Hugs, Sweat and Tears

So this was it, the culmination of the fantastic three week visit, a sunny car park in the back streets of Egremont, loads of bags and people, a minibus and Bupe doing circuits of the assembled throng on a push bike! The time had come, the goodbyes were said the tears were choked back, or in most cases not. The minibus pulled away and silence briefly descended. First stop was Old Trafford, unfortunately Fratton Park was too far off route so we had to make do with the Theatre of Dreams. Gama and Aizeck posed defiantly for photos brandishing their Chelsea scarfs, not sure if Rooney was familiar with Best, Law & Charlton but the photo with the 'Holy Trinity' statue was taken non the less. The visit was capped off with a feast on the slightly warm and melted remnants of the ceilidh buffet! Next was a visit to the Science and Industry Museum in the city, the ground floor was devoted to the cotton industry in Manchester - the lads looked suitably underwhelmed! Just when I was thinking this maybe wouldn't be their thing, the girls discovered the glass elevator to the second floor - the lift was a hit as were the 'hands on' exhibits. The girls were both fascinated and spooked by the skeleton that mirrored your movements, Chotta spent a considerable amount of time attempting and failing to walk in a circle with mirror vision glasses on. The airport was beckoning, a brief stop was made at the Etihad Stadium followed by a drinks break in sunny Chorlton. At the airport two records were attempted and successfully broken; firstly how many layers of clothing could one group of Tanzanians wear in searing heat in a check in queue without suffering heat exhaustion, and secondly the most movements of bags between random check in desks and on and off scales for no apparent reason! Final goodbyes were said and the Tanzanians marched off to security like seasoned travellers, a mere 36 hours plus worth of travelling ahead of them. As we waved them off our three hour hop back to Cumbria looked all the more straightforward. It was sad to say good bye to such a wonderful group of people but a privilege to have been involved with them.

Farewell Ceilidh

On Friday evening we had our last night together as a group and we made sure it was a good one!

We all met in Egremont Market Hall for a Ceilidh which involved lots of singing, music, dancing and food. All the students and leaders from this years group and some from past groups joined together to take part in Tanzanian songs and dances which we had learnt throughout the trip. There were also some new English/Cumbrian dances which were slightly confusing (and not as memorable as the Tanzanian ones). 

Throughout the evening the guests had the chance to buy raffle tickets and towards the end of the evening we had a draw. Tickets were drawn from a basket and whoever had the matching tickets won a prize. There was a great choice of prizes including an automatic lemon squeezer!

Some other people who won prizes that night were the English students. All of those who took part in Whitehaven Carnival got a certificate, some top fundraisers won Tubala High School T-Shirts for fundraising and Kira won a trophy for best fundraiser overall.

We all enjoyed the last few of our dances together which included Maria, Timoti sosi and many more. Our last dance together was very emotional but a few of us were crying before it even started due to Ivan’s moving speech. After this the night came to an end and we had to remove our kangas and shirts (which we had grown to love) for the last time in a while.

Everyone had a great night (even though it was really hot and sweaty in the hall!)

Claire

Evaluation Day

Yesterday we met at Bigrigg Village Hall for an evaluation of the past three weeks. The evaluation day was our last morning together and a great chance for us to spend time together as a group before the Tanzanians left for Rungwe.

 

We were put into groups and each group was given a different activity which we have done for example; 'primary school visits' and 'Music, Dance and Drama'. We had to put forward positive and negative ideas and ways to improve each activity, we then moved round in groups so we all got the chance to share our thoughts. All this 'hard work' called for a break so we stopped half way through for refreshments.

 

After this we were put into different groups to start getting together some ideas for activities we would like to do in Tanzania next year. Some of our idea's included; a safari, a visit to the beach, visit Mount Kilimanjaro (but not to climb it). Another idea was to have a typical day in the life of the Tanzanian students; for example getting up at 7am and walking to school, wearing the same uniform as the students and participating in the lessons at school, which we found out that they did last year too.

