Graduation Day at Awet

Awet Secondary School was buzzing last Thursday as graduation ceremonies were held for the Form four students. Of course, they haven't actually graduated yet -- they write their exams in October -- but everybody forgot that little detail for the day and had a really fun time. Our summer volunteers, who are now back home in North America, will be pleased to know that Awet brought in DJs with an excellent sound system from Karatu town (run on generator) and we danced to Marlaw's "Pi Pi" on autoplay...

On a serious note, keeping in mind that Awet Secondary School is the top performer in Karatu District and 17th out of 78 secondary schools in Arusha Region, school statistics from 2008 show that of a total of 122 Form four students (65 girls and 57 boys), only 12 girls but 41 boys qualified for acceptance into A levels (Form five and six), the entrance way to higher education. Another 37 girls scored Division "four", which although considered a pass does not gain them acceptance into A levels, and 13 girls were out of the running completely.

Students throughout Tanzania write standardized national exams, and this is a challenge especially for rural schools where it's a constant struggle to attract and retain good teachers and just keep up with day to day living.  But the low performance of girls is very disturbing. We hope to help turn this around at Awet with support for the girls' hostel, which will allow girls to escape most of the drudgery of endless chores and focus instead on their education, and a continued focus on gender issues and creating an environment in which girls can build their self-confidence.

Bunda District

After focusing our work in Karatu District, Arusha Region during the past six years, CPAR Tz is now expanding northwesterly into Bunda District in Mara Region, near Lake Victoria. We'll be implementing our new five-year Food Security project in both districts. Our team is presently in Bunda District preparing to facilitate a participatory baseline exercise in rural communities.

These are the members of Ragata Village Council. On the right is Gerald, Bunda District Crop Officer.


Here's Gerald, Japhet and Mohammed with members of the Village Council of Karukekere.

On arrival in Bunda earlier this week, CPAR Tz's team found the district under quarantine with a cholera outbreak. However, Bunda District Health Department has taken swift measures to control the outbreak so it is pretty much business as usual with severe food restrictions and a big emphasis on hygiene.

Travel between Karatu and Bunda involves a safari through Ngorongoro and Serengeti National Parks, so we're essentially guaranteed an encounter with giraffe, zebra, wildebest, elephants and lions. On a recent trip we even observed a pair of cheetahs sauntering through the savannah, and watched two lionesses stalk a herd of gazelles.

Awet Girls' Hostel Today

The hostel is looking great! The fundis are doing finishing work and painting inside, and we brought the windows and the doors to the site today. In case anyone's wondering why the site hasn't been crawling with fundis (construction workers), it's because Sadiqi is big on quality control. Too many cooks....



Speaking of food, the students have harvested maize (corn) from the school farm so were 'busy' shucking corn today. The maize is boiled together with beans to create "makande", a nutritious yet tasty mainstay of the school diet.

Party at Qaru Lambo Primary School

We were invited to Qaru Lambo Primary School to celebrate their new rainwater harvesting tanks and latrines. The kids put on an amazing show -- lots of drumming, dancing and singing. There's a seasonal "lambo" (slough) nearby where they had been getting their drinking water, leading to all sorts of stomach problems. Now they're making jokes about it...


This project is supported by students at Kildonan-East Collegiate in Winnipeg as part of a larger program of development education and action. They're learning about development issues in the classroom and initiating a variety of activities, including selling perogies Perogy Power, to raise funds to support development initiatives in the field in Karatu District. Next year 2010 they will visit Tanzania to see and experience "development" in action.