School Visit, Shopping, and Happy Days

The day began with a great start -some of the problem sleepers had a good night's sleep, so Mrs. P's drug pushing seems to be having a positive effect (herbal sleep aids). Eveyone has learned that if they are tardy to breakfast, all the crepes will be gone, so between that and the extra firm foam mattresses, there has been lots of incentive to get moving early.
Our walk up to CPAR turned into Close Encounters with Cows as we encountered a small herd being driven up the road. At the office we had a debriefing from yesteday's experiences at the farms and secondary school.  We discussed some of the difficulties faced by Tanzanian students that are not encountered as often in Canada.   Corporal punishment, sexual violence, gender discrimination, and language difficulties are all very prominent here.

While the students filled water bottles to be used for irrigating fruit trees, I managed to upload another blog entry. Internet connectivity has been a huge challenge here and many are frustrated tying to connect with loved ones back home.

We had a scenic drive to Rotia primary school where we were greeted by song and dance and very excited children. When it came time to introduce ourselves, Will impressed both the Canadians and Tanzanians by greeting them in a few Swahili phrases.
After proper instruction in fruit tree planting  and drip irrigation, we teamed up with some primary students and planted guavas, avacados, and papaya trees. With the dirty work done (or close - we left the last few seedlings for Ms. S and Ms. M), we were able to turn to our favourite activity -playtime! We hauled out the bag of sports equipment and started tossing out frisbees, skipping ropes, balls and a play parachute.

One lttle girl, Marya, had attached herself to me and was following me everywhere. As the bag was being emptied, she was trying to peer into the bag but would not let go of my hand to get close enough. She suddenly stilled, and then got very excited. I wondered what had caught her interest in this big bag of goodies when she turned to me and with awe on her face, simply said "shoes!" She had seen into the bottom of the bag here we had packed a few pairs of used soccer cleats. It was a very sharp reminder of how little these children have - all of the wondeful new toys emerging and she would be the most excited by something as basic as a new pair of shoes.

The children had a marvelous time playing and were equally amazed to see their teachers playing with the new equipment as well. Girls played together very well, but whenever a boy would enter a game, they would immediately defer and throw the ball to him.

At 2:00, the Rotia teachers decided it was time for a long overdue lunch and rang the dinner bell to summon the children for their lunch of maize and beans. We said goodbye and set off for a picnic lunch.

Shopping at a large craft store followed. Everybody managed to drop quite a few Tanzanian shillings or US dollars on souvenirs and gifts. Huge haggling ended the shopping spree with some convinced they got a good deal and others convinced they paid too much, but everyone seems to be happy with their purchases.

We ended the day with another excellent meal at Happy Days, a local restaurant that serves burgers and pizza. Everyone enjoyed their meals except for those that had the chicken knuckle pizza.

Written by - K. Athayde