Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Adult Education


Post submitted by Jenny Peck:

I love this year’s Adult English class! Each year members of the village have asked to be taught English, and this has become the number one way for us to get involved with the community, and discover the truly important issues in the area. We’ve have also found some of our biggest leaders through the program. Our new Librarian/teacher was enrolled last year and has since improved the English skills so much at Igoda Primary School, that this year the school ranked 7th in the district out of schools, and 25th in Iringa Region out of schools!

This year the class has been going for about a month now. There are 40 students, which is the biggest class yet! The best part of this class is that 50% of the students are women! The men from last year’s class have all encouraged their wives and neighbors to come and study this year, as the men have been telling everyone that educating women is just as important as educating men! How thrilling!

A funny incident from class last week occurred when we learned the differences of girl/woman boy/man, Ms, Mrs, etc. I was asked some questions about which led to one of the more hysterical discussions… a 19 year old girl stood up and asked, “When do you call someone a girl, and when do you call someone a woman?” We discussed the differences in cultures here, and the class had said there actually is no word in Kiswahili (the local language if Tanzania) for a woman who does not have children and is not yet married- she is considered an ‘old unmarried girl,’ until she becomes a grandmother or ‘Bibi.’ We had a visitor from the U.S. there who was visiting for about a month, Annie (28 years old) who asked, “So it takes a man to make a woman?” The entire class laughed hysterically at this…

The discussion continued and then it was decided that I (27 years old) am a woman since I have a child and am married, but Annie, who is unmarried and does not have child, is still a girl even though she is technically older than me!

Teaching English at the Community Hall is a great way to learn about people in this community, and in fact life in the community. It is great that we have some of the poorest people in the village- farmers living on the equivalent of $20/month- and we have some of the leaders of the village- the Village Executive Office for Igoda village is in the class this year! We have learned so much about the community we are in from this class, and we have found some amazing leaders! Last year, several Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) Committees were started by members of the class from villages that didn’t have such committees, and this year several members of the OVC committee in Igoda village are in the class, and we learn about many children this way. It is great to have such a healthy encouraging way to get involved in the community. The thirst for education in this area is so uplifting, and so encouraging as so many caring adults are so invested in their communities.


Pictured: Yusto Chumi teaching English at Igoda Primary School. Yusto was a student first in the Adult Education program, and now is using the same lessons to teach English at the Primary School. Yusto's wife started in the program this year.


Monday, May 3, 2010

Kamwene! A Very Warm Welcome

Post submitted by Geoff Knight:

Kamwene, hello, and welcome to our blog. We are hoping to keep this updated often, but we’re hoping everyone will give us some forgiveness as internet connections can be troublesome at best sometimes from the bush in Tanzania. My wife Jenny Peck and I will be responsible for the first few posts, but we hope many others will be able to contribute as well as time goes on. My name is Geoff Knight, and in this month (May) I will have been in Tanzania for three years. I have been with Foxes’ NGO since April of 2008 volunteering as Administrative Manager which leaves me mainly responsible for the organization’s budget, and overseeing the development projects. My wife Jenny has already been in Tanzania for three and a half years and moved here in September 2006 to become a Peace Corps volunteer. She is volunteering with Foxes’ NGO as community outreach coordinator and oversees all of our programs and projects dealing with people living with HIV/AIDS and orphans and vulnerable children. We both plan to be here potentially for the rest of our lives, and we are extremely fortunate to be working with such an amazing community and with some incredible people. We hope to parley at least some of that in this blog. We also, wanted to open this blog with a personal story as we are so grateful to be living in a such an amazing place, and wanted to show our gratitude to our family here in this community in Tanzania.

We had recently returned from a trip to the US and Canada that we took so we could have our first child in the company of all of our family living there, and we were excited to get back to the village.Evangeline Twilumba Knight was born on November 29th, 2009 and she was welcomed into the community here by everyone! Twilumba means ‘We are grateful’ in the tribal language of our area- Kihehe. Within minutes of seeing our baby at the children’s village all of the mothers and children started singing the song from which she got her namesake. It was a moving moment as everyone started dancing and stomping in the traditional Hehe style. We were absolutely floored by the overwhelming welcome we received from the children and mother’s here. As soon as we arrived the children stormed towards us and gave us an enormous group hug, and a few children immediately grabbed Twilumba and took turns holding her. It seems this child will never touch the ground!

The road leading up to our house was covered in flowers and the children had hung flowers from the trees, and even strung some above the road which made a nice archway for us to drive through on our way through the familiar roads. Our house was also decorated with flowers, and it was so good to be home! We are so grateful to be surrounded by such loving caring people, and it will be so exciting to raise a child in this environment!