Melinda...das me!: MIS Tanzania Projects 2013 - Days 5 - 8

I've finally just gone through all of my photos and videos of the trip...I feel at ease knowing that I've had time to review it and reflect on everything through photos. Phew. Now onto it...

MIS started doing the work project at Muungano Primary school in 2011. Money to support the work project (and all projects) is raised through drink and snack bars for school events like plays, musicals, etc.; a stall that sells purchased items/souvenirs from Tanzania; specific fundraisers set up by the students and general donations made by people associated with the MIS community. The money raised then goes towards purchasing materials needed to do the work and a 'fundi' (a foreman) who overseas all of the work we do, mixes the paint and helps the students get organized and on track.

Day 5 - Muungano Primary School: Day 1 of Work Project

So we had visited the school yesterday and learned about what we'd be doing. Today, we rocked up and had a bit of downtime to start while a few last minute things were being purchased for our work. In this downtime, a few curious students approached us and introduced themselves. At about 10:30am, we got into the school and started doing some sanding on the walls of the staffroom, hallways and director's office. Sadly, I forgot my camera on this day and wasn't able to get any before photos of the place but will try and add some later. To sand, we used straight up sandpaper without sanding blocks, and it wasn't the easiest of tasks...especially since I thought I'd be the tough guy and not buy work gloves for the trip. I'm that hardcore. As there were 28 of us, some students also had the opportunity to teach a couple of lessons in the classrooms - I really enjoyed watching these! We stopped for lunch around 1pm and it was another delicious ISM treat - who knew a take-away lunch could still be that tasty? A student ended up being sent back to ISM because he wasn't feeling well so at 2pm, I headed back to campus to accompany him. The rest of the students carried on with sanding and putting some base coat on the walls and then interacting with the students outside for a game of soccer to wrap up the day.

Day 6 - Muungano Primary School: Day 2 of Work Project

We were straight back into work again on day 2 - finishing up base coat painting and then beginning the first layers of oil based paint - yellow - on top of the old light blue and white walls. The fumes got to be a lot for some students to handle at times so they were warranted a number of breaks to get some fresh air outside. Along with these breaks came engaging with the students which included anything from getting our hair played with, to slapsies and games of tag. I loved this bit. Interacting with the kids was just such a heartwarming experience and my favourite bit of every project we worked on...I guess it's a good thing I'm a teacher so I have lots of these opportunities! :P After a hard day's work, most of us participated in a soccer game against the Muungano students on the big dirt field behind the school. It was awesome.

First layers of crisp, new yellow paint going on the walls in the staff room!

Getting every nook and cranny!

On the stairwell walls...

Mr. Munissi's office...


The hallway's looking brighter already!

Bart was a hit with the boys!

The soccer pitch

Love this guy...George!

Day 7 - Muungano Primary School: Day 3 of Work Project

Today we found out that we wouldn't actually be building a gate for the school - the money we raised wasn't quite enough. I think we were all a bit bummed by this as we had seen the number of random people that would pass through the school grounds (including a number of motorbikes) and could see how helpful the gate would be. The good news, however, is that we know they need one and we can work on getting the materials and funds together to build one next year. Work continued as normal and a couple of other students taught classes today and I taught "Skinamarinky Dinky Dink" to the kids...a very random song choice but it was the first to pop into my head! They all loved it though and it followed me around for the rest of the day and the next one.

We finished up the bulk of our painting today and started doing some details with some brown paint on the doors and floor borders. Because of the leaky ceiling, a lot of moisture seeps into the walls and has destroyed the bulletin boards...as I mentioned in my last post, this school would no doubt be shut down if it was anywhere in the Western world because of mold. With some of the money we had left for the project (but not enough for a gate), we were able to buy some cork board to install in the rooms which really increased the aesthetics (and probably health) of the rooms! A separate fundi would come in tomorrow to help install this for us and we'd finish up the painting along with wrapping up the project. I walked to a tree and plant area (it was literally on the side of the road...a bunch of trees and plants together) with three students and Mr. Huber to look at trees to green up the playground a bit. After a long and busy day, we were ready to get back to ISM for showers and chill time so our daily soccer match (sadly) didn't happen.

Teaching a class about body parts...

He loved slapsies!

This guy's English was great...such a lovely kid...but then again, they all were! :)

Waving goodbye on our second last day!

Day 8 - Muungano Primary School: Day 4 of Work Project

The past three days have been fantastic! The students have worked so hard and it's been so rewarding to watch them interact with the kids and see how invested they were in everything they did at Muungano Primary School. We finished up the brown trim today and fixed up some spots we missed with yellow paint. After lunch, the students paired up, named and planted trees in the school yard...with the help of some eager student helpers! We hung out with the kids a bit, some other members of the school board/district arrived and we had a presentation from them to thank us for our efforts. MIS also donated some textbooks to the school so we saw a sample of what these books. Three of our students gave a presentation (as they do at all projects) and said some words of thanks for the hospitality we had from the school and for the great experience the project offered us. We said our goodbyes to the Muungano students, which was a challenge, as many of them had grown some good friendships with the MIS students over the four days.