The "Mocks" and Safari by Jim Lovett.

                                                      Here we are atop our mountain.!

                                                   Aisling, Belinda, Aaron, Jim and Aine!

All right folks, back with some sort of report from Tanzania. We have started teaching again, a few weeks now, at the beginning it was hard to find anything like a full class since the students are required to

provide 5 kilos of beans, 10 kilos of maize and 5,000 shillings toward their upkeep and payment for their teachers. This is supposed to be illegal in the new corruption free state!

The results of the fourth year 'mocks' came back, and while there was a great improvement across the board - the girls were very happy with their student’s results; for instance 30 of  Belinda’s students from a cohort of  35 passed Geography.   The first and second year students are showing a marked improvement in all subjects as these students are into our way of teaching and we have instilled a work ethic in them.   I, on the other hand received a shock from the fourth formers as only one boy passed - a pass is 21% - he got 54%, the next nearest was 19% and then 6% and there were around 15 students that got 0% and almost as many with just 1%. I knew that ‘my lot’ were not going to do very well but this was a shock.

Then I got to see the exam papers and a chance to judge the marking. I thought that I would start with the 6% paper, on the first question alone - there are 14 questions to be attempted - she would have got 5% from me and an overall 35%, not great but a far cry from the dispiriting/deflating mark she received.  All the questions were marked by a different examiner, they were judged only on whether the answer was correct; thus the mathematical ability of the student played no part in their result. I am nearly certain that the examiners have no mathematical training whatsoever but how to combat this kind of farce??

On a lighter note:  A bunch of us went on safari - a Swahili word meaning journey - where we visited three parks - Manyara, Ngorongoro and Tarangire were the parks we picked and we filled up 8/10 big tents or 3 large safari jeeps to give you some idea of our numbers. A great time was had by all, the guides fabulous and the cook sublime: cooking in the most primitive conditions he knocked up some wonders. We saw all the animals we could want including the big five; elephant, buffalo, rhino, lion and leopard. This was done at a very competitive price with the aid of Andrew Lebabu from 'Lebabu Africa Tours LTD' ph:+25578445210, more on Andrew later. Also we must mention here a guide and tour operator on Zanzibar, her name is Salma and has proved to be a godsend in many ways; houses to rent, safaris on Zanzibar and on the mainland, one day treks, and is in general an all round 'good guy', she can be reached at Ph: +255777431665 and can be found in the Kiponda Hotel where she works, it is a grand hotel at a reasonable price.

Flies in the ointment which cannot be ignored - it would be irresponsible not to mention them - must start with the dangers of Arusha. Here two of our members were mugged in broad daylight and robbed of quite a substantial sum. There were 20 or so people involved in the robbery - quite common we now hear in Arusha - and the police were totally disinterested in the question - which makes one think!  Again Andrew Lebabu was very helpful and went way beyond the call of duty to alleviate the situation. Also there were a couple of bag snatchings in Zanzibar, so being careful is part of the equation here;  still for all that we had a great summer.

