ASANTE sana!

Greetings from Bukiriro Secondary School! On behalf of all of the students I have the pleasure of teaching, I would like to say “Asante sana!” Our fundraising efforts have brought in nearly $2500, which is the equivalent of 3,750,000 Tanzanian shillings!! Considering one cup of uji for a student is a mere 200 shillings, or 12 cents. That’s a lot of uji we can buy!

I still am in awe over the difference this has made at our school. The whole dynamic of the school has changed. Prior to serving porridge, no one at school would eat during the day. As a volunteer and guest at their school, they offered me mandazi and chai maziwa (a fried dough and milk tea) every morning to be taken with only one of the other teachers. My desk was in the school “library” with this other teacher, apart from the rest of the staff in the staff room, simply because we would be taking chai everyday. A very kind gesture to offer, but I still was not comfortable with the division. Then most days, a student would go to the town center during morning class periods (at least a 15 to 20 minute walk) to buy fresh mandazi for us. However, knowing that they wouldn’t be eating makes the whole situation seem unfair.

When the district implemented serving porridge everyday at each school, I was just as eager as the students were! In conversations with my headmaster, it became evident that while he understood the importance of offering porridge, he was concerned about the funding. Students can barely afford the 20,000tsh school fees, so asking them to pay 200tsh a cup for porridge is a huge stretch for most families. That’s when we all stepped in to help! And now, with the money you have all provided, we have provided a water tank to ease in the making, as well as gaurunteed uji for the entire school through June!

What does this actually mean?

The student that wakes up hungry because his family couldn’t afford dinner the night before will be fed at school!

The student who normally falls asleep during the afternoon classes because of hunger and dehydration is now alert and ready to learn!

The classes that seem to drag on at the end of the day and the students who are lethargic during the afternoon are now full of spirit and energy!

All of the teachers that were never offered chai now take mandazi and their choice of regular or milk tea every morning!

While I only occasionally interacted with the other staff members before, now we are all able to take chai together, sharing stories, telling jokes, and coming together as a community.

The school is coming together as one, students and staff alike, and on behalf of our school I seriously cannot thank you enough! It has been amazing to experience this transformation, and although my time at Bukiriro will be coming to an end in May, don’t think that our efforts won’t continue. As much money as we can raise will continue to be sent to benefit the students, for they are truly the leaders of tomorrow.

If you are interested in supporting the uji effort at Bukiriro Secondary School, you can donate directly to WorldTeach at worldteach.org, the donation page, specifying the project for Elizabeth Martin in Tanzania. 

This is EXACTLY why i'm here

Few things bring more joy to my life than teaching mathematics. It might sound a little crazy, but I’ve come to embrace my passion. And in Form 2 this past week, I was reminded of exactly why I love teaching math…

On Monday after our uji break, I entered the Form 2 classroom, everyone stood to greet me enthusiastically, I asked them how the uji was, they said “very nice!”, and they all sat down, opened their books, and were ready to begin. (Seriously, I love my students)…The topic for the day was factorization of quadratic expressions. We spend the previous week learning how to expand quadratic expressions [for example: (x+4)(x-2) = x² + 2x – 8]. So I began by explaining that “to factorize” is the opposite of “to expand,” but first we must practice “how to think factorize.” Yes, sometimes my phrases are incomplete English said in a very strange fake TZ accent that I’ve somehow acquired, but as long as I get my point across and the students understand, that’s all that matters…right? Anywho, when thinking factorization, you must think about two numbers that multiply to A and add to B. For example, what two numbers multiply to 12 and add to 7? 4 and 3 of course! We did several example of this, eventually using positive and negative numbers, and once I felt like the majority of the class was understanding, we moved onto factorizing.

Example 1: Factorize the expression

x² + 10x + 16  Madam: “We want two numbers to multiply to 16 and add to 10”

Class: “2 and 8!”

Madam: “Ok, so now we want to make two brackets, like this…”

(          )(         )

Madam: “We begin with x in both, then we will put 2 in one, and 8 in the other, like this…”

(x     2)(x     8) Madam: “Then, are 2 and 8 positive or negative?”

                        Class: “Positive!”

                        Madam: “Good, so like this…”

(x + 2)(x + 8)   Madam: “This is the solution!”

Class: a bit stunned…very quiet…definitely unsure of what just happened…

Madam: Now, let’s check our solution. If factorization is the opposite of expanding, then let’s do a check to see what will happen when we expand our solution. (in case you were curious, this is a 4 step process here at Bukiriro, and the kids are rock stars at it!)

Check: Expand (x + 2)(x + 8)

1. first terms = x * x = x²

2. outside terms = x * 8 = 8x

3. inside terms = 2 * x = 2x

4. last terms = 2 * 8 = 16

x² + 8x + 2x + 16

Therefore, x² + 10x + 16….

