they would get in a regular government school in Tanzania. The plan is for it to become a model school to show what education can be like in Tanzania which will then be used as a training school to teach new teachers at Joshua Teacher Training College.

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Celebration Day

Filed Under : School Life by MissJ

Mar.31,2012

Yesterday was celebration day at Joshua School Magugu. Pastor Ezekiel, who started the school over 15 years ago decided it was important to have a thanksgiving celebration, thanking God for all He has done since the school was started. Since the beginning, the school has continued to grow in many ways. There is now a preschool, primary school and secondary school. The school is making a difference in the community of Magugu. We are particularly thankful for last year’s amazing Standard 7 (end of primary school) results. The school came 1^st in the ward, 2^nd out of 150 schools in the district and 19^th out of 15,000 in the region. Now that really is something to celebrate!

Many people were invited to attend including many dignitaries from the local and wider community. There was a lot of singing, dancing, presentations, speeches and a feast of celebration food. Many students took part and made it an extra special day.

The day was finished off with a football match between the primary school teachers and the secondary school teachers.

Although they don’t really do the singing, dancing and celebrating justice, here are a few pictures of the special day to give you a taste:

Preschool children had their faces painted.

Everyone joined in helping with the preperations. Here are some of the students preparing the food.

Look at all those big pots for the food!

Then it was time for the celebration. All the preschool, primary and secondary students sat in the dining room with the special guests sat right at the front!

Preschool

PrimarySecondary

Many groups of children came up and did a presentation of singing, dancing or dramas:

I couldn’t believe how big the preschooler’s voices were when they sang their songs!

Let us hope and pray that the next 15 years sees the school continuing to go from strength to strength!

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Likamba Lads

Filed Under : School Life by MissJ

Mar.19,2012

Two of my former Magugu student teachers, Daudi and Joseph, are now teaching in the village of Likamba. We have been going to watch them teach for one day every fortnight for the last few months. Likamba is near to Arusha but it is still quite a trek to get there – a walk from home to the dala dala stand, one dala dala into town, another out of town to the village of Kisongo and then a 20 minute motorbike ride up an incredibly bumpy, eroded road. I took this picture while I was on the back of the motorbike!

Situated on the top of a hill, the school is exposed to the elements. The one day we went it was incredibly windy which meant that dust was blowing everywhere! We had to cover our heads with a scarf to protect our eyes. It was almost impossible to walk anywhere! However, we have had to cancel two of our trips because of rain! The rain makes the last part of the journey impossible because of mud.

Likamba Integrity School

The land around the school and as far as the eye can see is terribly eroded. Likamba is a Maasai village and due to poor education, over the years, the Maasai have cut down all the trees to use as fire wood. Without the trees to hold the soil together, the wind and rain have easy access to the soil and cause it to crumble away.

This is the view from the school

Something that has impressed me is the commitment of the teachers. Joseph lives in the town of Kisongo – the nearest town to Likamba. There is no public transport so it takes him 1 hour to walk to school each day, uphill. He doesn’t get to choose which days he walks – he has to walk every day – whether it is raining and muddy or dry and dusty. He has found it a challenge but he quietly gets on with it. Daudi, on the other hand, has family who live next to the school so he is able to live with them. However, life is very basic. No electricity or running water and no local amenities without having to walk for 1 hour down the hill to Kisongo. Daudi walks down once a week to go and get vegetables from the weekly market.

The school is in the process of building 2 new classrooms. The temporary classrooms were made from wood and sticks which made it impossible to teach when it was windy therefore they have had to stop using them.

The two old temporary classrooms

The two new classrooms being built.

In the meantime, while they wait for funding to complete the new classrooms, Daudi is teaching 20 year 6 children in a classroom no bigger than 3m by 2m – a room which used to be an office. These limitations have not stunted his creativity and I have seen him using lots of fun, participatory activities. Daudi has gone into the school with a wonderful attitude, embraced the challenges and appears to be in his element.

Daudi’s classroom through the window

Daudi’s class working

Daudi took his students outside to practice First Aid in Science

Daudi also teaches ICT to year 7. To help him teach students how to use a word processor, he borrowed a laptop from the charity Compassion who have an office next to the school.

Daudi and Joseph have both tried hard to make interesting displays to help their students’ learning.

Joseph’s class rules

Daudi’s Science wall

Part of Joseph’s English wall

Here is Daudi preparing his lessons outside in the ‘staffroom’!

Joseph’s students solving maths problems

Daudi and Joseph have both taken their turn in being the Teacher on Duty. Here is a Daudi leading the school in their daily assembly, singing the national anthem.

I am so pleased that they are trying new thing and putting into practice what they have learnt over the last 2 years. They are challenging the typical Tanzanian teaching methods and they are seeing the benefits. Keep it up guys!

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Mairowa Take 2

Filed Under : School Life,Tanzanian Wildlife and Beauty by MissJ

Mar.16,2012

This week, it was my turn again to visit our students in the Maasai village of Mairowa.

This time, on the way we saw several giraffes and some ostrich. We wanted to see some zebras and elephants but we were not that lucky!

This village really is in the middle of nowhere! Our students say that at night they can hear the hyenas howling. We also heard some stories that people have seen lions as they climbed up the hill in search for phone reception.

Once again I enjoyed the simplicity of life. There is something quite freeing about there being no internet access or phone reception. I’m not sure I’d be happy without it all the time though!!

Here is was the view from one of the classrooms one afternoon this week. The sight was accompanied by the clanging of cow bells around the cow’s necks!

Our students are continuing to do a good job. They are overcoming the challenges which living in Mairowa brings and are beginning to make it their home. Here are some highlights from the week:

Children playing a Maths team game in Kelvin’s lesson

Elizabeth teaching phonics to a small group

Happyness teaching students how to weave

Happyness took her students outside to play a game and do some role plays. Just look at the view from the playground!!

Haruni took his class outside for a Kiswahili activity. On the way back in, one of the children spotted a chameleon. It was well camouflaged in the grass and I was impressed that the child had spotted it! Haruni picked it up and took it into his lesson and used it as a teaching aid. You will be pleased to know he took it straight back outside when he had finished! No animals were harmed in the making of this blog!