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Published: January 8th 2010
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Lunchtime!
Lilian rings the bell to let the other children know. Hello everyone!
Two weeks have completely flown by and here we are on our final day volunteering. We just left Camp Moses (where the little ones are housed) and it was really hard to say goodbye to the little children. Despite the challenges we encountered and the different issues we observed, the kids are really special and the everyone there wants the best for them.
This week we went to Camp Joshua, where the majority of children are housed and schooled (they range in age from first graders to sixth graders). School actually starts next Monday, at which time there will be about 130 children attending school and about 100 of them actually living at Camp Joshua. LOHADA has really grown over its existence of 12 years and now serves that many children! They are continuing to grow today and are building a 6th grade classroom as we speak (our volunteer fees went largely to the construction costs of the classroom) and a separate dormitory to house the girls, which will allow them to formally register the school with the Tanzanian government.
Camp Joshua is fantastic! The teachers there are wonderful, the staff is super friendly and helpful,
Heading to Camp Joshua
We bused on a local bus with children from Camp Moses to Camp Joshua. At one point, there were 35 people inside this dalla dalla! (Think of an airport shuttle van.) and the children have the chance to just be children. There is structure to the day, the children listen super attentively to the teachers, and they are able to just be kids and bond with each other, like children at any other primary school. We were really happy and impressed with it. They also have a beautiful patch of land under an open sky, with a view of Mt. Meru (the second tallest mountain in Africa, at over 15,000 feet!). Mama Wambura and the teachers have plans to fence the area and start a vegetable garden on part of the land in order to give the children veggies. They also have three cows, two goats, and some ducks (the cows provide milk for the children).
We think that Camp Joshua does so well because they have great teachers (we saw how they interview and it is really hard to get a job there), they have rotating staff so the staff does not burn out over the course of a long day, and they have a structured day which they actually follow (with the help of the kids--it's great, they will have one child ring a bell and all of
Greetings!
Looking at the greeting cards from Ms. Haslund's fourth grade class. the other ones go immediately to their classroom where they wait for a teacher or volunteer). After spending a week at Camp Moses and then transitioning to Camp Joshua, we really noticed these differences in how to create a positive, happy, healthy, and safe place for children. It also goes to show how resources for staff, teachers, and facilities can be so crucial (undoubtedly, this is true for everywhere: where there are more resources, children can get better education and have more opportunities for future success).
We spent most of our week at Camp Joshua, structuring activities for the 60-80 children who are there now (all 100+ will be there by the start of the school day on Monday--some were able to spend the holidays with extended family elsewhere). We shared with the children the greeting cards we had brought from Ms. Haslund's fourth grade class for them, and had a really successful activity making a bunch of cards to bring back in exchange. Some of the kids were really good at drawing and they all had fun with the art supplies we had brought (thanks again Amy!). We also organized an official soccer game between the older boys,
which was a big success (Phil, we have some great pictures!), with the red team defeating the white 7-4 (in the words of the headmaster at the school, "I am sorry for those wearing the white jerseys. Better luck next time!"). When we brought out the jerseys and the kids put on the full uniform, it was a really amazing experience--they walked out feeling like a million bucks and were popping their collars and strutting their stuff with huge grins on their faces! Moments like these have been the real treat of the experience and make any of the challenges seem insignificant. Paola had a similar one--while the boys played soccer, she rounded up the girls into the dorm and helped them paint their nails. While they were admiring them and blowing on them to dry, they were singing a call and response song and made a really amazing moment (although they all turned into little divas when the time came to choose the color for their nails!).
Yesterday, we had another super interesting and fulfilling experience. The head teacher explained to us the food needs of LOHADA. They house and feed over 100 children and rely on donations
Flashy Fingers!
Showing off their newly manicured hands, aka glam! to get the food. Their donated food ends at the end of this month, so they are getting worried about food supplies. They feed the children really basic food (rice, beans, ugali (which is maize flour and water stirred into a three-dimensional object, used as a base to scoop up other food), some dried fish on some days, and meat once a week). The overall costs are under $900 a month to feed the children, but that works out to over a million Tanzanian shillings! They were wondering if we would be able to create a letter seeking food donations or financial donations for food and to go to business in Arusha to try and secure more food for the children.
We set out yesterday morning with a list of businesses, including some large manufacturing companies. We walked for over three hours going door to door, asking to see the managers, and delivering our sales pitch for getting food donated for the children. We were able to see the top dogs at almost all of the places, including General Sales Managers at a bottling company and at the major supermarket! (As Mama Wambura explained, it is a sad reality
that the businesses are more likely to listen to a foreigner than to a local). The neatest part of the experience was visiting the National Milling Company, which is a big maize flour milling factory. We wandered into it, where there were many working men who only spoke Swahili and managed to stumble our way through them to arrive at the actual CEO of the company! We spoke with him and he agreed to donate a week of food to LOHADA and hinted at the possibility of establishing a longterm relationship with LOHADA after he had the opportunity to speak with Mama Wambura. Awesome! So today LOHADA is picking up about 200kgs of maize flour, rice, and beans from the National Milling Company (yes, adds Paola, we feel very warm inside!).
We just wanted to emphasize one more time how far the individual donations actually go here. Everything we brought, including our volunteer fees, has gone directly to helping these children who would otherwise be on the street. Through the organization, they have a roof, a reliable source of food, and a good education (all in English, which will itself open more doors for them in the future). Thank you again to everyone who supported us with donations or well wishes!!!
We will probably post one more entry with lots of pictures and maybe some final reflections. We still can't believe that today is our last day volunteering! We hope everyone is doing well and that your new year is off to a wonderful start!
Paola and Joe
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mike lynrr
non-member comment
job well done
What an experience. What a gift you both were to the kjiuds.