Macaulay Award 2016 - Trip to Tanzania by Marie-Odile von Ungern-Sternberg
My time in Tanzania was the most eye-opening experience I have had in my life. The beginning of my trip started with the completion of the CELTA TEFL course (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) in London in December. As soon as I had finished, I flew to Tanzania, where I taught English at St. Clara’s Girls Secondary School for 3 months.
What struck me most when I first arrived in Tanzania, was the beautiful landscape - in comparison to London’s high rise buildings, I saw shrubs and grasses as far as the eye could see. Tanzania’s land seemed endless, and even though rain was scarce, all plants were, to my surprise, green. It was truly a sight for sore eyes. After a 3 hour drive from the airport to the school, I was finally greeted by around 20 nuns singing in Kiswahili - this was their way of welcoming me. Although I was extremely tired, I was so touched by their efforts! They had cooked a huge meal for me, and showed me to my room, where I would stay until mid April.
The school is located in Same Town, around a 3-hour drive away from the foot of Kilimanjaro. Eager to introduce me to the students, Sister Stella (headmistress) invited me to their usual 6:30 AM assembly. After leading me to the front, all the girls began to clap and shout my name. Once I reached the stage, the girls settled, and Sister Stella explained that I’d be the new English teacher to Form 1 (girls aged 11-13). I had never seen students so appreciative and welcoming to a new member of staff, especially one that was only slightly older. I was very excited to start teaching!
After a week of acclimatisation to the extremely hot weather and slight jet-lag, I started teaching. In my class, there were 48 children. To begin with, I was quite apprehensive of what the girls would be like - I expected the girls to take advantage of the “newbie” and therefore not listen. However, my concerns couldn’t have been further from the truth. As soon as I walked in the classroom, all students rose to greet me with “Good morning Sister Maria, how are you?” They had such huge smiles on their faces and were clearly very keen. Of course, like all 11-13 year olds, they enjoyed to chat, however I never had an issue with discipline in my class. My first real teaching experience was a pleasant one - the girls were eager to participate and listened carefully. Nonetheless, I would be lying if I said I didn’t struggle - their names were hard to pronounce and using a blackboard with chalk is not easy if you’re left-handed.
I grew very fond of my class, and they all just wanted to sit and chat to find out about “European Life”. I told them what my school life was like, which seemed alien-like to them, and in return they told me everything about St. Clara and their life at home; I was very curious about their school routine.
The day starts with mass at 7:00 in the hall. After 15 minutes of reflection, some of the girls start drumming a couple of drums and begin to sing and clap. It has to be said that English/European teenagers usually find Church services extremely boring, however these girls sang and danced, and enjoyed it thoroughly. It was a completely different perspective on a church service and a hugely moving experience. Mass lasts about 30 minutes, and the discipline of the children is remarkable: despite there being 400 children in the hall, one could hear a needle drop. Breakfast (a cup of porridge) also takes place in the hall and begins at 7:30. I should probably mention that before children come to Mass, they would have cleaned and tidied their dormitories and done their own washing (by hand of course) - please see the buckets on the photo below and the washing hanging on the line.
Lessons start at 8 am, and there is a tea break at 10:50 am. Lunch is at 1:40 pm - on most days they eat maize and beans with eggplant. The official school day finishes at 4 pm, but there is little time to relax: there are afternoon clubs to follow. One of them is a debating club, where about 20 children are chosen to debate a particular topic, whilst the other 400(!) pupils are listening. Some girls are very confident and had quite an attitude whilst arguing their point, which I thought was extremely impressive given that English is not their first language. Other afternoon activities include games - unfortunately, there is not much sport equipment - balls are often flat and the ground is very uneven to play a game of basketball (for example). Nevertheless, the girls content themselves with what's on offer. They really enjoy dancing in a circle whilst clapping their own rhythm.
Food for the children in the evening is varied:rice three times a week, maize and greens four times a week, and meat on Sundays. It is very important to the Sisters that all eat well and therefore many of the supplies are homegrown; as little as possible is bought in. There is a bakery on the premises, a farm with animals, vegetable patches and endless fruit trees - in particular mango and banana trees. Farmworkers take care of the school farm and supply the food from the farm. Preparation of food is done over an open fireplace - each morning the workers prepare the firewood in an outdoor building. There are no gas or electric cookers here, just the unbearable heat of the fire. That said, the food is absolutely delicious. There are no dishwashers, just human hands. Luckily, there is no sorting of rubbish into different containers - just dogs and a fire pit where all that is left over is burnt. To the children’s disappointment, sweets can be bought only on the weekend at the tuckshop between 2pm-4pm. The choice of supplies is what we would perceive as limited, but greatly appreciated by the children here.