 

The evaluation today was great as it allowed us not only to give our ideas on what we would like to see improve next time but also allowed us to reminisce over the three fantastic weeks we have spent together! 

Jodie

A day at Victoria Junior School

Today we visited Victoria Junior School. As we stepped off the minibus and entered the school we were greeted by a group of children wearing Tanzanian clothing. Each child then paired off with each Tanzanian guest for the day, taking pictures and answering any questions they had. We were shown into the staff room and split into two groups, a mix of Tanzanians and Cumbrians in each group. One went to join in with an art lesson while the other (which I was in) participated in some dance activities.

The children showed the fascinated Tanzanians a well prepared and rehearsed maypole dance routine and we were then given the chance to join in, however we were no match against the children’s efforts! After this, we performed some Tanzanian dances for them such as ‘Natumbaya’ and ‘Timoti Sosi’, and as before, gave them the chance to join in. The children were quick to learn the simple Swahili phrases and were very enthusiastic to learn the moves to go with them.

Next we enjoyed a game of rounders, both the ‘Tanzumbrians’ and the children mixed in on the same teams. This was a new game for the Tanzanians but they seemed to enjoy it, and caught on very quickly. Rooney in particular made some new friends, as he showed off his football skills to them.

Following a lunch buffet we joined Becca’s class and helped them to write blogs and form photo collages about their days with us and the Tanzanians. Alongside this we enjoyed taking photos with each other on the ipads – another thing which the Tanzanians found fascinating. It was lovely to get to know the children, who were very respectful and interested in life in Tanzania.

Finally we were invited into an assembly where each year group told the rest of the school what they had done with the Tanzanians that day, including a short performance from the group which had learnt the Tanzanian dances. We sang happy birthday to Becca ;) and then the school made a generous presentation to Chota, deputy head teacher at a school back in Tanzanian of some no longer needed sports kit. This was particularly nice as Chotta's school and Victoria Junior school have been in contact for the past year sending letters and studying each others way of life.

 

Dani

Our day out in the 'city'

We set off from our usual meeting place at the usual time to go to Carlisle. Most of the Tanzanian students wouldn't have been in a city before so we took them to the largest town in Cumbria (we know it isn't much of a city). It's a reasonable long drive and since it was such a hot day as well we were all eager to get there. 

First we went to Tullie House where we got to experience the history of England. There were displays of Romans, Celtics,  Hadrians' wall and many more. There was plenty to see and do, including a art gallery and a colouring station which some people found entertaining. We also managed to dress up in Roman clothing which was fun! Everyone had a good look around all of the exhibits and Claire even built a fort!

  

At twelve o'clock we all met in the main entrance of Tullie House then decided what everybody was going to do next. All the student went to KFC whilst the leaders did there own thing. Gladly the tanzanian students seemed to really like KFC!

After our dinner, me(Lucy), Claire, Kira, James, Tia, Dani and Nadine took the girls (Meresiana, Lilian and Bupe) to laser quest.Unfortunately they did want to play so they sat out with Nadine whilst the rest of us shot each other. Most of us ended up just shooting each other as we found out when we got our score sheets. none of us were too great at the game so we all walked round together in a huddle however all the other people playing were obviously experienced and had tactics whereas we just ran about screaming at anything that slightly scared us. 

I came 6th out of 16 players (the best out of us lot) whereas tia came 16th, claire 15th and the rest somewhere in between.

By this time we were all roasting after running around for so long and the scorching bus didn't help but all in all it was a good day and the Tanzanians definitely got to experience what our 'city' is like.

Lucy.

Fair trade fashion show

Today, was the Fair Trade evening fashion show at St Benedict's. 

We had all kinds of stalls which sold many things close to the heart of Tanzania, some of the items which we had for sale were the; traditional Tanzanian Kanga's, all kinds of African jewellery then a wide selection of Fair Trade food such as fruit jams. 

