MISSION OBJECTIVE
We
collected and deliver age-appropriate books, book bags, some learning
materials, and
some recreational materials to four schools in very poor areas,
with some additional personal
items for the students at the poorest of these. Our group took enough
money to purchase some
school supplies for these four schools and two others. English is
taught in all grades throughout
Tanzania. We took English-language books for various learning levels
from here for
approximately one per child at these four schools. At Njia Panda
Primary
School, we were shown the
books our leader delivered on her previous trip. About half of the
school's library was books in
English; the remainder were in Swahili, the Tanzanian national
language. We
understood that this library
served the local community as well as the children in the school.
The specifics of the gifts delivered are
detailed on another page.
One point of having several people go was to have most of their baggage limit serve as a vehicle for delivering the books. We each had a baggage limit of two parcels of up to 70 pounds, as well as carry-on. For example, Lois and Scott used 274# of their limit of 280#, of which 234# was books and book bags - the rest was one duffle bag of personal items they couldn't carry on. Members of the team were responsible for packing materials for a specific school. Lois and Scott packed six boxes for Kamba y Nyoka Primary School; four went as their luggage, while two went as Fred Rutherford’s baggage. You can see some of the boxes in the image at Denver International Airport, going through customs at Kilimanjaro Airport near Arusha, in the foreground of one of the pictures at Sinya Primary School, and some of the contents on tables and in the hands of eager boys at Kamba y Nyoka Primary School.
We all had a special feeling for the students at Sinya Primary School. As it serves children from the nomadic Maasai people, it has to be a boarding school. Otherwise after a month or so of school, the students would disappear when their band of the tribe moved. Shirley Forbes, our leader, collected enough small stuffed toys that each of the 320 students there could have one. These children are so poor that they have effectively no personal possessions. They were delighted at having these individual stuffed toys, even the older boys.
We
purchased about 4500 “exercise books” and pencils. The exercise books
are similar to
tablets that children here in the US have at school. We delivered an
exercise book and pencil to
each student at the five schools we planned in advance to visit. We
also provided exercise books
and pencils to a school in Arusha that we didn't have time to visit on
our return trip. Instead we
visited another for which we will do something in the future. The backs
and back seats of both
Land Rovers were completely fill with boxes we had brought and the
purchased supplies on both
of our out-bound trips.