Reading and Writing.

At the end of each month the children have exams, with the results it is worked out whether the children are in the right class for their ability, some children get moved down classes which is such a shame to see, if schools in Tanzania had teaching assistants introduced into their schools, i'm sure there would be less need to moving children down classes.When we went to the center in the afternoon there was no homework to help the children with because they were having their exams, so instead we decided to help them with read and writing, most of the children's English is amazing considering it is their second language. Having one to one time with the children to practice their reading and writing is so valuable, you notice where each individual needs help, and rewarding their strengths. It would be amazing if the teachers have the time and access to helping the children outside of the classroom. After reading and writing practice it was only fair the children had some fun, so we played some football and basketball.

 

Cooking Spaghetti Bolognase for the Children

After a relaxing Sunday morning, we headed up to the center to prepare the food we were going to be cooking. We had decided to cook for the children and the staff at the center. I believe the children had tried spaghetti bolognese before, but it was a nice change form their usual food. Cooking without any electricity was an experience, we had a huge pot and a fire, cooking for nearly 50 people was a first for myself too. After a good few hours of cooking it was ready to serve up to the children, they absolutely loved it, the boys were the first ones for seconds. It made me realise how easy we have it, being able to turn on a tap and we have heat to cook with, we don't have to go and collect fire wood and have to deal with smoke that burns your eyes. We are so blessed and so many people don't realise it. 

  

Shopping and a Group Meeting.

Before we went on Safari we had organised a day of shopping for Friday, as five of the volunteers were leaving within the next week so they wanted to get presents and so on. So we went on the hunt to get some material because everywhere you go you see this beautiful distinctive material, women wear it around their waists, children wear them as a dress for going for a shower, and you can use it to be made into anything you could possibly imagine. After going to lots more shops and markets, we headed home, but because we got to town separately there then wasn't enough room in Deo's car, so myself and three others decided to get a Dala Dala, which is their public transport. Having been warned to be careful taking the Dala I was quite nervous, luckily we found a quite empty on and got in, the Dala stops at the top of the road that leads down to the house, if we were to walk it would take at least twenty five minutes so we decided to be adventurous and take a Peki Peki down the hill, which is a motorbike, Linda took some persuasion but in no time we were each sat on the back of four motorbikes gripping onto the driver, it was such a thrill, going over bumps was fun, and we got to the house in no time. When we arrived back at the house we were greeted with the dinner table outside with chairs all around, we were going to have a group meeting with all the volunteers and Mama and David. They sat us all down and wanted to say thank you for all the work and effort we had put in with the children, they are so appreciative of the volunteers and there way of saying thank you was to get a chef to come to the house and put on a lovely spread of food. Mama shared some of the background stories of the children, we had read their files, but hearing them out loud was heart breaking, the trauma those children have been through is more than anyone could comprehend and to see them with smiles on their faces is the best thing you could ever hope for. 

Maasai Tribe

On our second day of our safari we were able to stop off and meet a Maasai tribe, this tribe was situated near the entrance of the Ngorongoro crater, which trust me when I say it is far far away from any civilization. We were greeted with a dance from the tribe and then invited into the 'village' we were shown the homes, which is a very small hut made form mud and dung, with one tiny window in so the smoke from the fire is let out of the hut. There were several beds in the hut the one I went into had a mother and baby in there and we were told that the whole family would sleep in the hut as well as their goats.The tribesman that was showing us around infromed us that they only eat goat, they use everything from the animal, eat it's meat, and drink it's blood and milk. We were shown the school, as we entered the children were singing, and then one child went to the board and pointed to numbers they recited the numbers in unison in English. In the middle of the 'village' there's a circular market where they try and get you to buy their jewelry, the tribe use the money they get from tourists visiting to go to the nearest town and buy beads to be able to make things to sell, they also use animal bones that they to make things out of. 

    

Safari

The next two days were going to be spent on Safari we were visiting the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and Lake Manyara. I think the photos speak for themselves, but I would like to say it was the most incredible experience I've had the pleasure of experiencing. The views, the animals, and the excitement is something I will never be able to forget!

Sports day.

The Plan for the day was to go to the center again, but this didn't happen. We were told that we were going to Yakini because apparently the teachers wanted our help with something. So we arrived at the school, saw the headteacher and he asked us what we were going to be doing today, we said well we thought you needed our help, he wasn't aware of any teachers requesting our help so instead we joined two of the volunteers with some of the children to go to football and netball trials. The children we were ging with had got through to the second round and now they were going to play to see if they got picked for the Arusha team. From Yakini we had one girl for the netball and about 7 boys for football. It turned out to be a great day, being someone who was brought up with playing netball from primary school all through to college and played in the teams, it was great to be able to help share my knowledge of the game. I practiced with Swali, whilst the athletics was happening we practiced shooting and as soon as we were practicing we attracted a crowd, all the girls wanted to join in a play with us, which was great. 

After a few matches and having to restrain myself from questioning the refs decisions, the team was announced and Swali was the first girl picked for the team, we were all so proud! The boys did amazing in the football matches too, five out of our seven boys got picked!

Maths Lesson.

The day started by going to the center st 8am, we had planned on sitting in on a lesson with the intermediate class, we were in class with the children, waiting for at least ten minutes, and there was still no teacher, I went to find out what was going on to be told there the teacher was not in today, so Class one's teacher set some work and we were left to supervise. After some time most of the children had completed the work and had started to get a bit restless, quite frankly I think they were just bored, they all started to play up and get noisy, in the end when they had all done the work we started doing maths questions on the board and getting the children to come out and write the answers. Within the class there is a huge age difference, as most of the classes are formed on ability instead of age, the youngest in the class was around 7 years of age and the eldest 10 years old. After a short time back at the house for a lunch and bit of time to relax we headed back to the center, I brought some pencils with me and handed them out to all the children, they were shocked when I said they could keep them, they were very thankful, now there was no excise for them not to do their homework!