NEW PUPILS AT THE SCHOOL OF ST JUDE, TANZANIA

Tuesday 2nd February 2006


BEFORE & AFTER THE NEW UNIFORM






Well, it's day 5 here and in many ways it feels like week five. I'm taking in so much, doing so many new things, in so many respects it's information overload. I suppose if I were comparing it to a learning curve I'd be heading almost vertically at the moment. I have a new home; a new job; I'm in a new country with a new culture, a different climate and I have new friends and no family here! Am I sounding melodramatic?

I've lived in France, Australia and America and travelled around lots of places but nothing could have prepared me for this! It's just so very intense in a way that I've never experienced before. I'm sure it all won't feel like that in a couple of months but right now, every little thing is new to me that every day feels like a week or even a month. It's exciting, challenging, exhausting, scary, intimidating and exhilirating. And I'm happy that I'm doing it because I thought and talked about it ad nauseum for so long. I never believed I would do it - it felt like someone else was going. So now I'm living my life vocariously through myself! If that's possible and not a complete oxymoron (or is it just moron!!)

So I have a new home and there's no question about it, I've NEVER lived like this before. In fact, that's probably the most intense part of this experience and it's not even very African! First of all, we live in something equivalent to a compound. We live on the school grounds and they are surrounded by gates and there are guards (with dogs, albeit very friendly ones... so far... fingers crossed they'll stay that way) patrolling the place all night. It was pretty intimidating at first because the sight of the guards makes it immediately obvious that there ist the possiblity of a threat.

It all probably sounds far worse than it actually is but it's similar to how there are guards outside all banks in Ireland now - there aren't often problems but if they aren't standing there, there may be. Here it's the norm to have a guard because there's such a vast gap between rich and poor that anyone who owns anything needs to protect it. Apparently though there have never been ANY security problems here because the family are very respected for what they've done for the community. And long may it continue!

We can go out of the school at any time, and it's only guarded at night, so it's not as though it's safe to go out on our own. Having said that, us new "vollies" tend to venture out in groups at the moment. I'm sure it makes for interesting viewing for the locals. The local town in just around 6 or 7 kilometres away. As I mentioned before, unfortunately the road is only paved to within about three kilometres of the school, so travelling that last few kilometres from town to the school is pretty hellish as it's along a rocky, uneven dirt track which is a nightmare to drive on and I can only imagine how much it's going to hurt my arse when I cycle on it, not to mention how it will look when it's been raining - a mud bath I would imagine! Aside from that, it's creates enormous problems for the school buses which have to drive along it every day, as they drive the children to and from school. There are regularly problems with the suspension and various other car/ bus parts that I certainly don't know the names of and wouldn't hazard a guess at but you get the drift!

Suffice to say, we're a few kilometres out of town so I'm more isolated that I've been in the past, especially having lived in the heart of Newtown in Sydney for the last few years. There are around 25 of us living in a couple of buildings with a yard inbetween the two buildings. It's a pretty good setup - more than I had hoped for. I really didn't know what to expect in terms of facilities. There's electricity in our building, good cooking facilities and a fridge and a new recreation room has just been finished which will be good as the evening can stretch between dinner and bed (can you believe it, I go to bed around 10.30/11pm! There's no TV here (hallejuia!), not that I had expected one. It's just so nice to have an environment devoid of the babble box! Some people play cards, some go to the local town for things like rugby or yoga, others go and meet friends. Those of us who are new tend to hang around the school, maybe go to the cafe/ bar just outside the gates. I'm sure we'll venture out more in the future. For the moment I'm quite content with this until I get over the culture shock.

I was pretty nervous about the food before I came here. I figured either there wouldn't be enough or I wouldn't like it - either way I would be hungry and that's a state that doesn't suit me!! But I'm happy to report I've yet to be hungry. In fact, I was hoping I might come back just a little emaciated - it would have been a bonus to the trip! But the possiblity of that happening is fairly slim unless I take up some fitness regime (although I'm hopefully that the bouncing of my bike over the rough mud-track terrain might wear away my arse!!!).

