Kighare Secondary - Usangi

John Reed - April-May 2008

I am a maths teacher, aged 61, recently retired from an independent school in the UK. I have had pretty varied experience of the English education system for teaching in inner city Manchester to being the Vice Principal of a very large sixth form college.

My volunteer work is in Usangi, a quite remote town in the North Pare mountains. The location is beautiful by any standards, lush vegetation, banana trees, tall grass, many crops, incredible variety of flowers, wonderful views. The local people are about as welcoming as it is possible to be and the town is completely hassle free. I have been asked for money only once since I arrived.

I live in the volunteer house about 30 min walk from the school. It is simple but nice and run by the incredible kind Mr Ishmaeli. It is only £15 per month plus £1.50 a day for breakfast and dinner. Mama Fatuma is a great cook and evening meals are a highlight when you are on your own. There is a squat toilet (WC that you flush yourself) and a kettle for hot water. No problem to keep clothes and yourself clean but you have to keep doing small washes as the electric can go off for 12 odd hours.

So far I haven’t found being the only Mzungu (European) in town a problem. Mr Ishmaeli’s grandsons are always coming in to do their homework and have taken me up the mountain. Nice boys. Mr I’s son Saidi, always comes to see me about 7.30 pm after his very long days work. I have brought some books, pocket chess and a DVD player (sorry). I allow myself one hour a night! Sleeping has caused some difficulties as the mosque kicks in at 5 am for an hour. So I have moved to the other side of the house. There also appears to be parties on Friday and Saturday night till 3 am to which I wasn’t invited.

Red dust is everywhere damped down by the rains in April/May. Everywhere is up or down with big plusses on the mossie front as there are only small ones and appears to be no malaria. Its only 100m below the limit for them. I hate them.

The walk to school is outstanding, down the hill, past little shops, fields, staggering views, flowers and the local heavy drinkers area. Although my wine has run out I have never been tempted. I arrive at the school around 7.45, the children have been there for half an hour. The girls are sweeping and mopping the classrooms free of dust, boys clearing weeds and scrub and hoeing. It’s quite a site as the school is cut into the side of a hill. Hens and even the odd goat wander through the school. The kitchen is a small building in the middle, wood powered. There is no glass, no electricity and one standpipe.

No previous experience prepares you for the school although being a teacher has helped me in the classroom. There are a few books. Those that there were written by torturers for genii. The classes range from 55 to 70. Yes each class. Individual help is a challenge but the behaviour of the children helps. They are polite and helpful but love nothing more than a laugh. Most of the children are older than you think. There are 15 year olds in Form one. The marking is colossal and recording marks is not helped by the fact that the names on the register are different to the names they use on their books. I cannot tell you the problems this has caused me. Attendance is varied and new kids seem to appear every week. The children work hard and have more ability than one might think.

The schools use corporal punishment which I detest. There’s no getting away from this. You see things that can seriously upset you. Some staff use it more than others. On the whole the staff are very young, in some cases not much older than the oldest students. The staff talk to each other in Kiswahili which mean there isn’t much conversation with them.

One wonderful highlight is the singing. I had a low moment one Friday when the school finishes early. The girls and some of the boys congregated in one classroom and started to sing. You would have paid and travelled a distance to hear it. It lifted me.

If you picked up an exercise book, you would be impressed but much is copied and not understood. They will write down information on scientific instruments they have never seen. I was stunned by the maths on graphs until I realised many could not plot coordinates.

After only a couple of weeks in Usangi I have had enough for a bucketful of memories. Maybe the best was telling Idi and Ali (about 13) about the slave trade using a globe in the volunteer house. They had no idea why there are Africans in the USA, West Indies and UK. They were horrified by the conditions and sat open mouthed while I tried to explain.

I have now been asked to teach English to the local ladies group. I am a bit anxious but they are lovely. Oh yes, I met a scorpion in the bathroom last night. I am afraid it was him or me.