This is the moment of truth as I wait to see if they actually understand. Within a few seconds, the entire class realizes that this expression is where we began, and their smiles light up, a few “aha!” moments happen, and then the whole class erupts with applause. Literally the best light bulb moment a teacher could ever have! An applause for algebra?! YES! And I assure you that I joined in the round of applause for the beauty of mathematics. So much simple joy for the mere fact that

x² + 10x + 16 = (x + 2)(x + 8) = x² + 10x + 16

The sight of the stars...

"For my part, I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream"

~Van Gogh~

This takes on a whole new meaning here in Muyenzi. I have come to accept the fact that, yes, I do in fact live in the bush. Most days this means I do not have electricity, nor does anyone have electricity for miles. But some days, I am reminded that what this really means is that the night sky is the most beautiful, awe-inspiring, wonderful thing to witness every night as I brush my teeth. Sometimes I forget what a blessing it is to be here, especially when I get caught up in all the not-so-pleasant-things that are part of life. But then I walk outside after a miserable day, happy that it’s finally 8:30 and I can go to bed, and I look up at the stars and everything seems insignificant. So no one understood how to graph a discontinuous function today, so you’re wearing the same dirty tshirt for the fifth day in a row, so you haven’t washed your hair in over a week and you think you might actually be smelling because you haven’t bathed in a while, so you have a giant puddle breeding mosquitos and mold in your room because it rained heavily in your house, so you are using water from a well that is questionably sanitary to brush your teeth…really none of it matters, and for the moment, you can look up, see the endless beauty of God’s creation, and know with certainty that the One who made the stars in the night sky has also breathed life into you. He is the One who has called you to this place, and He is the One who will remain faithful all your days. Stop doubting, keep believing, and simply trust. If He is able to keep track of all those stars in the sky for millions of years across limitless expanses of space and time, then how much more can He do for each of us who are created in His image and likeness? Like Van Gogh, I must admit that “For my part, I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream.”

That time you forgot your passport...

It’s not like you’ve been planning a weekend getaway to Rwanda for the past month or anything…

Not like you’ll be crossing a country border…

Not like you’ll need a passport for anything…

Right.

So let me tell you a little story about me and my forgetfulness…enjoy. (and keep in mind that I arrived safe and sound, passport in hand!)

Thursday after school, Marisa and I had planned on heading out of Muyenzi as quickly as possible. I had packed my bag in the morning, the house was clean and ready to be left unattended for the weekend, and I had my piki driver go straight home so we could simply pick up Marisa and be off. All was smooth sailing, we arrived in Rulenge around 3pm and hopped right into a taxi for Ngara. We planned on staying the night in Ngara with the other volunteers, so we could leave early in the morning for Kigali. Good plan, right?

Until you’re standing at the post office in Ngara where Marisa needed to show her passport ID…and you realize that you most certainly did not pack that essential document….

Great. Well at this point, it was either spend the weekend in Ngara without wifi, western food, hot water and a shower…or try to go back to Muyenzi and get the passport. I opted for the second option, getting into the next taxi that left Ngara, and made the hour long journey down the worst dirt road imaginable. One time is too many times down this road crammed in the backseat of a rickety taxi, so two times in a row is definitely too much. I was sitting next to a very nice woman on the way back though, so it was nice to share a friendly conversation with her. She assured me that the work I was doing here as a teacher is making a big impact on the students, and to continue to do great things. It’s so nice to hear that from a stranger…and her timing couldn’t have been better! I’m here for a reason I kept telling myself….

I initially planned on going back to Muynzi for the night, and then waking up early to catch the first bus or taxi out of Rulenge. Or, another option would be to ride back in the taxi with the driver, since he’s going back to Ngara anyways. I debated for awhile, mostly the whole hour long taxi ride, until finally the woman next to me assured me that it would be no problem for him to wait for me to get my passport before turning around. OK…

Thankfully, she was able to talk to the driver in Swahili to sort out the details of all of this. I got the driver’s number, just in case something happened, and so I could let him know when I was on my way back. And I got on the first piki I could and we zoomed home. Ten minutes later, and I was able to put the four buckets of water that were delivered to us inside, grab my passport, grab Marisa’s computer charger (since what good is electricity without the charger?) and we flew back to town. I texted the driver on the way saying I was returning in five minutes, and thankfully we found him waiting at the stand for me, just as planned!

It’s now 7pm, but at least it doesn’t get dark until after 7:30, so we’ll be back just after sundown. Not bad, I figured. So the taxi driver and I set off to Ngara, and for the first time in six months, I had the whole front seat to myself! How great is that?! Also, how great is it that he only spoke Swahili? We were able to carry on a somewhat broken conversation about teaching, America, food, the terrible roads, etc. He told me that I write Swahili very well, because my text to him was very nice. He also asked if the roads in America are this bad, or if I could drive the taxi for him. To which I answered “no” for both questions. Generally speaking, it wasn’t a bad ride, albeit very slow because driving on this road after sundown takes twice as long as in the daylight. You literally can’t hear yourself think, and a few times I thought we were going to lose a tire. But we kept on…until we stopped in the middle of literally nowhere, and the car wouldn’t start again. Lovely. This is the part of the story where things could potentially go very wrong. But, we were simply out of gas. Why not?

