Mvumi School Trust

Living and Rising

We Gap Year students are perfectly placed here in Mvumi - equidistant to school and village by about 20 paces and housed in two comfortably furnished bungalows on the edge of the school grounds near the vegetable garden, kitchens and temperamental water system.

At 6.45 am I rise and get ready to leave for school by 7.15. Mysteriously, despite the short distance to the school, arriving promptly in the morning still remains a challenge but most of us make staff meetings at 7.20 am. Lessons begin promptly at 8 o'clock after the flag ceremony and whole-school prayers.

Exams

This last week in February is exam week, which provides ample opportunity for us to feel like proper teachers, with phrases we have ached to use, such as "eyes down, look in and make sure your work is your own!" I find invigilating quite enjoyable. I give out the papers, sit at the front, complacently attempt to do the paper and then feel ashamed I can't do it! It's strangely refreshing to discover that cheating occasionally happens here and I feel what can only be described as 'teacherly pride' when I spot culprits and separate them accordingly.

I emerge from invigilating wondering why my teachers had been so grumpy about the 'activity', before realising the reason: marking. Never have I been so penitent about my previous attitude that the examiner's inability to read my writing was their own fault. The six hours spent marking the pile of Form One English papers is a journey. I even come up with my own abbreviations such as 'BOD' (benefit of doubt) and 'No' (NOOOO!), and re-visit most of the papers at some point before finally totting up percentages. A few students have failed but most pass well. Somehow this reassurance does not heal the utter exhaustion I feel but deep down I am satisfied at having worked so hard.

Normal School and Being Left-Handed!

Exam week provides a stark contrast to normal school, where powers of communication not displayed during invigilation are paramount to teaching. I was apprehensive that my own English knowledge was not fit enough to be tested but we have all found teaching both immensely satisfying and challenging.. The school staff have been tremendously accommodating in our progression to competence, as have the students, though I have sometimes been asked "Why are you left-handed?" I defend my 'handedness' all too regularly and mimic a gentle tap on the head to the questioners - with my right hand, of course.

Lessons break for 'chai' at 10.30 am, when we devour doughnuts and chew chapattis made for us by the fair hands of tea lady Suzanne. They are served with sweet, milky tea and are suitable sustenance for the following lessons, which end at 2.30 pm. Food is provided for staff at the end of school and consists of beans with either rice or ugali, a maize-based carbohydrate new to us. The only comparison I can think of would be baby-food mixed with Pritt-stick but I have found ugali increasingly tasty.

Extra-Curricular Activities

We receive gladly opportunities to get involved with extra-curricular activities. Debating Club, where girls fight boys over 'controversial' motions such as 'women are better leaders than men', is particularly popular. We relish participating and find the standard of both speakers and arguments incredibly high. Alice and Georgia have started helping the netball team and Joe and I hope to be involved musically very soon, though the standard of the singers in the various school choirs is intimidating.

Markets, Treats and Adventures

In our spare time we wander into the village and buy extremely reasonably-priced fresh fruits and vegetables in the market. The measuring system is natural - everything is bought in 'handfuls'. If we can get a bus or a lift from Ned, we head to the capital city Dodoma for a big supermarket shop, usually followed by marble cake at Rose's Café or an ice-cream at 'Aladdin's Cave', where all the creations are named after Disney characters. I recommend both Abu's Delight, and Death by Jafar. I bought myself two beautiful kangas (traditional batik fabrics) in Dodoma and am getting them made into dresses by the village tailor. I asked her to cut off the blessing always printed at the bottom of all kangas - mine said 'blessings for the up-and-coming wedding'!

We also plan our own adventures. Last weekend we travelled to Ruaha National Park for a two-day safari. No-one could contain their excitement at being merely a few feet away from lions, zebra, giraffes, impala, elephants, warthogs and hippo. I was even able to report home to my bird-loving father about the enormous number of species I saw, including the African fish eagle, pied kingfisher, hamerkop, hornbill and goshawk. After a trying return journey from Iringa to Dodoma, during which the bus's suspension was minimised because there were so many things strapped to the roof (they would have been in the hold, had it not been for its occupation by two goats and a pig), we nevertheless woke up the next morning refreshed.

Concluding Thoughts

Teaching here in Mvumi couldn't be more enjoyable. All of us agree that it is so rewarding to help such motivated and able students. They display both kindness and generosity to their friends and diligence and interest in their work, something not always encountered in Britain. They are also charming and fascinating people to get to know. There are some students here who will graduate from secondary school in their early twenties because poverty produces sporadic education.

Here in Tanzania education covers newspaper pages daily and its importance is more plaintively shown here than anywhere else I have ever been.

Gap year students are always welcome at Mvumi. The ideal period is three months as the school year is divided into two terms of around ten weeks each, and visas are granted for three months, but longer or shorter stays can be considered.

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