August has brought 5 new health Peace Corps Volunteers to our area. I welcome these folks, both to provide more resources for the communities and schools we are working with and also, because the volunteer community has been a relief and a pleasure to socialize with on weekends. It is very nice to be able to not only speak English but to speak to folks with life experiences in the western world.
This week we may have one of the new volunteers stay here as their site and house is not yet settled. Then next week Peter Jensen will stay with us while working on developing a demonstration garden at Kongei Primary school and then a Saturday workshop and demonstration garden in Lushoto with a group of People Living With HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). Both the Primary school and the Community Development Office in Lushoto have been very active in supporting this visit from Peter. They are providing lunch for the participants, meeting room space and teaching pamphlets to compliment the reading material Peace Corps provides these participants on nutrition and HIV/AIDS prevention and care. It is all happening without outside funds (other than Peter’s services and travel expensive). This is very heartwarming to me in that it shows me they are very serious about sustaining the work to be done in developing more productive gardens and to learn better nutrition habits, as well as pass their new knowledge on to others interested. We will probably never know the impacts after we leave, but we are told these are hopeful signs.
John and I have started working with another primary school that is a two hour walk from our site. They are a school that was started because Kongei primary is a two hour walk for their young children (pre school – Standard 6 (grade6). Our night watchman and school shamba workers’ children attend this school and they asked us to visit the school and share the permaculture, biointensive gardening and any other resources we can offer their needs. Last Tuesday we met with the faculty, head teachers and community leader to discuss what needs they have. The story is very similar to Kongei Primary. They are in the process of building teacher housing as many of the teachers walk from Lushoto town (2+ hours). They are now short 2 classrooms because they have added a grade level as the kids progress (they started with preschool – Standard 4). So, they want to build a new classroom. There are no government funds coming that they know of in the near future. Then I asked what else do they what to tell us that they have not. A teacher very eloquently explained that of course these building are a priority but it is much more complicated and difficult to say what is a priority when you as a teacher are teaching and your students have not eaten and cannot stay awake nor think clearly to learn. This is very difficult because the school shamba can grow only enough food to last a few weeks after harvest to feed them porridge mid-day, and we know the villagers do not grow enough food, either to feed their families nor to give to the school in the form of foods or money to help build.
I worked with the night watchman (Twaha) to demonstrate double digging garden beds and we planted matembele and lemon grass that I brought from my garden. I will return this week to co-teach composting methods to decrease the amount of fertilizers needed to purchase and to reduce the burning of corn and bean stalks after harvest. This time Twaha and Ali (shamba worker) both want to come to help teach.
At home, my garden is doing great. I now get help from Asha, a woman that has been watering our flowers and sweeping our yard and courtyard as well as mopping once a week. She has developed a beautiful flower garden around our house that is the talk of the neighborhood. It is called “Asha’s Garden”. Now she has started to work with me to double-dig some new beds as I need to thin my carrots and leeks as well as plant some new things. In the next few weeks we will harvest potatoes! I have already had fresh green beans from the seeds Barbara brought with her when she visited.
We still get called Mzungu (European) when we travel by bike from home to Lushoto and back, but slowly it is changing to Johnny and Mama Johnny. I tried to teach them my name “Randee” but “r” is very difficult in Kiswahili and “Johnny” is a very common name. So… I used the cultural pattern of a Mama being called by either one of her children’s’ names for example “Mama Anna” or by her husband’s first name. Now I hear “Mama Johnny” yelled from the top of the mountains when I pass through on the main road. I often cannot see the children, but if I wave or shout a greeting back there are great cheers. Also, now that we have been to another village area of the other primary school, I notice more people (thatI do not know by face) greet me and ask me how Kongei is doing. Slowly we are feeling more like neighbors in a wider circle from our house.
As far as teaching, I am just about finished with the syllabus for the year. It will be one more month to finish and then review for the national exams. It has been very helpful to create a study guide for each unit that includes; vocabulary and questions for them to look up and complete; a pre-test they work on as a lab group; and lab directions and notes to put in their books as I teach the unit. I am able to make one copy for each lab group of 4-6 people. This has really helped save time from writing all the notes on the blackboard and it gives them freedom to work at their own pace to get the notes and complete the independent study work.
One of the most engaging English language lessons I did was giving my students the receipe for Chocolate Chip Cookies and Play dough. Since making them cookies and using homemade playdough for making cell models, they have been bugging me to give them recipes. When I finally did, even the most limited English speakers were coming up to ask questions about meaning and pronunciation of words. The students from the other Forms, now, are asking me for the receipes so they can make playdough for their brothers and sisters when they go home!