Or something like that ... Jim

A piece in the Clare Champion August 18th. 2011

Teachers Sought for Tanzania

KILMIHIL couple, Michael and Maureen Mescall are looking for four teachers to help with their charitable work in Tanzania from next January. The couple run a registered charity, Tanzania Village Renewal, which carries out small jobs in villages in Tanzania, mainly in regard to educational matters. In November 2010, 16 builders travelled to Tanzania for two weeks and built an extension to a school in a village called Suji, which is situated in the Paré Mountains. It is about an hour from the airport at Kilimanjaro and near to the Serengeti and Ngorogoro game parks. The team of builders was led by John Clancy from Corofin and they were assisted by locals from Suji. “Five graduates of NUI Galway also accompanied us and have been teaching in Suji Malindi secondary school and will remain there until December 2011,” Maureen Mescall told The Clare Champion. “Prior to their arrival, the school had two teachers for the 450 pupils. These teachers have been a wonderful addition to the school, where they taught science, mathematics, English, geography and history, as well as teaching English to the villagers. “All subjects are taught through the medium of English in Tanzania. Many former students who had left education returned to the school as a direct result of these teachers from Ireland,” Maureen added. Áine Staunton, who is one of the teachers currently in Tanzania with the charity, says she has enjoyed her sojourn there. “We are enjoying a wonderful year here in Suji. Our surroundings here in the Paré Mountains are beautiful, the people and pupils appreciate our work and we have gained teaching experience as well as a life experience, which we will never forget,” she said. Maureen explained, “We are now looking for four more teachers to replace the four who are returning to Ireland in December. The school year has two terms, January to May and July to December so our requirements are for January 2012. “Tanzanian Village Renewal will support the teachers with a stipend each month, which is more than adequate for living expenses. The people of the village supply free accommodation in a house located on the school grounds and the food is locally grown and wonderful.” The Mescalls first travelled to Tanzania in 1999 on holiday and at the end of the trip stayed for a few days with Dr Margaret Hogan from Killimer, who has worked as a clinical psychologist in Dar es Salaam for over 35 years. Margaret is also a member of the Medical Missionaries of Mary. The Mescalls were very impressed by the work being carried out by Margaret and her colleagues. Maureen returned to Dar es Salaam as a volunteer for the next four summers and taught the staff of the main hospital, Muhimbili, how to use computers. This resulted in the hospital becoming computerised. While volunteering there Maureen was asked if she would be in a position to find funding and men to carry out some work in Vikrouti, which is a psychiatric village/farm outside Dar es Salaam, where patients from Muhimbili go to recuperate and integrate into society following their treatment. Michael and Maureen set about sourcing funds in Ireland and set up Tanzanian Village Renewal, which is registered with the Revenue Commissioners. Following a lot of hard work, monies were raised and 15 plumbers and electricians were sourced who were prepared to travel to Tanzania, which they did in March 2008. They wired houses, offices, outbuildings and workshops in Vikrouti, sank a well and repaired the existing well, which was not working. This work has resulted in the patients having light in their houses, toilet and shower facilities, access to television and radio as well as being able to grow their own vegetables once they had a good supply of water. The charity also purchased 1,500 chickens for the farm, so they have eggs and chicken for the patients and they are in a position to sell the surplus to the hospital in Muhimbili. The men wired a primary school in a village called Rombo, as well as supplying the children with a computer and printer, copy books and pens. All the wiring and plumbing material was sourced in Tanzania, while local men were trained to carry out repairs following the departure of the Irish men. For more information about the teachers in Tanzania, go to nuigalwaysujiteachers.blogspot.com. Anyone interested should contact Maureen Mescall at mpmescall@gmail.com This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Would you like to teach in Suji?

If you have been following this Blog you will know that five teachers from Ireland have been teaching in Suji since last January.  All the teachers will return home at the end of the second semester and will be back in Ireland for Christmas 2011.  You will also know from reading the Blog that they are really enjoying their time in Suji.   At this time, July 2011 some of their friends and family are visiting with them and all of them go on Safari today to Lake Manyara and nGororo Crater, having just returned from a few days in Zanzibar.

In 2012 some of the teachers wish to return to University to start work on PhD programmes and we wish them the best of luck in their endeavours and thank them most sincerely for their on-going work in Suji.  (More of that later)  So if you would like to go to Tanzania and commit to teaching in Suji Malindi Secondary School for a year we would be delighted to hear from you and give you any information you require.   Please contact Maureen Mescall mpmescall@gmail.com.

Books, Pens, Calculators, Printers, Football Boots & Jerseys and biscuits for Belinda on their way

As you probably know by now, especially if you have been following this Blog: Tanzanian Village Renewal, the charity run by my husband Michael and I are supporting five teachers in Suji Malindi Secondary School in Tanzania, for the past eight months and hope to be in a position to do so for a few more years.  The teachers collected old school books before they left for Tanzania in October 2010 and their families continued to collect more books, football boots and jerseys since then.  Aine's  sister Niamh who is also a teacher collected pens and pencils in her school and also did a sponsored Sky Dive and from the proceeds is purchasing a photo copier for the school.  Niamh is currently on a visit to Suji and we hope she will enjoy the experience and we might even get her to stay on a teach for a bit!!   Aaron's sister  and Jim's nephew are currently visiting also.   Maybe two more teachers???    Noel Murphy, one of the men who went to Suji last year to help build the extension to the school did trojan work up around Ballymacward in Galway in collecting books.   Here in Kilmihil the pupils of both the Secondary and Primary Schools also collected books and donated track suits.   So after all the collecting we ended up with 4 pallets and they are currently winging their way to Tanzania.

Just to prove that they are on their way we took a few pics!

                                          Danny guiding in the pallet with Pat at the wheel.

                                           Michael having a spin on the last pallet

                                           Michael Mescall, Pat McDermott & Danny Breen


Pat McDermott, our neighbour arrived with his Teleporter and loaded onto the truck owned by Eoin Gavin Transport http://www.eoingavintransport.com/  and driven by Danny Breen.   It is great to have pleasant, efficient people like Pat and Danny around.    Michael directed the traffic and made sure everyone was safe and I took the pics! 

