A Rest Day Followed by Visits to Nyakagomba and Chemamba Primary Schools

 So yesterday was Wednesday and we deliberately hadn’t arranged any school visits to give ourselves a rest day.

We got up a bit later and had a leisurely breakfast. Breakfasts here are pretty decent. There is a selection of hot food, mostly catering for Tanzanian tastes but ok for us, as well as fruit, juice, some bread/cake and tea or coffee.

We spent most of the morning on our balcony, me doing the blog and Pete reading. About 2ish we went down into the garden and ordered some lunch. It was very pleasant sat there under a tree and you had to remind yourself you were in the middle of a large town,

We met up with Robert about 4ish and went out for a drive to explore the area a bit more. We tried to drive up to a view point but only got half way as the road was too bad. So we got a view but not of the town!

This evening we ate back at the hotel in the garden which was good if a little noisy due to the DJ.

So today is Thursday and we have arranged to visit 2 schools. Robert and Aaron pick us up about 8.30 and we make the 45 minute drive to Hamisi’s office in Katoro.

As you can see Katoro is certainly the place to go if you want to buy a bicycle. When we arrive at the office Pete needs to write and print a letter for Robert so uses Hamisi’s office to do this while I pass over some gifts we have brought for Hamisi’s family and the others sort out the equipment we are giving to the schools today.

We are quickly on our way again and arrive at Nyakagomba Primary School at about 10.30 and what a welcome we receive. The children are all outside singing a song for us to thank us for the computers. It is really lovely. I have included a video for you to enjoy.

We are then greeted by the Headteacher and some of the other teachers and taken to the Headteacher’s office for chai and chapatis. The Headteacher then also gives us a written summary of how they have been getting on over the last year and how the school and local community have benefitted from the computers. It also includes their plans for the future.

We are then taken to the computer room which is in really good condition and everything is working well. Frederick, the ICT teacher, introduces us to a student called Baraka who is 14 years old and in Standard 7. He is the current leader of the computer room. He was picked because he is passionate about computers and has learnt so much since they have been at the school. His dream is now to become an ICT specialist. Baraka loves being in the computer room and helping his fellow students. He is the boy in the blue jumper.

We are then taken next door where a group of people are gathered including quite a few teachers, some Standard 7 students, the Ward Executive Officer, the Ward Education Officer, the Village Chairman, the Chairman and members of the School Committee and some members of the community who have benefitted from learning to use the computers. It is quite a gathering.

We tell them that today we have brought them a projector and laptop to add to the 5 computers and printer that they have had previously. As always there follows lots of speeches and words of thanks and photos. This school has been a great success for us. They make great use of the computers, really look after the equipment, send great reports and keep good communication. So they really are a pleasure to support.

Baraka and his friend Baraka and some of the Standard 7 students then watch as Frederick and Hamisi set up the laptop and projector.

Meanwhile we are all served a lunch of rice, beans and stew. They certainly made sure we weren’t hungry on our visit.

Before we leave we take one last look in the computer room to find Baraka and Baraka have been joined by Innocent and Magoti all doing some school work on the computers. It is great to see the children knowing exactly what they are doing without needing any help from a teacher.

We now drive for around 20 minutes to the next school, Chemamba Primary School. This school is much smaller than Nyakagomba having only 427 pupils compared to 1211.

When we arrive we are met by Tausi and Victor the ICT teachers and the Deputy Headteacher (the Head teacher was at a meeting). We are taken to the computer room where we all have a good chat and we tell them we have brought them another computer to add to the 5 computers, printer, projector and laptop that they already have. This visit is much more low key than our visit to Nyakagomba but is very friendly and informative. Again it is a lovely school to support and they make great use of the computers. Tausi speaks really good English so her reports are always really well written.

 

Once we have set up the computer they tell us they have prepared a lunch of fish and rice for us…….obviously it would be very rude to refuse ….so we eat lunch number 2!! 

We then go round some of the classrooms to meet some of the children. This school is in a very poor rural area so even getting the children to come to school can be a challenge. So the classrooms are not as crowded and everyone gets to sit at a desk, mainly only 2 sharing. 

 

In the Standard 5 classroom we stop and talk with some of the children. These children were Tausi’s class last year when they were Standard 4 and she is very happy to tell us that every single child passed their Standard 4 National Exams. Really very impressive for a school like this.

When we visited Standard 3 the children were invited to ask us some questions but no one did until they were told they could be in a photo if they asked a question. You can see the ones that got involved.

 

Standard 7 was the last class we visited. When we entered the room they were all crowded in the back right hand corner. When I asked why I was told that there were bats in the classroom and that was the only corner where you didn’t get bat dropping on you!! I can see why they wanted to sit there!! The Deputy Head said they had tried nets to discourage the bats but it hadn’t worked so they needed to think of something else. I think with the big hole in the floor as well, Standard 7 probably had the worst classroom.

So that completed our visit and we sadly said goodbye. Again they are a lovely school to support.

We now drove back to Karatu to drop Hamisi back at his office. We did make a quick stop on the way to another school who had been unsuccessful in their application to us this year. We just had a quick chat with the Headteacher and suggested a few improvements he could make.

Then after dropping Hamisi off we drove back to Geita. It had been a long day and we had eaten a lot so we decided we didn’t need dinner tonight and had a quiet night at the hotel.