Planting a Nutritious Future

So,  I have been back at home for a few weeks now and I am happy to report that the Fruit Tree Orchard grant project at Maria Nyerere Girl’s Secondary School  has been successfully implemented!
The project started in November as we installed 2 more water spigots at my school. These will provided a close water source during dry season the water the trees.  After the spigots were successfully installed in November, we started ordering fertilizer from a local village farmer and the students starting digging holes. The holes were about 3 feet deep and just as wide in diameter. Digging the holes this large allowed us to fill it in with organic matter, soil and fertilizer to give the roots space to expand. The soil in my village is very acidic (an average of pH 4.5- 4.7) because it sits on granite.  The ground has thick layers of clay and rock not far below the surface and almost no top soil, so we knew the area would take a lot of preparation to ensure a good environment for the trees.  After digging the holes, the students and teachers alike left for December vacation.

How is she so happy doing manual labor?!

a lovely day to dig some tree holes

Several loads of fertilizer were delivered during the first week of school as students and teachers began arriving. Unfortunately, after 4 loads, the tractor broke, so we were forced to use a little manual labor. My counterpart and I took 100 students with buckets and walked to the other side of the village valley to manually shovel and carry back the manure.  My counterpart dove into the shit pit in his teaching attire: dress slacks, dress shoes and a button up and filled all of the buckets. I was very impressed.

skipping to the shit pit

My counterpart is such a trooper

hauling it back through the village to the school

 My counterpart was very eager to get the trees delivered to the school and begin planting. Also during the first week of school, we had 500 trees delivered: 200 avocado, 100 apple, 100 peach and 100 pear.

 

This shipment arrived in the trunk of a car. The rest came on the back of  motorcycles

my counterpart putting the trees in safe keeping

our tree provider and my counterpart all smiles 

When I returned to the school that afternoon, he said he wanted to surprise me and had planted about 350 trees while I was gone. I looked around and asked him “Where? I don’t see them.”  He told me that they were IN the holes. I think my counterpart tends to only listen to about the first half of what anyone says, which lead to a few problems in implementing this project. I went to look and he had simply thrown half a bucket of fertilizer in the 3 foot-deep hole and then planted the tree in it. I had to explain to him that by doing this, the trees would drown because it is rainy season right now and that the roots now have nowhere to go since they are placed up against solid clay and rock. He understood that he made a mistake and the following weekend, we had the help of several hundred students and a few teachers to help supervise as we corrected the 350 trees and planted the remaining 150 trees.

This poor tree 3 feet too deep just waiting to drown

Mwakapala showing the students how to correctly plant the trees

We even planted between the corn crops

A shipment of fertilizer being delivered by the tractor

The finished product 

The trees have now all been planted and will hopefully thrive in their environment.  We are hoping that 80% of the trees survive. Due to the method of transportation, we are skeptical that this will be obtained, but we will see. Some of them have to be resilient enough to make it, and eventually they will bear fruit to improve the nutrition of the students at Maria Nyerere Girl’s Secondary School long after I leave. 

Holiday Medley Catch-up

I am sorry that I have been so far behind on posting. Things always get a little hectic toward the end of the year, even here in Tanzania.

I was so excited about having a new companion at home that I forgot to share with you a little taste of Halloween this year. I just stayed in Njombe and hung out with a few friends. I took advantage of all the wonderful seamstresses in this country at my disposal and had them make me a custom costume. That’s right, me and every 4 year old in America went as Elsa from Frozen for Halloween.

Elsa

 After Halloween, life was filled with study guides, quizzes and practice questions to prepare students for NECTA’s and annual exams. My district had a little bit later schedule than most, so my friends decided that they would come to me for Thanksgiving. It was just a small crowd of us and we decided to make it festive, so I dug up a small conifer (that my neighbor had planted as an economic investment), put it in a bucket with some dirt and decorated it with paper snowflakes.  This year, we decided to go big, slaughtering 2 chickens and cooking them different ways: one was baked with lemon pepper seasoning and the other was cut into parts and fried. The chicken 2 ways was accompanied by mashed potatoes and gravy, fruit salad and homemade wheat bread and brownies for dessert.

