Tanzania - A day at the Amani Nursery

Hamjambo,

We are now settled into life in Karanga and I thought I'd write and tell you about an average day.

It's hard to give exact timings as everything runs on Tanzanian Flex Time (TFT). My teacher doesn't even have a watch, he just guesses how the day should work and it changes every day.





Everything starts and finishes earlier so we go to work at 7.30. The kids arrive in dribs and drabs although there are always enough to come out and bombard me when I arrive! We get them into the classroom at roughly 8am and they begin the day by singing songs and praying. The songs are in English and most words are incorrect - they have no idea what they're singing. They also say a very jumbled English version of the Lord's Prayer which makes no sense at all.





Then we chant numbers, letters and words for what seems like forever. After that he just tells me to teach so I improvise. They LOVE the books I brought and we also play games like Bingo. Then they sit patiently for 15 mins while we painstakingly write them lists of sums or words to copy in their very tatty exercise books. Then I help them - it's pretty much like teaching back home.

After sitting on their chairs for 2 hours, they are finally allowed out to play and we have lots of fun although they are violent and fight a lot with no sanctions - occasionally he'll smack their leg with a stick.

Then we return to class for Uji (porridge) which is made in a plastic bucket. I am a big fan of porridge but this is not my favourite! They have no breakfast though so they appreciate it.

They are sent home any time between 11.30 and 12.30 and just wander off down the road on their own - even the little 3 year olds.

The bus drives round the very bumpy roads and picks us all up, then we return to the homebase for our cultural talks - human rights, AIDs, education, etc. Really fascinating - we have learnt a lot. We then have Swahili lessons so it's pretty busy!

We occasionally have time to go out and chat to people around the village, shop and visit the tiny local bar which is just in someone's back garden. We have been sampling the delights of Zed (spirit distilled from sugar cane). Surprisingly delicious but lethal! We've also discovered banana beer (not like the stuff from Belgium - it's worst thing I've ever tasted).

So we're pretty busy but all is good. More later.....

Kwa Heri xx