Arusha II - Schools, Money, and Christmas


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Africa » Tanzania » North » Arusha
December 23rd 2017
Published: December 29th 2017
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Tanzanian Driver: "You are from Canada? Wonderful. Wonderful. I love your flag. You know, the red one with the Molson Leaf in the middle."



We will be staying in Arusha for 25 days, leaving on our Safari on January 3rd. The temperature is rising a degree or two each day and the rains that usually cool and refresh the air, have chosen to stay in the mountains. It is ten in the morning on the Saturday before Christmas and the heat is building rapidly with no breeze in sight. Yesterday at this time, the government shut off the power and the wonderful stand up fan that Sheddy put in our apartment, sat useless and still. Today I have it blowing on me as I write. I have squashed my morning quota of mosquitos, all bright red with our blood from the night before. I believe they lay eggs on the under side of the bed and rise up at night, already inside our bug net. Their bites are not severe - they disappear in an hour or so - it is their incessant buzzing around one's head in the still, silent darkness of the night, that is so irritating.

Monica spent yesterday morning sitting on our porch, painting the young girl's nails with polish she purchased in town. She has them organized - only two arrive at a time, sitting in a kind of trance like state as Monica works her magic. They dance away, waving their hands in the air, with wide eyes and huge smiles. A pair of the older kids spent the afternoon in our flat, enjoying our company but secretly quite happy to get away from the younger kids. Anna and Monica made chapatis - rolling and flattening the flour and water mixture before cooking them in a fry pan. A teen age boy, Young Chibu, sat beside me and told me he wanted to be smart, and write like I do. He started calling me his mentor. By dinner time, Monica and I were exhausted and we had to literally throw them out and back to the orphanage. They would have stayed all night if we let them.



The past week has been spent visiting private schools. Basically, it is data collecting on what each school offers and their costs. Christmas break has resulted in the schools being void
of actual teaching, so all we are seeing are the facilities. It is not the most enjoyable escapade for me - after all, 30 years as a teacher and being in the 'pit' is quite enough. My idea of a holiday does not include inspecting schools. As I mentioned to Monica, would you be happy spending your holiday inspecting fast food outlets? No response. However, I understand what she is attempting to do. With help from Liz, Monica wants to post spread sheets on the orphanage's web page, comparing the costs and benefits of each school. This should give any potential sponsors a handle on what and where their support is headed.



I will not go through each school individually. I will leave that to Monica's spreadsheets. Suffice to say, the range between schools is large. Some are relatively new and have under a hundred students, while others reach up over a thousand students. Some include boarding for the kids. Some teach only the primary grades while others include secondary. Each school is ranked according to how their students perform on standardized tests - a system I detest - that can easily be skewed. When finishing primary
Marty checking out the school work Marty checking out the school work Marty checking out the school work

He's having so much fun !!!!
and entering secondary, each student must write an entrance exam. Supposedly, only about 20% of the students pass.



Personally, it is difficult to gauge what quality of teaching exists without seeing it in action over a period of time. In conversations with the teachers and head teachers, they come across as very dedicated, sincere, but overly talkative - almost 'preacher' like. I would suspect that the average daily lesson focuses more on the teacher rather than the students. In teaching ESL, the most important aspect is the consistent opportunity to practice and speak, rather than memorizing grammatical skills. It also involves teaching the students to think on their own, rather than simply relying on the teacher to tell them what they should know. The boarding schools where the kids reside full time is a key factor as the kids are encouraged to speak English in and out of the classroom. Most of the schools already have one to five students from the orphanage. Faraja can often be difficult to read at times - he appears to favour some schools over another for no apparent reason. Monica is also having difficulty getting a full list of unsponsored students
Chapati Chapati Chapati

Invited some of the older boys in for Chapati
- maybe there is a hidden hierarchy concerning the kids. And we must never forget, that first and foremost we are viewed as 'white privilege.



An example of how difficult I find Faraja to read occurred last Friday. We visited one school and Thursday and Faraja planned on taking us to another the next day. However, slowly the plan changed without us being told anything. First of all, someone from the school arrived to escort us. We waited a couple of hours before an expensive looking SUV arrived and a well dressed African woman introduced herself. She is a lawyer in Arusha and promised to show us the school. However, without any communication, we drove to her law office. She wanted to show us her facilities. She gave us a tour and then sat us in a conference room. After awaiting for an hour or so, she entered and explained to us that the school was actually started by her late father, was only a couple of years old, and contained only twenty students, age seven and eight. It employed four teachers plus a head teacher. The lawyer herself was sponsoring five students. Eventually, we left the office in a different SUV with a driver. We spent an hour or so inspecting the school's facilities and chatting with one of the teachers. We gathered some registration forms and other relevant data before piling back into the SUV. Monica and I assumed we were heading back to the orphanage, however, without any word to us, we pulled in to a restaurant where the five of us - Faraja, the driver, the lawyer, Monica and myself - all sat down and ordered a meal. The place was done up nicely and the servers were polite and well dressed. It appeared at least semi upper class. Upon finishing, the server placed the bill between the lawyer and myself. I reached for my wallet quite prepared to pay for Monica and myself. Only when I started laying my money on the bill, did I notice that no one else was moving - they all had their heads down, staring at their phones. The bill was for 64,000 shillings and I had laid out 30,000. It took only a moment and the silence started to become awkward. Monica leaned over and whispered that maybe I should pay it all. I put 70,000
NeemaNeemaNeema

