The recent trip by TEAA-ers Ed Schmidt and Henry Hamburger - shown above with their hosts TEAA representative Peter Indalo and wife Arita - featured 17 visits to secondary schools, eleven of them new, all well recommended, some in each of the three countries. Some of the new ones will be selected for expansion of our programs. At schools already being assisted we renew old friendships, maintain relationships with the schools, observe classes, some of them featuring TEAA equipment in action in the classroom, and discuss forms of future assistance. On this trip we also visited a foundation with goals like ours, a trade school and a teacher training college.

Somehow Ed's best photos came from just three schools, one in each country. Since a picture is worth a lot of words, the photos come first, in the form of three collages. If you're a words-oriented person, you may want to click here to skip down to the text of Henry's trip diary, originally posted in the course of the trip, but now expanded and edited to connect with the photos. You'll get to it anyway by scrolling through the photos.

Going to Gunga, scene of the four photos above, is always a challenge, with its two hours-worth of rough road in each direction, supplemented by speed bumps and wandering cows, just when you start to work up a little speed. But headmaster Okunya is a star communicator who provides both poetry and leadership, so it's worth the trek to keep in touch. Anyway, the hard part is being the driver, a job handled with skill by our host and representative Peter Indalo, who found the additional energy to make an eloquent and moving plea (upper left photo) to the boys to guard their sisters against traditional exploitation, to give them genuinely equal opportunity, something not yet automatic here.

For over twenty years, the people of northern Uganda endured turbulence, bloodshed, kidnapping, rape and murder at the hands of the pathological self-styled Lord's Resistance Army. Iceme Girls School (photos above), 30 miles down a rough road from Lira, was shut down for 2002-06 because of being in a government-LRA war-zone. It is functioning now in its normal location, trying to be normal in other ways and succeeding in part because of the strength and perceptiveness of the principal, Sister Clare (inset photo), whose determination to shape strong young women played out for us in the confident enjoyment of the singers and reciters captured in the above photos.

Blackboard (top photo above) shows a puzzle/story presented at the start of class and a student explaining at the end. In the meantime, groups were at work figuring out and doing the necessary procedures (bottom photo). They got reasonable but divergent answers and were then challenged to think of what aspects of their technique might have introduced a bit too much error. This class took place at Moringe Sokoine in Monduli, Tanzania, 90 minutes on excellent road in a daladala that lines up on a back street in Arusha, just half a mile from where we stay.

February 10, 2009 , Lira

Meeting People

Natete Backpackers in Kampala is a low-key place with a remarkably natural environment despite its convenient location on the outskirts of Kampala and is also good for meeting people. So was the home of TEAA-er Fawn Cousens. For Sunday lunch, she hosted us with 6 Ugandans along with expats from 3 continents: herself from the USA, husband John - an ex-New Zealander who as always was a prince about helping us out - and UK TEAA-er Kate Parry.

Saturday we met with a teacher from an Aga Khan school who is also the key co-founder of another school that he showed us, a short matatu-ride outside Kampala. Both he and the school had been recommended by another schools-assistance organization with a somewhat different agenda from TEAA's, but we found common ground on the subject of recreational reading and hope to act on that soon.

Here in Lira, halfway from Kampala to the border with Sudan, we have seen some aftermath of war, physical and psychological, but also some admirable determination to deal with it, especially by two outstanding individuals. One, Quilinous Otim, a community force who knows everyone, was our host and tireless driver. The other, the redoubtable Sister Clair, is the headmistress of Iceme Girls SS, where she is building strong women. Her school is featured in one of the clusters of photos; scroll up to see them.

February 16, 2009 , Kimilili

Communication

We are sitting in a Cybercafe operated by a community service organization in Kimilili. We arrived via a two-stage matatu ride heading north from Bungoma where we are the house-guests of TEAA representative, Enoch Nandokha. He is now working for these folks, assisting with community outreach and health programs. Like us, they have an interest in secondary schools, in their case seeking worthy scholarship recipients and generous donors.

Our visit up here follows a refreshing 2-day R&R stop in eastern Uganda on the slopes of Mt Elgon, from which we made it to Bungoma in 5 vehicles, including, of all things, the car(!) of a Ugandan family leaving the camp at the same time; also of course, the ever-available bodaboda ride - on the bike that crosses the border (boda).

We have visited two schools in the Bungoma area. Communication had lapsed with each of them, partly as a result of changes in leadership. Each party involved has vowed to improve on that score, many email addresses and phone numbers have been exchanged, and the librarian at Butonge - who oversaw one of our most successful projects - is now getting a stronger role in the relationship with us. We are guardedly optimistic.

February 24, 2009, Migori

Transportation

We've covered a lot of ground since the last installment near Bungoma and have run into a couple of transportation glitches that are amusing in retrospect. First came visits to three schools and a teacher training college in the area near Obama's ancestral home northwest of Kisumu. This area has the distinction of not being connected up even by matatus. We were told of a reachable midpoint, went there and found a couple of bodaboda guys who were happy to take us to a place called Ruambwa. Unfortunately, this turned out to be "the wrong Ruambwa" - not a district headquarters but a forsaken soda stand.

Then in the southwest, near Migori and the Tanzania border, TEAA representative Peter Indalo drove us on the always-challenging 4-hour side-trip to Gunga, one of our favorite schools. The way leads down a rocky road that, on the way back, drove a gash in one of our tires. That little episode, complete with rag plugs in the spare, is being submitted to Newsletter #21, due out in July; don't miss it. Great hospitality as always from Peter and his wife Arita. Then via Nairobi to Arusha, Tanzania, where I now sit, across the street from our digs for the next few days in a couple of cubbyholes in the Backpackers Hotel.

February 27, 2009, Arusha

Critical Thinking

The pleasure of seeing old friends continues, as does unending discovery (last night the 'bread district' of Arusha; who knew?), as well as the rejuvenating challenge of contorting into excellent chemistry lab session today in the fifth form at Moringe Sokoine Secondary in Monduli.

Working in groups of 4 and 5, the students first performed the procedures required for the puzzle presented in story form, obtaining reasonable but divergent answers. They were then challenged to think of what aspects of their technique might have introduced a bit too much error. Finally these possible flaws were compared in terms of how much error they might actually introduce. This kind of critical thinking applies beyond the chem lab!

March 2, 2009, Moshi

Surprises

Moshi - 50 miles down the road from Arusha - has exceeded expectations. We had left home with recommendations of three schools new to us there but with no contact information. Fortunately we managed indirect contact en route and today were anticipated and welcomed at each of them.

Next, while in Arusha we learned about the Kilimanjaro Marathon and yesterday went out to have a look. Ed saw the winning woman near the beginning, already ahead of all the wazungu of both sexes, and we both saw her finish in the stadium, where in addition to exhausted runners there were thousands of watchers, scores of banners, handfuls of barbecue stands and numerous shopping opportunities for running enthusiasts.

Also unanticipated were Moshi's high-quality eating opportunities: the Deli Chez for Indian food, the Taj Mahal for delectable "Zanzibar pizza" on the sidewalk, and our very own Kindoroko Hotel for an excellent environment in which to consume a half-litre of East Africa's finest brews.

We have now visited 19 educational institutions, and tomorrow, with an early morning departure for Dar es Salaam, will be our 11th day with at least 4 hours of transportation, at least 4 vehicles, or both. More to the point, we have found some schools that we will be strongly recommending for assistance.

• Uganda
• Kenya
• Tanzania
• Mozambique