Isole

Since Elliot had arrived on Wednesday with his new ride, we decided to put it use to visit other parts of Lundamatwe that were impractical for us to walk to (and back) in a day. So in the morning the three of us (Elliot, Abbas and I) piled onto Elliot’s motorcycle. I’m told that I need to get a picture of this and post it which I will do soon. I’ll admit that it looks pretty funny, especially to people in the village as they do a double take when they realize that not only are two white people on one bike but that there is an African sandwiched in between them. On Wednesday we road out past Lusaula to the community of Isole, which is at the base of the ridge you can see in previous pictures posted below (its right below the road that leads to Ibofwe). We spent a few hours talking to villagers there and then we attempted to ride up to Ibofwe. We got a ways up before the road got to steep and Abbas and I were forced to walk up a particularly steep section. I have some good video of Elliot trying to ride up it that will be posted soon. While he was trying to do that I snapped the following picture looking north over Lundamatwe. You can see the road snake back to the center of Lundamatwe. The village extednds to the low mountains in the back of the picture (about 10-12 miles away).

Lusaula

On Tuesday, Abbas and I visited the community of Lusaula, which is about two miles southwest of the Lundamatwe School, but still within the village of Lundamatwe. Abbas and I spent a few hours in this part of Lundamatwe talking to residents. We found that many of the residents of this part of Lundamatwe had similar views about education and similar desires for their kids. Many of the people, especially those older than 40, had only gone to four years of school, as that was the norm then. However, they all felt that getting an education was much more important now and that they wanted their kids to attend at the seven years of primary school and at least four years of secondary school, despite the costs of secondary school being about ten times more per year. It was not only a good chance for us to make Project Kesho’s presence known in a different part of the village, but it was also a good chance for us to learn about the needs and desires of the people there as well. The following pictures were taken just north of Lusaula looking south. The village of Lundamatwe extends all the way to the base of the ridge. On top of the ridge is the village of Ibofwe. Ibofwe is where I had a homestay with some villagers in 2000 during my study abroad in Tanzania. The following two pictures are zoomed in on Lusaula with Ibofwe in the background. In this last pictures you can just make out the road that snakes its way up the ridge to Ibofwe. We would find out in a couple days just how steep and narrow the road is.

A Long Walk

While Elliot was in Dar waiting for his license plate, Abbas, our translator, and I took the opportunity to spend some time in other parts of Lundamatwe that we had not visited. The village of Lundamatwe is roughly shaped like a square about ten miles long and ten miles wide. The paved road that goes from Dar to Iringa cuts right through the middle of the village. The Lundamatwe Primary School is located on the paved road almost dead center in the village. The Ulonge Primary School is located on the paved road about 3 miles west of the Lundamatwe School. Abbas and spent a few hours on Monday (the 13th) near the Ulonge School in the northeast part of the village. As we talked to people there, we found out that many had kids who had attended the Ulonge School, but since that school only had room for Standards 1-4 their kids had to walk to the Lundamatwe School for Standards 5-7. Many of the kids had to walk close to 4 miles each way to school! Later that day we asked the headmaster of the Lundamatwe School if he had any idea how many kids were coming from the Ulonge area. He said that he was not sure but that he would find out for us. On Tuesday the headmaster told us that there are 159 kids (about 50 in each Standard) from the Ulonge area (these kids had all attended the Ulonge School when they were in the younger Standards). The headmaster told us that the long walk from Ulonge means the kids cannot return home at lunch time for food and so they are more tired at the end of the day and as a result their performance in the classroom falls below that of their peers. The extra kids from Ulonge also cause overcrowding in the Lundamatwe School. Standard Six, at Lundamatwe, has two classrooms with almost 90 kids in each. If the kids Ulonge were able to attend the school in Ulonge, then there would only be 60 kids in each classroom, which is still a high number, but much more manageable for the teacher. A fifth classroom is under construction at Lundamatwe, but the village funds have dried up. Project Kesho is committed to working with the Ulonge School to finish the classroom before the new school year starts in January, and funds permitting, to build two additional classrooms so that no child from the Ulonge area has to walk to Lundamatwe for school.

More Pictures of Classroom Paintings

I've been requested by a certain someone (with whom I happen to be married to) that I need to post some more pictures of classroom paintings. The following pictures are all from the Ulonge Primary School because the lighting inside the classrooms is much better. All those pictures were taken without a flash, as was this one from Lundamatwe: Comparing the pictures one can really see the difference that having glass windows makes. While they have windows (without glass) at Lundamatwe they often need to be closed because the wind is so strong that it makes it too loud to hear and blows in dust from outside.

Elliot and his Bike

After a couple of weeks of waiting Elliot was finally able to get his license plate for his new motorcycle. He got the plate on Tuesday in Dar and then drove the 7 hours to Iringa on Wednesday. Below is a picture of Elliot with his new bike!

July 31-August 7

After seeing the group off at the airport, Elliot and I stayed in Dar to renew our quest to find the perfect motorcycle (at least the perfect one within our budget). We had started out our search the week before when we were in Dar to drop Cathi off at the airport and had found one that we liked. We hired a mechanic to check the bike out before purchasing it, which turned out to be a wise choice as the bike had numerous problems that we had not noticed before. In fact all the bikes at this shop had problems, but fortunately the mechanic new of another shop. So we took a taxi across town, through traffic much like below, to the shop. After checking out numerous bikes we found one that we liked that looks similar to the following picture. I also added some character to the bike by dropping it...twice--once on each side just to be fair. With the registration for the bike going to take at least a week we headed back to Iringa to see how things were going. We were pleasantly surprised to see that both the bathrooms and the classroom painting were completed! Thanks again to the Project Kesho donors for making this a reality for the students at the school! Completed girls bathroom. This building has 8 new bathrooms for girls, bringing the total to 16 for the girls and 16 for the boys. Elliot with Abbas, our translator, and the Headmaster of the Lundamatwe Primary School. Students in the science classroom with the new paintings on the back wall. The back wall was previously bare cement, but it is now a useful teaching medium.

Lazy Lagoon

After about four weeks of working in the village, but before heading back to the States, we decided to spend a few days relaxing in the sun. We headed to the Lazy Lagoon resort, located on a small and uninhabited island in the Indian Ocean. We spent three days swimming, snorkeling, and lying in the sun. We also took a ride in a traditional East African sailboat called a dhow. It was a great chance for the group to relax after working so hard the previous month. A dhow returning from a day of fishing. Sunset after another perfect day. We stayed in bandas that were situated along the beach. The beach a low tide as viewed from our bandas.