A spread fit for kings (or starving volunteers)

Zane building my fuel efficient stove

We did it!

No holiday is complete without drinking and games

Our lovely little tree. complete with lights

Happy Holidays from Tanzania!

We fried the chicken on my newly built fuel-efficient jiko that uses firewood. Firewood get’s much hotter than charcoal so is ideal for frying.  We got the wood jiko stoked and hot, but then had time to kill before starting the chicken (we were waiting for the bread to cook), so we decided to take advantage of the extra fry batter and had a fry fest! We battered and fried everything we could… garlic, bananas, pineapple, brownies, onion rings, cheese, the list goes on! The best combination was to put a pineapple chunk, cheese and an onion slice on a toothpick, batter it and fry it. It tasted like a pineapple pizza!

Lauren frying up somthing

Pineapple Pizza Kabob!

Fried Cheese. Yum

I rang in the new year on Zanzibar once again (what can I say, the party just can’t be beat!) We wandered the beautiful town of Stone Town and went crazy buying muumuus, then spent the remainder of our days swimming and enjoying the beaches. A perfect, beautiful vacation.

Mimosas and cinnamon rolls

lovely ladies having a lovely New Years morning

Cheers!

Nungwi village in Zanzibar

My holidays in Tanzania are different than in America. It’s not cold, no lights hanging anywhere or Christmas Decorations in yards. I don’t hear holiday music everywhere I go, which means there is no real reminder that it’s the holidays. It just feels like another day spent in a beautiful country with amazing friends. Surrounding yourself with people that you are about is the meaning on the holidays, and that’s exactly what I did. 

Trainings, Trainings, and more Trainings!

Shika na Mikono

The month of December was full of adventures. My break from school started off with a productive bang. I made my 14 hour journey (not usually that long, but I had my fair share of travel problems) to Morogoro. Upon arrival, I was dropped off not at the bus stand, but at a gas station/mosque where I waited for Peace Corps to come and pick me up.

The next day we prepared all of our materials to represent Shika na Mikono at the Early Service Training being held for the new Education class of 2014. This training is less for the volunteers themselves and more to build a working relationship with the counterparts from their schools to successfully work together when they return to start their first full school year teaching in Tanzania.

We broke participants into groups by subject and proceeded throughout the day doing activities including Box of Fun, Shika Express and a Competition of course!

A group of volunteers and their counterparts constructing science teaching aids from locally available materials

Peace Corps asked me to stay as an extra pair of hands at EST because I had to be present for another training that was taking place the next week, so I got roped into facilitating/presenting a day and a half worth of materials about Project Design and Management.  This presentation included walking through how to plan and implement a successful and sustainable project in your school or community. There was big emphasis on the role of the volunteer in this process and they were able to walk through an example project of their choice with their counterpart. This was very beneficial because it gave them a great idea 

The aim was to get the counterparts excited about hands-on science and being a great partner to the volunteer in their future Shika endeavors at their school.

After Shika day, I had the wonderful opportunity to hold a 2 hour session about by block/tile project, which lead into a discussion about various Shika approaches to English teaching. These new volunteers are full of amazing ideas and I’m excited to see what they accomplish and decided to take on during this service. I have a great feeling about them!

Project Design and Management

Peace Corps asked me to stay as an extra pair of hands at EST because I had to be present for another training that was taking place the next week, so I got roped into facilitating/presenting a day and a half worth of materials about Project Design and Management.  This presentation included walking through how to plan and implement a successful and sustainable project in your school or community. There was big emphasis on the role of the volunteer in this process and they were able to walk through an example project of their choice with their counterpart. This was very beneficial because it gave them a great idea about the amount of work that goes into a project, how feasible it is to accomplish what they want and gave them an outline of a project to implement at their school upon returning if they wish.

Student-Friendly Schools

The next week, I was honored to be given the opportunity to facilitate the 3 day Student-Friendly Schools Training. I attended this training in April 2014 and found it hugely beneficial, especially when taking into account the dynamic between teachers and students at my all-girl’s boarding school.  I was doubly excited when I learned that I was able to co-facilitate this training with my best friend in country Lauren! 

