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50th Anniversary of TEA-TEEA: 1961-2011

NY-11 and EA-11 Trip Diaries


June 14, Introduction:    The New York component (June 16-19) is soon to begin ... at Teachers College, Columbia University, the institution that founded the program and trained us. Then it's off to East Africa where we all taught in those heady days just before and after independence of Tanzania/Tanganyika, Kenya and Uganda. The inimitable Bill Jones and his committee have devised a terrific program for the NY gathering. To see who is coming to these events, click on  WHO? .


June 15, Personal Note from EA-11 leader Brooks Goddard, who will lead in East Africa as he did in 2003 & '05:    Tomorrow we meet in NYC for TEAA's NYC 11 reunion and will cavort around upper Manhattan celebrating what might have been 50 years of consecutive service if not cut short and turned over to the Peace Corps. Both groups have actually re-formed and now aid various institutions and causes in the 3 countries. Then it's off to Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. In my case, I shall reach Entebbe in the morning of June 20th and be greeted by my friend Eva Barongo - dynamic retired librarian and writer of children's books - and her daughter, Ijuka. The next day I go to the Victoria Travel Hotel and begin the East Africa reunion with 20 others in earnest.


June 20, New York:   TEAA has done it again. Young accomplished Africans, youthful American 70-somethings, fascinating project reports by guests, great support from Teachers College, fun, food and terrific activities in a rejuvenated world-class city - our latest reunion-conference, NY-11, had it all. Enthusiasm was such that there was no discussion about whether or how soon to meet again, only about where. So circle "2013" on your long-term calendar and look forward to Colorado, Minnesota, or Florida. We also determined that it is time to get more serious about conveying our East African teaching experience to a broader audience. As a first step, we all agreed to write  300 words  about an eye-opening experience from back in the day.


June 25, Uganda, Brooks:    The trip is off and running with general success. We began on June 22 visiting MacKay Memorial college, Nateete, and its headteacher, Gertrude Ssekabira. Gertrude has done wonders in the last 8 years since I saw the school. There are more classrooms, more dormitory space, and more teachers. Just like in America, good schools get more students, not necessarily more resources. We all participated in classes, and I worked with this charming English teacher who is a Makerere graduate. Then the group was feted at lunch and then joined by the Board of Governors and School committee - yes, they're with the program. There were dances and speeches, and we left realizing that the school is in excellent hands and going forward.

Then that night Betty and Sam hosted a reception and dinner which included some glorious music by a group that is trying to keep alive traditional music as well as more modern forms. Then into dinner, after which there were more speeches and interesting little stories as each person in the room had to stand and identify her/himself. Another feel-good experience, but where I had to say goodbye to my friend Eva Barongo and her two charming daughters, Agnes and Jackie.

The next day we left Kampala for Lira. It took us 90 minutes just to clear the city, and then the traffic was slow, and we found ourselves eating lunch at the Wango Restaurant in Luwero. Now, you might go google Luwero because it was one of the induction centers favored by the Lord's Restence Army (LRA). That is, all of the 'troubles' you have heard about in northern Uganda often center in Luwero and then again in Lira. So we pounded on up the road to Lira to stay at the Margherita Palace Hotel, a very nice upcountry hotel, full of NGOs. That night there was a hellacious thunderstorm that shook all of us except the most tired. The next morning we set off what we wanted to be a 2-hour visit to Iceme Girls SS which was 90 minutes outside of Lira.

We were there 4 hours but treated to such attention that we didn't mind. The head teacher is Sister Clare, one dynamic person with a BA in English and an MA in gender studies. She told us how trauma has affected every aspect of her school, how students really cannot function as students without feelings and assurances of safety. But she is the girl and has created a fine school in a very isolated place. And she has a Peace Corps Volunteer. We got the song treatment, the dance treatment, the presentation of gifts treatment, the speeches, the introductions and one of my standup presentations of 'We are' 'Somebody' followed by 'Yes, we can.' Jesse and Barack would have been proud. We finally left Iceme and returned to the hotel for lunch which was actually a second lunch because Sr. Clare had already given us food to eat. At lunch we met with head teacher Maxwell Engola who told us about his school nearby and how trauma had really set the school back. But he too has a fastball and is not letting anything stop him.

