Day 15 and 16

 Day 15

Today we had a bit of a later start because Mbugani Primary School, which we were visiting is actually in Geita Town.

Just to say a little about our hotel in Geita. I would say it is the sort of hotel typically used by Tanzanian business men. There are various standards of room. Ours is mid range and really quite spacious. It is in a group of 4 rooms in a courtyard. Breakfast is included in the room rate of TSH 100,000 per night (just under £32) and includes, juice, fruit, toast, soup, and a variety of cooked items that could include eggs, potatoes, cassava, sausages, chapati, beans etc.

Robert and Hamisi picked us up about 9.30 and we headed out of town to the Geita Town District Offices. These had recently moved to a new purpose built building which still isn’t actually finished. Here we met up with the Head Teacher and the Deputy Head from Mbugani and we then all met the District Education Officer.

After a short meeting we then drove to the school. 

We have supported this school for the last 2 years and today we are giving them 3 computers and a projector to add to the 4 computers and printer that we have previously donated. This school has performed really well, certainly due in part to the hard work of Elkana, the ICT Teacher. However Elkana left in November to do a 1 year course in ICT in Mwanza, so today we met the 2 teachers who will be taking over responsibility for our Computer Loan Project at the school.

We actually had a really good discussion with the Head and Deputy Head, the 2 teachers and the Chair of the School Committee. This is another school with nearly 3000 children. In the past Elkana has taught the children ICT in extra lessons after school. He offered the children the chance to get practical experience with the computers in groups of 20. His classes ran every afternoon between 3 and 5pm and were open to children in Standard 5, 6 and 7 on a voluntary basis. On average each child who wanted to learn ICT was able to have a one hour lesson once every 2 weeks. Elkana was not paid to do these lessons, he did this voluntarily. It was great to hear that the 2 new teachers will continue these classes. With the addition of 3 more computers this year our hope is that the number of children in each class will be able to increase to around 35. 

The computers are of course also used by many of the teachers for admin, lesson preparation, exam preparation etc. They were very pleased to receive a projector as this will now mean that the computers can be used in other lessons such as Science or English where large numbers of children will all be able to see a presentation or watch a video etc.

The Head Teacher also informed us that 6 new classrooms and a dining hall are in the process of being built. One of the new classrooms will be a new Computer Room.

After the discussions we renewed their Computer Loan Contract and then moved to the staff room to hand over the new equipment. We were served some drinks and snacks while the Head Teacher and Chair of the School Committee each gave  a speech and then a group of teachers performed a song they had written to thank us for the computers. This is something these teachers do every year and is unique to this school. During this time we could see it was really raining heavily outside. 

By about 12.30 it was time to leave as this afternoon we were going to Katoro to visit Hamisi’s office and his new house and family. It was about a 40 minute drive to Katoro 

We stopped on the outskirts of town to grab some lunch. Food is never quick in Tanzania and this took about 40 minutes to arrive but was tasty. Robert also got them to chop up one of our pineapples from yesterday which was lovely. 

It was mid afternoon when we arrived at Hamisi’s office. It is our third visit and each time we see improvements. He now has his own office, a large room for running computer training courses and a small Internet Cafe. He employs 3 computer trainers and a receptionist/secretary. 

Having originally started working at ACTT as a computer technician in the Mwanza office, Hamisi has done really well. He has also chosen a really good place to set up his business as Katoro is a rapidly growing town and will provide him with many good business opportunities. Below are a few photos of the area around Hamisi’s office in Katoro.

Since we visited Hamisi last year he has finished building his house and has a new baby so he was very keen for us to visit and meet his family. The roads/tracks to his house are pretty rough so in the end we abandoned the car and walked the last bit. The local children seemed very interested and surprised to see us. 

Hamisi’s house and his family are lovely. His baby daughter Maroba is a very happy child but his young son John seemed less impressed by our visit and just wanted to stay outside with his friends. Tanzanians are always so hospitable and welcoming and Hamisi’s wife served us fruit and hard boiled eggs as snacks. Before we left Hamisi wanted some group photos but John was having none of it so sadly he is missing from the pictures......it is true what they say “Never work with children or animals”.

Hamisi has a nice view of Katoro from his house.

We saw some baboons on the road during the journey back to Geita.I don’t remember seeing them in this area on our previous visits.

 We got back to the hotel by about 7. None of us were hungry so Robert just stopped for a drink with us in the hotel bar before we all went back to our rooms to do our packing as tomorrow we are travelling to Chato.

Day 16

Robert picked us up at about 9.30. Geita town was quite busy this morning.

We have noticed that since our last visit 12 months ago pedestrian lights have appeared in several towns including Geita, which is really good.

We stopped in Katoro to look at a hotel we might use on our next visit and then carried on to Chato. The road is tarmac all the way and there was very little traffic. It was pretty sunny for most of the trip.

 

As we got near to Chato we passed a cattle market.

We arrived in Chato soon after 12 and met up with Robert’s friend Msale who had helped us book our hotel rooms here. He came with us to show us where Robert’s hotel was. He also said they did decent food so we decided to stay there for lunch. 

Robert wanted fish for lunch but Msala said that this was best bought fresh from the market and cooked immediately. The kitchen staff said they would do this so Robert and Msale headed to the fish market and came back 20 minutes later with 4 tilapia fish. 

While we waited for them to be cooked the sky got darker, the thunder started and it began to rain. This steadily got heavier and heavier and heavier and we eventually had to move tables as the floor where we were sitting was flooding. Robert had to borrow an umbrella to go back to the car to get his jacket.

The food took over an hour to cook but when it arrived it was very good. You do just have to be patient in Tanzania!!

It was still raining when we had finished eating. Robert drove us out to the Chato Beach Hotel where we are staying. We checked in and then made arrangements with Robert for tomorrow before he left.

Our room is massive and has a separate living area and and extra toilet. The bathroom is also massive. The outside of the hotel looks a little run down in some areas and half finished in others. I guess it doesn’t look at it’s best in the rain and has probably suffered from lack of visitors. With a bit of TLC it could be lovely. There are loads of staff around who seem lovely but their English isn’t great so my basic knowledge of Swahili has come in useful already. Again our room and breakfast is about £32 per night.

When it eventually stopped raining we walked down to the lake. We know that with all the rain they have had the water levels in Lake Victoria have risen and it is very obvious here. Nice to see the pied kingfishers though.

This evening we went over to the restaurant to get a snack to eat. We had to wait even longer than at lunchtime for our food. The food was fine but really we had gone past it by the time it arrived. If we need to order any more food while we are here I think we will do room service!!