Ministry

Shika na Mikono is the hands-on science group that I have been a part of since the majority of last year.  Our main purpose is mainly be a hub of science and math resources for other PCVs, in terms of science manuals, DIY projects, teaching aids, you name it!  It wasn’t until we solidified our contact with the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training of Tanzania(MoEVT) that our purpose really took a turn for the better.

As I said in my last post, Dorothy and I just barely missed each other at the YST Exhibition.  We were supposed to meet up there and discuss the Ministry-Shika relationship, but instead it was a series of phone conversations which have resulted in a re-revolutionized Shika na Mikono.  I say “re-revolutionized” because the founding fathers (Aron Walker) of Shika used to be very involved with the Ministry and Tanzanian teacher trainings [yay alliterations!], but the ties were wearing thin and for the past couple of Shika teams it was even rare to meet up with Dorothy to talk to her about such matters.  Luckily, when I (as well as Ryan Early) talked to her in Dar, we started the ball rolling and got involved in a whirlwind of teacher trainings.  The first one sprung up on us (the Shika Team) with very little warning, but we took it with no questions asked, well at least not initially.  This training would be the first of many, but we were incredibly enthusiastic to finally get to broaden our horizons and work with teacher trainings.

Dorothy and Salum (our awesome and baritone-voiced PC liaison with the Ministry) gave us the schedule and sent an official letter of request to Peace Corps to approve of our endeavors.  This training would be the in-service training for the Ministry’s National Facilitators (NFs).  Later, these NFs would go to their corresponding regions and have a regional training to the regional trainers and so on.  It would be a cascade-type method of spreading teaching skills and knowledge.  The five of us were happy to know that we would be back in Morogoro for the training, since we hadn’t been there since IST and it was a place that was both familiar and comforting.  The training site was a private secondary school near CCT, so we rented out one of the CCT houses for the weekend and got to work.  The training lasted a whole week, but we were allotted one full day for Shika, thanks to Dorothy and Salum, and that day was to be jam-packed!  Salum was there for the PST that Ben, Steve, and I did last August and he wanted to do the same and more, which meant two things – he wanted a booming introduction again and we had a lot of work to do.

After much thought, we decided to nix the explosions and save that for Peace Corps trainings only, but Ben would still do his same epic speech in front of the same epic video.  That would be enough to over-stimulate the Tanzanians hahaha.  We arrived in Morogoro a couple of days early to prepare, and that was barely enough time to get everything done.  We checked the inventory, wrote up what we needed to buy, went on a scavenger hunt for the necessary supplies, and prepared our timetable and supplies in the school’s labs until the wee hours of the night, or until we were (I was) forced out by hordes of mosquitoes [UGHHHHH!]

Our sessions would be as follows:
8am – 10:30am = Ben’s speech, introductions and intro to Shika na Mikono, Box of Fun with presentations, and Shika Express (quick/”express” science and math demonstrations that can be done in the classroom)
10:30am – 11:00am = chai break (always SO GOOD!)
11:00am – 1:30pm =  Science Competition (Egg Drop and Bridge Challenge,  simultaneously occurring), a quick session of NECTA Practical alternatives using locally available science materials (LASM), and surveys with wrap-up

Most of these things we had done before, but the tricky part was the turnover between each activity and the allotted time for each session.  We only had one main room to work out of and pretty much every person in the Shika Team was manning a table or station for their subject (Ben – chemistry, Steve – math, Ryan – biology, Willie – physics part 1, me – physics part 2), so just as we were finishing one thing, we had to clear things off tables to do another thing.  Overall, it went quite smoothly for how much we had to prepare for the 80 participants, and they thoroughly enjoyed it.  We all were SO exhausted that day, so after collecting the surveys and eating lunch, we put everything back in the lab and went back to the house to rest.  The next day, we headed back to the school, cleaned everything up, and said our goodbyes.  Salum was beaming and so happy for our hard work, he treated us to delicious kiti moto [“pork”] that evening!

After the training, we all felt very good about it and the five of us parted ways back to our sites.  The Shika Team completed their mission and would be ready for when they had to save the day again…

In the mean time, I was back at site frantically preparing myself and my Form IV students for their NECTA practical – secretly collecting specimen and mixing chemicals, going over practice problems and test taking skills, doing sample practicals, the works.  I was back in my element as a mad scientist, but as the days of the NECTA exams arrived, the madness was overtaken by bittersweet soberness.  This would be the very last time I would be THE mad scientist (lab technician) for any official NECTA practical…  My plan is to be closing my service (COS-ing) by mid-September, and the Form IV NECTAs are not until late October or November.  So to commemorate my last days of madness, I put my usual lab coat (Eric’s oversized white jacket) and goggles on, did a lab jig, tried to take some timed jumping pictures in the lab (but failing miserably),  and ended up with this picture.

