The boys have worked their socks off digging drainage channels, mixing concrete and washing down walls.
The children swarm over us whenever we sit still. They start to arrive for school at about 7.30 and classes start at 8am. The children arrive with firewood for the school cook to use, some children are sent home with a bucket of millet in the afternoon which needs to be ground before being brought back to school the next day.
We have been amazed at the difference in teaching styles between here and home. The younger children, 4 year olds, are not exposed to any 'play based learning!' From the earliest ages they sit in rows, reciting their alphabet and copying from the board. Often teachers are to be found, huddled together, having coffee while their classes get on with copying out of a book.
We are being cooked for by the school - the result of our epic shopping expedition, our food team provided menu suggestions, which seem to have been largely ignored! For dinner each evening we have had a small piece of chicken, chips, over cooked pasta, cabbage and either pumpkin soup or baked beans. Lunch and breakfast have been similarly repetitive. Tonight it was a real effort to eat but at least it is better than us having to eat food cooked by the boys on trangias!
SW is under the weather today. He has a dodgy tummy and feels miserable. I think he is really missing home. We've got another week in Tanzania which can seem a long time, especially as it will be much less structured as we are on R&R. He is doubly miserable as somehow one of his tent poles got broken today - in two places! We've cobbled it together with gaffer tape and a bottle cap and he has gone to bed early.
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