Tribes and Vipers

After about a 40-minute drive from the hostel (about double the distance to Hisani Orphanage), we arrived at the Bujora Cultural Museum. This outdoor museum took us around an area where Sukuma tribe artefacts have been preserved. As we got out of the car, we were greeted by the museum guide Philbert, and after a short introduction, we began our tour of the museum. We learnt how the tribe made wrought iron, how the Sukuma came to turn to Christianity and how their version of checkers ended land disputes (they gambled a lot of land), to name a few. The museum tour was just about the perfect length, about an hour of rather exciting history. 

The main attraction was much more exciting, though, a display of traditional dancing and a snake dance. The dance troupe have won three of their five past Tanzanian traditional dance competitions and has travelled the world, from Denmark to Vietnam. 

The snake, a 15-year-old Viper, is 4.1 metres long, or in American, two golf carts long. Once every three weeks, the viper is fed three rabbits; luckily, the viper was fed only a few days ago. After the dance, Miss Stockton and Mrs Charnock quickly declined the presenter’s suggestion that they hold the snake for a picture. 

I’m very tired now 🥱. Goodbye blog readers; tomorrow, we will rest at Tilapia before we head off to Kilimanjaro for the big climb.

• Leo 

Even Better Than Speech Night!

Today we were once again rewarded with a well-earned lie-in, and after our breakfast we set about preparing our speeches for our goodbyes at both Amani and Hisani. As Head Prefect, I was faced with the daunting task of making two speeches to thank the community for their hospitality and reflect on our experiences over the past two weeks. Mrs Charnock and Miss Stockton also prepared a thank you speech for Amani. 

Upon our arrival at school, we were escorted down to Boniphace’s office to collect the books we had ordered to give to the pupils. We handed out 3 books to each student in Standard 6 and 7 (Year 8 and 9), which meant around 400 students, and although for us a donation like this may seem small, each and every pupil was thankful and appreciative.

After this, we were taken outside to see that a huge crowd of students from both Amani and the neighbouring school had amassed in front of the school. Drumming on liquid bottles and whistling soon filled the air as a group of children in traditional dress paraded down to where we were standing to perform for us. They sang in both Swahili and English and showed us their drawings, thanking us for our donations and teaching. 

After the incredible performance, we were taken into a classroom that had been hastily redecorated to serve as a location for our goodbye meeting. We were handed snacks and drinks as the proceedings began, unaware that we were about to witness a spectacle more enthralling and entertaining than Speech Night ever could be. Boniphace made a wonderful speech, although some recurring phrases added an unintended humorous edge to his words. I think if you took a shot every time you heard the words “your excellency guest of honour” you may have needed a trip to Mwanza hospital, but we were very happy to hear his appreciation of our work at Amani and his wish for the project to continue well into the future. We were then presented with gifts of bracelets for the boys and bracelets and shawls for the girls. Each of us also received a certificate of appreciation. After an interesting speech by Mwanza’s minister of primary education that left us slightly confused, it was time for photos. We were promptly swarmed by the teaching staff who wanted selfies and photos with each and every one of the team, which proved to be a novel experience for most of us. After the photos were over, it was our turn to speak. Mrs Charnock and Miss Stockton started us off by discussing our work and intentions for the project going forward. Then it was my turn! After thanking everyone for their generosity I talked briefly about the work we had done and how proud I was of the DGS community for their fundraising efforts that allowed us to pay for the construction of the new sports field. I especially thanked Boniphace, Innocent and Twa for their help during our time at Amani.

Phew! After finishing my speech, the other guests, including the headteachers of neighbouring schools and other government officials each had the opportunity to speak and each thanked us once again for our work. Two hours and eighteen minutes later our goodbye meeting was over and we gathered our things and hopped back in the jeep to go to say our goodbyes to Hisani. We were greeted on arrival by most of the children as well as Fred and Grace. I gave another speech thanking them for their warm hospitality and for making the project possible, recognising all the hard work we have done over the past couple of weeks painting the wall and playing with the children. We shook hands with each of the children and thanked Fred and Grace personally before heading back to the hostel after a long day of goodbyes!

