Elections

In Bukoba and district you cannot fail to notice that the national elections are imminent. Kikwete’s face – smiling and sincere – is everywhere and you really can feel the excitement in the air! 

The official 2 month campaign draws to a close with tomorrow’s National elections for President, Members of Parliament for each District and Ward Executive Officers to hold office for the next 5 years.

How do you get your political message across in a country where many are illiterate and very few have access to television and radio?  From the back of a truck!  The major parties have flat bed trucks loaded with speakers that have been patrolling the town blasting music, interrupted only briefly by a policy statement, at a decibel reading that would shame Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs.  The minor parties are doing the same from the backs of utes.  The photo shows a CCM street party just breaking up before moving to another part of town.

CCM (Party of the Revolution) being the dominant party has the biggest speakers and the loudest music. They seem to have access to more money and have had green and yellow hats, t-shirts and kangas printed that many supporters are wearing in towns and villages.  Everywhere you look there are green and yellow spare wheel covers and there are posters on everything – plastering cars (obscuring the middle of the windscreen in one I saw!), houses, fences, telephone poles and road signs.

Chadema, the second most popular party, has little strongholds around town with their red, white and sky blue flag fluttering and the serious, bespectacled face of their candidate gazing from the poster.  CUF (Civic United Front) is very much the minor party – posters are only A4 size and rallies could be held in a phone box.

Mostly we hear the noise from a distance unless we are in town.  Passing one of the trucks on the road is an experience painful to the eardrums and to be avoided.  When the trucks travel down our street they make the glass louvres vibrate but luckily they only stop where they can draw a crowd – on the corner of the main road or down at the little market – so they are a passing annoyance (unlike for Mark, Michelle and Abraham who had the CCM headquarters next door and were being blasted all day from pre-dawn to mid-night) 

Monday it will all be over, I predict a CCM victory, and the town will settle down again.

In some countries elections are a time of civil unrest and can be hazardous – not so here.  Tanzania has been one of the most stable democracies in Africa since Independence in 1961 and there is no danger, though having two companies of soldiers run through the main street chanting this morning while we were in town shopping was a little unsettling.  To say it was a show of force would be overstating the case as they were a ragtag group armed with only wooden sticks but their presence had no immediate explanation.

Anyway, how does the election affect my work?  For the past months the Ward Education Co-ordinators have been continually apologetic about being unable to get to the seminars and review visits – their time has been taken up with National Exams but also with preparations for the elections.  The WECs are the Returning Officers for their wards and have to prepare voter lists and polling places. 

Teachers are also employed in running the election.  Last Thursday my visit to two schools had to be rescheduled as most of the teachers were at a seminar explaining what their responsibilities would be as electoral officials.  Another review visit had been rescheduled the week before because all the teachers were at interviews to see if they could be electoral officials!  It is interesting that although the teachers are not at school the children still are with those few teachers who are at work taking responsibility as we found when we arrived at Kashangati to a clamorous reception from the several hundred children and two apologetic teachers.

School are used as polling places, as in Australia, and have lists of eligible voters already pasted up on the wall outside the Head Teachers office.  I suggested to Mr Josiah that the school committees could run the Tanzanian equivalent of sausage sizzles to raise much needed funds but he just laughed.

I am glad we were here to witness the election process, its impact on us has been minor, and I expect tomorrow to be trouble free.  But I will be glad when it is all over and life in the schools gets back to normal.

Happy Melbourne Cup Day to everyone for Tuesday - I'll see how I get on running a sweep in the office!

Jenny

Make the biggest Roman number.

More review visits this week, more teachers stunned at my methods for addition & subtraction, more Roman Number cards in children’s hands and a wonderfully simple idea from a teacher at Ibaraizibu for teaching fractions using bottle caps that I will be spreading (with her permission) around all the schools I visit.

What fraction of caps are upside down?

ps. Stoney Tangawizi is my favourite flavour!

A warm glow

The first seminar series finished up last Friday so this week we have been revisiting schools to see what change has been implemented.  Of course it has been varied but overall I am so pleased to see the rate of uptake and what a difference a few new ideas can make to the teachers’ enthusiasm.

