The honeymoon is over and people are now expecting that if I can learn Swahili- I should also learn Kihaya, the language of the Kagara region where Bukoba is located. As I stumble my way through Swahili the people here have been very helpful in telling us the Kihaya word as well…the problem is that I am not doing so well at remembering everything. Swahili is very basic and words are not masculine or feminine depending on who you referring to. Kihaya, however, is quite difficult and the greeting or word changes if you are talking to a man, woman, child and also changes depending on the time of day. I hope I can find this language as well on my Youtube tutor.
Today we went back to the Kiteyagwa to help in the classrooms. I am also working with COSAD to create a profile for all of the schools to connect with their website. This will hopefully allow people to follow along with the school and see how even the smallest of donations can make a huge impact in this area.
Anna and I sat in a in a 5th grade class as they finished their English lesson. Because there aren’t any teaching aids, repetition is the main approach that we have seen. The teacher will write then sentence on the board and then the students will repeat it. There are a few text books for the class but for what we have seen, 4-6 students will be sharing one book. Every student has a notebook that they use to copy assignments but that paper must last the whole year. The notebooks we observed were very dirty since they are carried back and forth every day. After the lesson, the teacher asked the students if they had any questions for us. At first they thought they had to ask in English and were very shy but he allowed them to speak Swahili or Kihaya and
he would translate. I’m not sure what I was expecting but these kids drilled us on questions about America. I guess when I think of 5th grade I would expect questions about the weather or what we learn at school and there were a couple of those questions. Mostly, the kids drilled us with questions about government, who was the 8th president of the United States, who were all of the congress men and senators, some questions about big business. I was quite blown away by the level of their questioning but it was a reminder that I should know more about our own government.
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| Classroom at Kiteyagwa |
After taking some pictures we sat down with Justina, the principal and Josaphine, the director of the district to talk supplies they need. Things like teaching aids, posters and text books are desperately needed along with the basic supplies like pencils, markers and paper. The government is supposed to be supplying money for each student enrolled but it rarely happens.
The Mayer of Bukoba invited us to visit his schools since he toured Clearwater during his time in Waconia. The students were just beginning an extended break but we were able to walk through the teacher’s lounge, tour the grounds and meet with the headmasters. This school is much more like the “American” education system but that is easy to achieve when the upper level is pooling their kids in one place. A new hotel was opening in town and Smart took us out for the “last supper” with Anna and her mother. The New Coffee Tree Inn Hotel is located in downtown Bukoba and is owned by the local farmer’s coop. It was fun to see the people from town and it was quite an event. One of the highlights for me was ordering “freedom fries”, which are similar to French fries. |
| New Coffee Tree Inn Hotel in Bukoba |
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| Anna, Mary, Hope and Erika dressed up for a night out |
On the other hand I had my first experience with the bathroom system outside the COSAD house. I will admit, though somewhat awkwardly, to planning out the amount of water needed to consume each day to meet my hydration need without needing to use a “bathroom” away from the COSAD house. We are very lucky to have a western toilet that flushes. At the hotel we asked Hope if there was a “toilet” and she said she would show us. We arrived in a normal looking bathroom with two stalls. After seeing the “facilities” (aka a porcelain hole in the ground), the need to go magically disappeared. Of cores there are three white women in line for our turn so Anna bucked up and took her turn in line. Mary and I passed and went back outside. I was very impressed with Anna until I found out later that she only went in and stood in the stall the required amount of time to make it LOOK like she had actually gone. I appreciate the women of Africa more ever day as I see what they go through.
Good night,
Erika
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