Bec Bellinger & Lisa Lane - Oct to Nov 2008
Lisa and I have been living with the Kinisi family in Ngaramtoni for almost 5 weeks. The family is lovely and they have all made us feel very welcome and ‘at home’. We are certainly not looking forward to saying goodbye later this week!
We have both been working at Hope Nursery, which is made up of around 40 children (new ones seem to appear on a weekly basis), 2 teachers, 1 Director and 2 local volunteers. The children are aged between 2 and 8, and since our arrival have been divided into 3 classes (primarily based on age). Hope is an English school, which means all classes are to be taught in English. This is quite a challenge because the childrens’ ability to speak/understand English varies greatly. The school has few supplies or resources and this has made it also quite challenging. Before we came to Tanzania we did some fundraising, which had meant that we can help hope with some of these things. Since arriving we have managed to buy a blackboard (originally there was one being shared), a number of books, paper, crayons etc. and later this week we are expecting the arrival of new desks and chairs for the 3 classrooms. Up until now the children have sat on benches and they move to the floor and use the bench as a desk. The school is planning on getting electricity in January, so we have left some money with Mondo to purchaser a TV and DVD player and we will send some educational English programmes over.
The children at Hope are absolutely adorable and it has made our day seeing their eyes light up with excitement when we teach them a new book, song or game.
Despite the various frustrations we’ve had along the way, it has been an enjoyable and rewarding experience. Our only disappointment is having only 5 weeks with all these amazing people. We wish all the current and future Mondo volunteers all the best with their projects and we look forward to hearing all the success stories!
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