I have seen Roman Number cards and model clocks in many schools.  I have seen fractions being taught with cut up paper circles and rectangles.  I have seen addition and subtraction being physically counted out with bottle caps, twigs and stones.  The Head Teacher of one school caught up with me in the queue at the ATM this afternoon.  He told me how much the children were enjoying playing ‘Roman Numbers’ and how much his teachers were looking forward to the next seminar.

The mock exam has been held in most schools and teachers are planning their revision for the Standard IV exam.  There is still consternation over question 24 – What coins and notes add up to 13,800/=?  Maths questions in Tanzania evidently can only have one correct answer!

On Tuesday we visited schools in Katoma ward.  I watched a teacher showing the Standard 1 children how to add numbers where ‘regrouping’ was necessary.  She explained how to do

58 + 25 = 83

writing it all horizontally and mentioning the ‘carried’ 10 but not recording its presence anywhere.  She did have the children using bottle caps and sticks as counters to do the adding. (One child hadn’t understood what the sticks he had to bring to school were for and arrived with a bundle of firewood under his arm!)

Of course these children are failing to ‘get’ addition!

I suggested the vertical approach would be better, and that writing the ‘carried’ ten might help the children understand the regrouping process.  I wrote this on a little chalkboard:

            58

   +  25

          1

      83

This was greeted with amazement!  They’d never though to actually write the extra ten down – it looks untidy and anyway, they tell the children, so the children can ‘carry’ in their heads!

Mr Josiah has had me explain my method of addition at all the schools visited since – I feel like I’m starting a revolution!  So far only one teacher has said that she writes the ‘carried’ digit on the addition problem.  The others say they will do in future.

Next I will be revolutionising subtraction!

I will also be introducing the subversive idea of ‘trusting the count’.  If there were 8 bottle caps the first time you counted them out then there are still 8 and to add you can just count on the extra five - ‘9, 10, 11, 12, 13.’  I will also be encouraging teachers to apply the mathematics they are teaching with the ‘Tell me a story approach’ where children come up with a reason to do the maths, for example, “I had 58 bottle caps but the teacher said I needed more so I collected another 25.  Now I have 83!”

I know there will be ups and downs as I work with the teachers and the District Council officers but just for now I have a warm glow of optimism that I might actually make a small difference.

PS Remind me of this blog post when I start saying “What am I doing here??”

An Australian introducing Chinese culture to Tanzania

Tanzania does Tangrams

Today was the conclusion of the first series of seminars – 114 teachers from 32 different schools in 5 Wards of the Bukoba District have attended one of the 6 seminars.  The seminars have been held in primary school classrooms out in the wards using only materials the teachers will have available to them.  They have been aimed at mathematics teachers at Standards I to IV concentrating on exactly what they should be teaching and how they might teach the topic of fractions in a more child-friendly manner.

Children love to play

My job description talks about training and encouraging teachers to use participatory, child centred methods to teach mathematics – easy to say but not so easy to do with classes of 70 and upwards!  The Tz government is strong on the importance of education as the way ahead for Tanzania, one fifth of the national budget is spent on education and training; but schools still have very little in the way of resources and books to aid them in their mammoth task.  VSO’s policy of empowering people is important – I want to help teachers use what they have easily available to help each other and to help their students achieve improved mathematics skills.

Working with colleagues

Standard IV pupils do a set of exams in November that once were used to determine whether the child proceeded to Standard V – these days promotion is automatic but the National Exams remain to assess the performance of schools and teachers.

Doing the 'mock'

Pupils do ‘mock’ exams in Std IV (and VII) to prepare them for the National Exams.  One of the sessions in the seminars was to show teachers how to get the best value from these ‘mocks’.  Currently the only feedback teachers can give their students is a percentage score – the teachers get no feedback on which areas of the course they need to revise.  I have worked with the District Academic Officers and the District Inspectors to devise a Practice Exam and an analysis sheet to help each teacher target revision for the students in their class.  I hope increasing the feedback to teachers and pupils will improve the results in the National Exams – we’ll know next February if it’s made a difference!

