Ibamba and Namonge Primary Schools

 This was our last day in Geita. We are moving on to Kahama, visiting 2 schools on the way.

Robert was delayed this morning so although we planned to leave at 8 we actually didn’t get away until 9. Our first stop today was at Hamisi’s office in Katoro to pick up Hamisi and Johanna as well as some computer equipment.

Above is a picture of one of the gold mines that are common in this area, that we pass on the way.

It took about an hour to reach our first school of the day.

The photo above shows part of the oil pipeline being laid from somewhere in Uganda to Tanga on the coast of Tanzania, a huge distance.

We now appear  to be an area that is good for watermelons.

Ibamba Primary Schol is near the town of Uyovu. We started supporting this school last year so they have 3 computers and a printer. Now every so often we get one school who doesn’t communicate well with us and unfortunately Ibamba is one of them. They started well, sending reports in May and August but since then I have heard nothing from them and the 2 teachers who have responsibility for sending the reports have ignored all my messages. Needless to say we would not be giving them anymore equipment this visit!!

When we arrive we are met by the Headteacher and one of the teachers who should have sent the reports and taken to the Headteacher’s Office. We then have a long discussion with them about the communication problems. The Headteacher is apologetic and tried to offer some fairly lame excuses but in the end accepts that the 2 teachers responsible failed and have let the school down. He promises they will do better next year and so we agree to give them one last chance but if they fail to communicate better this year we will remove the computers and give them to another school. 

    

If you look at  the photos above, check out the body language of the guy in the checked shirt who is the teacher who should have sent the reports!

I also insist that the Headteacher appoints a different teacher to send the reports in future, which he does. He calls Jonas to his office to meet us and we explain the requirement to send us a report 4 times a year. Jonas seems to understand and is happy to take on the responsibility, so hopefully he will do well.

We are then taken to the computer room, which has actually been improved since last year so that is something positive. The Headteacher also gives us a brief update on how they have been using the computers (which is what should have been written in their reports) and we suggest some improvements that could be made.

After this we visit a Standard 6 classroom where some of the children have learnt to use the computers. The little boy in the blue T-Shirt is telling Robert how much he likes the computers.

So it is now time to leave. I don’t think we left the school in any doubt that if they want to continue to receive any support from us in the future, they need to improve their communication with us and increase the amount of time the children get to use the computers. They of course assure us that they will improve.

It is now about 12.30 and we make the 20 minute drive to our next school.

We started supporting Namonge Primary School last year and have really had no problems with them. It is a large school of around 3500 children but seems well run, the Headteacher has certainly communicated well with me, along with assisting Michael, the teacher who writes the reports.

The Headteacher meets us and takes us to his office where various other people are introduced to us including the Chair of the School Committee, the Village Chairman, some parents and a member of the local CCM political party.

We have a general discussion about how they have got on this year with the computers. We also have a talk with Michael about his reports. 

We then tell them that we have brought them one more computer to add to the 3 computers and 1 printer that we gave them last year.

We are then taken to the computer room. Well you can imagine our surprise when we walk into the room and see not just our 4 computers but a room full of computers - 16 in all. So the Headteacher then explains to us that the school has been chosen to be part of a pilot project being run by the government. It seems as if 1 or 2 schools have been chosen from each District to receive a number of computers, so nationally maybe 1 or 2 schools per 100 will benefit.  Apparently the fact that the school teachers at Namonge had done the ICT training with ACTT and the fact that they already had a computer room with a few computers worked to their advantage and helped them get selected.

So this is obviously a fantastic resource for the school and the local community, I am looking forward to hearing how they use it. However, I would have liked to have known about this development before we visited but apparently they only knew they were definitely getting the computers when they were delivered on Monday this week.

The school have prepared a lunch or chicken, rice and beans and so we continue our discussions whilst eating. After we have finished various people thank us for our support including 2 of the students.

It is now about 2.30 so time to leave as it is still quite a drive to Kahama where we will stay tonight.

So our 2 school visits today have not been straightforward. I hope that Ibamba do improve and that we will continue to support them next year. I do feel with Namonge that our work there is probably done as they now have this very large number of computers. However we will monitor them for the next 12 months and make a decision next year.

It takes about 3 hours to drive to Kahama. About 15 minutes after leaving the school we pass through a huge new gold mining area. We could see how a whole “town” was springing up providing all the facilities that the people who are mining there will need. This is not a large corporate gold mine but rather lots of indivividuals or groups of people gathering together to buy a small piece of land to mine for gold. Hamisi tells us that a piece of land that is 3 feet x 3 feet costs 20 million TSH (nearly £6000) but obviously if you find a small amount of gold you may well get your money back and much more.

It is also possible to just buy a bag of earth and hope you get lucky!

We leave the gold mine behind and drive on passing some more of the oil pipeline along the way. We arrive in Kahama at about 5.30.

A friend of Roberts has booked us a room in a new hotel in Kahama and got us a discount. It’s definitely a step up from our previous stays here.

We settle in and sort ourselves out before heading out again with Robert to a bar to watch the football and get some food. The food was good but sadly Tanzania’s YANGA (Young Africans) lost 2 - 0 to their Egyptian opponents but it was a good evening, finishing off what had been a very busy day.