Thursday, 17 July 2008

Jambo!

So...it doesn't look like it's as simple as just building two walls and a roof. Apparently, before we showed up the municipal board came to the school and told them that it was not sutiable as a permanent facility - but would pass as a temporary facility. The nursery is right off of a busy road, there is no yard for the children to play in (there is actually no where for them to play) and the toilet facilities are across the way not even next to the school (if you can call them toilet facilities - no running water). So to finish the classroom would pretty much be a waste. The city has suggested a plot of land for the school to move to. Yesterday we went to visit the piece of land, we met with the builder and we had a translator from our organization to help us. The teachers are suppose to talk to the owner of the land to get more information and we are hopefully going to get some budget numbers from the builder for when we all meet again on Monday. It's something we are wanting to help them with - just not sure at the moment how much involvement that means. Will keep you posted. I took some pictures of the school yesterday so I will work on getting them dowloaded - everything is just soooo sloooooow here in Tanzania.

As far as everything else, it's pretty much the same - I have really gotten into my routine. We wake up, walk the hour or more to our morning project, teach for a couple of hours, walk back to town, have lunch and hang out a little bit, then walk to my women's group in the afternoon and then walk home. I have decided not to help out with soccer just yet and focus on the women's group - I'm using the time that would be spent with soccer doing lesson plans. It's really been quite an experience getting to know the area and getting to know the people! Everyone is just amazing and the children are so full of energy!

Hope everyone is doing well!