Some teachers had fun

During our review visits teachers told me that one of the topics causing problems was Fractions  and that they found Geometry difficult to teach.  In response to this I have introduced TANGRAMS to Tanzania!  The teachers can now teach about fractions and fraction addition/subtraction in a way that children will find enjoyable, with the bonus that the tangram activity covers identification and drawing all the plane shapes required at Standard IV with the exception of the circle, and using much of the geometry vocabulary the children need.

Working right through 'break time'

Teachers worked collaboratively with their school colleagues completing each of the tasks – there was spirited discussion and plenty of laughter, especially as they tried to construct a giraffe from the tangram pieces.  Correcting each other’s Standard IV tests was also cause for discussion and laughter as they debated what answers should be considered correct.

Packing the car

The Useful Box

Teaching Aids

The previous VSO volunteers, Jim & Sue Taylor, worked with teachers on the production of teaching aids from the materials readily and cheaply available.  I have continued this program introducing a Roman Numbers card game with cards made from a calendar page, clocks and dice from wood and foam off-cuts. I hope all schools are now collecting bottle caps for counters. The teachers have been highly competitive in the card and dice games and agree that the children will enjoy them too. 

I hope to see some of the games in the Std I to IV classrooms when we start the next round of school visits; and if all has gone according to plan, maybe the Std V and VI teachers will be using Tangrams, cards and dice having been ‘in-serviced’ by their Std I – IV colleagues.


None of this would be possible without the support and assistance of Mr Josiah Karwihula from the BRDC - translator and problem solver extraordinaire!

Mr Josiah and me

UGANDA

Steve is very placid and even-tempered (other than a tendency to be a Grumpy Old Man which is quite common in 53 year old males) but driving in Tanzania and Uganda has brought forth a vocabulary I didn’t know he knew!

Marabou Stork

Let me explain about roads in the third world – they are narrow, potholed and often have a large ‘drop’ at the edge where rain has washed away the dirt.  They are a challenge!  Towns and villages have all manner of traffic calming devices mostly designed to wreck your suspension or put dents in your sump.   They need to be approached with caution.  (See a previous blog post for more details on roads.)

Buffalo

Other drivers also make driving here a challenge.  Steve blames the churches/mosques/temples – He reasons that they make the next world seem so attractive that people aren’t too fussed about lives in this world!  Many vehicles are dedicated to a deity – Allah, Yesu, Mungu, Manchester United, etc.  Driving schools don’t help – my favourite has the slogan “If God says yes who can say no”. 

Big horned cattle

So, last Saturday, at 6 am, we set off in the semi-darkness for Uganda.  The road from here to the border did not hold too many challenges apart from an unexplained and un-manned barrier across half the road 20 km north of Bukoba, but that was at least lit by a single kerosene lamp and was easily negotiated.

Zebra

We arrived at the border town of Mutukula at 7.30 am.  It was crowded with people, congested with trucks, cars and buses and confusing!  There was a barrier across the road, heavily padlocked, and no signs or officials to tell us what to do.  One helpful local told us someone would be there at 2 o’clock. (That’s 8 o’clock to the rest of us – Swahili time runs 6 hours behind or in front depending how you look at it.)  Another helpful local told us just to drive around it up through the market and back down to the road.  We did that which put us behind another locked barrier.  An official at this one asked had we been to Customs yet.  No we hadn’t so we went there and surrendered our car registration certificate, swapping it for a photocopy and a form in triplicate saying we were temporarily exporting our car to Uganda (We hadn’t though of it that way – we just had a long weekend drive planned!)  Next we went to immigration and had our passports stamped as leaving the country.  We went back to the car where we’d left it at the locked barrier.  A different official asked had we been to customs and immigration. Yes we said.  He didn’t look at the forms and passports, he just unlocked the barrier so we could drive to the next one.  Now we had to import our car – up some stairs to swap the photocopied registration form and the Tanzanian export form for a Ugandan import form and receipt.  The official explained on the way back we’d just do it all again in reverse and we’d have our original registration form to take home for which Steve was grateful as he didn’t fancy braving the Police and TRA again!  Ugandan immigration was pleased to stamp our passports with entry visas, another barrier was unlocked upon our assurance that, yes, we’d done the paperwork (no check thought necessary) and one hour and $US50 each later we were on our way north.

