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One of our sponsored student's homes

Many people ask, “Why Tanzania?”

I think the following answer speaks for Jillian and Kerri, as well as me.

When each of us ventured here for the first time to volunteer and experience a different life, we encountered in a personal and intimate way a level of need that we had never encountered before. 

Not everyone in Tanzania wants education and not everyone is willing to work for a better life.  But the individuals whom we met and taught were not everyone.  We came to know them as individuals - not the ubiquitous photo of the adorable, sad African child.  At their core was a desperate hunger, not for food (although that was in short supply as well) but for education.  Education represented a lifeline, and we soon realized that there was no one to throw out that lifeline if we did not.

Political and economic arguments aside, the reality is that there are no local, state, federal or church agencies that offer any real assistance to those we serve.  There is no “safety net,” no community outreach, no local philanthropies, nowhere for the poorest, however talented and motivated, to turn. 

So, why Tanzania?  Because we are “it” for those we assist, and from a pure financial standpoint, we can have an impact here that we could never have in the Western world.  For example, a teacher’s annual salary runs about $4,000, the costs of a 4-year boarding secondary school (the only reliable educational option) total $5,000 and a 4-year pre-medicine/medical university course of study comes in around $15,000.  For $1,200 we can organize a workshop that will yield new awareness, programs and opportunities for the autistic and special needs community.   

The saying goes, “Home is where the heart is.”  Home for Kerri, Jillian, many of our volunteers, and me is the U.S.  It is a country of freedom and opportunity like no other.  But if you met the people whom we serve, you would understand that Tanzania also has become a bit of home for all of us.

Another student's home.

GLOBAL EDUCATION: IT'S ABOUT THE TEACHERS, NOT THE TECHNOLOGY

On Friday, 16 Tanzanian teachers came to one of Kilimahewa's classrooms to join me for a Teachers' Workshop.  Over four years of observing the Tanzanian educational system have taught me the many obstacles to learning in this society, one of the most obvious being the lack of student participation in the classroom.  To be honest, I was quite stressed about the day because I did not want the day to seem in any way about a U.S. teacher telling a Tanzanian teacher what to do.  As it turns out, I didn't need to stress at all.

The day focused on active learners vs. passive learners, the reasons why an active learner is a better student, and methods teachers can use to turn their classrooms into active learning environments. Yes, these topics could take up several entire semesters.  But in a nutshell - which is what Friday was - we turned to the reliable Bloom's Taxonomy, fleshed out types of questions that can engage a student's mind and then practiced the questions, first with two group activities and then a guided class reading of the story, "Stone Soup." I began the class by distributing a "lesson plan" of my workshop in order to demonstrate the need to know specifically what one wants to accomplish in class each day.

It was such a day of open sharing, and the teachers were like sponges - they were great learners - asking for more.  Trying to stick to what's available here in delivering my lesson, I used a white board, blackboard and some handouts.  Of course. I still had several advantages: first, I had the money and machinery to make handouts; and second, even more critical, my "class" size was under 20 whereas the typical Tanzanian class is closer to 45 students.  Imagine that in the U.S.

Friday was a new beginning for EdPowerment.  We hope to continue select workshops to support the many teachers here who confront difficult and limiting environments as they try to serve their students.
From a financial standpoint, this is a way EdPowerment can impact large numbers of the population without major funding.  The workshop's cost  included a small stipend and travel reimbursement for attending teachers, food costs (tea and boiled eggs as a morning break; pilau made by our school cook in the outdoor kitchen for lunch) and then the cost of making copies.  Not bad for 16 teachers who will return to the class refreshed and ready to challenge students in a positive way.

MORE SPIRIT... This time, our volunteers

As we all know, the best way to show someone you care is just to spend time with him or her.  That's just what our volunteers have done for the better part of two weeks.  Yes, they have tried to teach.  But more important, they have shared their time and themselves with our sponsored students, our Kilimahewa Educational Center teenagers and the intellectually disabled youth at the Gabriella Centre.

Every picture tells a story.