I was going to miss being the lab tech, but I think I will be more thankful for not having to work tirelessly each night for an entire week getting things ship-shape for each exam practical.  Besides, I will be teaching the volunteer that replaces me ALL the ropes before I leave, so I’ll get to pass on the baton and all will be well in the woods of Mwatisi.  ;D

--- INTERMISSION ---

Remember when I said before about the Shika Team being back to save the day?  Well, sooner than we thought, Shika na Mikono had to ASSEMBLE!!!

Even before we could let the dust settle from the Morogoro training, let alone the NECTA practicals, Dorothy and Salum requested us to now help the National Facilitators with their Regional Trainings.  There would be one in each super-region of Mbeya (all southern highlands), Shinyanga (northwest Tanzania), Dodoma (central Tanzania, Dar, and Arusha), and Tanga (coastal Tanzania), making a total of four trainings.  All would be good in the neighborhood if not for one catch, all of them would be happening…AT.THE.SAME.TIME!

So now, not only do we have one full day of three sessions doing the same things at the Morogoro training, but only one of us Shika members would be at each training.  Ben was assigned to Shinyanga with Salum, Ryan Dodoma with Dorothy, Steve Tanga with Ramadan (also an amazing PC technical staff member and asset), and me Mbeya peke yangu [“alone”].  :(  [Willie was currently occupied with his visiting parents at the time, so I would not have a partner in crime on this; however, I was not going to be entirely alone because I would have the NFs from Morogoro to help me out!  Yay!]

I actually wasn’t too overwhelmed or intimidated by the task, daunting though it seemed, because I had done so many trainings previously and I was lucky to be put at such a great venue with a great team.  Quite a few of the facilitators from the Morogoro training were with me, and there was a laboratory to prepare in and plenty of tables, so I was able to set up practically every session the day before.  Also, this time around we had more time for sessions, so no cramming was involved.  As usual, I arrived a couple of days before to run around Mbeya buying all necessary supplies for the training, prepare all the Shika sessions, and brief the facilitators on how to present the different Shika Express activities.

The day started with an introduction using the space montage in the background while presenting the powerpoint (no speech this time), followed by Box of Fun and group presentations.  After chai, we went straight to Shika Express activities, where I was the main lead for math and physics while my NFs helped lead chemistry and biology.  Instead of doing the usual Shika Express where we have only the subject-specific teachers go to their subject’s activities, we spread it out and had teachers from every subject go around to each activity station as well.  Everything went so smoothly thanks to the NFs, and everyone enjoyed the demonstrations.  :]  Following lunch were the simultaneous science competitions of Egg Drop and Bridge Building.  I mainly manned the Bridge Building duka [“store”] where the teams had to come and buy materials to build their bridge, using only the set number of science tokens given at the start of the competition.  [Yay, incorporation of money management with science competitions!]  Once time was up, we tested all of the Egg Drop contraptions and bridges, which was the most engaging part of the day.  Everyone always gets really into it and anticipates the fall (either of the egg or the bridge)!  The final session was just a wrap up session of everything we talked about, how to take this back to their schools, a homework assignment to come up with an original teaching activity and write it up, and the surveys.

Overall, I had a wonderful time in Mbeya and realized how exhilarating it is, time and time again, to have the opportunity to conduct science conferences and do trainings for both Tanzanians and Peace Corps Volunteers alike.  Who knows, maybe this could be a look into what my career path will look like after Peace Corps?  :]

Conferences

Once again, I am very behind on my posts, so I shall summarize my activities in the last few months in a few posts.  This is the first of those.

Now let’s see, where did we leave off?

Ah yes, after my safaris with my family, seeing the President, and the trainings in Dar with the Baby Eds, I got back to site and had quite a transition to get back into the game of teaching.  This was last September, the season of the NECTA, so I plunged back into my routine of teaching about 35 periods a week.  Remedial classes after school were added for the few Form IV students taking Physics and Chemistry, so they could hopefully get more study and practice time in before the life-altering exams.

The same time this was going on, myself and a few other Mbeya volunteers (from both Education and Health/Environment sectors) were organizing a Girls’ Empowerment Conference!  After interviewing my Form I girls, my Girls’ Conference counterpart (Madam Zuhura Mwambenja) and I selected five girls we would take to Mbeya with us.  We definitely wanted to choose girls that would be motivated and show leadership, and boy were we impressed!  I may be a little biased, but the Mwatisi girls were amazing!  Each one of them showed poise, were well-behaved, and had so much enthusiasm in every activity.  I could always count on at least one of them raising their hand or volunteering to present or speak during every session.  And Zuhura was SUCH a huge asset to the sessions!!  I was so proud of my girls and Mwatisi when the other PCVs came up to me and pointed out their participation.  :)  Counterparts are required to teach the majority of the lessons for multiple reasons, but also because the language of instruction for the conference was primarily in Kiswahili.  Most of the girls were in Form I or II and are not proficient in English yet, so it is usually best for girls’ (and boys’) conferences to be done in their first language so all the information is understood.