MJ

Drink Responsibly

After a somewhat boring birthday breakfast, we headed to the Hisani Orphanage for the whole day to do some painting. Somewhat late in the day for our liking, Fred had asked for us to paint the entire outside wall of the orphanage white, just like the inside, and it was this task that took up all of the morning and much of the afternoon. It was very hard work, as unlike the inside of the compound which was shaded entirely by trees, the outside was mostly cast in blazing Tanzanian sunshine. The wall was also too tall for most of us to reach the top, so much of the time we needed to stand on chairs, or even jump up to reach the highest sections.
With most of the first paint coat completed, we headed to Grace’s house. Very kindly, she had put on a lovely lunch for us, which was similar to the hostel dinners, except far higher in quality! This included beef, chips, rice, peas, cabbage and a lovely fruit platter. This also came with some sodas, as is normal for our trip to Grace’s. After this, we painted the second coat on the wall, and some of our team wrote the word “HISANI” on the front of the wall, as the lettering had mostly worn off the gate. After all of this work was complete, we got on with playing with the children. I got the keyboard out again today, although again, it was mobbed by the children, and the same key that broke previously was broken again, and I therefore had to fix it again before they could continue with torturing this poor instrument. I also played with some of the kids with a bubble wand, which they very much enjoyed.
Back at the hostel, we had a bit of a treat this evening in the visit of a lovely man called Mulokosi, although in true Tanzanian fashion, he arrived an hour later than we agreed! Mulokosi is currently studying chemistry at university, but the most impressive thing about him is that he is doing this while having no hands, as he lost them in a house fire when he was a child. Due to this, he was extremely slow at writing in school, so we gave him a laptop a few years back so that he could continue his education. After having a conversation with him and a somewhat tipsy Julie who had just returned from a church trip, we headed in for our usual dinner. One thing that I have failed to mention so far has been that today was my 18th birthday, and it was certanly the hardest I have worked on any birthday so far! After dinner, therefore, we had my birthday celebration, where I had my first alcoholic drink of the holiday, a Smirnoff Ice. We also had a lovely cake from Julie, which was going to be a chocolate cake, but we feel something got lost in translation rather, and we ended up with what we think is a coconut cake! Despite this, it was very nice, and after a bit of a conversation with my parents on the phone, we headed for bed.
Robert.

Brutal bartering

After breaky we set off to the bank to refill our funds, little did we know that we would spend the good part of a year sat at the bank waiting for one out of the six staff to make the effort to exchange our money. Once we finally received our funds we met up with Frederick and he took us on a “small” walk to the highly anticipated market. Myself, Lorry and James all had our hearts set on buying one thing and one thing only and this was a SPEAR! Only ten minutes into our interesting shopping trip we saw them the spears and we instantly approached the young man and began to barter for the lowest price possible, Lorry and James were useless at this but luckily Fred was there to save the day and bring the original price down by a hefty amount which the three new Maassai warriors were over the moon with (specifically James as he is known to squeak when he walks). After we had acquired our weapons of choice we then went on another “short” walk to go and find Tanzanian football and this was another successful trek as we found exactly what we were looking for and yet again Fred intervened to give us the best possible price. Walking through the market was by far the hardest part to purchasing our items as the pathway was a generous 2 feet wide and fish guts on either side. Once we escaped the very potent smell of the market (and Lorry) we proceeded back to the hostel for lunch. We were all given very clear instructions to be ready to leave for quarter to two but these simple instructions were still to much for Lorry to cope with as he turned up fifteen minutes late and believed this was the instructed time, but as he was faced with an angry Mrs Charnock who was ready to ring his neck Lorry decided to take the less painful route and apologise. We made our way to Hisani to continue our decorating but this was short lived as we had to depart to go and play basketball with Benson which in the scorching heat was quite a task but we also finished this early as with Mrs Charnock’s and Miss Stockton’s debatable first aid training recommended that we got out of the heat. After this exhausting experience we decided to retire back to the hostel to get some well earnt rest.

Matt T

Missing ickle poorly Matt

Started the day off with the usual odd breakfast (not so tasty this time), which was comprised of two slices of bread – stale of course – as well as a small pastry ball thing that actually tastes quite good alongside some chocolate spread. We then prepared to set off for our final day of teaching at Amani, but beforehand I felt it was adament to pay a quick visit to Matt (the slightly less annoying twin) who unfortunately had an ickle poorly tummy today, and made it clear to him that I’d have a great time with the children whilst he’d be cowering over the toilet all day.
The plan was to teach time in Maths and ‘a or an’ in English, which I felt quite confident in after already teaching it to a different group of students the day before. Despite this, the group still struggled, e.g. if I was to ask them for the time, instead of four or six o’clock I’d receive ‘what time is this?’, but was actually quite an impressive impression.
After a quick break we all headed out onto the playing field to teach sport, James (the slightly more annoying twin) and I on skipping, and everyone else doing football. The skipping was carnage. Each child in the group was barely able to maintain their sanity whilst waiting for their turn, and thats not to mention the rest of the students crowding around the field to watch, with a few managing to sneak into the queue and have a highly desired skip.
The afternoon was filled with painting and playing with the children at Hisani, whilst I just about managed to put up with James’ slightly more annoying twin tendencies, as I was painting shapes with his somewhat impressive artistic ability, and during this time he was under the impression that he was the boss (he was not) but I didn’t make it known as it might have ruined his moment.
The day was finished off with a quick gym workout using water bottles as weight, which is quite clever if I do say so myself, and a large and comforting meal of rice, peas, chicken, beef, chips, and a slice of watermelon – ready for a busy day tomorrow.
Laurie

Tanning At Tunza

It’s the day we have all been waiting for, after grafting hard for over a long week of travelling, teaching and decorating in schools and orphanages it was finally the R&R day at Tunza Beach Resort. We had a long lie-in till 8am and then down for the usually strange breakfast at 8.30am, which was as disappointing as ever, apart from the Nutella brought by Mrs Charnock from the corner shop which saved the day.

