Day 9: Finishing Off Uwa School and Local Community Visit

Woke up this morning feeling less delicate than certain people I could mention....hu hum..Adrian...Anyone that knows him, just ask him about the cocktail sticks in his head....I'll say no more but just think grapefruit with cheese and pineapple sticks.....now imagine Adrians' head as the grapefruit....

Felt a little bit coldy this morning so went for a walk to look at Mount Kili with Katie (we would have gone with everyone else but we took a wrong turn at a tree and lost them). The view of Mount Kili looked really amazing this morning as it could actually be seen really clearly since there is little/no cloud today.

We had breakfast and had a briefing from Elvis about the leaving celebrations tomorrow. Basically, we will need to be up, fed, washed and packed and out of the tents by around 9am so the tents can be cleared away. We now have the flag for the flag pole which tomorrow Jan will raise as part of the cememony. The day will start with a visit from the Tanzania Education Minister who will be present when we (the RM Future Builders) cut the ribbon to open the new school and mark the project complete. We (led by Jan) will then take a tour of the school with the head teacher and education minister and show them all of the work we have completed during our time at Uwa school. We have been told they will be very impressed since we have acheived far more than they expected us to. Once the tour is complete we will be addressed by speeches and singing before sitting down to a celebration lunch..

Today therefore we had to ensure that all our work was complete. This meant finishing off the borders, finshing murials, painting chairs, tables and desks and putting furniture back in the rooms.

Everyone worked hard today but i think the fact that this is the last day is beginning to get to a few people. There was definatley increased tension between a few people in the group and people seemed a lot more snappy and short with each other than usual. All in all however, everyone has got on famously with no arguements (visible ones anyway).

We stopped at 14:00 (11:00am UK time) for a minutes silence (led by Nikki) and were amazed that we were joined by a couple of classes of children from the school - this was done out of respect for us and was really touching and emotional that they would stand with us while we remember the heros back home and around the world that we have lost in our wars.

We stopped for a bit at 17:30 to take a tour of the local community. We were taken by Raymond and Elvis into two homes just around the corner from the school. It really completed the experience of Tanzania for me. There homes are very basic...typically consiting of two houses each with one or two rooms. They have very large plots of land (which they just claim) in which they grow bananas and coffee, have pigs and cows for milk/meat. The living area is like a very small lounge from a 1920s terrace house with a bedroom attached to the side. In the other "building" a stables for the cows and goats and an area where they cook and prepare food...yes in the same area. Most do not have toilets. The whole plot of land, plantations, animals etc could be "bought" for under $3,000 dollars.

A typical living room (just enough room for people to sit)

A proud mother with one of her children

We learnt that they typically receive around 3,000 Tanzania Shillings per Banana collection (around 60-80 bananas) which they sell in the market for the market rate. In return for the 3,000 shillings they could perhaps buy...cooking oil, keresene oil for the night lamps, some tomotoes and onions and some meat to feed the family....for ONE day.

The local people rarely leave the town or Tanzania as to get a world recognised education they need to send the children to Private School which they can NEVER afford to do. Children that cannot speak English by the time they go to Secondary school simply have no chance of school in ever getting there exams or moving on....the state education system and local exams have no recognition in the outside world so what is needed is an overhaul or re-recognition and integration with world wide qualifications....wouldnt it be amazing if somehow through RM and Childreach "We" could help to influence this......the schools Childreach are involved with ensure that English is taught at Primary agaes so hopefully (at Uwa school atleast) these children will have more of a chance to a good education and a chance at getting there family and family to come out of poverty...

After returning from the community village, some of us showered while others finished some paintings....we are literally complete with everything finished other than a couple of tiny last miute touch ups.... here is a picture of a before and after classroom so you can see what we have done...this is just one classroom of course. We have done 6 plus outside work, steps, volleyball pitch...

Before....just cleaning the room

Completed - even with RM colour benches....

This is it....the last day and the LAST SUPPER..... We spent the evening talking about what we had achieved and how we felt (over some beers of course). For Tom, Nikki, Freddie. Kevin and Chris - tonight was their last night as they are heading home tomorrow evening...the remaining 8 of us will carry on to the safari after tomorrows' leaving party....

Raymond and Elvis gave us a speech to thank us for all the work we had done this past 10 days. It was really heart-felt and we could tell they meant all their kind words. We presented the team with gifts that we had brought them of football shirts and some cash donations that we had collected for the cooks, security guards, driver and of course Elvis and Raymond before having a few photos of the whole team taken.