Christmas on the edge of the Tanzanian rainforest was a unique experience. Since most of the children at the orphanage still have some of their family members they were able to go home for the holidays. Some of them live in the local area while a few of them have a distance to travel to get home. There were 7 children at Peace Matunda on Christmas morning that got to open a few gifts that were contributed by volunteers. They went down to church and had a pancake breakfast prepared on their return. In the evening, as in traditional massai culture, a goat was slaughtered and roasted on a fire on the front lawn for Peace Matunda and a few local friends and family members.

Prior to Christmas I had just completed the third month of my internship at Peace Matunda. I have enjoyed my time so much that I have decided to extend my internship although it means that my last semester of university will be postponed until fall of 2011.

I have, with the help of Jackie, been able to complete several more interviews and meet more of the community members. I have completed all of the most urgent cases, the interviews left to do will just be to update the students’ existing information. However, with the school expansion there will be 30 more home visits to be made for the children entering the baby class this January.

The 2010 school year ended on December 3rd so I had the opportunity to spend a few weeks traveling in Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. It was nice to be able to experience the life and culture in a few countries located around Tanzania.

Since I have not been doing interviews over the holiday I have used the past few to work on a few other important things.
First, I have been able to organize my research and will soon be ready to create a digital database of all the information I have been collecting. The database will be useful to allow administrative staff, volunteers, and teachers to have immediate access to guardian contact, fee payment, and medical and school performance information.

I have also designed and implemented a two week “crash course” for the students in my Standard One class who needed a bit of extra help to move onto the next grade. The course was very successful and has prepared the students well for the upcoming year. Most of the students were able to grasp concepts much better in a smaller group with more hands-on activities.

Finally, I have spent some time planning and preparing two programs for the 2011 school year; an afterschool program and a child development program. The afterschool program will be beneficial to the school children because it will give them access to resources currently only available to the orphanage that will allow them to develop their art, music, drama, and athletic skills- and most importantly improve their English speaking and comprehension. Furthermore, it will provide much needed structure to the volunteer program. The child development program will give students the opportunity for one on one time with myself or other volunteers to go over class concepts that they do not completely understand.

It has been very rewarding to see the results of my efforts during my time here at Peace Matunda. The community research that I have been working on is being used to determine which of the existing students will be placed into the permanent spaces available in the new children’s home. My research has also been useful to address student’s medical issues and ensure that all of their home life needs are being met as well as ease administrative duties that involve contacting parents/guardians and tracking school fee payments.

These new programs and the completion of my community research will keep me busy for the next little while- I look forward to another three months at Peace Matunda.

Category: On location, Tanzania // Add Comment »