Week 4: May 17-23

Dear Family and Friends,

It's been a very reinforcing week with many people using/sharing their talents and others benefitting from those gifts:

Mwangaza's Andrea using a panga (small sword/ large knife) to trim a branch into a handle for his shovel, later using it to spread "gravel", made from the lava of Mt. Meru's eruption many years ago, across the walkways and parking area. Andrea is a master carpenter with the panga, as the handle fit perfectly with no nails or screws needed to hold it in place and so smooth he used no gloves yet received no splinters during his work.

Do any of the rest of you '60s folks remember Mother Earth magazine? Mike's subscription ran out years ago (just after he left the commune) but we received a copy from Brother-in-Law Richard in January '09, and passed a bread recipe from within to Annemarie, our daughter in Copenhagen, in August. She recently tried it and was reinforced by Yvan, her French husband who knows good bread. Undoubtedly Mother E. would be proud to know that her recipe is now being used in Africa, the bread made by Sharon in a propane oven and enjoyed by the Mwangaza staff, some of whom are now wondering if it can be made in brick ovens heated by charcoal. Perhaps we will soon know.

The banda's (gazebo) roof was in need of repair; although the metal is still in good shape, the thatch needed to be replaced. 2 talented fundi (craftsmen) were called, bunches of palm sections ordered, the old thatch removed and wood framework repaired, new thatch tied and tacked into place, and it's now being finished, as they trim the edge. Mike was tempted to climb up and show his roofing skills, but is somewhat limited on this particular "shingle" style.

And Yes, we have been busy with mentoring and learning also, not just watching others and taking pictures. Another school visit was made Tuesday morning, with teachers selected for the first seminar week getting a preview and assignments so that all will be prepared and focused when arriving June 13th. We two have been blessed in our teamwork with John and Salome; we left home only 4 weeks ago this afternoon, but feel as if we have been working together with them for a long time.

Meanwhile, Dr. Shoonie, Jim Talarico, and Linda Minnick were invited to present the Mwangaza model and programs this week to the ELCA and ELCT leaders gathered for a "consultation" in Chicago. Considered "grass roots" and recently called a "hybrid", Mwangaza's Partnership for Education continues to explore new cooperative options in support of secondary teachers and students in Tanzania.

And finally for this week, Mwangaza's grounds and facilities were filled with activity and enthusiasm all day Friday, with 100+ high school students from a number of area schools here for a 1-day Junior Achievement conference. The Mwangaza team/staff did a great job of serving/supporting the students, chaperones, facilitators, judges, and members of the press.

Peace,

Mike & Sharon

May 5-9 (part 2): Adopting the "not-so routine"

Installment 2 of Week 2: How about a couple of not so routine experiences?

Last Thursday night, for dinner, we were served a delicious meal of beef stew, but instead of potatoes, it was made with green ndizis (bananas). The skin on this special kind stays green and the bananas inside stay kind of hard when they are cooked, like a boiled potato. See the coconut husks on the pile of banana peels? The milk & fruit of the coconuts were used both for the oil and the flavoring.

We woke up early Friday morning to find there was no electricity anywhere in the area. The sky was full of clouds and rain, but occasionally we could see Mount Meru, just a few miles north of our house here.

In fact, the electricity never came on all day or into the early evening. By 7:30 PM, it was very dark, so Sharon prepared and we ate dinner by candlelight. After dinner, while reading by candlelight, we heard a very loud cheer as the lights came back on at the school across the street from our house. There are about 600 boys attending that school, and they were obviously very happy to have lights on again. Notice that Mike is wearing a band-aid on his forehead, testifying that doors can be very hard to see, and very hard if run into, in the dark.

We spent Saturday night and Sunday with the Stubbs Family, DeKalb missionary friends teaching at Makumira University. It was a great change of pace, American food, enjoying talents of Randy which were new to us after knowing him for many years, and some further sharing of educational perceptions of TZ schools.

Randy on keyboard leading his jazz sextet, with Megan and Nathan on acoustic guitars, also 2 of his students , a drummer employed by the UN, & an excellent sax player from New Orleans.


Megan showing her room — cleaned, painted and stocked with books for supporting and tutoring local female students.

Saturday night we joined quite a group of US and European ex-pats gathered in a ground level open-air restaurant, then followed the musicians upstairs to a jazz club where Randy's group was the opening act. They were very good and much appreciated by all in attendance.

