Graduation Day 2011

With many thanks to Alison SB for representing Tanzanear and taking these lovely photos, here are some moments from Graduation Day at Buguruni School for the Deaf this week. These are pupils leaving Standard 7, which is the last year of primary school. We have our fingers crossed for their exam results, and congratulate them for all their hard work. And we are LOVING the Tanzanian equivalent of mortar-boards.

Class photo

Winnie (if memory serves) very excited. UPDATE. Memory didn't serve. This is in fact Neema.

I don't think these boys are old enough to graduate, but they are cute anyway.

The delightful, clever, hardworking Laurence Kigala - not old enough to graduate, but a very clever boy who loves maths. Which is the coolest subject of all.

UPDATE: the efficient Judith Roberts has told me the name of this very industrious boy.
And finally - Saidi making things in the vocational class. We hope that these skills will help make pupils self-sufficient when they leave school.

We also have a couple of videos, if I've managed to upload them properly. You can click here and here to see some dancing!

The lockers are finally here!

Thanks to the great generosity of the Caledonian Society, and expert help from Alison Bissett and her nine-year-old assistant Eddie, the lockers have arrived at Buguruni School, for the boarding pupils. It's so important for the children to feel that their few possessions and clothes are safe. It means that they can have a little area in the dormitory that's theirs, and it helps them know that they are valued.

The Caledonian Society really wanted to donate something that the pupils themselves wanted, and the lockers were a clear winner.

Alison is also helping to make sure that there's a sensible system for locker keys - we are lucky to have so many super-brains on the case. 

More photos of the Starkey Hearing Aid day and the Scottish band

Morning all

I've just been sent more gorgeous photos of the Starkey Hearing Aid day and also of the wonderful Scottish band that the Caledonian Society brought to the school. The children love music, especially percussion (because it's easier for them to feel the vibrations) and they were loving having a bit of a dance - as were the teachers! You can see the teachers throwing some shapes in the last picture.

Many thanks to Michelle Hawkins, as always, for the beautiful snaps.

A promise from us

OK, so this is me, Lucy, promising to be better about updating this website. Email us at tanzanear@gmail.com if you think we don't do it enough from now on!

Next things to come up should be the Christmas newsletter, news about our extremely exciting sponsorship scheme, articles on a stream of lovely volunteers going out in 2011, and a fundraising jazz evening in Washington DC on February 4th, organised by Tori Ongodia (who used to live in Dar and can't forget the school or Umivita).

To make amends for lack of updates over the Autumn, here's a gorgeous picture of little Neema, who is not deaf, but is the little daughter of one of our best ayahs, who very sadly died last year. Neema is being brought up in the school now, as her father can't look after her, and is totally adorable.

Bug children get hearing aids

November 18th and 19th 2010 were momentous days for Buguruni School for the Deaf. An international charity, the Starkey Foundation, provided hearing aids for all pupils and many other local children. The effect was stunning; many children could hear and speak (and shout!) instantly. Most of the adults spent a large proportion of the day blinking back tears.

We are very grateful to the Starkey Foundation and all the other donors: particularly Rotary Dar es Salaam, Pepsi, and Azam, who made this possible. Our lovely volunteer Michelle Hawkins, a marketing expert, wrote the article below. It was published in the December issue of the Dar Guide, which is given out in all the posh shops in Dar es Salaam.

Maintaining this gift is another project entirely. We are hugely lucky to have dedicated audiologists in the school, under the leadership of Mr Shibanda, and the support and guidance from Mary Hare School here in England. We feel very positive that together, Buguruni and Mary Hare can create an environment in which hearing is built into teaching, and the aids are properly cared for.

The article in Dar Guide

Lovely Michelle

Boarding pupils get lockers to keep their possessions safe

The Buguruni school term starts again on January 10^th, and the boarders will get a special treat when they reach the dormitories, after what is often a long, dusty journey. The local Caledonian Society raised a huge amount of money in 2010 to buy lockers for all boarding children. The Society was especially keen that their donation be used in a “pupil-focused” way, and so lots of work was done to help the children articulate what they wanted. It turned out that the boarders really felt the absence of somewhere to keep their things safe. It's hard enough to be a long way from home at a young age, so making dormitories a nicer place, where the boarders could make their own personal spaces, seemed a great suggestion.

It was hard work for CalSoc and our local liaison person, the indefatigable Alison Sweeney-Bissett, to do the bargaining and arrange delivery. But the lockers turned up last week and we know the boarders will be over the moon about it.

Lockers being delivered

Winifrida and a brand-new locker

Alison Sweeney-Bissett (actually working very hard on something else here). We don't have photos of Kate Methley, Deborah Crowe or Paul Soppitt from the Caledonian Society, but if we did, they would look GREAT.

New school wall at Buguruni School for the Deaf

Some really exciting things have happened recently. One of the best is that the school now has a new wall. This was an extremely kind donation from a large local business. Before this, the wall was very broken-down, with big gaps. This meant that the school was not as safe as it should be. But it is now a beautiful, high wall and the local business also gave a new gate. As an extra bonus, they knocked down the old headmaster's house, which was a derelict eyesore. This has given the school an extra space, with lovely shade from a huge mango tree.

Another local company did the construction work and did a great job - we say a big thank you to Mbesso, and their supervisor, Arnold. They were especially kind, and did some free plastering and painting at the end.

The finished wall and new gate.

Halfway there...

Early stages

Mbesso cracking on - working very hard in boiling heat

Before it started. We didn't actually make the children do the work.