MAMA GRACE, DEN MOTHER

Mama Grace (Lyimo) wears many hats for EdPowerment.  As our Country Director, she oversees the sponsorship program, acts as Director of Autism Connects Tanzania (ACT) our autism and special needs advocacy and support program; and supervises the Kilimahewa Educational Center on her family’s property outside of Moshi. 

Nowhere are the skills and heart of Mama Grace more evident than in our Tomorrow’s Scholar-Leader sponsorship program.  She literally makes sure every one of our 30+ students gets to school each semester with everything he or she needs.  As a health professional by education, she even notices skin and scalp issues and runs around to find appropriate medicines.  She takes emergency calls at ALL hours when there is any problem with a student, such as a death in the family or sickness.

Each semester, when U.S. staff meets with the students, they tell us everything is fine… then they pull over Mama Grace and start speaking softly in Swahili…. and pour out the latest turn of events in their family (usually a heart-breaker) or some added need such as a new pair of black shoes or a uniform piece that has been stolen at school.

When a student is unusually quiet or seems out of his or her normal personality, she coaxes them to share what’s going on.  She encourages, admonishes, cajoles, sympathizes – and always she listens.

Mama Grace makes EdPowerment’s long-term sponsorships the exceptional program that it is today.  Here’s what one student said (unsolicited and unedited):

            “… I like the way the teacher teaches us.  This is when Mama Grace wants to see us or teach us something.  She like to laugh with us and she also love all of us and she like to teach us some truth about teenagers and always tell us about life and how to live. And not only her but also others like Brother Tom (Tom Kway, our Operations Administrator), and those white women (that’s us!) who come to teach and stay with us all the time. Example, when Brother Tom teach us how to use computer, he love us that is why he taught us how to use computer.”

                                                                        -Mary W.

                        

MIND, BODY, SPIRIT... spirit

Last Saturday, EdPowerment’s staff met with over 20 of our sponsored students to discuss their progress, review their needs, and even deliver a little tough love.  One by one, we talked to each student, reviewing a mid-year report card where possible.  Keeping it real, as Idol’s Randy Jackson says – some of the students are remarkable and others need a jump-start. 

Earlier in the week, we had decided to retool our long-term sponsorship program a bit because we felt that our selected students needed to understand more clearly the importance of their role as leaders and role models.  While we expect academic competency and full-on effort, we also require a willingness to share knowledge and success with others who have not had the fortune to be sponsored. Our sponsorship program, therefore, has been renamed Tomorrow’s Scholar-Leader Program.

Here's a sign at one of the boarding schools attended by our students:

As part of our semester review, we ask each participant to write an essay in response to a question – preferably in English, but also in Swahili if need be.  This semester’s question was “Why do you deserve this sponsorship over any other applicant?”

Here, in their own words, is the Spirit of our sponsored family:

“One of my higher dreams and expectation is not only to be a doctor, but to be a good and responsible doctor in society.  By being so, I have to get good and quality education... My parents have been showing every effort so that I could be what I want to me… but when I look back I see how hard they get to support the family and my siblings; this was a problem to me and my studies.  For instance, one day my parent told me- what if I will study Pharmacy or a laboratory technician or even nursing first, then when I finish I will get a job… I couldn’t say anything because I understand the family situation and I am the eldest child.  Myself I was not ready to do what my parents ask me to do because I really want to be a Gynocologist… Now I look strongly forward and I have enjoyed my pre-medicine year study in 2012-1013.

                                                                        - Winnie

“…I also do some programs so as to maintain good performance like in the school, we have debate every Friday which helps us to understand more about English and also helps us to get confidence and stand in front of people with out any worry.  In Kiswahili, we have formed something called CHAKIMASE which helps us to perform well in Kiswahili – the aim of doing all this is to prevent failure…”

                                                                        -Veronica

“Because I want to change my society by giving them advice as an educated person.  Example, the Maasai society do not want to take their girls to school.  I can advise them that they should take them to school because if they are educated they can build and change Tanzania.  A good example is the speaker of Tanzania, Anna Makinda.  Not only girls but also boys should been taken to school because when they are educated they an advice there parent instead of doing nomadic pastoralism they can build ranch and get more profit and high quality cattles.”

                                                                        -William