Lauren (on the far left) introducing the concept of GBV

The material of training included Gender-Based Violence as well as its causes and influences, bystander intervention, the role of the educator in these matters and alternatives to corporal punishment.  These subjects can be very sensitive and opinions can turned into heated arguments, so respecting ground rules and norms for training were very important.

The size of this training is relatively small compared to other Peace Corps trainings. We had 9 volunteers and their counterparts participating. This training allowed volunteers and counterparts alike to express their feelings about the behavior that they witness at their schools in a safe environment and brainstorm ways to become agents of change. The collaboration between counterparts and volunteers was important because Americans may have many ideas, but Tanzanians are aware of realistically what can work in this education system.

Volunteers and counterparts brainstorming and working together

A counterpart presenting for the group about corporal punishment

To end training the second day, we thought it was important to end on a positive note after the very sensitive topic of corporal punishment. We decided to do spend a few hours crafting and listening to music. This craft was generic and should be made to be given to anyone in the group.

Glitter glue, craft paper and feathers. Oh My!

Our wonderful co-facilitator, Anna,  loving arts and crafts time!

To conclude the training, we handed out completion certificates randomly and they gave the certificate recipient their gift also. It was a nice way to bond and bring everyone together before going our separate ways.

Exchanging craft zawadi and certificates

Group Picture!

The hotel pet tortoise kept us company as we prepared for training

 I was so thankful for the opportunity to participate in these trainings and share my knowledge with the new education volunteers as they enter their full year of teaching (I like to call it your "Rock Star Year").  I know they are going to do amazing things and I was so happy to get to know them. They are an interesting class full of amazing indivuduals and I wish them all the best for the rest of their service!

A much needed companion

\Well, there comes a point in every single girl’s life when she realizes she’s been living alone for too long.  History has proven that this void and emptiness can be replaced only by a single species. Yes, beloved friends and family, I have adopted a cat.

Its name is Artimus (I say “it”, because I’m really not sure of its gender yet, but for the purpose of writing, I will use the pronoun “she”). She’s mostly black with some patches of brown, a white foot and a permanent white patch of hair to resemble a milk mustache on only the left half of its upper lip.

Arti, as I call her for short, had a hell of an adventure getting to my abode. A fellow PCV gave her to me because his cat had had kittens. To transport Arti out of his village, he put her in a box that had the area of a shoe box, but with a long length and long width, and about a 2 inch height, so the cat couldn’t stand up. Also, the PCV was afraid of not being able to catch her, so he did so over 12 hours prior to delivering the package to my banking town. Needless to say, Arti was a little pissy when I finally opened the box.

Unfortunately, Arti also had to stay in the guesti in the banking town for 2 nights before heading to site in which she lived in the bathroom. 

The second night, the fear of the first trip had worn off and Arti cried. And cried. And cried. And cried. For over 5 straight hours beginning at 10:30pm, that cat cried, meowed, hollered, screamed and whimpered like she was being beaten and abandoned all at once. 

Eventually, I couldn’t take it and decided to move her (or “Demon Cat” as I was calling her at this point) outside for the remainder of the night so I could get a few hours of sleep.

When I went to check on her in the morning, I learned that an employee at the guesti had opened the box and let the cat out because it was crying. Naturally, I was upset and asked them to help me look for her.

We found Arti in a long, cement drainage pipe that ran under a patio, so we shoved a stick inside to run the cat out. She finally fled and after chasing and cornering her in a bathroom stall, we got her. 

I then packed my things up including Arti and headed to the market to grab some produce before returning to my village. While in the market, a few 2 year old boys were curious as to what was crying inside the basket. While I was distracted bartering for oranges, the boys lifted the basket lid and Arti, that trixy cat, fled again. I told the mamas in the market I would pay them to help me catch the cat. After numerous scratches, screams and attempts, Arti made her way back into the basket yet again.