Wart Hog

Uganda is a whole other country!  The signs in the towns and along the roads are in English.  There are no pictures of Kikwete (the Tz president who expects to be re-elected later this month) plastered everywhere, the cars on the road are slightly more road-worthy and the roads and drivers are worse than in Tz – something we hadn’t thought possible!

Drivers in Uganda ( and in Tz ) use their horns, lights and indicators in many and varied ways – as a greeting, as an invitation to overtake (or perhaps as a warning not to overtake – it’s hard to tell) as a greeting and/or warning to pedestrians or cyclists and to tell you your headlights are on in case you didn’t know and were worried about the wear and tear on the globes (very noble spirited).  Steve keeps up a monologue directed at these drivers, peppered with expletives, but basically explaining to them the correct use of indicators, lights and horns.  He also explains to them that pushing other vehicles off the road is not polite and that the speed they are doing is possibly excessive.  Drivers who do not know how to properly drive when livestock are on the road get detailed instruction too.  Unfortunately I am the only one who hears all this valuable advice.

Mihingo Lodge

We arrived at the National Park gate, slightly frazzled but otherwise intact, at 12 noon.  We hadn’t been able to get more US dollars in Mutakula because of the Ugandan Independence Day holiday but we thought we had enough – we’d reckoned without the extra charge for bringing a foreign registered 4WD into the park!  We were able to talk the official on the gate into letting us drive through to the Lodge where we exchanged Tz shillings for Ugandan shillings then drove back to settle our account. Our luxury long weekend had nearly been halted at the park gate but pleading foreigner ignorance did the trick and we were set!

Birdwatching from the balcony

The Mihingo Lodge was all the web had promised – fabulous setting, great food and wonderful accommodation! (I had two hot showers each day just because I could!) Lake Mburo NP provided all the birds Steve could hope for, the little 4WD performed impeccably on some challenging tracks and Lake Mburo NP’s zebras, hippos, wart hogs and the many antelopes and birds were obliging about being photographed.  

Dining room with a view

My highlight was the Grey Crowned Crane – understandable why it is the avian emblem of Uganda – and how could you not love hippos!

African fish eagle

Hippos

Coming home was the mirror image of the trip there except that we were now experts at the border crossing procedure to the extent that we ‘rescued’ a pair of Australian twins who were on their way to Bukoba to a volunteering stint at Katoke Secondary School, and negotiated for them (in kiSwahili) a fairer taxi fare.

Grey Crowned Crane

It was a great weekend!  Hope you enjoy the photos.  See Steve’s blog for more details on the wildlife,  Love Jenny

Short update

1.  If you asked me what I missed most, apart from you all of course, I’d say decent bread and cheese!

The bread in Tanzania is horrible – dry and sweet.  Steve says it’s alright provided you put enough peanut butter on it.  I can barely manage to eat it even toasted.

I have been making flat bread twice a week to have for breakfast, with the fresh avocado and locally grown coffee and pineapple that we buy at the duka, but it just isn’t the same as getting your teeth into a proper hunk of bread.

So, in desperation, I decided to make bread rolls in the frying pan and they have (surprisingly) turned out really well!  I have just eaten one, still warm and spread with vegemite.  They were a bit like the pane de casa from the bakery in Hamilton Central.

Recipe.

Dissolve 1 teaspoon sugar and ½  teaspoon dried yeast in about 200 ml of warm water.  Stir this into enough plain flour to make a stiff dough (about 2 cups)  Remember salt and knead in ½ teaspoon.  Put in the fridge while you go for dinner with other vols at the Yaasila Top Hotel.

