Experience report from kindergarten in Tanzania

The first days in the project

In Mtwara I supported the kindergarten project. The kindergarten only opened one day before my arrival, so the first week was taught in Kiswahili. So I had to learn the numbers and a few more words quite quickly in order to be able to communicate with the children. There was also no permanent teacher during my time, which is why I was sometimes a bit overwhelmed. But Tembo and Mike always supported me when I needed help. In the beginning we just had an empty room with a blackboard and a carpet. I painted this with colorful pictures during my four weeks and the support of other volunteers. I brought crayons and coloring pictures with me from Germany and we got other things on site (books, pencils, a first-aid kit, rubbish bin, etc.).

The workday in kindergarten

The kindergarten is open from 8 a.m., but since children were often at the house shortly after seven, I usually went downstairs at half past seven. It was convenient that the kindergarten is right next to the student house. In my second week, a volunteer from Dar es Salaam came to Mtwara for two weeks because the kindergarten in Dar was on vacation. Together we brought a bit of structure to the kindergarten and taught exclusively in English. When the children arrived, we first gave them coloring pictures. Since the children are between 8 and 2 years old, there were already big differences here. We had to show some children how to hold a pencil correctly and others could already color the pictures without painting over the lines. Then we checked attendance and then started the lesson. We taught the children the numbers from 5 to 1, colors and shapes in English and sang a few songs with them. Around half past nine the children always got Uji (a kind of porridge) and had a bit of a break. When the classroom was equipped with tables and chairs, we also divided the children into two groups a few times. Then one group was taught and the other played. Even if we hardly had any toys for the children. But you learn to be creative quickly and it's not difficult to make the kids laugh.

Of course, it was not always easy to teach the children, especially because the children had no knowledge of English at the beginning and I only started to learn Kiswahili on site (many thanks to Tembo and Mike!). But I definitely don't want to miss the experiences I gained there. It's the little things that make it worth it! For example, when a child says the numbers in English for the first time or another child throws the garbage in the garbage can by itself.

Recreation in Mtwara and new friends

Since I play soccer myself in Germany, I wanted to let the ball roll a bit in Tanzania as well. However, there were no girls or women playing football in the area. I then met Hucner, a local from Mikindani (nearest town) who used to play soccer. Together we walked from house to house in Mtwara to ask the women who would like to start a team. We started playing the very next day, which was incredibly fun. The girls from the Women Empowerment Project were also well represented and we always had some spectators. At the beginning we wanted to train three times a week, but the girls quickly wanted to play every day. I hope they keep their enthusiasm and keep training hard. Hucner and I have become good friends in a short time (despite language barriers). She invited me to her grandmother's house and I visited her cashew nut farm with other volunteers. There we helped for a day to collect the nuts and then remove the cashew fruits.

My conclusion

Unfortunately, the time in Mtwara passed far too quickly and I would have preferred to have stayed longer. The farewell was correspondingly difficult. But I'm already looking forward to seeing the finished kindergarten at some point and playing football with Hucner and the girls and women from Mtwara!

Report from the kindergarten in Tanzania, by Janina K., November 2018