I boarded the bus, cat in lap, and Arti of course cried the entire bus ride home (sorry Tanzanians). 

After all the adventures, we made it home safely and Arti is learning the ropes around her new stomping grounds.

Artimus, laying in her bed of choice- a bag of charcoal

This cat has proven to be more trouble than shes worth at this point, so hopefully she will make up for it with her mice-hunting abilities. Here’s hopin.

Testing the waters of Teacher's Trainings

As a member of Shika na Mikono, my primary focus is to train students enrolled in teacher’s colleges.  I had the opportunity to work with a member of the Tanzanian Ministry of Education to set up a training for 145 people who will soon be entering the Tanzanian Education System as science teachers. Klerruu Teacher’s Training College is located in Iringa and focuses on training both science and arts teachers.

The four members of the Shika team facilitated the training inlcuding me, Joel, Caitlin and Megan . We all arrived in Iringa town the 15^th of October to solidify our schedule, plan intros and transitions and prepare and purchase necessary supplies. Bright and early the next day, we caught a taxi to the college and were shown around the campus, including the spaces that we would be using. 

We began the training by introducing ourselves and the mission of Shika na Mikono. Then the students were split by subject into 3 different room and our first session was Box of Fun. We chose a variety of topics from the O-level Syllabus from each subject and instructed the students to get into groups of 5. They were then numbered off and assigned a specific topic. The students then used the creativity and random, inexpensive, locally available materials to make a teaching aid to teach their assigned topic. 

A group of students creating their teaching aid during our Box of Fun session

Science can be fun!

A student uses his teaching aid to teach a lesson

After presenting/teaching their topic and explaining their apparatus, all students from all subjects reconvened in a large conference room and the most innovative design from each topic then presented the group as a whole. The aim of this project was to inspire creativity and improvisation while showing that even trash can be used to explain science concepts, so there is no excuse not to do demonstrations. 

We had a short break for Chai in which the members of the Shika team were introduced to all teachers and staff of the college. 

After completing chai, the students regrouped up the large conference room where Joel and Caitlin led presentations with the aid of a powerpoint about chemical and lab equipment alternatives. Many teachers make the excuse that they are unable to conduct practicals and hands-on demonstrations in the classroom due to lack of funding to buy materials. The aim of this portion was to inform them of inexpensive, locally available materials that they can use when conducting practice practicals at their school to save money. 

Once the presentations were completed, the students returned to the 3 classroom spaces, but this time were mixed subjects and the Shika members grabbed their materials to present several Shika Express activities. I presented biology activities, Caitlin covered chemistry and Joel did Physics demonstrations. For this activity, the students remained in the same classroom and we rotated. This method proved to be very efficient. 

Caitlin teaching Chemistry Shika Express experiments

The final activity of the day was a mini-competition to demonstrate that when you make learning into a came or competitive, the students are become very motivated to perform well. 

The students were instructed to gather into groups of 5 again, but this time they were encouraged to include all of the disciplines in their groups. We introduced the rules and goal of Raft Rally, distributed the pieces of foil and gave them 20 minutes to construct their boats. After construction, one representative from each group presented their boat, explained the reasoning behind their design and then placed their boat in a basin of water to test how much weight it could hold by placing individual and bundles of nails inside. The moment water began to leak inside the vessel and it began sinking, the nails were counted and recorded. The boat that could hold the most weight received 100 points, second place received 75, third received 50 and fourth received 25 points. 

The other portion of the competition included 24 Squares and began immediately after the testing of the rafts. 10 different problems were written on the board and each group was given 20 minutes to complete as many as possible. The members of the Shika team then corrected them and awarded 10 points for every correct 24 Square answer. 

The scores of both Raft Rally and 24 Squares were added together and winners were announced.

To wrap up the training, all the students returned to the large conference hall to recap the events and messages of the day as well as get feedback about the training from the students. 

Overall, the training was hectic, as it was our first one and the arrangement of work space was different than we had planned for, but at the end of the day, we accomplished the same goal. The students were given chances to express creativity and learned about how to utilize inexpensive, locally available materials to do demonstrations in the classroom. 