Megan, their 16 yr. old daughter, has set up a tutoring room in an older building outside their home. She has 3-4 Secondary School girls (from her Mother's girls' choir) coming for content instruction in English. She was very proud of her cleaning, painting and configuring her small educational center. Megan has always been home schooled so has personal experience with 1 on 1 learning. It was wonderful hearing her excitement and focus. The girls shared with her that they haven't had any sciences since the beginning of the year because the school couldn't find teacher/s. They also are caned if don't give the correct answer. One of their teachers came into class, wrote on the board for 10 minutes, then gave the students directions to copy it in their exercise book, then go home and learn it. This is a Gov't School!

Makumira U. had a 'cantata' Sunday afternoon with 15 or so Church choirs and University groups. The music was excellent, but our bottoms got sore sitting for 3+ hr. on hard wooden chairs. The people attending were all dressed up which is typical of Tanzanians - men in suits and sport coats, women in very dressy dresses. It was good seeing the results of the Music Dept. development and the darling girls' choir 'dancing' and moving to their singing and/or music. Megan was the leader of the movement and their performance was appreciated by the audience. We always like to see younger children performing, don't we?

Carol was kind enough to head us home before dark, but because we forgot a bag of groceries and thereby delayed our trip, it was certainly dark before she could get back to Makumira. While the following pictures are not of good quality, please look closely to see what her driving conditions were. Mike, in the back seat, took these 2 pix seconds apart, so all the vehicles and people you see (and don't) in the left picture are also in the right. For instance, can you tell there are 3 dala dalas (minivans used as taxi/buses, often carrying as many as 15-20 people/animals each) on the left side of the road and 7 on the right? Do you see the 2 bicycles beside/just in front of our vehicle? -- the folks between vehicles who are wanting to cross the highway? Do you notice the oncoming traffic? -- as the road rules are British, they are on the "wrong" side of the road as they top the hill.

Now, imagine Carol's challenge in the picture on the right, when she knows that all of those people and vehicles are there, but can see almost nothing. The fact that we are writing this email is a clue that she did very, very well and passed this Tanzanian driving test..

Peace and love,

Mike & Sharon

May 5-9: Setting the routine

Dear Friends and Family,

Will do this journal in 2 installments, with Setting the "routine" below:

During Week 2, we found some of the daily/weekly routine for May as we began our mentoring schedule with John and Salome.  For these next 4 weeks, we will meet for 3 hours each M, W, & F, with a pleasant break for chai (black tea with milk) and andazi (small roll/muffin), served by Helen.  

Since we are covering an expanded chapter each meeting, we two are busy each day adapting planned lessons to the teaching experience, talents and language expertise of John & Salome; they are reading and taking notes in preparation for the next meeting while attending to all their other management duties.  With several groups showing interest in the Mwangaza Center's facilities and services for holding their organizations' seminars, the Management Team has a full plate.

Our meetings have (at least) dual purposes:

1.  our sharing the concept/construct of and methodology, that we learned from Sue, for teaching students their 2nd (or 3rd) language through the content of their high school courses, 

and 2.  John and Salome updating us to current circumstances in TZ's 2ndary schools so that together we 4 can search for appropriate applications and techniques to share this new approach with 2ndary teachers in 12 schools this summer and beyond. 

The sharing will begin during 2 one-week-long seminars (June into July) with a different group of teachers each week, be followed-up with on-site interventions at the pilot schools beginning in July, then will be continued longitudinally by following this year's Form 1 (freshman) class through their Form 3 (junior) year.  Which leads to planning and developing materials in preparation for these seminars and interventions.

Which means that while we are focused on #1 and #2 each meeting, we 4 are busy chewing on the potluck of information, trying to find those ingredients which can be both nourishing and palatable to the 2ndary teachers who address difficult challenges each day.  ((Apologies for milking (pun intended) the food analogy.))

On Tuesdays and/or Thursdays, visits to secondary schools have been scheduled, with opportunities to observe teachers in a variety of subject areas and circumstances.   Will write more later about these visits, with facts, opinions and perspectives.