We had never sent goods to Africa prior to this so the whole business was a bit of a worry.  What kind of pallets, how would we wrap them, where would we get pallet wrap, who would do the shipping, how much would it cost and a million more niggly worries.   We were very lucky in that we struck oil when we contacted Paul Bergin of AB Logistics  http://ab-logistics.com/ .  Paul was extremely helpful on all aspects of the job, returned emails and telephone calls immediately and was even pleasant when I asked stupid questions.

It will take 40 to 50 days for the goods to arrive in Dar and Prof Kilonzo will get them cleared through customs and will then get a lorry to carry the goods up to Suji which is about 6 hours away.   Let us hope everything works out well and that the consignment will arrived at Suji Malindi Secondary School.   It would never do if Belinda's biscuits were lost on the way!

Jim on a High (Thanks to Tanga) and a Low ( Thanks to T.S.B.)

News: Mr’s Kiange, the mother of the man who had taken us on our mountain jaunt died, she was 98. The forth form mock’s are going on at the moment. The bank at home – T.S.B – has screwed up, again.

Leaving the Mountain is an adventure in itself.   The only way down is through the good graces of the Seventh Day Adventists, we either use their bus or their open backed truck. The fare is now 4,500 schillings - a rise of some 12% recently, inflation here is astronomical.   Anyway everyone get’s up at around five thirty as the bus leaves at six, ostensibly. There are a couple of gathering places, any one of which could be a trap vis-à-vis getting a seat, of which there are about 25.   The bus has been known to hold up to 55 and it’s a tight squeeze.   Why I was sqez in there last week like paint on the ceiling.   The ride down the mountain in the early dawn is highly invigorating and can be hair-raising also, during the rains; there is a tendency to slide all over the very narrow road.   The trip brings us to Mechana, then along the ‘highway’ ( bara-bara ) on into Same the district capital.   All taking about two hours; God and the S.D.A willing.   It’s from here that we explore Tanzania.

A few weeks ago – Easter actually – we hit out for Tanga, a large and, as it happens, very beautiful town on the coast.   From Same it took about six hours. We were making good time when we changed busses in a small town called Kirogway, the bus from there to Tanga – 30 km – could reasonably have taken half an hour as the road is not bad … for Tanzania. We actually took something closer to two hours on what appeared to be the whim of the driver. God and the S.D.A give me patience.

On arrival at Tanga we went straight to a hotel on Independence Avenue – the Sea View, fronting onto the sea - it has a wonderful view of the bay and Toten – dead man’s – Island.  The cook here, a man of Indian extraction proved to be fantastic and an all around good egg to boot may I say.  The boy’s at the hotel, and girl, were wonderful and made our stay very enjoyable, providing us with bikes and generally chauffeuring us around.   They also helped arranged trips to Pangani village with its attendant river and out to a sandbank and coral reef about five miles from the coast.    But am I getting ahead of myself.

It was latish as we booked in, but we decided to go for a swim and dropped down to the sea just below.   The fishermen were - in nautical terms - just ‘pulling in’.   An active fishing spot it was a little too dirty for swimming.   Then one of our crew – Aisling - had the brainwave to hire a small Dhow and sail over to the island, it was a grand trip followed by a grand swim.  We had fish for supper that evening.

The Pangani River is bursting with crocodiles of which we spotted two. In fact we spotted just four crocodile eyes and one snout.   Another interesting sighting will be reported by Aine Staunton in an article coming soon.   A very wide river at its mouth – 400 meters – it is banked on both sides by mangrove swamps and has a real ‘Heart of Africa’ feel. The trip lasted about three hours and was very enjoyable and provided an extra frisson of excitement when one of  ‘our gang’ tried to decapitate herself when she jumped into the crocodile infested waters on the way back – it’s o.k., I saved her … ha-ha.

Getting back to the ‘Indian cook’ – Muresh – the sauces were incredible and his ‘wali qua samaki’ is ta die for.   The sand bank deserves a longer mention but I will leave that to someone else.  It’s time for bed.

Now, on a lighter note, the bank at home: a few years ago these guys left me high and very dry up in Nepal, when for reasons that have never been explained they decided to render my card inoperative – on a whim I believe.   I went to great lengths in my home branch - Galway - to ensure that the same would not happen again.  Great promises and assurances were made – in Galway, mister L. don’t worry everything will run smoothly this time – and do you know what; they have done it again! More fool me. What’s the saying ‘fool me once shame on you, fool me twice…  

Anyways this is Jimmy the beguiled signing off, stranded by the T.S.B once again, this time in Africa.