Shika Team members that were able to help with this training

We had a blast doing this training, and now that we have one under our belts, we are excited to schedule and put on more teacher trainings. Through training teachers, Shika is able to spread the message and importance of hands-on science learning across the country to areas where Peace Corps may not have connections.

Bananas and Rubbers

As a Form III Biology teacher, I have the pleasure of teaching my students about the exciting of topic of Reproduction.  I have been covering the topic for several months now (it’s a long topic!) and I decided the best way to wrap it up was to literally wrap it up.

I was lucky enough to get into contact with PSI and they were kind enough to donate just under 1000 condoms for the event.  I went to town and purchased an entire branch of plantains (about 70) and we were set.

I began by reviewing the various contraceptive methods and then explained to my girls that condoms were the best option before marriage and monogamy because they are the only way to prevent STD’s and HIV.

I proceeded to explain my actions during the condom demonstration. The students had the floor to ask questions, and then they gave it a try. They were in pairs sharing one plantain and each had their own  condom. They each got a chance to try and then showed me when they were done before their partner could try. 

Holdin up the tree products

Yes, it's a two person job

Madam, why is it covered in mafuta?

They actually had a blast! They were laughing and asking questions and didn’t seem to be uncomfortable.

Demonstrating

Now we are really learning about reproduction

Tunaweza!

 My hope by doing this was to help break down the negative stigma associated with purchasing and using condoms in this country. Tanzanians tend to avoid purchasing condoms due to the negative stereotypes placed on them by other community members. They think that if you are purchasing condoms then you are taking part in poor behavior and will negatively judge you. The fact is, over 60% of people in the village of Wangama have HIV and this negative stigma isn’t helping the problem.

If I can convince just one student that they have the ability to avoid HIV and STD’s by taking control in a relationship and standing up for themselves, then my two years here will be completely worth it.  

Group photo! Just one of my 3 classes of Form III

A Beautiful Beach Birthday

The second term of school continues to march on as I race the clock to complete the syllabus material before the end in November. This semester has been full of interruptions including Mid-Service Conference and Site visit week for the new trainees, followed immediately by a week-long term break to mark the middle of the semester. Where has the time gone?!

Well, break conveniently fell over the week of my birthday as well as our 1 year of service mark, so my friends and I decided to take a little trip down to Lake Nyasa (in other parts of the world, it is called Lake Malawi, but here in TZ we refuse to give up our claim).

The trip began with a 10 hour bus trip down to a tiny town known as Mbinga, located in the Ruvuma region. After arriving to Mbinga, we used the only mode of available transportation to travel to the site of another PCV. This transport was in the back of a lorry. 

Zane and I about to journey up the mountain

We got lucky, the cargo was mattresses!

After arriving, we crashed for the night and then woke up bright and early to start our 5 hour hike down to the lake. The hike was completely downhill and the steep grade was pretty rough on the knees, but boy was it worth it. The hike was so beautiful!

The view from the top of the mountain we hiked down. The water was our destination!

The path down the mountain

 After our very long hike, we drug our tired, sweaty selves up onto the beach and realized we were in paradise. We wanted nothing more that to strip down naked and dive in… but we decided to stay civilized and change behind closed doors. The water was crystal clear, so needless to say it was Peace Corps bath time! But seriously, we took our razors and soap out into the lake and played a little game we like to call “Tan or Dirt?”. You win if it’s a tan and doesn’t scrub off. We never win. 

The next 2 and a half days were spent snorkeling, bouldering, swimming, and relaxing in hammocks. The camp we stayed at was called Pomonda Raha Eco Camp and we ate fresh catfish caught in the lake, papaya picked from the trees, everything was farm to table and tasted delicious. 

 A beautifully set table 

Sun setting behind the mountains of Malawi

Hammock Time!

I've got my toes in the water, ass in the sand, not a worry in the world, a cold beer in my hand

the sunsets are breath-taking

It was such a relaxing, beautiful vacation and the perfect break before heading into the next several months as I barrel toward the end of the term.