Next morning divide the dough into 8 equal lumps.  Knead each a little and form into flattened balls.  Put 4 balls back in the fridge for another day.

Heat a non-stick pan to medium hot.  Put in 4 dough balls and cover pan with lid, turn balls after 15 mins and continue cooking with lid on pan for a further 15 minutes.

Allow to cool then split and spread with vegemite or (when vegemite is all gone) jam.

All I need now is a cow and a recipe for Camembert!

2.  The second seminar went much better!  I was less nervous and slowed down.  I also spent more time on how to teach about fractions so the Tangrams session was better.  The biggest problem I had this time was the weather!  It was pouring with rain and the sky was black when we were due to start.  (I was surprised that all the invited teachers had arrived considering the conditions)  There is no electricity or artificial light in the schools here so it was too dark to see each other let alone the blackboard and between the rain pounding on the roof and the thunder we couldn’t hear each other either.  I can’t imagine how the teachers teach under these conditions – I guess they just wait for it to stop!  We waited and eventually could make a start.  Again, we were all still smiling at the end. (especially as we finished early!)

Teachers from Maruku ward.

And I remembered the bottle opener this time too!

We are off to Uganda this weekend – you’ll hear all about it in the next blog post.

Jenny

Yesterday we held our first teacher training seminar.  It was for teachers at the four schools in Katoma Ward.  I have spent the past 4 weeks preparing for this (my ‘pilot’) and the subsequent 5 in the other wards.  I have investigated, surveyed and consulted widely. Steve claims he’s had a few sleepless nights recently with me keeping him awake with my ‘thinking’.

I was all organised – photocopying all done (at 100/= per sheet as the copier at the 50/= place is broken, so that’s made a mess of my budget!), soda and biscuits for morning tea organised (the biscuits were cheaper than I’d budgeted so that might balance the photocopying black hole), translator Mr Josiah ready and primed (he’d spent all day Thursday at the hospital after an allergic reaction but had assured me on the Thursday evening that he would be fine for the Friday), car full of petrol (we were going all of 15 km), and all the demonstration teaching aids finished and stacked in the mathematics ‘useful box’.

We set off for Katoma at 8 am, in plenty of time for an 8:30 start.  The letter of invitation had reminded those coming to be punctual.  Half way there Steve asked had I put in the bottle opener for the sodas. Um, no!  It’ll be alright said Mr Josiah – he is constantly saying “Don’t worry Madam” and “Slow down Madam” and today wasn’t going to be an exception!

We cruised past the turnoff to Katoma ‘A’ school heading for our planned venue, Katoma ‘B’ school.  A concerned woman standing near the turnoff started waving her arms madly.  We’d better stop and talk to her said Mr Josiah, she’s a teacher from Katoma B.  Somehow the invitation letters had ended up with Katoma A as the venue instead of Katoma B.  It’ll be alright said Mr Josiah, “Don’t worry Madam”.  Something had to go wrong, said Steve, this was it.  I hoped he was right!

Katoma B teachers hard at work.

The seminar was held in a classroom next to the Head Teachers office at Katoma ‘A’.  All but one of the invited teachers came, the other invited participants – Ward Education Co-ordinators, Inspectors and Academic Officers found they couldn’t make it. (Another saving on sodas and biscuits!)

I had a mix of activities planned, all of them participatory and all to be done as a group with colleagues from the same school.  Of course I had planned too much.  I had seriously underestimated how long each task would take (“Slow down Madam”) and overestimated the teachers’ ability to understand my English (“Don’t worry Madam").  At the end of the four sessions we were all still smiling and we gave each other a round of applause.  As with all good seminars we finished with the evaluation sheet – the participants were very kind and forgiving in their evaluation – and each teacher was given a signed and stamped certificate of attendance.  

Teachers from Karwoshe and Kilaini cooperating

Monday we review and re-plan for seminars Tuesday, Thursday and Friday next week.  I’ll let you know how it goes!

All comments gratefully received, Jenny.


ps. We prised the tops off the soda bottles using the desk lids!