Then 3 hours to Sipi Falls. Not!! We arrived at 9:30 pm, exasperated because the vehicle had overheated. Fortunately, we found help at night and with time the radiator cooled and we continued to this most charming place. Rustic and secluded. We should have stayed another day but the vehicle needed maintenance which it is now receiving. Tomorrow we cross into Kenya for lunch with Ed's friend, Enoch, and then into the Kakamega Forest at the Rondo Retreat. We are eating well, have plenty of water, and have had some great highlights.


June 28, NW Kenya School Visits, Ed Schmidt:   I've just spent the last two days visiting 7 new schools plus Butonge. At Butonge, librarian Isabella was her usual exhuberant self. The principal was attentive to us. We visited the library and saw the books that were purchased with the recent TEAA grant. They have put in a partition so the stacks are now closed, preventing theft.

Of the seven new schools, 4 were girls only. One mixed day school is headed by a fellow who is a Kakamega "old boy" as well as a former deputy there. One newish girls' school with a dynamic young principal also has a PC volunteer. It may be difficult choosing which schools to offer support. The two schools in Bungoma town have many orphans, children from area slums, and some day students that are house servants in the evening. Lots of interesting new possibilities for TEAA.


July 3, SW Kenya School Visits, Brooks:   The high spots of the trip have centered around school visits we have made, seeing energetic teachers work under trying conditions, seeing the overwhelming reception we have received (students bearing gifts no less), and seeing how seriously pedagogy is being taken.

First in Lira where girls have been abducted for 30 years and trying to get them to study when they fear for their souls. Second in Migori - southwestern Kenya, near the Tanzania border - where we saw several schools with minimal resources (just getting classroom blocks built is a major effort) and orphans being taught out in the bush by teachers who just charge forward. There a soccer ball was a great gift.

Also in this place we had a lovely conference with lunch over issues in secondary schools in each country. No tax funds for them, but they do have the general structure of US town/city schools. The conversation really got started when we wanted to get out from under the exam-oriented schools. We were told about SMASSE project which has improved the teaching methodology in math and science.


July 4, Morning near Arusha, Ed:   John Dwyer, Jan Kerr, Pat Colby and I spent a wonderful morning with Sr. Shaija at Notre Dame Academy, Njiro, on the ourskirts of Arusha. Luckily for us school was not in session except for Forms 2 and 4, who were preparing for exams, so Sister made lots of time for us. The four year-old school complex also houses a primary school and a Montessori preschool. Across the lane leading past the school is a center for women's development where women from nearby villages come for various types of training to improve their lives. The third floor of this building is where the 8 nuns live and where we had coffee at the conclusion of our three hour visit.

Sr. Shaija told us about her fears and loneliness when she first came to Tanzania from Kerala in India 16 years ago. Most interesting was her story of successfully challenging a custom of declaring old women witches and expelling them from the community where she was teaching in western Tanzania 13-14 years ago. We all enjoyed our time with this wonderful lady.


July 4: Tanzania, Brooks:    Today we split up into 3 vans and visited 3 schools that TEAA knows well: Moringe Sokoine in Monduli, St. Joseph's, Ngarenaro in Arusha and Notre Dame Academy in Njiro. Each has its impressive aspects, but to varying degrees they are short of textbooks and science equipment, despite some past TEAA assistance. We found ourselves particularly eager to address the need for textbooks.

Tanzanian schools are hampered by the fact that the language of instruction in K-8 is Swahili, with English only as a subject. Therefore, the teachers of forms 1 and 2 struggle with their students who do not understand English and find that they have to teach in both Swahili and English. Then, the primary schools are taught by students who have failed their own form 4 exams. And central control does not seem to want to address this matter.

We have found teachers and schools doing mighty work here without adequate resources. There's a lack not only of academic items but sometimes in more basic areas that are beyond TEAA's range of assistance: classroom blocks, working libraries, and often dining halls.


 
Earlier TEAA trips to East Africa; click to see...
Leal and Audrey, Feb, 2011 Bill and Henry, Feb-Mar, 2010
Ann Dickinson, Jan, 2010 Betty and Sam, May, 2009
Ed and Henry, Feb-Mar, 2009 Bill and Henry, April, 2008
 
Leal and Audrey, Feb, 2011
Greetings from Whidbey Island (state of Washington) and from the staff at Nyakato Secondary School (Bukoba, Tanzania). Audrey and I recently made the first TEAA visit to Nyakato since Henry and Ed's 2007 trip. We arrived in Kampala on Feb. 4, stayed at Namirembe, had a great visit with Fawn, and by the 7th had a car and driver arranged to go to Bukoba.

