One semester down

Two weeks ago I made the trip up to one of the western teachers side project of building a school in a near by remote village. Ian who is an Art Teacher at the new campus, began the project in the village where his girlfriend grew up and family still remain. Her brother who is very switched on for a Tanzainian has provided his old house to be the initial building and Ian is gradually modifying it, raising money and going through the channels to register the school to hopefully start next year. It is still very much in the initial stages but the government has said they will support it as much as recognizing it, no funding though. Greg an Australian teaching mentor and I said we would come up whenever possible to help him. So Sunday two weeks ago we bought some paint and brushes and headed off early to give the school its first coat of paint. The village is well off the beaten track. It took us a dulla dulla, a bus, another dulla dulla, a taxi and two hours to get there. For this reason though it was completely different to the hustle bustle and pushy locals of Arusha. These people were so beautiful, welcoming and thankful for us coming. Apart from Ian he said that they almost certainly get no westerners up there. The people are subsistence farmers and any excess produce they will sell to buy sugar, oil, coffee, tea but almost everything else they grow in the small plots around the house. Greg and I expected to get straight to work as soon as we got there but in typical Tanzanian style we had to first meet everyone sit and have tea and bananas. Eventually we got over to start work at the school building. Gradually relatives and friends came out of the woodwork from everywhere so we had plenty of helpers. Despite interruptions for tea, more tea, more food we managed to get a fair bit done by the end of the day. It was so refreshing to be amongst people without an ulterior motive. So often in Arusha, even people you know quite well will come out with questions asking for money or sponsorship etc. These people were all genuinely grateful. It was honestly one of the best days I have had and can’t wait to go back again.

Last week was quiet as exams took a lot of lessons away. Again all students including prep did two full days of exams. On Friday I caught a bus down to Arusha to play Dar es Salaam for the Arusha Rhinos. A good bus trip of 11 hours, reminded me of the TAS trips to Sydney. We played on maybe the worst rugby field I have ever seen and unfortunately lost 25-23. That night the Tanzanian Rugby Ball was held. I had won two tickets in a raffle luckily as it was $80 a head to attend which covered me and I gave one to a local guy who otherwise would not have gone. It was held at a seriously swanky hotel and was a black tie event. Gary Teichman (former Springbok captain) was the guest speaker who after having a beer with I can tell you has an interest not unlike a five year old, in tractors. We gave the all you can drink a real nudge and set ourselves up for a painful 11 hour bus trip back the next day.

On Wednesday we had a reunion day for all the students. As half of them went to the new campus this year many have not seen their friends in quite a while. It was a great day. I organized a few hours of sport where every kid was able to participate, all 1000 kids. So all classes at the old campus played their corresponding class in football for boys and netball for girls and staff played each other in both as well. It was a brilliant day, stressful at times but brilliant. The standard ones and prep had their own little where they played skittles, blew bubbles and all sorts of things and the rest were involved in sport until the main event the teachers football Usa campus v Moshono campus before lunch. After lunch there was dancing and singing before the kids went home for the holidays. The day is hard to describe but the faces on the kids in the photos tell the story. I even managed to sneak into the Moshono staff football team. After a grueling 40min trial they decided I was the goods and their decision was vindicated as I kept clean sheet in a 2 – 0 victory. They take it all so seriously, was good fun though. Luckily Gemma thought it was big success so I have got the go ahead to organize one at the end of every term.

Yesterday was reports day. Reports at home seem a breeze now I had to write these in both in Swahili and English which was interesting. Tomorrow I am off to Cape Town which I am mighty pumped about. Meeting Mum and Dad on Sunday followed by two weeks of traveling including Cape Town, Vic Falls and Zanzibar. Sounds pretty good to me!!

Some great photos on Flickr link. Having issues getting them on here.

A Safari, a four day sporting carnival, a trip too Nairobi and a few games of rugby later, it has certainly been a jam packed few weeks.

So back to Easter and my first experience of a five day weekend, yes a five day weekend. It was Mohammad’s birthday on the Thursday and then the Easter weekend. Due to Tanzania having equally as many Muslims as Christians, we take Muslim and Christian holidays although not all of them as we would probably not be at school that much. Played another game of rugby against the Cheetahs from Mombassa on Good Friday which we lost 34-0, it was certainly an improvement from the previous week. It was a much more enjoyable game and that team only lost 17 – 18 to the team that killed us previously so we were kind of happy with the loss and celebrated accordingly.

On the Sunday a group of us at the school hired one of Richard’s (Gemma’s husband) safari vehicles for the day and head off to Arusha National Park. It is only a half hour drive from the school at the base of Mt Meru. Despite the at times gloomy day it was the first time I had had the chance to get out and see some of the wildlife. No more than 100m into the park we saw a Giraffe or Twiga and from then on we were in luck all day. We saw baboons, zebra, buffalo, bush buck, dik dik, several different types of monkey’s and heaps of birds. At the point where we stopped for a picnic lunch we were looking over a herd of at least 17 twiga’s which was just awesome. There are elephant in the park but few rarely get to see them. As we were driving to get out of the park Skola, a Tanzanian girl who was with us noticed some elephant feces on the road. A few hundred meters before the gate yours truly spotted a herd of five elephants about one hundred meters off the road. It capped off a great day. It was not the image of wildlife you generally think of as Africa given that the setting was lush vegetation which at times is rainforest but it was so easy for us without a guide to just drive around for the day. We were going to hire the car again on the Monday but unfortunately the gods were not so kind and it poured all day so that plan was abandoned and the bar was seen as a more viable option.

After another short week I was heading up to Nairobi for our final match in the Bamburi series, finals were always going to be a long shot for us. I did not go up on the bus as I finished work late and went up in a car with two of the other players. Kenyan rugby booked us into a hotel like two hours the other side of Nairobi for the ground an Arusha. As if the Kenyans needed any more help against us. By the time we got to Nairobi we decided to stay with one of Graham’s, (who was driving) friends on the right side of town to the ground. This place was a mansion. The pool house alone was equivalent to a two bedroom house. We went had a steak which was awesome at a near by restaurant. It was bizarre to be surrounded completely by westerners again. It was an early game the next day which meant we able to watch the other Kenyan’s go at it afterwards. After going out to 14 – 0 lead I think we were scared of winning and eventually lost 45 -25. We really could have won this game as we improved dramatically on the previous couple of games, but just did not really have the players one to fifteen and as a result they were gifted quite a few tries. Was great to be competitive though and I think it ensured that Tanzania will be invited back to participate next year.

This week I have been attending the Arusha Primary Schools Sports Bonanza. Five of the English Medium schools from Arusha attend. It has all sorts of events from athletic to football (soccer). It was so much fun and the kids that got the chance to go enjoy themselves and tried so hard. At times I was tearing my hair out as the whole thing in typically Tanzanian style was appallingly run and there was so much time wasted. Some events they just did not decide to run in which case the students who went to compete did not get to do anything. Mind you I think they were just happy to get away from school, for the day. In the end St Judes was the overall winner which was the first time they had won it and given all the other schools are fee paying private schools the kids were over the moon.

The term is really winding down in the lead up to the holidays. It is hard to believe I will see Mum and Dad in Cape Town in just over two weeks. I am certainly looking forward to that!!