We have also set an exercise routine into our days -- biking is not really an option, so we choose one of 3 directions for a 45 minutes or longer walk, depending on the rains, roads, and needs, followed by a session of stretching.  When need to change money or have a few groceries to find, and Ilboru Road is relatively dry, we can walk the 5-6 kilometers to Arusha center and back.  When the rains are recent or threatening, we do a few laps through the neighborhood, never getting too far from campus.  With no needs and a dry day, we can continue up Ilboru Road a kilometer or so, do a couple of laps around the cow pasture/soccer field there, and return.  The steepness perspective is difficult to see here, but a ball would roll quickly and far down the path behind Sharon.

Although our daily routine may not seem very exciting, we are very happy with this opportunity to team with John & Salome and all the Mwangaza staff in support of the teachers and students here, to learn more about people and life in Tanzania, and share some things we have learned also.  

And we guarantee that life here always includes some new and interesting experiences also -- Installment 2 of Week 2 should be arriving in your email box by now.

Peace & Love,

Mike & Sharon

5/2: An unplanned Sunday in Ilboru

Dear Family & Friends,

What a great way to spend an unplanned Sunday, filled to the brim with connections and yet a full day of rest. We chose not to go to church yesterday as didn't get directions to the English speaking one in Arusha. Instead we did the first part of the Bible Study for the Golden Years we brought from home. Dr. John Prabaker, retired surgeon from Rochelle/DeKalb practice, wrote it. It was good to read and reflect, just the two of us. Then the 'maintenance man' Andrew came by after church for 1.5 hr. for chai and a visit. Dad has brought Andrew tools on his past visits. There is a special connection between the two men. Dr. Shoonie also asked Andrew to make sure we had a safe and good stay here. He is doing his job well! And he loves to talk about Bible stories.

A bit later, Carol, Megan, and Marissa Stubbs came by the Guest House as we were eating dinner. They were on the way to accompany a church choir led by one of Randy's students. The nearby Lutheran Church was having a choir concert with many choirs presenting. The concert was to start at 1:00, but didn't start until 2:30+. They couldn't decide whether to have the concert outside or in the church due to it being a beautiful sunny day, but still iffy as in the rainy season. When Randy called the Guest House saying the concert was about to start the girls left.

We cleaned up the kitchen and walked over. By 3:30 PM, we were outside in the sunshine, moving occasionally to have shade and to be able to see around heads, as quite a crowd had decided, like us, that sitting on the grass listening to choirs was a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon. It was enjoyable and the audience was extremely appreciative, and of the Makumira student's choir's music especially. This audience was not used to Hayden sung "correctly" and accompanied by flute, cello, and keyboard. Then, of course, the voices were fantastic, singing parts. They 'rocked' the last song with movement and the crowd joined in. Evidently this choir has traveled to Germany to perform so has a reputation for good quality. Next weekend we will be at Makumira with Randy and Carol, Mike's first time to be in their home. Another choir concert is scheduled for sometime on Sunday afternoon; Carol's Girls Choir will also be singing then.

Community gathering to soak up the sounds.













Randy's student conducting a great choir.

Randy, Carol and Megan making Hadyn proud as they accompany the choir.

Busy itinerary for Monday - Friday of this week, so will be back next weekend with the week's update.

Peace & Love,

Mike and Sharon

5/4 Transitions

Dear Family and Friends,

Looking back on our first full week, it was full.  Early days were full of transitions of many types:
Monday, as the regular flow of Mwangaza business began, we moved our many books and notes from suitcases to the room converted into our office -- what a great gift of shelving and working space, plus a reasonably reliable source of electricity and internet connection, for mentoring and for preparing to facilitate the June seminars;

Tuesday, after the Swedish couple (pastors with Rotary) were able to get a week-delayed flight (they had also been victims of the volcanic ash) and left Mwangaza, we moved from the small apartment on campus to our just-down-the-road house, unpacked, and began changing house into home;

Monday - Friday, in daily meetings with John Kavishe and Salome Lally, 2 of Mwangaza's management team, we were updated from what we had learned in previous visits to the current circumstances of education in Lutheran secondary schools (now there are 63 of them in Tanzania);

Wednesday & Thursday, when we accompanied John & Salome to visit Kimandolu LSS and Arusha Teachers College, we were reminded again of the spirit within those who champion education and the shrinking of the world, as sat across the desk from a Mwangaza partner of the Miltons (1996j) and next to one of Mike's partners from the seminars in 2008;