Under the direction of the second master, Henry Bitegeko, the staff had a detailed schedule for us starting at 9 the next morning. After the usual introductions, welcome and guest book signing, there followed an assembly of students and staff that included the national anthem, the school song, speeches (another more formal welcome), some local drumming and dancing, and the recitation of a rap poem composed and performed by English class students thanking TEAA for our support. All very touching.

After lunch we toured buildings and especially labs and the library. Josephat, our local representative was there for all this. The next day we went back to have a closer look at the items we have supplied and for me to meet with (and teach would you believe?) a 5th form chemistry class. I was able to meet with only 5th form students because the 6th form students were taking their leaving exams. (There were 2 government guards, carrying AK47s, with the exams at all times!)

Audrey and I came away concluding that our help has made a clear difference in 3 major areas: 1) Our most effective contribution - the 800+ textbooks TEAA has supplied - has had a major impact. Unlike five and half years ago, they now have a functioning library that gets regular and substantial use, a part-time librarian, a check-out system, lighting, and tables and chairs in good repair. A second adjoining room has been outfitted with more study tables. Other books are there also, and students use the textbooks there only. The books have obviously gotten substantial use as evidenced by the worn covers, etc. Of course TEAA didn't do all this, but our help made a very large difference.

2) Then there is the Form IV leaving exam results: Of the 77 students taking the exams, all but 12 passed. There were 5 Div. I passes, 8 Div. II, 17 Div. III, and 35 Div. IV Passes. This group of Nyakato students placed 12th highest of the 155 West Lake Region institutions (all sec. schools, public and private), and 211th of the 3,000+ sec. schools nationwide. (I asked for and have the detailed report from the ministry.) [These results are at http://www.necta.go.tz/ . -hh]

3) And thirdly, the students and staff seem more hopeful to us than when we were there five and half years ago. Not measurable of course, but a feeling we came away with.
. . .

Warm regards to you all,
Leal and Audrey

[Note: This is not the full report. For further information, please contact Leal. -hh]

Bill and Henry, Feb-Mar, 2010

February 22, 2010: Bill Jones and Henry Hamburger depart for school visits in Kenya and Tanzania, complementing the Uganda journey of May 2009 by Betty Castor and Sam Bell.

We visited 15 educational institutions of various types. more
March 1, 2010: First report from Henry and Bill

Assembly at the Moonlight primary school operated by Eunice Nandokha and her husband Enoch who is our area rep for northwestern Kenya.
Library storeroom at Butonge secondary school, recipient of a raft of textbooks in 2009 and various TEAA grants in preceding years

March 3, 2010: 3 School Visits

On Monday and Tuesday (March 1-2), we visited three schools in the vicinity of Bungoma Kenya. Our goal at Butonge was to reestablish old ties that had been interrupted by an uprising. Our first interactions with the new principal were satisfactory and we were highly impressed with the new chair of the school's board of governors. The digital library sent a few years ago is in operation and is used by faculty, we were told.

The TEAA library project is well appreciated, as the sign in the photo above suggests. They have been doing quite well on national exams. The results for 2009 are due out today and will be posted online. Just now in town we ran into a faculty member who is accompanying students back to school from downtown Bungoma by the school's bus as the midterm break ends.

Today's first visit was at Nalondo, where we met with the principal and Livingstone Sibona, a teacher of biology and chemistry whom we first encountered at Wamalwa Kijana our second school of the day, where his innovative nature made a big impression on Ed and me a few years ago. He's still at it, sponsoring a competition at his new school in using junk for pracitical purposes in the economy. Winners will move up to the next level of the competition and ultimately there will be a national faceoff.

WK is going strong and has grown by a factor of 10 in size since I first visitied alone in 2004 when they had just 40 students, all form 1s.

The hospitality has been terrific all along the line, notably with Bill's friends in Nairobi and Kapkitony and with the Nandokha family in Bungoma. Tomorrow we're off to Lunza. Our hosts there and here have been in touch so we have high hopes for a continuation of the effortlessly successful travel connections we've been enjoying so far.
March 9, 2010: Western Kenya

Bill waiting for appropriate response from assembled students at Butonge (near Bungoma, Kenya)


Student at Lunza (near Butere, Kenya) with one of five microscopes financed by TEAA. They use them with skill and know what they're looking at and why.


Lunchtime at Lunza, a standup affair


New girls' dorm at Mukuyu (near Migori, Kenya)

Kenya flag unfurls in the breeze in front of Mukuyu's main building.