Once everyone had arrived, we begun the evening with a 'modelling show', where everyone who was participating had to choose an item of clothing, put it on, then show it to our audience. It was a great idea, as it helped the articles of clothing sell- to raise more money for the link.

Because it was such a lovely night, we couldn't do as much singing and dancing as we initially planned, but after the interval we all gathered together and gave our best efforts to show the audience the Traditional dances and songs of Tanzania- (many of which, joined in!)

Some of the dances we did were; 'Timoti Sosi' and 'Maria'.

Overall it was a great evening, which I really enjoyed- along with the rest of the group.

Abi :)

A drama day for all

James

The day began at St.Benedicts school at 8:45 where we were invited to attend the assembly. During this assembly a teacher gave a talk about the link and what we do then afterwards questions were asked. This was nice to let younger students of the school ask questions to the Tanzanians' and also was a good way to help promote the link.

Soon after we head to the drama classroom where we were to spend the majority of the day. The activities began by first warming, we were all asked to participate in circle games and other bonding activities which was a nice way to have a chilled and relaxed start to the day. Not long after this we began rehearsing our drama piece which we had created yesterday and used this time to perfect and develop what would be happening during the piece, where people would be and what they would be doing.  As before this was a nice relaxed morning to the day and it was nice to see everyone chilled out and being themselves. The Tanzanians found it extremely funny portraying their roles and individual animals which they would be later playing in the upcoming performance.

After a short break and some food we all head outside to take in the sun and bond over a quick game of 'catch the fish' this involved people standing in a circle and others weaving in and out of the circle trying not to get caught by the net. Once we had done this as a way to cool down after break we were once again rehearsing for the performance and really working and changing the issues we had come across earlier during the day. After a few hours of this we were let out for lunch, this was where most people ate their food and talked to one another.

After lunch we started preparing for the performance and so we all got our faces painted. This was fascinating for the Tanzanians as they had never had their faces painted before. After a short while the work was complete and you could tell by the Tanzanians' faces just how excited they were, there were loads of pictures taken. It was wonderful to see them experience something which was alien to them and was funny to see their reactions when first looking in a mirror. Once this had happened we  got changed and everyone was getting ready for the final performance.

After a short while of waiting we all moved to the performance hall where school students were already waiting for see what we had to show them. After waiting for the last school to arrive the performance began. This consisted of Traditional Tanzanian dance and song and some English dance and song also. We all performed the story of a young rabbit in Africa who couldn't dance and so went away to seek help from the other animals. The school children loved the performance and the dancing! However after we had cooled down from the heat we were bombarded by questions from the young students. They were all extremely interested in the Tanzanians and had to leave half way through our question and answer session.

Finally to cool things down we showcased some traditional Tanzanian song and dance to mainly the older St.Benedicts students and then packed ourselves away to go home. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the day and Charlotte our drama project leader was brilliant.

Drama Day 1

The drama day was a fun and enjoyable experience. we laughed and some got embarrassed by having to re-enact some part of the inward visit. we assigned parts for everyone to play in our little production. we went outside after dinner and played tag, running in this heat is a stupid idea but the Tanzanians enjoyed it. we did a run through of our performance, we still need to perfect it but were getting there. it was such a good experience.

Nadine

What the Leaders did while the students were on the Drama days Monday 8th and Tuesday 9th July

Monday all day and Tuesday mornings gave the leaders a chance to follow up areas of interest while the students were working on building a drama production.

On Monday, Chotta spent the day at Victoria Junior School in Workington with his host, Becca. He found out first hand how this school works, having been in communication from his own primary school Masebe in Rungwe District since last summer.

Ivan and Mama Mahembe spent most of the day at one of our smallest, most rural Primary schools, working with the 2 classes there (Juniors in the morning and Infants after lunch). When I arrived early to pick them up I found them in the classroom with the infants, with Google Earth on the screen, looking at places in Rungwe, and bombarding Ivan with questions, which he was happy to answer. They were hanging on to his every word!!

