The End of Term Approaches

Sadly, the end of term is approaching. Believe it or not, whilst seeing and doing all these amazing things I have been working five days a week.

It is a luxury to live on campus and not have to battle traffic to get to work or run for the bus.


The staff have been eager and receptive learners. They come to ESL twice a week in their department groups. There are six departments: Languages, Vocational Studies, Business and ICT, Maths, Science and Humanities.

Once a week I have a class with the administration staff and another with the boarding teachers - 14 one hour periods in total.


The admin team at morning tea. Everyone has a mug of sweet black ginger tea at 10.30am.

The total group numbers 61 and I am pleased to say I have learnt all their first names at least. Their names are both Anglicised and local. They include Ernest and Daniel, Stella and Mary as well as Mcharo, Oisso, Mwita, Elibariki, Koringo and Fauz. There is also one man named Forehead and a woman named Charisma.

Some of the secondary teaching staff

As the end of my time approaches I can feel that I have achieved what I set out to do in terms of assisting the ESL department. Firstly, with the terrific assistance of Laura Commins (who some of you will know) we have formalised the teaching syllabus so that those volunteers who come after us will have a program to follow and staff will know what they are aiming for at each level.

                                                              My classroom at Usa
In addition, we have devised test specifications so that versions of a test benchmarked to CEFR Level B2 (some of you will know what I mean) can be used when recruiting new teachers and to measure the improvement in the English of the current staff at both the primary and secondary schools.

The next step is to create the C1 level syllabus and test specifications. As the school is aiming to be an international school, they want and need to have teachers with very high levels of English proficiency.

So that the individual teachers could feel that they had made improvements in their language over the last five or six weeks, they have all set and are working in their own time on a language goal. This week the timetable has been completely changed for exams so, instead of lessons I am seeing a steady stream of teachers either handing in their work or coming for assessment in relation to their personal goal. Some of them have made an enormous effort considering the conditions they live under at home with an irregular power supply for light and generally none of the resources we take for granted.

While I would have also enjoyed working with the children, most of my experience is with teaching adults so this was the most appropriate role for me. In fact, there are very few non-Africans who work directly with the children. These are Ian (secondary art), Helen and Sarah (teacher librarian) and Cam and Lucy (PE). Most of the other volunteers are teacher mentors or are involved in senior administration roles, marketing and visitor services.

There are always opportunities here so, if you're looking for a complete change, have a look at the school website under positions vacant. I would thoroughly recommend it.

An Invitation to a Wedding

Yes on Saturday July 23rd Ian and Mary invited Helen, Laura and me to Mary's cousin wedding in Usa River. Wow! We were all so excited.

Of course we had to shop for presents and wrapping paper at the market the Thursday before and decide what we would wear.

Incredibly, the previous week one of the teachers, Miss Stella had brought me a gift - a dress that she had had her tailor run up for me and jewellery to match! I was so surprised and pleased (but did wondered if and when I might wear it).

Well, here was my chance.

But my outfit was nothing compared to the dress Mary had for the occasion. She looked beautiful.

We didn't go to the church as apparently the ceremony is only attended by the closest family members. The time of the reception seemed to change quite regularly but we arrived about 10 minutes before the bride and groom at around 3.30pm.

The wedding party arrives in a motorcade the leading car being a ute containing the brass band and anyone else that couldn't fit in the cars. On this occasion it was the bridesmaids in royal blue and white outfits.

The colourful MC doubled as the band conductor. Although he was dresses as a Maasai I was told his KiSwahili accent was not Maasai.

Then we (and more than 500 others!) made our way into the hall where we were seated on rows of plastic chairs.

The hall was not decorated but the stage at one end had been in readiness for the bride and groom, the best man and his wife.

Can you see all the fresh flowers and coloured fairy lights that blinked on and off madly when ever the electricity was on or the generator was working?

There were chairs and tables at the front near the stage for the close relatives of the bride and groom. The wedding is arranged and all decisions made (including who is an appropriate best man) by a wedding committee. They also need to raise the money from family and friends to put the wedding on.

Once they were seated, we enjoyed some songs from a terrific gospel choir dressed in matching green shirts.

When the electricity or generator did fail, cutting off the microphones, lights and DJ, the band would just play (under the direction of the MC) until power was restored. Meanwhile everyone just sat quietly and waited.

In turn the bride and then the groom had to stand and firstly wave good bye to their families and then hold their hand up to say stop to any others who might want to be a potential new "boyfriend" or "girlfriend".

After that the cake was cut and the bride and groom fed small pieces of it on toothpicks to each other. Parts of the cake were then presented to the parents of the bride and groom.

Then the bride and groom each vigorously shook a bottle of champagne and then uncorked them to the great amusement of the guests. A small glass of champagne was presented by each to their respective in laws.

Then the highlight of the wedding feast - the goats- arrived.

While the goats were being carved the different groups of family and their friends were called out and invited to present their gifts to the bride and groom.

Our gifts were a set of glasses, a silver tray and a set of insulated containers.

Others were somewhat larger.

Yes that's part of a three piece lounge suite and there was also a wooden double bed carried in as well as solar panels and a TV. Basically everything for their new home. Those amongst the guests who were the poorest brought a spoon or a plastic cup.

While the gifts were being brought in, very loud music with strong African rhythms was played by the DJ and people danced through the hall with their presents rather than walked.

Then it was time to eat! It took almost an hour to get everyone served at the buffet. We waited until the end and missed out on the cake and the goat but did have plenty of rice and meat dishes and hot chips. Everyone also got a bottle of "soda" (coke, fanta or lemonade). There was water to wash your hands as you were expected to eat by hand but someone took pity on the four white people and produced spoons not too long after we had started eating.

