The Reality within the Developing World

At first glance Kilema is a high spirited, close knit community but after immersing ourselves in their culture we were able to discover many of the problems and challenges that they face everyday. With this being said they continue to be grateful, always smile and thank God for everything they have. They have welcomed us into their community and it has truly felt like a home away from home. We have seen everything from the classrooms to to the inside of a surgical suite at Kilema Hospital. During our time here we have truly seen the best and worst conditions for someone living in a developing world.

During our six days in Kilema we have had the pleasure to teach at four different elementary schools and one secondary school. We were able to go into a different school and classroom everyday for five days. We went into classes to teach lessons in English, Geography and Physical Education. The class sizes ranged from 15 students to 85 students. During our time we learned just as much as the students in our classes. Going into the trip we thought that we would be teaching them but in reality they taught us patience, love, and gratitude for the things that we take for granted in Canada. One of items that we take for granted is teachers. During our time in the schools we learned that each school is short teachers for their classes for the number of students that attend. In schools such as Mkyashi all their teachers are volunteers and do not get paid. Some have not been paid in six months. In Kisuluni, Kichilioni, and Kilema they have fewer teachers than the number of classes. This means that during the day some classes will sit there with no teacher and this is when problems arise such as fighting and stealing within the student community. For some schools they have five teachers for eight classes. Another huge issue facing the schools is the fact that education is now free for all students. This means that students are in classes that are too advanced for them due to the fact that they have never attended school before. However funding for teachers to support those additional students has not been forthcoming. Also the class sizes have doubled and the parents that could not send their kids to school before are now sending their kids and not contributing to the food supply. At school, the students get a meal but now there is not enough food to feed all the students and the food that is provided does not have enough nutrients. All these problems have contributed to the problems facing the schools around Kilema and Tanzania.

As a team we have had many conversations about difficult topics including our funds and what we will put the money towards. Unfortunately, there are so many projects and although we have raised a tremendous amount of money, it is not enough for all of the projects we want to fund. Some of the projects that we could fund include building a new cook house because the chimney has broken and therefore the smoke fills the air and is unhealthy for the cooks. Another project that we could fund is building a new washroom facility due to the fact that the doors are torn off, there are holes in the walls and because of the filthy conditions the spread of disease is very common. Another issue that we talked about is the lack of food in schools. One project that we are thinking of supporting is buying food for the schools until the parent committee is able to start contributing again. On our day of teaching at Mkyashi the kids were sent home from school early because their school could not provide food and this has been an ongoing problem. Another problem we talked about is funding teachers. The Government in Tanzania doesn't support schools enough and as we mentioned before teachers aren't getting paid. All of these issues are taken into consideration, however our funds cannot support all of the projects we wish to put into action. We have had a lot of very hard conversations with the team on which projects we should support. We have also had the privilege of speaking with Bonnie, Gordad, and Florah about which projects should take priority however all of these projects are equally as important and all of these are needs not wants.

In the time that we have spent here, we have learned many things such as true happiness and finding beauty within the small things in life. This is definitely one of the happiest places on earth even in the poor circumstances that most people face. We have had some of the best experiences of our lives dancing and singing and sharing smiles and laughs with the people of Tanzania. This trip has shown us how many things we want and yet there are people that don't even have the things they need.

If you were to ask us how our time in Tanzania has been, we would be absolutely speechless because we truly cannot put our thoughts and feelings into words. Our experiences here have truly been once in a lifetime and have shown us so many valuable experiences that we will take back with us to Canada. We have seen how much bigger the world really is and how much more we can do to help.

Sincerely,

Melinda and Savanna (aka Aunt Linda and Aunt Rhonda)