Let me introduce you to…

Let me introduce you to our students…

My blogs miss the heart and soul of what we are doing here. Our students are the heart and soul of our experience here. I spend a lot of time complaining about the conditions and whining about my own shortcomings … both topics about which we could write novels! But, I realize you may not know our students. Let me introduce you to them…

 

Our students walk to school and arrive at 7:30 in the morning. They study on their own. They assemble at 8:00 and discipline each other on dressing properly, studying and whatever else happens to be on their mind that they need to be doing to be a good student. They do this on their own…the adults are just trying to just get everyone rounded up, collect the food for the day, and get out to the school! We teach, they learn until 2:40. Then they do after school activities. Some days they get to watch a movie. Some days they play basketball. Some days they work with me down in the garden. Then they walk home. And then they study some more. On their own. Then they come in on Saturday and study some more. We didn't have school last Friday. They came and studied at school. On their own.

 

Our kids aren't angels. They have their own issues…just like any other kid. But read the above general introduction to our kids again. Then you begin to get some idea of the really incredible side of being here.

 

The Garden

The garden is really coming together! While we were gone visiting family in the States, students and volunteers re-built the fence. They also cleared the grounds of weeds, etc… and created new beds in many of the sections of the garden. We've built 15 benches for an outdoor classroom. We've also created a drip irrigation system in one section to experiment with. If it works we hope to expand to all of the garden. We also built a sand filter to use the grey water from the kitchen to irrigate the fruit trees in the garden. I realize that when I have to watch a sport for after school activities, I keep checking my watch wondering when it will be over. But, when I work in the garden with our kids time seems to fly. Maybe I am boring after all…

 

The Basketball Court

Over the five week break in June and July our students worked to create a basketball court. This isn't just any court! It's a full length concrete basketball court which, when finished, will have six hoops around the perimeter. In a word…it's cool! And, it sure beats the dirt courts we were playing in before. The project was done as part of a service learning project done by a high school in Boston called Groton. Groton brings about 15 students here to work and interact with our kids. This is the second year they have come.

 

Nanenane Agriculture Show

Yep, it's that time of year again. Prepare your eyes, your ears and your noses for the Nanenane (pronounced nah-nay nah-nay) Agriculture Show! We are taking the Form 3 agricultures students to the event tomorrow. Apparently there will be animals, crops, machines…and a whole boat load of Tanzanians! Should be a good time…so long as we don't lose any students….

 

Lisa stays overnight at a student's home, Seth celebrates MANduli…

Last night was monumental for two reasons. First, Lisa and Whitney (office manager from New York) went to a student's house to stay the night. They had to travel all the way out to Usa (pronounced u as in you – sah) River. So…it meant about d4 hours of travel one way. While she was gone, Peter and I celebrated being men in Monduli with the first ever MANduli. It involved, in short, cooking meat on a fire. I hope to repeat the event soon. But, since we had to use her fingernail polish remover to start the fire, I am not sure about Lisa's stance on the event just yet.