This week we may have one of the new volunteers stay here as their site and house is not yet settled. Then next week Peter Jensen will stay with us while working on developing a demonstration garden at Kongei Primary school and then a Saturday workshop and demonstration garden in Lushoto with a group of People Living With HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). Both the Primary school and the Community Development Office in Lushoto have been very active in supporting this visit from Peter. They are providing lunch for the participants, meeting room space and teaching pamphlets to compliment the reading material Peace Corps provides these participants on nutrition and HIV/AIDS prevention and care. It is all happening without outside funds (other than Peter’s services and travel expensive). This is very heartwarming to me in that it shows me they are very serious about sustaining the work to be done in developing more productive gardens and to learn better nutrition habits, as well as pass their new knowledge on to others interested. We will probably never know the impacts after we leave, but we are told these are hopeful signs.
John and I have started working with another primary school that is a two hour walk from our site. They are a school that was started because Kongei primary is a two hour walk for their young children (pre school – Standard 6 (grade6). Our night watchman and school shamba workers’ children attend this school and they asked us to visit the school and share the permaculture, biointensive gardening and any other resources we can offer their needs. Last Tuesday we met with the faculty, head teachers and community leader to discuss what needs they have. The story is very similar to Kongei Primary. They are in the process of building teacher housing as many of the teachers walk from Lushoto town (2+ hours). They are now short 2 classrooms because they have added a grade level as the kids progress (they started with preschool – Standard 4). So, they want to build a new classroom. There are no government funds coming that they know of in the near future. Then I asked what else do they what to tell us that they have not. A teacher very eloquently explained that of course these building are a priority but it is much more complicated and difficult to say what is a priority when you as a teacher are teaching and your students have not eaten and cannot stay awake nor think clearly to learn. This is very difficult because the school shamba can grow only enough food to last a few weeks after harvest to feed them porridge mid-day, and we know the villagers do not grow enough food, either to feed their families nor to give to the school in the form of foods or money to help build.
I worked with the night watchman (Twaha) to demonstrate double digging garden beds and we planted matembele and lemon grass that I brought from my garden. I will return this week to co-teach composting methods to decrease the amount of fertilizers needed to purchase and to reduce the burning of corn and bean stalks after harvest. This time Twaha and Ali (shamba worker) both want to come to help teach.
At home, my garden is doing great. I now get help from Asha, a woman that has been watering our flowers and sweeping our yard and courtyard as well as mopping once a week. She has developed a beautiful flower garden around our house that is the talk of the neighborhood. It is called “Asha’s Garden”. Now she has started to work with me to double-dig some new beds as I need to thin my carrots and leeks as well as plant some new things. In the next few weeks we will harvest potatoes! I have already had fresh green beans from the seeds Barbara brought with her when she visited.
We still get called Mzungu (European) when we travel by bike from home to Lushoto and back, but slowly it is changing to Johnny and Mama Johnny. I tried to teach them my name “Randee” but “r” is very difficult in Kiswahili and “Johnny” is a very common name. So… I used the cultural pattern of a Mama being called by either one of her children’s’ names for example “Mama Anna” or by her husband’s first name. Now I hear “Mama Johnny” yelled from the top of the mountains when I pass through on the main road. I often cannot see the children, but if I wave or shout a greeting back there are great cheers. Also, now that we have been to another village area of the other primary school, I notice more people (thatI do not know by face) greet me and ask me how Kongei is doing. Slowly we are feeling more like neighbors in a wider circle from our house.
As far as teaching, I am just about finished with the syllabus for the year. It will be one more month to finish and then review for the national exams. It has been very helpful to create a study guide for each unit that includes; vocabulary and questions for them to look up and complete; a pre-test they work on as a lab group; and lab directions and notes to put in their books as I teach the unit. I am able to make one copy for each lab group of 4-6 people. This has really helped save time from writing all the notes on the blackboard and it gives them freedom to work at their own pace to get the notes and complete the independent study work.
One of the most engaging English language lessons I did was giving my students the receipe for Chocolate Chip Cookies and Play dough. Since making them cookies and using homemade playdough for making cell models, they have been bugging me to give them recipes. When I finally did, even the most limited English speakers were coming up to ask questions about meaning and pronunciation of words. The students from the other Forms, now, are asking me for the receipes so they can make playdough for their brothers and sisters when they go home!
Starting this month, we have daily visits from the neighborhood children. They come to look at my bird books and read the children’s’ books of TZ animals that Barb and I got on our travels. Also, the life skills children’s magazines we get from Peace Corps Office are a big hit as these are in Kiswahili and have popular kids themes and characters. There are really good resources for communities from the TZ Peace Corps. The kids like to play ball and wrestle with us, too, of course. We saw a new bird species yesterday in my yard, a Green Wood-Hoopoe.
The music club is doing well, learning the National Anthem to play at graduation in October. They now can read and play 8 notes as well as "clap out" measures in 4/4 time. Mostly, we are having lots of fun!