There is no school on Saturdays and Sundays, however lie-ins are still not an option for the children. There is no Mass on Saturdays; the children clean their premises, wash their clothes, and have personal study time.There is one television for the entire school; the headmistress decides what is being watched and when - the maximum viewing time is 4 hours over the weekend. Under no circumstances are the children allowed mobiles or iPads during school time either. When they saw I had my phone, all girls gazed with amazement and were desperate to take selfies. Parents, who wish to speak to their children, can do so via the school telephone.
As mentioned before, discipline is high on the agenda - the Sisters tell me that beatings with a stick are not uncommon and part of a pupil's life. Collective punishment still exists if students cover up for one another and accept that this is the way it is. The nuns justify this practise with a quote from the Bible: "Spare the rod, spoil the child." When I first saw the children being beaten, especially my class, I couldn’t bare the sight of it, and brought this to discussion with the teachers. Even though I said that physical punishment was not the only way to “teach” a child of its wrongdoings, they were convinced that it was the only effective one. My questioning of this practise caused slight tension, as I strongly felt it was not necessary. I found and still find it very hard to comprehend. However, as a 19 year old fill-in English teacher who was a guest, I had no say, and I can’t change the rules engrained in the system.
Although I spent the majority of my time at St. Clara’s Girls Secondary school, I also spent a bit of time at St. Michael’s Primary school, which was situated in the Maasai village. Visiting the Maasai village for the first time was the most overwhelming experience throughout my time here. When we arrived at the primary school, all the children from ages 3-11 were waiting outside to greet me. There were 3 buildings, 1 of which was still in the process of being built. The children were very shy but we were told they can speak English and Kiswahili. I could tell most children were Maasai as they had the burnt markings on their faces. Sister Aquillina (who is in charge of the development of the school) then led me to the newly built kitchen, whose roof was made out of scraps of metal and floor made of mud. It was essentially a big shack with an open fire place for cooking. This kitchen cost the Sisters roughly £4000 to build. To put money into perspective,the cost of one school building (usually 3 classrooms) is £15,000 - this shocked me, as that is roughly how much parents pay to send one child to private school. It made me realise how much we take education, materials and opportunities for granted.
After several visits to the school, I became friendly with the Maasai women and their children. By the end of my trip, I had learnt a lot about their culture and way of life.
It is not uncommon for Maasai men to have several wives, and children by all of them.One of the families I visited consisted of a father, 4 wives and 18 children. This man was also the elder of the community. Whilst he seemed well-nourished, the wives and children looked painfully thin. Sister Aquillina explained to me that it is the custom for wives to feed the men before they are allowed any food for themselves - in his case it meant that he received food from 4 women. These women have to make do with leftovers. Given the fact that food will soon be in very short supply due to drought, one can imagine how much the women and children are going to suffer.
Children are possessions in the eyes of Maasai men - they produce them and keep them in slave-like conditions as family household workers from the age of 5 years onwards. In particular girls are not recognised as members of the family.They are being sold for a dowry (the elder we talked to was just in the process of selling one of his daughters in exchange for 10 cows) at a very young age; they are then denied access to even basic education, resulting in their basic human rights and privileges being neglected. I often saw small children wandering alone and without any protection from the dangers of the wild in the area, sometimes miles away from their community. Girls are exposed to rape - many become victims of men herding animals or even family members whilst they walk the long distances to herd cows or goats or when fetching water and firewood.Girls who have been raped rarely report those incidents for fear of banishment from their communities, especially when the offenders are village elders or other significant people in the community.
I asked one of the women (Monica) whether they still practise FGM. Even though it is heavily criticised and forbidden, not only in Tanzania, but in most parts of the western world, she sheepishly admitted that it is still a common practise here. FGM is carried out more or less secretly - girls are taken into the woods for this very painful procedure. It exposes them to transmittable diseases such as AIDS and other cervical infections, or even death through bleeding. Even for the Sisters here it is difficult to realise the extent of FGM, as it appears to be a cultural custom that remains a secret to the outside world. Maasai women who are uncut are seen to be immature and not fit for marriage. It is therefore a vicious cycle and is very difficult to stop.
On the whole, I’d describe my trip to Tanzania as incredibly interesting and insightful. This experience of working with teenagers and children allowed me an immersion into the culture and mentality, and was in my view the best route to understanding the Tanzanian way of life. From this trip, I have learnt that I must be more appreciative of the opportunities and things I have. We did not have electricity or flowing water everyday, which is something we take for granted in Europe. The children here do not have computers or many books to read when they want to further their knowledge, something we have direct access to. My time here has widened my horizons, and I am very grateful to have received the Macaulay Award for helping me fund my trip. Thank you!