Kudu in Maasai Mara questions the purpose of our intrusion onto his land.

Crested Crane, the national bird of Uganda, is here found in Kenya's Maasai Mara.
March 12, 2010: Tanzania

Excellent form 5 chemistry class at Moringe Sokoine (in Monduli, Tanzania) began with a highly interactive presentation of theory (redox iodometry for you chem fundis) followed by distribution of the chemicals as shown here.

Sister Lucy Mbuya, the deputy head of Weruweru High School, chats with Bill about language pedagogy. This is a government school and Sister Mbuya is in the capacity of an ordinary citizen. She has been a principal and recently returned from several years of further education in the USA.
Later we see the teacher, Joseph Mwanisawa (at left), head of the chemistry department at Moringe Sokoine and a gifted communicator, coaching groups of students, as needed, first with procedures and later with computations.

This physics class at Ngarenaro was an intriguing mixture of demo and small group lab work. After the teacher set up a single set of equipment, student groups took turns tracing the angles of the forces so they could complete the experiment at their desks.


We tracked down contemporary art in museums, galleries and studios. This guy is in front of the Zambia National Museum.

We walked everywhere in Lusaka, Zambia, but the first "R" in "R&R" is for "rest." Here's our bungalow.

 Report  - Notes on 15 educational institutions we visited

Ann Dickinson, Jan 2010

During a trip to Kenya, while Paul Dickinson carried out medical activities, Ann Dickinson visited an unusual school, the Kibera Girls Soccer Academy, located in the infamous Kibera neighborhood of Nairobi. Here's Ann with Ryan Sarafolean who, she writes, is "their development director from St. Paul, MN, whose jobs include painting walls, improving their website and holding fundraisers when he's in town." The KGSA website notes that "by combining traditional academic studies with an artistic and physical component, we are not only challenging our students' minds, but are encouraging the exploration of their own creativity while inspiring confidence in their own bodies. Ultimately, it is our hope that we can empower the young women of KGSA to become leaders within their own communities advocating for a gender equal society." This would be a remarkable achievement in "the largest slum in Africa ... home to over one million people [in an area] roughly the size of New York City's Central Park."

Betty and Sam, May 2009

Betty Castor and Sam Bell are back from Uganda! They visited many schools and liked most of what they saw. Photos are at MacKay College, Nateete on the outskirts of Kampala and at St. Bernard's, Kiswera, 80 miles to the southwest. Keep scrolling down for commentary posted during the trip; click for Final Report.
Upper left: Betty, Head Teacher Gertrude Ssekabira, the parents' board chair and Deputy Head Anne Karemira. Upper right: Computer teacher Kigula Martin, Sam and Gertrude. Sam funded and was single-handedly responsible for the first and probably the best computer shipment involving TEAA: 30 computers shared by MacKay and Nkumba University.

Lower left: New classroom building dedicated to Arlone Child, who raised and contributed funding over a 5-year period for her scholarship project at MacKay, which provided half the school fees every term for 34 top students in need. Lower right: closeup of the dedication plaque.




Upper left: Leadership team at St. Bernard's, Kiswera

Upper right: Betty with leaders of New Kabale
Lower left: Sam and Olive Kakinda at St. Bernard's, Kiswera. The ping pong table, which doubles as a study table, was constructed locally with TEAA funding. Lower right: Leaders of Budadiri with Betty. This is a community school on the slopes of Mt. Elgon.
May 30. Click for Final Report.


May 20. Report during trip.

Betty and Sam have visited several Uganda schools, in particular MacKay where they "had a very good visit with Gertrude... The school looks good and a new building has been dedicated to Arlone Child, new plaque and all. The New Kabale School turned out to be a great effort by a group of teachers trying to reach very poor students. The HM is a young (to me), enthusiastic instructor who works at Makerere." These two schools are close to Kampala. They also visited schools in eastern Uganda.

Prior to departure.

Preparations are moving swiftly. Betty spoke this morning with Ida Tarinyeba, head of Tororo Girls High. "She will meet with me and Sam on the 19th or 20th of May at the school. [They're also in contact with] Emmanuel Ofumbi (Emma), an outstanding leader of a nearby village, Papoli, where my daughter's (the Congresswoman) church has built wells, a clinic and an elementary school. In fact, we're going to stop there as well. Emma has many associations with Tororo Girls Secondary School so it should be a productive meeting." Betty and Sam plan to stop at other schools in Uganda missed in the preceding trip.