Neema cooks for all the children
on the table and told the server to keep the change. I sat in silence on the drive back, ignoring all attempts to engage me in jovial conversation. I knew we had been played but refused to rise to the bait. Everyone was all smiles and thanks as they dropped us off. I did my best to remain courteous however I am certain my demeanour was somewhat distant. Monica and I discussed that night whether I should be upset and did we just get 'played', so to speak. My feeling is that in pursuing petty rip-offs like this, they were going to turn people off and lose out in the long run. People who would have no difficulty parting with their money for sponsorships and support, would quickly turn away. And the ultimate losers would be the innocent children.



I tended to avoid the orphanage over the next few days. We visited Arusha a couple of times, buying food and organizing a day trip to Mt. Kilimanjaro. We declined Faraja's offer to attend his Sunday church service. Faraja calls himself a born again Christian, and his three hour service reminds me of a 'fire and brimstone' sermon,
My African  daughter My African  daughter My African daughter

Liz & I have decided to sponsor Anna for her last two years of school . She is a very bright & sweet young lady and ranks 3rd in her class of 78 .
broken up with some African gospel singing. We could hear it all from our flat. On separate evenings, Faraja invited Monica and then me to join him for coffee at a local hangout. It is filled with the men of the village who all meet as the sun goes down and the air cools. Like a 'good ol' boys club', Faraja explained that the men meet to discuss politics and philosophy. However, spending a couple of hours with around two dozen of these local males, it became apparent that the conversation was minimal and attention was focused on cell phones instead. The only time the men spoke was to the serving girl to get a refill of their tea.



Faraja knocked on our door the next day to tell us that Monica's posting of the kid's pictures on line had resulted in some immediate success. A local church had seen Monica's page and contacted him with the intention of sponsoring five of the kids. Faraja was thrilled and proceeded to give us a sermon about how Jesus had come down from the heavens and appeared in his dreams, answering his prayers. As if I needed another reminder as to why I avoid church and religion!

We also met with Elias Chausi on one of our trips to Arusha. He is a guide who hosts groups and individuals climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro. We met at McMoody's and discussed a day trip to the base of the mountain on December 30th. Elias was preparing to take a group on a six day climb and would return on the 28th or thereabouts. His wife is due to give birth any day now to their second child, and the first is still recovering from a severe bout of meningitis. He came across as a lovely soul coping with a lot. Just today, the 23rd, he phoned Monica saying that he was escorting a group from Dubai and bringing them to see the orphanage. Monica met them and they seemed very impressed with both Monica and the orphanage. We are looking forward to our hike with Elias.



So we will be spending Christmas here in Arusha. We purchased a whole chicken and will prepare a full holiday meal with potatoes, green beans and, of course, wine. It is good to be in a location where Christmas is not so commercialized. I find the season depressing back in North America with all the emphasis on consumerism and greed. Here, the kids are ecstatic over singing Jingle Bells, and receiving some used pieces of clothing. For Monica and I, this will be our 9th Christmas together in eight different locations around the world. We appear to be surviving quite well on a diet of chapatis, mashed avocado, pineapple and mango. We have a piece of meat every other day usually from a kebab or piece of chicken. We still have another ten days or so here in Arusha although I am certainly ready to leave and embark on our 23 day safari. We even purchased a used sleeping bag for $25. Monica wants to buy a pillow, although I am quite happy with using my backpack for this purpose. Merry Christmas to everyone back north of the equator. Gabriola, I hope BC hydro has restored the power.


Additional photos below
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Chapati with Avacodos Chapati with Avacodos
Chapati with Avacodos

tastier than it looks
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Illegal to bring back ...(the conch I mean, not Monica!)


29th December 2017

telling it like it is
great blog entry with fascinating pics. Love your honesty, Marty. To be truthful, after our volunteering stint in Nicaraguan classrooms, I understand your dilemma. Looking forward to safari adventure...
30th December 2017

telling it like it is
Actually I had to re-write this entry. Monica felt I was too critical and too negative. So, in reality, this is the diplomatic copy.
30th December 2017

reply to yours
Aha! We should have known your positivity here and there was diplomatic, Marty! Suggest to Monica the quote you must follow is "This Above All, To Thine Own Self Be True"
31st December 2017

Schools money ,and Christmas
Glad to hear you two are doing well and learning the ways of Africa . The hike up to the base of Kilimanjaro would be so cool ,enjoy. Just wanted to wish you both a Merry Christmas and a Happy new year
4th January 2018

Sobering
Quite a sobering read Marty. One has to be sceptical and it seems corruption/ lack of governance is just bubbling under all the good work and good work is often hiding behind 'religion'. I don't think I could have been quite so self controlled when the bill came! As you say it is the kids who are impacted. The work Monica has done I am sure is over and above what the average volunteer would do. Very well done

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