There were a total of 40 girls, eight PCVs (five Ed and three H/En), and five counterparts, and the conference was held for four days at MUST (Mbeya University of Science and Technology).  Since our Girls’ Empowerment Conference was funded via a Peace Corps VAST grant, we had to incorporate HIV/AIDS and life skills sessions within each days’ activities.  In addition to the sessions, each morning we had a PCV lead a session on morning exercises, whether it be yoga (Siobhan), zumba (Rachel), or self-defense (Steph, Tracy, and me), and each evening we had a different activity (movie nights, beauty night where we made avocado masks and had manicures, and talent show night).  Riddled throughout each day were tons of icebreakers, pictures being taken, and breaks for delicious meals.  And for the schedule…

Day 0 was the arrival, registration, and introduction, which included a session on “What it means to be a woman”.

Day 1 was Life Skills where the girls learned about good decision making, early pregnancy, being a good role model, peer pressure, and drugs and alcohol awareness.  We also had a campus guard to give us a quick tour of the university.  I was so stoked when I saw the engineering departments!

Day 2 was HIV/AIDS Day where they learned about awareness, stigmatization, and prevention, and they were able to do a condom demonstration.  I am sure you can imagine a room full of 40 adolescent girls bursting into giggles when we mentioned condoms, but once we actually started talking about it and how important they are, the room went silent and they listened intently.  Each of them was required to place a condom on a wooden model of a male reproductive organ, just so they all knew how to do it properly.  Keep in mind, none of these girls have never had a sex-ed class before in their lives, unlike many Americans who are required to have had some exposure to sexual education at least once before high school.  This is why these conferences are so beneficial, given the HIV/AIDS statistics in Tanzania.  Also, the southern highlands regions of the country have the highest rates of Tanzania.

Day 3 was Career Day and Science Day.  which was one of my favorite days because I got to spend half the day doing a Science Competition!  I had to brush up on some of my Kiswahili because so far each session had been taught in Kiswahili and I had never taught an entire class in Kiswahili before.  Though, I think I did decently well in trying to communicate technical elements of science and math while showing how fun science can be!  [I am not a nerd at all…]  The science competition started in the afternoon where we started with the Egg Drop off of different flights of stairs and then some math puzzles.  I was happy when the girls wanted to continue doing more games, but alas we ran out of time and the day was over.

The morning sessions of Career Day consisted of a “livelihood panel” of females from different backgrounds and occupations, a presentation from Olive Branch (which is an orphanage in Mbeya town run by an American and her Tanzanian husband) about money management, and then the Olive Branch kids acted out various skits that were about peer pressure, bullying, and pregnancy.  They were amazing actors and all of them spoke perfect English, all thanks to their “mother,” Deb McCracken.  :)

Day 4, the final day of the conference, was their graduation.  Each girl and counterpart was given a certificate (like the one seen below), many pictures were taken (and we know how much Tanzanians love getting their picture taken), and we showed them a slide show of all the pictures that had been taken that week.  The girls loved it and they couldn’t wait to go back to their villages and tell all their friends how spoiled they were LOL.

After such a wonderful (and exhausting) experience with the Girls’ Conference, what with the sessions, herding 40 girls into one room and keeping track of them at all hours of the day (and night), and just lack of sleep, I had to go straight from the graduation to Iringa, then to Dar the next day.  I had a couple of appointments in Dar, including going to see the Young Scientists of Tanzania (YST) Exhibition.

The YST Exhibition is pretty much a national science fair of different schools in the country.  Any school can apply, as long as they fulfill all the requirements as by the YST committee, and this year PCV Brian Andrus’s school was one of the participants!  His students did a project on drip irrigation systems using locally available materials, and they did a fantastic job!  So fantastic that they actually went all the way to win the entire science fair.  Each of the team members got a certificate, medal, a small scholarship (which is by no means small in their standards), and a trip to Ireland (because one of the sponsors was Irish Aid)!!  Congratulations to Brian’s students!  :D

Brian had told me about his school being a participant and I had been notified about YST by one of the Peace Corps staff members who was a liaison with the Ministry of Education, so I decided to make the trip and be Shika na Mikono’s eyes and ears.  I was so glad I went because it was so cool to see the different research projects going on within the country, to talk to different students just to get an idea of their backgrounds, and to make some good connections with the YST Coordinator and corporate sponsors.  When I was checking out all the projects and the sponsor booths, it reminded me of my days being one of the EXPO Career Fair Co-Chairs in Austin.  :]

That was also the first time I was able to get in contact with Dorothy, who is our main point person at the Ministry of Education for Shika na Mikono.  She was at YST, but I literally just missed seeing her by a hair.  Even so, finally having contact with her was key, because that moment would be a turning point for my Peace Corps experience…

…which is to come, next time!