Or something like that…

Reflection on the Semester by Aine Staunton

I sit here on a Sunday afternoon in Suji and I think to myself, what has changed in Malindi Secondary School since we arrived here on that glorious Sunday afternoon the 1st of November 2010?  A change is a process of becoming different, seeing something within somebody or within the environment around you.   Change is not something that is brought about very easily, it must be carefully manipulated and encouraged.  I have learnt that change is not something that happens very quickly in Suji!

Underneath are a few of the things that have popped into my head when writing this short piece and the positive changes which have occurred in this school.  Although these changes may be small or slight, any change here is a positive one in my opinion.

Surface changes within the school

To begin with there are now more teachers in the school with qualifications.   The teachers that were here prior to our coming and who are currently teaching alongside us, had and have just finished their form six schooling which is equivalent to our leaving certificate.  Before we arrived the students were lucky to see a teacher for a single class on any given day.  Now we have a great timetable and the students have a teacher for the majority of the day even if this is very tiring and exhausting for us teachers.

We have successfully set up soccer, volleyball and netball teams.  It was obvious that these children had never really competed against other schools or enjoyed school sports before.  It is difficult to fit in training sessions and to get all of a team together as they have chores to do at home.  We train every week and have a great set of new jerseys which were sponsored by Aaron’s father and his co-workers.   We have not done fantastically in the school competition this semester but the children have thoroughly enjoyed it and one of our players even had the chance to do some trials for a regional team.  The change here that is most apparent is that someone got a chance and these children are getting a greater chance to succeed in life.  If we had not selected that student to go for the trials he would never have known any different and would never have got such an opportunity.

Corporal punishment …. Disappearing slowly

This is a slow process; we have had countless conversations with the school head master and other teachers explaining to them that this is not the way to deal with students who misbehave.   At the moment we do not see any of the teachers using the cane to administer punishment but this does not mean that it is not still happening.   At our last meeting we discussed punishment of students and decided to have Sunday detention class for any misbehaving students.  The students here are not what you would class as out of control or anything like it.  One of the male African teachers said to me one day when we were “discussing corporal punishment”  that the students to not respect him if he does not use the cane….my argument was why do my students, the same students you teach respect me and I am able to control them without using a long wooden stick.   The teachers have now agreed to only use the cane as a last resort in future.  They believe that this is the African way of life and is needed within this culture.   I am certain that this “way of life” will disappear completely within the next few years especially if this issue is under constant review and education given to the people here on a continuous basis.  

For the first few months teaching in these classrooms was very quiet.

The students in the class would not make a sound; they would not answer questions and would not participate what so ever in a class.  At first I put it down to them not understanding my lovely Mayo accent, but of course this was not the case.  It all connected back to corporal punishment and them getting hit if they answered a question incorrectly.   How can anyone learn if they do not make mistakes?   Six months in and we have now some kind of class participation, not anywhere near what I would like it to be but it’s a start.

Use of the English language in the Village

All pupils in Tanzania are taught through the medium of English.  The level of English within the village has improved greatly.  Students are teaching their parents, we are teaching the younger children and hope to set up some evening classes again in June.  We had evening classes running for a few months but it got way to much with school and sports and everything so we hope to set them up again in June for everyone when school finishes for the summer.

Changes we have seen and hope for the future

We see the changes that have taken place as positive and we hope the people in the village view them in that light.   We hope to give the pupils a sense of self worth and that they will view the education they receive from us as a positive experience and that it will inspire them to further that education.  We are aware of the value that the people of Tanzania place on education and we are glad to be here to help in the process.

Aaron's Management is Proving Successful

Aaron writes about his team.

This is a picture of Malindi Secondary School Football Team sporting the  new football jerseys which were sponsored by my dad and his co-workers at Donegal VEC.     They look fantastic and even though we didn't have the most desirable result for our first match our results have picked up with a very credible 2-2 draw with a private school named Alkachenje and just last Wednesday we played against the neighbouring village Gonjanza with a 2-1 win there. We played without our Form 4's (who normally make up 6 of the starting team) as their mocks begin next week so I was delighted that the younger guys were able to do the job.

The picture below is from our match against Makanya Secondary School. 100 students of Malindi made the journey down the mountain (some hardcore supporters even walked) to show their support for our boys in green.   There I am in the Pic - The White Fella at the end with the assistant trainer Aisling adding the glamour to the occasion!