Then at 10.30am we set of in the land cruiser to Tunza which was a 20 minute drive and arrived at the gate where we were met by security and signs saying no guns and weapons allowed inside however it should have said not guns, weapons and water allowed inside because they rinsed out bags of all liquids and took them off us before entering. After the interesting arrival at Tunza we entered the beach resort and were stunned by the views of Lake Victoria and the little beach running along it with the stage for the band and the sky lounge with bars, entertainments and relaxation areas to enjoy. When we had finished soaking up the amazing views, we found our selves ordering lots of mocktails, drinks and food while playing pool and enjoying the sun. A personal favourite was the masala chips that Matt and I had ordered with made everyone jealous as they were so good, later on we sat out in the sun getting a good sweat on when tanning by the beach.

We were warned by the teachers and the signs on the beach saying go in the water at your own risk, as there are lots of deaths in lake Victoria due to the wide range of animals in it such as crocodiles and hippos but also parasites that go where the sun doesn’t shine. After having an amazing day of relaxing and having some downtime after lots of hard work we manage to trot on back the car to go back to the hostel, however 30 seconds before getting to the hostel and not consulting with her carers Miss Stockton gasped and then cried out “Leo is the first aid kit by you”, then we found out Miss had left the first aid kit at Tunza and so our driver dropped us off then had to drive back with Miss to fetch it back and luckily for us it was still there.

James

A decade of dancing

To start off our day the team were offered a variety of different carbohydrates for breakfast, including sweet potato, a greasy type of savoury donut and everybody’s favourite, stale bread. This was accompanied by boiled eggs and watermelon, which acted as a saving grace for our meal. After breakfast, we drove to the Upendo Diama Street Children’s Centre where we were greeted by 24 young boys aged 6-18, amongst other children who were at the centre due to the outreach program. We introduced ourselves and were given a tour of the centre. Along with their rooms, we were also shown a vegetable patch and a coop of ducks, which the boys care for amidst school work and play. Then the children performed a dance in white paint, and clothes adorned with the Tanzanian flag. They used sticks whilst dancing, as some adults that worked at the centre played the drums. During their performance, they persuaded Laurie, James and Matt to also wield sticks as they danced, but it’s safe to say they weren’t quite as impressive. Then the children were offered snacks and juice, as provided and kindly donated by the Lion’s Club. After their farewell, the boys bravely came up as individuals in front of us as their audience, and sang or danced. They again persuaded some of us to join, however this time it was James, Laurie and me. After awkwardly trying to follow their dance moves, we did a Q&A between us, the Tanzania team, and the street children. After a few questions, and an impressive speech from Fred, each of us were asked to give some words of wisdom to inspire the children to work hard and achieve their dreams. This was followed by a lovely meal of beans, rice, beef, cabbage and watermelon, which was cleaned up by the boys. With our replenished energy, a football game was played and then football kits and equipment was handed out, much to their delight. Then the day was commemorated with a photo of us all, and as we waved goodbye and drove back to the centre, all we could think about was Miss Stockton’s birthday cake which we would have after dinner at the snack bar.

Grace

Teacher talk!

One week in this has been an amazing week sharing experiences with a great group of students. The team have been overwhelmed by the warm welcome and kindness of the Tanzanian people. We started the week with our goodbye to Gedeli B. It filled us with pride to show the team all the hard work from previous years and it was lovely to reconnect with staff and students. Gillian was grateful for all the hard work from DGS over the years and was thrilled to receive another laptop as a goodbye gift.

Onwards to Amani our new project school. Boniphace the Head Teacher and his team were filled with enthusiasm for our visit and the future partnership with DGS. Our students have taught maths, English and sport to Standard 3 (10 and 11 years old). The whole team embraced the challenges of language barriers and mixed ability classes providing Amani children with some small group work, lots of attention and an enriching experience for all involved. Every day students from the school have greeted the team with beaming smiles, fist pumps and a scrabble to hold the hands of the DGS team.

The afternoons have been filled with time at Hisani Orphanage improving the children’s environment. We have whitewashed a large wall encircling a section of the courtyard then painting large, bright and engaging murals. The children arrive back from school daily wide eyed gazing at the progress the team have made. DGS students love working at Hisani and every day ends with a little bit of fun and play with the children.

