Blogs from Centre, Tanzania, Africa - page 16

This month I thought I would give you more of a look at the city of Dodoma where we live. Actually, there are three Dodomas - Dodoma Region, the Rural District of Dodoma and the city of Dodoma. Dodoma Region is much like a province of the country. It is roughly 200 km east-west, 300 km north/south, has a population of 1.7 million and sits geographically in the centre of Tanzania. The principal population centre in the region and the third largest city in the country is the city of Dodoma with a population of 325000. The Rural District of Dodoma then, is the district surrounding the city of Dodoma. It is not easy to take a picture in Dodoma. It is against the law to take pictures of any public building or anyone in uniform. ... read more

January blog On December 28 Gerry and I joined eight other people from Dodoma and flew to Nairobi, Kenya, to attend the Brackenhurst Conference. This conference is held each year for four days in late December/early January at the Brackenhurst International Conference Centre near Limuru, a town roughly 45 minutes by car north of Nairobi. This is an interdenominational conference the purpose of which is to provide an opportunity for people engaged in Christian mission work of all kinds in east Africa to gather for rest, recreation, fellowship and study. The setting of the conference is very beautiful indeed. While only 60 km south of the equator, the conference centre is at an elevation of 7400 ft. The mornings and evenings were very cool, requiring fleeces and sweatshirts to be comfortable, and while the days were ... read more

For this blog entry we thought we would focus on our school, but first, a little background. Geographically, the Anglican Diocese of Central Tanganyika covers the Dodoma Region, which includes both urban and rural parts. The region has a population of over 1.2 million people of which 500,000 are Anglicans. As both rural and urban districts of Dodoma are some of the least developed in the country and government secondary schools are very few in this area, the Diocese is heavily engaged in education, from kindergarten through to primary (up to Grade 7 equivalent) and secondary. The Diocese operates several schools of which the Canon Andrea Mwaka School (CAMS) where Gerry and I teach is one. The other diocesan schools teach the Tanzanian curriculum and follow the Tanzanian school year, which begins in January. The CAMS ... read more

I have just (2 weeks ago) returned from my first real vacation in Africa, and what a great vacation it was. While the school-sponsored safari and trips around Dar were nice, nothing really compares to getting out and exploring a country for yourself. The set-up... most of my friends here were scattering around on various trips, either to the States for weddings, Zambia for elementary education conferences, or Zanzibar to learn how to SCUBA. As none of these applied to me, I floundered around a bit not really wanting my first Africa vacation to be solo, until kindly my friend Emma agreed to forgo a jaunt to Bangkok and take a random trip. We rented a car and drove, first south to Kilwa and then up to Selous, and back. Now, on my first inspection of ... read more

So….. this feels like it has been a long time coming. After a lengthy, but enjoyable summer in the UK, we finally made it to Tanzania. About two hours before we jumped in a cab to go from Karen’s flat in London to Heathrow Airport, we received via email, copies of our Tanzanian residency permits - talk about the last minute! The flight on August 30, was an overnight direct flight from London to Dar es Salaam so we arrived in Dar at 7 am, only a little worse for wear. We were met by Alistair Hookings who is the husband of our Principal at CAMS and also one of the teachers there. After a shopping stop at a mall in Dar we hit the road for Dodoma. The drive from Dar to Dodoma is about ... read more