Anyhow, back to the food... we prepare breakfast ourselves (cereal or toast). Then, at around 12.15 we get fed at the school with the students, which is whatever the children are eating (often beans, sometimes ugali which is like potato but it's a maize flour). It's really nutritious and filling, if not a little insipid at times but I just load the chilli sauce onto it. But in truth, it's far better than I expected. It's so good to see these little children getting a fantastic, nourishing meal every day that they would never otherwise get at home. My favourite part of lunchtime is when all the children stand to stay grace before the meal - it's very cute! It's a Catholic school by the way, in case the the name School of ST Jude didn't give that away. A lot of the children aren't Catholic and don't have to be, but I guess (admittedly from my limited knowledge) it's just a school run with a Catholic ethos!

Aside from that, it's pretty strange living in such close quarters to so many others. I've lived on my own the last few years (apart from the last couple of months with my dear Niamh and Heidi who I miss)! Having lived alone, I'm used to my own space, my own things and just being able to get away from it all. I'm used to walking down the road to a cafe, bookshop, meeting a friend or just staying at home and watching a movie. Living with 25 others in a very small space AND working with them, well, it's bizarre. It's not a bad thing, in fact it's really quite fascinating. And it's an experience that I'll probably never repeat again so I'm taking it all in. There are people of all nationalities, ages and backgrounds coming and going on a regular basis and it's so interesting to talk to some of them. I'm sure that by the end of my time here I will have met some fantastic, fascinating people - I already have.

In the evenings, we cook together (in two groups as cooking for 25 would be a nightmare). So one person cooks each night for the 12 others and everyone sits down to eat around 7pm. It's very strange for me not be in control of what I cook and eat but I have to say, it's very nice being handed a plate of what has proven to be damn nice food so far. I'll be cooking on Saturday, so I'll probably opt for my signature dish of rissotto and just hope I don't screw it up. I don't remember when I last cooked for so many people and I'd be tempted to make a curry except I've had three this week already!

There's an outside toilet and shower between around ten of us (it sounds worse than it is -thus far I haven't had to ever wait for either of them). The shower works surprisingly well - the water pressure (mostly) is fantastic - better than an Irish shower any day of the week! But then at other times, the pressure is almost negligible so you stand under the drip and hope it hits you.
It's been really good to actually see this place because I had my own little picture of how it all would work but it was like a fairytale in my head. In reality it's the most amazing operation that is just enormous. There's almost 700 kids in the school, over 100 staff (including cleaners, cooks, teachers, admin staff, guards etc.). Gemma, who founded it, really is a human dynamite. She's incredibly hard working and very tough when she has to be. That's obviously why the school is so successful and how she has achieved so much in so little time. By next January a boarding school is due to be finished. It's going to be an enormous job but somehow I think it will happen.

This week I started working in the office. I'm also hoping to do some teaching (drama and maybe some individual tutoring). One of my first jobs was to be the uniform lady! This is the beginning of the academic year and all the new students are getting their new uniforms so I get to take them in, get them their new dresses, jumpers, socks, shoes and hats. We take before and after pictures of them - God they're the cutest things you have ever seen in your life! Most of them, if any at all, have never had new clothes in their lives, especially thbse children from orphanages. Most of them were grinning insanely throughout the whole process. After kitting out the new ones, we'll be re-uniforming half of the rest of the school (about 300). The other half get re-uniformed in June, halfway through the year, so everyone gets re-uniformed once a year! It makes a lot of sense because they grow so quickly here (especially since they get one nourishing meal a day) and they run around a lot in the yard (bless their energy) so the uniforms go through a lot of wear and tear.

More uniforming tomorrow - I've put up a picture of a group of "before" and "after" the uniform process - there really is a remarkable difference in these children after they've had a new set of clothes put on them!

Time to try to sleep in the hot Tanzanian night.... more again soon! : )