We are all looking forward to the next week ahead and a little more chicken and rice!

Miss Stockton and Mrs Charnock.

Primary school penalty shootout

After yet another rude awakening from Miss Stockton, I came downstairs to find no-one up but the teachers, which was annoying as I could have stayed longer in bed. Breakfast today was rather strange, but quite nice, with some goat stew, something not commonly eaten for breakfast where I’m from! We also had some sliced white bread and margarine, which was rather more standard.

After a short ride in Emmanuel’s smoky Land Cruiser, we arrived at Amani school, where the kids were as usual keen to see us. We then collected some whiteboards, rubbers and pens from Boniphace’s office, and sat at the tables outside with the children for a morning of teaching. After a couple more trips back to the office for more pens and whiteboards (thanks Miss Stockton!), we could start on the maths. Today was rather more difficult than yesterday, due to the fact that I was on my own this time, and also that the children were a bit less proficient than the last lot, meaning that we only got onto two column subtraction before we switched to English, where we taught the same lesson as yesterday. While this was going on, Miss Stockton was having her lucky day, as a lovely young man proposed to marry her! Stupidly, she declined this wonderful offer, and we headed back to the staff room for a drink and to get ready for sport. Sport today was circuit training, which gave me depressing flashbacks to primary school PE lessons, but I soldiered on, and soon found myself standing in a group of expectant children with my partner. We were running an activity where one child threw a ball at the other, and the other child hit it back with a racquet. After a quick demonstration, the children began the activity, passing balls between each other, while standing in neat lines. After 10 minutes, Innocent (the PE teacher) blew his whistle, and we lined the kids up and sent them to the next activity, and accepted a new group. For the next hour, we repeated this cycle, with many children taking off their shoes as we went (which I found rather strange). By the end of the session, we were back to the first couple of groups, and the children were getting rather chaotic, running all over the field, passing the balls and shouting at each other. Not long later, all of the children joined a long line, and lined up for the penalty shoot-out, where various DGS students played against Innocent, while a massive crowd of children looked on and cheered him on. At the end, the score was 4:2 to Derby Grammar, which was surprising as we usually lose horribly against the Tanzanian teams we play, although some deduced that he was letting a few in!

Next, we took our regular afternoon trip to Hisani Orphanage to do some painting. There weren’t many people there when we arrived, as was expected as we arrived before the end of school. When we arrived, we got straight on with the painting. We continued with the DGS school crest, a tree that all of the children will put their handprints on, a brilliant map of Tanzania, and a less brilliant drawing of a person (modelled on me). We also started painting some times tables, which were good, but look like they will take the rest of time to complete! I sometimes went away from the painting in order to try to teach Grace (Fred’s assistant) to play the keyboard, which now had a broken key due to the children torturing it a couple of days ago. She gave it a very good go, although I feel like the language barrier got in the way rather, and she didn’t really understand much of how to read sheet music. I feel that it may be better to leave them with the Swahili copies of the piano books and let them do it themselves, as then the language barrier will cease to be a problem, and I feel that the children are more than self-motivated enough to teach themselves. After doing a bit of work on the tree trunk painting, and fixing the keyboard with some glue that Fred kindly bought from a local shop, it was time to go. We then went to Grace’s house, where she kindly provided us with some drinks (this time NOT stealing a child on the way!), before driving back the bumpy road to the hostel.

Robert

Basketball with Benson

After our usual arbitrary breakfast spread we set off for Amani School to begin our teaching. Upon our arrival we were split into pairs and allocated a group of kids to teach Maths and English to.

The teaching experience was not only rewarding, but also insightful, and I was amazed to see how the kids used each section of their finger to count out additions and subtractions. It was hard to teach in a way that was accessible to the children who were struggling and challenging enough for those who were finding the work easy, but through interacting with the kids as much as possible and using a mix of English and Swahili we managed to understand each other and pitch the lesson at a good ability level.

Like yesterday, we took the kids out onto the new sports field. It was amazing to see how much joy dribbling a ball or throwing a frisbee could bring… and I think all the kids enjoyed it too!

In the afternoon, we drove to Hisani and continued painting the perimeter wall. We took care to paint around the plaques that were put there by another charity, Filipo, that helps Hisani, in memory of the child of their founder.

The highlight of the day was our trip to see Benson, a national basketball coach who also coaches the local club. We immediately realised he meant business when he made us sprint up and down the court before making those who didn’t grab a ball do press ups! Despite this, Benson was a pleasure to work with and you could tell he was really valued by the whole community. After a rigorous training session in the stifling heat, we paid a visit to local art dealer Mr Toto and the Mwanza Art Gallery to barter for some souvenirs before heading back to the hostel for a meal. After a two hour wait, of course!

– Matthew