Kisondela Welcome Day

Arriving at Kisondela we did not know what to expect as it was our first official school visit. The hour walk was very different for us; however, many students have to travel even further, which only motivated us to embark on the walk with a positive mindset. Once we reached the school, our expectations from stories told by the leaders did not match the full effect of being there. The grounds of the school were large and the buildings were nothing like we have back home. We walked around first seeing many students in lessons and actually looking in classrooms ourselves. The classrooms were full of old desks and the chalkboards were full of work, seeing this was more of a shock as obviously at home, our facilities are very different, despite this the students were all eager to learn and motivated towards their education.

Once the welcome day actually commenced, we were met on the field by the whole school, teachers included. As we are accustomed to classic Tanzanian meetings, we danced as a group to the centre of the field, where the students were all praising our attempt at a weak Tanzanian dance routine. After an exchange of welcomes from principles, governors and teachers, it was over to the Kisondela students to show us all how Tanzania culture is really done. There was a series of traditional dances which were all executed in style and in time, very different to our attempts! We were all engrossed in their multi-talents, especially being able to dance for five minutes straight. Along with dancing we had a performance from a boy named David, he was very lively and had an amazing singing voice. With all this talent we thought it could not get better, however we had performances from children, no older than 12 showcasing a karate routine that was perfectly carried out. Following this we had an army- like exhibition where students showed some hard discipline that is used to those who do not attend school or misbehave.

With all this input from the Rungwe side, it was our time to get up and try to match the talent shown, we performed a collection of our songs, including Rungwe Roads, Happy and Shotgun, which was nothing compared to their performances but they still enjoyed it anyway, we hope.

To finish off, the Kisondela staff handed some gifts to our whole group, including a spear for Ian which we think he liked too much. Then there was time for more dancing from the Tanzanians, where our own member Daniel, who potentially has the worst rhythm any of us have ever seen, decided to join in on some Tanzanian dances, which the students and us, found very amusing. He thinks he is a rather good dancer, but the videos of the attempt would suggest something else.

All in all we enjoyed our welcome day at Kisondela and were ready to spend the next two days there teaching and shadowing, the students were hardworking and funny and the atmosphere was very welcoming. Our walk back had us all ready for food and a shower before going to bed early ready for our walk the next day.

 

• Olivia

Virus-free. www.avg.com