Luckily a truck was passing at that moment, and the driver could ask him to tell someone at the next stop up ahead to come with a few litres of petrol. At this point, the driver asked me if I was afraid, and I assured him that I was not, just that this does not often happen in America…Within ten minutes, some boys came bearing three litres of petrol and we were off again. Phew!!!

It was after 8 by this point in the drive, but we were very near the paved road, so it was smooth sailing from then on. He asked me my name, told me we were friends, saved my phone number in his phone, and told me he was going to call me to great me often. It’s also possible that he’s going to visit me in Muyenzi, but something may have been lost in translation at that point. We’ll see about that one…

Considering how late it was at this point, he kindly offered to take me directly to Alex and Sue’s house, just through town. Of course, we needed to stop for more gas at the actual station, where he bought some banana flavored bubble gum and so kindly offered me a piece. Don’t worry mom, I know I’m not supposed to take candy from a stranger, but at this point he assured me we were friends…

And I was literally two minutes from their house.

We finally arrived at 8:45pm…only six hours after this whole journey began, and as a departing gift, I got the whole pack of bubble gum! How nice is that?

What a story. What a night to remember. What a way to ensure that I never, EVER,  forget my passport again…

Updates from the Bush

I’ve been away for awhile, pole sana! I must say that things here have been quite busy lately here! A few weekends ago, we went to Bukoba with the District Education Officer and his wife. It was really nice of them to spend the weekend with us, and we were able to visit their home villages, meet their families, and spend some quality time in the bush! Oh wait…I live in the bush. So nothing new on that front, although we ate so many cooked bananas I thought I was going to explode! But this is a delicacy we don’t have in the states, so I’ll embrace it while I’m still here! Then last weekend, Marisa came down with malaria, which is as bad as it sounds. She spent the weekend in the hospital, and I spent a lot of time with her as well. By Monday evening, she was discharged from the hospital and was able to spend the rest of the week with the other volunteers in Ngara. Come Tuesday, I was able to head back to Muyenzi to finish out the week of school. She’s been on the mend all week, and will make it home this weekend finally!

In other news, pen pal letters have been a huge success at school! I had four of my Form 4 boys send letters to my brother and his friends (since they’re all about the same age) and the replies from America were a highlight of the week for them. They were SO excited to read their letters, to hear about life with grocery stores, 400 person dormitories, and cities without trees….Not that they can really imagine any of this, considering we have chickens and goats disrupting our classes here, which turn into dinner later, the largest buildings around are the school classrooms, and there are 700 million trees of all varieties everywhere. What a learning experience for everyone!

Also exciting! We have two new teachers at Bukiriro! They are both temporary, but will be teaching English and Civics! Considering we went from 4 teachers to 6 teachers, this is quite the impressive feat. And it’s so wonderful the students will have an actual English teacher now! I’m also much happier sticking to math only…language is not my strong suite.

Let’s see, what else? OH! We finally got our results from the Form 4 and Form 2 National Examinations! In Form 4, we had 14 students pass at the division 4 level (which is the lowest division that passes). You must reach division 1, 2 or 3 to move on to A-level, but you still have some options at the division four level as well. Out of of 77 students, this isn’t the best average, but 14 is better than 13! As for Form 2, we had 27 students pass with a 20% or higher, so they can actually move on to Form 3. The 40 students who failed will repeat Form 2 if they so choose, or more likely, will be finished with their schooling. A sad reality for those 40, but for the 27 who are left, they are dedicated to their studies so I have high hopes for them when they get to Form 4!

And as for the UJI effort, things have been hugely successful on all fronts! The kids are eating, they love it, the teachers are all eating, and they also love it, and you are still eating (although probably not porridge and/or mandazi with milk tea)…but you have helped us raise enough money to buy flour and sugar through the end of MAY! It’s incredible! And as funds continue to come in, that will simply be more weeks that the students are fed! If you’d like to contribute, it’s certainly not too late yet. You can donate on the WorldTeach website, specifying the project for Elizabeth Martin, Tanzania, or through my page on FirstGiving. Asante sana from everyone at Bukiriro! Hopefully pictures to come soon when I have enough internet power again!

And for now, I think I’m going to conserve my computer battery and end here for the week. Sorry it’s not much, but hopefully one day I’ll have the time and the electricity power to share more stories from good old Muyenzi! 

LAST UPDATE: Less than 100 days left!!!