We then set off to meet the Lord Mayor of Copeland along with his wife, the Lady Mayoress. Lively discussions ensued about how local authorities deliver services in our 2 countries, with Ivan quizzing Geoff Garrity, the Copeland Mayor, about how things work in the UK in general and Copeland in particular. Geoff donned the Mayoral robe and chain, photos were taken, then it was Ivan’s turn. He certainly looks the part!

On Tuesday, the 3 leaders visited the Hensingham Centre for adults with learning disabilities. Mama Mahembe and Mary had been part of a project in 1995 to build raised garden beds, so Mama Mahembe  had been asking to visit again. The beds still look lovely and she met Jimmy, a service user who had worked on the project with her back in the day. All 3 leaders were impressed with the Grassroots garden centre project that developed from this initial horticultural project.

Then on to one of the Day Centres for elderly people where Mary works as a musician for Sunbeams Music Trust, as our  Tanzanian visitors had asked to see what provision we have for our older, frailer citizens . The most fantastic music session took place, with the day centre members and the Tanzanians swapping music, joy and laughter – and a lot of dancing too.

A quick refreshment break at Café West, then off to rejoin the students to see their show.

Mary

Weekend Blog

People came from far and wide and turned Mary and Bob’s garden into a tent city. Hazel (now from Manchester) and Jenny ( now from Warrington) both came to see their Tanzanian family, Mama Mahembe and Kaka Ivan, and they brought friends to celebrate fiddler Tom’s birthday. The weather was wonderful and we ate in the garden; Bibi P kept everyone supplied with tea and rhubarb. Chotta stayed over on Saturday night and Becca joined the crowd on Sunday.

By Sunday evening people retired to the Oddfellows to have an absolutely blazing music session (when Matthew and Dave joined us) and the main party ended up having a bonfire on the beach, though some of us had to retire to prepare for the week ahead

Mary

Rollerblading!

Today, Lilian, James, Alice, Claire, Michelle (who watched, read and took pictures) and us (Bupe, Dani and Tia) went rollerblading. This was a new experience for Bupe and Lilian and it appeared to be quite new to James as well. However, eventually they managed to let go of the wall with the experienced help of ourselves.

Tia spent the majority of the time being pushed over by Dani who also wiped out James and took herself out in the process. Bully! Claire and Alice also somehow managed to get caught up in these fights without intending to.

Afterwards, Claire, James and us ventured to McDonalds and got McFlurries. Getting into McDonalds appeared to be a challenge for Dani as she pressed the “push to open” button which clearly had a picture of a wheelchair underneath. By the time she finally realised that she could pull the door open without any assistance ( :O ) she was greeted by three lovely members of the McDonalds staff hysterically laughing at her.

When we were collected we lay on the bed and had a quick nap (Bupe’s was not so quick). Then we had a lovely family barbeque before going to play smash potato (the best board game you will ever play). Bupe was victorious as both Tia and Dani got ‘smashed’. Shattered so early night (like that is going to happen) before the drama project tomorrow. J

Bupe won!!

Bupe, Tia and Dani :)

Carnival Day

Yesterday I didn't expect to be in the carnival at all,until I got let of work early and went to watch to support the group. They then called me up to join which I did and I really enjoyed it.

The Tanzanians were also having a brilliant time as they were able to perform all Tanzanian songs to a large audience.The audience were very impressed as they had a smile on there faces and gave them high fives.

The thing which I most enjoyed about the carnival was when we made a circle and people got picked individually to go dance in the middle.

After the carnival we then went to castle park,we took them on hard rock which was really funny.

When we went back up home we got the bikes out and went on a bike ride,after this we were so tired all we wanted was food so we ordered a takeaway.

Overall the day was very good and was very enjoyable for me and Rooney and the rest of the group.

Kelsey