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Published: January 21st 2013
Destination-Kayanga
Kayanga Hotel - home away from home (Note: connection is spotty so frequency of the blogs may vary.)
Kayanga, Tanzania: Our destination. A small town in the remote Karagwe District in NW Tanzania. It is the center of our activity while in Tanzania. You would love this place- the people are profoundly kind, discerning and bright. Visiting is like happening upon a squad of your very own life cheerleaders. They are rich in relationships, friendships, family and community. My friends there work tirelessly, selflessly, and intelligently to achieve goals we work on together. As I said, you would love this place - especially if you
Water
Constant Issue focus on the community strengths and opportunities, and are willing to overlook some serious lack of infrastructure, water and facilities. And discard your watch.
The purpose of this trip January 22 - February 3, 2013, is
to develop curriculum and the entrapreneurial program in Agri-business for KARUCO- Karagwe University College. Educate Tanzania, Inc (ETI) has been working for just over two years with our partners in Tanzania as they build a university. KARUCO will be a hub and a way to help keep their educated youth in the community, and to stem early marriage (average age 18).
Grant funds from the
Oswald Family Foundation and the
Mortenson Family Foundation made it possible to bring two professors from the
College of Ag at the University of Minnesota, the provost from
EARTH University in Cost Rica, and me from ETI, to be on site in Karagwe to co-create curriculum in Agriculture. Exciting times ahead!
One of the beauties of how ETI goes about its business is that it works only on grassroots efforts initiated by members of local developing communities. We then choose the most effective local partners and then work together on mutually determined goals. Everything is a
Kids of Kayanga
Check in with the local crew... two-way street.
Our work on the
Agricultural Curriculum Development Team is a process of merging what has been shown to work in Ag (best practices) in other areas of the developing world with what is needed specifically for the area of Karagwe. That is why our team has to be on-site in Karagwe in order to work with farm women and men, see and hear about the conditions to assess and prioritize needs, and then
adopt, adapt or create the best ways to meet those needs. We will merge time-tested Ag curriculum with innovative (perhaps new) ideas that will define best practice for those in Karagwe. This is critical for
sustainability. Our job is enormous. But we take it one day, one step at a time - which inevitably leads to quantum leaps (most of them forward). Those of you familiar with program planning know we have to develop vision, mission, goals, objectives, activities, learning environments, assessment and the like; the routine components of administration, personnel, professional development, recruitment of staff and students, resources, technology, to name some. And of course we cannot forget building the actual classrooms, barns, student housing areas, staff housing, etc. and maintaining the
support structures for the university. And this is just the tip.
So who in the world would sign up for such a task? The answer is: Our
KARUCO Curriculum Development Team! Our team is a group of Tanzanians and others incuding me who are dedicated to addressing this large (did I say "large"? I meant "
LARGE"!) but compelling task. Full 1-page bios can be found on the
Educate Tanzania website. We thought we would spare you the full 25-40-page bios that magnify our accomplishments and in my case, provide more detail than could possibly be necessary. Here is the
Curriculum Development Team as we best know it.
TEAM LEAD: TANZANIA Brighton Katabaro, PhD. Pastor, Coordinator of KARUCO Karagwe University College, Karagwe, Tanzania
TEAM LEAD: USA
Dr. Jan Hansen, President/CEO, Educate Tanzania, Inc., Chaska, Minnesota
Jay Bell, Ph.D.,Associate Dean of Academic Programs and Faculty Affairs, College of Food, Agricultural & Natural Resource Sciences, University of Minnesota
Dr. Pedro Bidegaray, Director of International Programs, College of Food, Agriculture and Natural Resource
Karagwe Homes
Agricultural communities Sciences (CFANS), University of Minnesota
Rev. Dr. Fortunatus Singa Bijura, Educator, Kayanga Diocese Development and Relief Office (KADDRO), Catholic Diocese
Mr. Sam Kayongo, Community Development Officer, Dep. General Secretary Planning & Development ELCT- Karagwe Diocese
Mary Ariel Schott, Founder Trees for Tanzania
Mr. Titus Thobias Stanslaus Itegereize, Agricultural Economist, General Manager Karagwe Estates Ltd.
KARUCO FOUNDER and CHAIR: Rev Dr. Benson Bagonza, Bishop, Evangelical Lutheran Church, Karagwe Diocese On a last and lovely note for this Minnesotan - the night temps in Kayanga are 12C (54F) and the day temps are 26C (79F). In a word, 'Yay'!
*******
Take me to the Educate Tanzania website: http://educatetanzania.org
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