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

Day of conservation

We all gathered at St Benedicts School at 8:45 in the morning. It was obvious that every body was very tired as the early mornings and active itinery were catching up on us all, nevertheless, we were excited for the day ahead...

We split up into small groups and travelled to Clintz Quarry in Egremont. Upon arrival, those who were prepared changed their shoes as it was obvious that we were going to get pretty muddy. We met Kevin, who looks after Clintz Quarry for Cumbria Wildlife Trust, who own the quarry, who introduced us to the nature reserve and talked us through the history of it, and the wildlife species whom currently live there. 

We then made our way through the quarry, passing species such as wild strawberries and baby chicks nesting in the cliff face. We arrived at our work area, where we were set the task of cutting down willow trees to burn to promote reservation of the quarry. 


Despite the fact that it was so early in the morning and the sun was beating down on us (for once), we all got ourselves equipped with saws and loppers and began hacking at the trees. Me and Kelsey began to cut small branches off a tree, when Aizeck showed us the real way by cutting down the entire tree. From then on, we cut and cut and cut for at least 2 hours before we decided to have an elongated dinner break.

All the teams done extremely well and we managed to create 2 successful fires, although Lilian had to save the day by putting part of it out before we set a forest fire (oops!)








Amy

Tanzanian's visit to St Ben's

Today was a fantastic day as my school was able to host our Tanzanian visitors. There was complete variety on the day and our visitors were able to see many subjects that my school (St. Benedicts Catholic High School) had to offer.

All students participated in the PE session in the first lesson of the day. The boys played quick cricket and this got pretty competitive particularly in the timed innings, but was very fun. Following this we split off into groups to explore different subjects which we were assaigned to. I, along with a few others, went to Performing Arts to teach and learn some dances, We learnt "Morris Dancing" which was a typical British dance and a tanzanian dance which the students from Tanzania taught us. Before we left for Break we combined the two forms into a 'Tanzumbrian Cultural Dance' which was very fun and at times (when we got the movements wrong) amusing.

After break we were put into more groups so that we could go to more subject areas, me and Aizeck went to History where we learnt about certain Medieval Islamic practiced and discoveries. We found out that they the first to discover the length of the circumference of the earth and the first to establish the modern concept of universities. We also experienced the smells and tastes of some of medieval islamic foods, flat bread being my favourite! We then joined up with some more of the students to attend a Geography lesson where we learnt about Tanzania and some the animals and tribal people that can be found there. Ivan led a talk about this which i found incredibly insightful and interesting. After lunch I, along with a few tanzanian students, went to English where we were taught about some poetic techniques such as Onomatopeia and Alliteration and we were able to create our own rap around these.

Finally, we all went to Design and Technology where we designed and created key holders with our names, school logo and link logo ingraved on them. The machine that produced these was brilliant and went 2/3 times over each before they were ready to use. Overall a fantastic day and I hope the tanzanian students found it interesting and enjoyable.

Matthew