Today we learned the swahili pronouns and the verb for "to be" before loading up and going to our agencies. I was placed at a new agency today called the Nkwaranga Orphanage which is located at the Nkwaranga Hospital which is one of, if not the, oldest hospitals in the the area. It is up the side of a large hill connected to Mount Meru and is an open-air hospital that has absolutely beautiful grounds. Myself, Nicole, and Evie met with Deb, the director of the orphanage who gave us a run-down of what they do and how they usually conduct business. Most of their children come from the hospital due to the high rate of maternal death. However, the focus at the orphanage is family preservation and reuinification so they hope to place the children with other family members. Deb said the overall goal for the orphanage is to be out of business in a few years because the children have been returned to healthy families. We talked a lot and it was really nice because Deb is actually from Tulsa, OK so we connected easily. We didn't actually get to go into the orphanage today due to the tour of the hospital, but we will get to work with the children ages 2-5 starting tomorrow. I'm excited for the experience, and for the opportunities my relationship with Deb may bring in the future.
Giraffe bush at Nkwaranga Hospital
Me, Nicole, and Evie - the orphanage squad
After Nkwaranga, we came back and had a seriously yummy lunch (made even more delicious by the fact that I was starving). For lunch I had minced beef stew (that was HELLA bomb), carrots and squash, beans, avocado and cucumber salad, and potatoes. For dessert, I had mango and watermelon. It (the mango) was slimy, yet satisfying :P
OU classes were relatively uneventful, but afterward when we went home, we had a great time talking to Mama and Baba before doing our homework. Mama and baba left for a while to go see a bereaved friend while we did homework, so we finished that and had dinner with Stanley, their nephew who we talked to all about OU, life in the US, and studying abroad. He's thinking about looking into studying in Oklahoma for his masters degree, which would be really cool and it'd be awesome to get to host him.
Later, Baba taught us all about the Tanzanian educaton system. They start classes at 7 and go to school for 7 years before taking a written exam. If they do well, they pass to the next level, called Ordinal level, and they have 4 years of that before another exam. If they do well there, they go on to Advanced level for 2 more years. Then, if they do well, they are eligible to start college. He also told us about the history of the education system here. He said that in the 60's during President Nyerere's time, the education system was doing much better but now teachers are not highly trained or well paid and as such are not motivated to do well. Sometimes their paychecks are even delayed and the government does not recognize them as being incredibly essential to the success of society, so they feel very disenfranchised.
It was very enlightening to learn about education in Tanzania, but afterward I was WIPED. Amber and I took our bucket showers and headed straight to bed!
1 comments:
Bucket showers? I can't believe you connected with a lady from Tulsa. Does she live there? You will do very well working with children. Boy their maternal death rates were shocking until I remembered where you were. We just take so much for granted here I guess.
Stay safe and I love you muches.
Nanny
Post a Comment