SINYA PRIMARY SCHOOL

       Sinya Primary School was special to all of the team, for many reasons, but especially because it is a boarding school in a region which is poverty stricken, even by Tanzanian standards.  Why a boarding school?  This school mainly teaches children of the nomadic Maasai people.   The Maasai herd many cattle, sheep and goats, grazing scant pasture to the point of almost denuding it during the dry season.  Once the pasturage around their boma is exhausted, they move on, building another boma.  (I don't yet know how often this happens - nsu, 11/12/03.)  If the school weren't a boarding school, students would disappear when their boma moved.  Children stay at the school for about a month at a time. 

       The teachers, and head teacher in particular, at a boarding school such as Sinya serve not only as teachers, but effectively as parents to these children for a month at a time.  Much of this was not obvious to me (nsu) until the head teacher, Mr. Edward Benedez (c/o Kibo Guides, PO Box 8276, Arusha, Tanzania, East Africa) , began his introduction to the school.  He began with  the dietary requirements he is suppose to supply to these students.  Interestingly, some of the food he is responsible for providing, like vegetables, must come from some distance.  The children at school probably have a much more balanced diet than children living in a boma.  The children there looked much healthier than ones we saw in the boma.  Next, Mr. Benedez talked about security and the role of the matrons - night time parents. 

    Then he got to the composition of the student body.  One of the images shows a table of that.  Two things are noteworthy about that table:  Firstly, it has only six "standards" or grades, indicating that the school has been operating only six years.  Secondly, there is a substantial jump in enrollment between standards III and IV, showing the effect of a recently enacted compulsory primary school attendance.  The great difference between the numbers of boys and girls in standards IV - VI may reflect enrollment trends four or more years ago, before the compulsory attendance, or they may reflect the girls being married off starting about age 13.

       When we arrived we were met by the whole student body singing.  As we went inside with Mr. Benedez, they stood in the sun with no apparent concern nor heat distress.  We visited two of the dormitories and the kitchen, then returned to the assembled students.  They sang several songs, in Swahili and in English; one included marching to the song "We Are Marching, We Are Marching" in English.  That was touching.  Then we distributed some of the books, book bags, stuffed toys, exercise books, pencils and soccer balls.  We took enough of the stuffed toys, called beanie babies by some people,  for each child.  These children have virtually no personal possessions.  They appreciated something for each of them to take to bed at night.

       We then had a luncheon with the teachers and local Maasai representatives.  This featured goat we saw roasting in the kitchen, and cool soft drinks.