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| Preparing for Graduation |
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| The Parade |
When he met us at the Airport, the
Principal told us that the following day was to be the Graduation Day for the Certificate students. In Tanzania, graduation
is really a leaving ceremony and takes place before the examinations, which we found quite strange. As seen on the pictures,
it was a memorable day for students, family and friends.
| The Queue |
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| Waiting to be Presented |
| Hearing Impairment Department |
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| Part of the Class of 2008 |
Life started to return to normal -
or, at least, what we assumed was normal! The following week, our Dutch visitors arrived. We were given the honour of showing
them around the College and Mazoezi (Practice School) and we had a lovely day together. Before they left, they kindly, and
unexpectedly, presented a cheque to the Principal for a donation that was to be shared between the two institutions. They
also asked us to negotiate how the money would be spent - no pressure there then! They understood that, in Africa, it
is unwise to give large sums of money to local individuals whom you do not know and are therefore unsure whether it will be
used for the purpose intended.
| The 'Walk for Development' Group |
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| A Well Earned Rest on our Porch |
| Mieke Presenting the Cheque ... |
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| ... Eagerly Received by Mr Magoha |
We
continued to hear news on a regular basis from the Priest family, who were coping well. However, the tiredness was beginning
to overtake their lives - we remember it well.
| The Buckets are in the Queue |
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| The Students Wait for the Water |
The electricity supply at Patandi
was reduced to being on during the day only on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and after about 7pm every evening. This certainly made
sure that work needed planning carefully! The lack, or shortage, of water was also now giving cause for concern. Queuing for
what water there was took ages, and, to make matters worse, it was becoming much colder as the rainy season approached. The
only positive outcome was that, when it did rain, we could collect water from the roof which we then sieved and filtered!
The situation must have been very difficult for the Certificate student whose examinations were rapidly approaching. Immediately
after their exams, they had to leave because there were no funds left to feed them.
Babs had now started to re-organise
the College library, and with fewer students the task was much easier. Books were shelved randomly, or sometimes by size,
and the room itself was very uninviting to say the least. The problems of water and electricity continued to hinder our work,
but we started to think about our next trip home. This would be to see Eve, Mark, Helen, Mike and Matthew, and then to return
with Babs’ sister, Sas, who was planning her holiday with us.
At short notice, the end-of-College-year
exams for the first year Diploma students were brought forward to mid May; they were not at all pleased! By 24th May, all
the students had left. We asked ourselves - why are we here? No students, no staff! Babs continued her work in the Kindergarten,
which has somewhat different term dates, and in the library, where it was very quiet, and John started mending computers!
| Our Neighbour, Kiwi Sue |
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| Waiting for Water |
On 27th May, we were surprised to
find that we had a new neighbour - Sue is also a volunteer and is from a New Zealand organisation called VSA (Volunteer Service
Abroad). We invited her for dinner – well, rice and beans - and there started a new friendship. We could laugh, moan
and compare notes on our Tanzanian experiences - and there were quite a few!
| The Kitchen in the Office |
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| Or the Office in the Kitchen? |
During all this time we were still
cooking in the spare room cum office. The Principal had promised to renovate the outside kitchen but time was getting very
short before Sas would be needing the room as a bedroom. Eventually, he had 2 shelves erected so that we could move in the
gas hob and bottle. We knew if we wanted it decorating we would have to do it ourselves, and so we did. The paint was a lovely
shade of pale blue - very cool and clean looking. Babs did a quick makeover, and we were able to move the kitchen out of the
bedroom.
| The New Kitchen - Before |
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| Babs - DIY in Tanzania |
| The New Kitchen - After |
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| Cool Blue |
News from Helen and Mike was that
by the beginning of June Matthew was finding his voice and gurgling – however, his sleeping, especially overnight, was
still very erratic.
The rain continued, as did the water
shortage, but the electricity situation improved slightly in the length of time it was on.
There were some brief discussions
– not as much as there could have been - about the money from the Dutch donation. It was decided that the total should
be shared equally between the College and the Mazoezi. The College decided to use its half for Special Needs books and other
reference material. These were not readily available in Tanzania, so the few remaining staff were more than happy for us both
to take some time off to return to the UK, arrange the buying of the resources and bring them back with us.
Our plans developed and we co-ordinated
them with Sas to return with us. We didn’t tell her, but we were worried about where she was going to sleep since there
was still no bed in the bedroom. However, a few days before we left, Msafiri, the carpenter, arrived with the excellent hand-made
bed; the Principal promised the mattress would be here by the time we returned. We could only cross our fingers and hope that
it would be provided – and that it would fit! On the evening we returned from our UK trip, it was, and it did!
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