Then it was time for the dancing.You can see how fast the music was by the fact that I couldn't get one photo with everyone in focus!

We left about 9pm. What a fabulous experience! It was also a great pleasure to meet so many of Mary's family who were all so gracious and welcoming.

An African Entrepenuer

Mary first meet Mr Luka when he was a houseboy for a family in her village. He had finished a few years of primary school and was then sent out to work.

The family he worked for made cheese and Luka was keen to help and to learn.

A few years ago he found an investor to start his own cheese making business. Today he employs five people and is selling all he makes.

His factory supports the local dairy industry and provides employment. In addition, the whey from the milk that is not used for cheese making is left outside for people to take to feed themselves or their animals.

 These boys would not have a job or a future without Mr Luka

 He has all his licences to sell cheese and butter and is supplying a lot of local restaurants and hotels. As soon as he can afford to buy the machine to vacuum seal the cheese, he will be selling into supermarkets.


As well as cheese Mr Luka grows oyster mushrooms in a wooden shed in plastic bags of washed maize waste. He has built a solar dryer for the mushrooms and sells mostly into the safari /camping market.

There is also a shed for the chicken and egg business.

We bought up big as the retail price of cheese is outrageous here.

After our factory tour Mr Luka invited us into his home for tea, bread and jam. Here he is with his daughter Lucy.

Some People Will Do Anything To Raise Money!

Some of the volunteers take weekly African drumming or dancing lessons with locals Mr and Mrs Beda.

The dancers performed at a fundraiser at a local club Via Via recently. They were excellent!

Mrs Beda

Some of the other Aussies there to cheer them on



Ian and Mary

Ian and Mary are two of the four people I share the accommodation with here at Usa. Ian first came to Tanzania from the UK in 2005 to climb Kilimanjaro. At that time he got to know some people who were running a shelter for street kids in the town of Moshi. He was so impressed by the work they were doing he went home and resigned from his teaching job and came back to spend a year as a volunteer with the organisation.

He met Mary in Moshi and last August they were married. He teaches art at St Judes and Mary works in the school office.

They are building a house about 30 minutes drive from Usa River. They are expecting their first child next January.They are the only people I know who have a

car and they are very generous in taking us here

and there on the weekends.

Ian and Mary have also started an NGO which is building a school in the remote village Mary comes from. There has never been a school in the village and the public transport is too unreliable and the roads to unsafe in the wet weather to take children to the nearest government school (if they could afford the cost of uniforms and books).

The building will be ready for the start of the school year 2012. Ian is leaving his paying job here to be the first teacher at the new school.

This is an amazing couple.

Visit to a Maasai Boma

This is Lukamai. He is the head ascari (guard) at Moshono campus. He has worked for St Judes for over 5 years. Ascari work 12 hour shifts and have 10 days on and ten days off. You find all the security jobs in this part of the world are performed by Maasai as they are natural warriors and are not much scares a Maasai man!

Last weekend Laura and I were lucky enough to go with a small group to visit Lukamai's village called a boma. It was about one and half hours drive through dusty grasslands.

A boma consists of a group of 10 -12 huts housing a closely related family and a night time enclosure for their animals (either goats or cattle). The boma is set within a circular hedge.

As a gift we needed to purchase a goat along the way at the markets and take it on the bus.


This man took his goat home on a pikki pikki (motorbike)


Our guide Felix buying the goat. The Agent is on his mobile to owner negotiating the price.

Goat on bus!


Traditionally, Maasai lived on the meat, milk and blood of their animals.These days, with Lukamai working, their diet is supplemented with grains and vegetables.

There is a patriarch in every boma and in this case it is Lukamai's father. The boma houses Lukamai's mother and father and Lukamai and his brother's wives and children.

A Maasai girl is usually married by12 and a Maasai man can have as many wives as he can afford. Lukamai has two wives and four children (so far!). In the past education for women was non-existent. It is not surprising that there are a lot of Maasai girls at St Judes.

Maasai men and boys tend the herds and Maasai women build the huts, look after the children and cook. Even the smallest boy has a stick for use with the livestock

In the centre of the hut is a pole around which there is a small pit which is used to make a fire for cooking. There are no windows and it is very dark inside. There is no furniture and they wear most of the clothes they own (and of course their amazing beaded jewellery which is worn by both men and women.)

Maasai men drink a fermented maize concoction kept in a dried gourd skin. Laura looked really interested but I got out quick in case they wanted us to have some out of that old tin cup!

Primary Children

My role keeps me at the secondary campus most of the time but last week I had the opportunity of visiting both the primary campus and boarding house while the children were there.

We joined in with singing games at recess and I visited a maths lesson with Grade 1 where the children gathered 'data' about the ages of their classmates and then in groups were constructing a bar chart. The children in Grade 1 are aged between 6 and 8. They counted how many of each age were in each house group (red, blue, green and yellow).

They were so well behaved! The teacher Anna just raised her hand whenever she wanted to get their attention!

Children in grades 4,5 & 6 stay Sunday to Thursday night in a boarding campus at Moivaro which is a 15 minute walk from their school at Moshono.

There are about 600 children living there.

I sponsor a room in this boarding house and went to meet "my girls". They are in one room together and Sister Osualida looks after them and 4 other rooms on the same floor. Thirty two girls in all.

We had great fun together and I will have to send them some of the photos I took and be better at keeping in touch now we have met in person.