Thursday we began our mentoring process with John and Salome with a focus on building a quartet of teammates to learn from each other as we prepare for the June seminars and interventions with a number of Lutheran Secondary Schools.  Sharon chose the Lutheran potluck theme, with years of personal experience demonstrating that the gifts brought by a number of individuals provide healthy meal for all if tasted, chewed and digested;

and Friday included coaxing our iMac laptop to communicate with the desktop computers which had traveled in a container across many miles of ocean to arrive here several years ago.  A comedian recently said that he took his 4-year old computer to the shop and was treated as if he were Amish.  Our issues are mostly converting to files and formats which the older (did they have computers before wheels?) computers will read.  Seriously, we are most grateful for the opportunity these options give us to share information with our seminar participants and, in fact, will be able to send them home with flash drives (remember 512 mb?) full of methodology, interactive web-sites and other information.

Saturday was filled getting settled in for the week(s) to come, beginning with a walk down Ilboru Road to the tarmac and into Arusha center for grocery shopping and a bit of catching up on where to locate certain items we might need here or want to take home.  Down would usually be the preferred direction on Ilboru Rd, b/c of the steepness, but following a night of rain, even that direction brought challenges.  

Any Wazungu (white people) on foot in Arusha are soon joined by 2-5 very helpful street folks -- more if you make the mistake of joining in a conversation, and the # will multiply rapidly if you come to a stop or actually purchase something from one of them.  After a few Hapana, Asante (No, Thank you) responses and the explanation that this was the first day of our stay so we would not be buying anything but groceries, most left us alone.  To Thomas, however, who scored very high in perseverance, Mike explained that he was a teacher and would now teach Thomas that, if he ever wanted a chance for any business with us, he would be wise to ask once and then leave us alone until the next time he saw us in town.  Understand, Thomas will likely know each time we hit the bottom of Ilboru Rd and will appear beside us shortly thereafter, but at least he left us for that day and will likely remember, if not honor, the limits in the future.

Our road had dried somewhat, but seems to have steepened significantly since 2008.  Cannot imagine riding a bike up this hill, let alone one with only one gear, yet people do exactly that.  Or push their bikes b/c they are loaded with several heavy bags of rice or bundles of wood and/or banana tree stalks and leaves.  

As we turned the corner and turned toward our house, what had been the irritating sound of a chain saw became the sight of an artist at work.  A young man was busy turning a fallen tree into boards; we arrived just as he finished the top half and began the lower.  He was actually cutting the last board from the upper half into two (approximately) 2x4s with the front tip of his chain saw -- straighter than I could have with a regular saw.  The pictures show him at different stages on the second half of the tree. 

For those of you who have heard the stories of Lamont, Jacob and I building/repairing classroom ceilings in 2005,  these pix can help you appreciate what we were going through, sawing and nailing lumber that dripped sap when cut or pounded, as it had been growing only a day or two before.  

On my way up the road to the office, he was already surrounded by 8-10 men negotiating for his boards.  I gave him a bottle of water and he had me show several people the pictures I had taken.  An artist selling his work and loving my appreciation of his skills. 

Meanwhile, children were filling burlap bags with the wood chips and other adults were bargaining for the slag -- the outside pieces of wood with bark.  Speaking of bikes, the artist had the stump of the tree, some 125-150 pounds, I'd guess, strapped onto his bike -- cooking firewood for days to come.  




A little laundry was addressed, we relaxed and read, then Sharon fixed one of the old family favorites, breakfast for dinner -- eggs and fried potatoes with onions with a fresh tomato on the side.

Will finish this edition with a math problem:  When women must wash, dry and replace the sheets for 40 seminar participants between Friday afternoon and Sunday evening, estimate the total areas needed for washing and drying during the rainy season?

The Answer is much better explained by the pictures below than by any diagrams and algebra equations that could be provided by this retired mathematician.  

Hint: The total area for washing is 4 times the circular tubs and 2 times the bucket pictured below (tubs are approximately 2 feet in diameter at the top, bucket close to 14 inches -- all you math folks, Mike knows but chooses to ignore the volume issue this time) while the total drying area is a combination of both regular and irregular areas.  Regular in that the existing clothes lines between trees and buildings are filled and irregular because neither of the 2 grassy areas have sides of equal length.  Certainly are colorful patterns, though, especially with the hedge borders topped with pillow cases.

For this problem, we won't even have you figure in the factor of extra drying caused by sudden rains soaking the sheets before they could be taken in, so were set out again when the squall passed.