Bomalang'ombe School Visit

Bomalang'ombe means enclosure(boma) for(la) cattle(ng'ombe) and the school sits on a plateu in a valley of grassy hillsides.  The school plants pine trees on the fields so they can harvest lumber after about 10-15 years of growth.  They are staggering plots so they will be able to harvest every year in the future.  They are also fortunate to have a fruit canning company nearby which has hydrolectric power and piped water that the school has access to.

View from school, notice the different plantings of pine trees.

Crops are planted in the valley where there is more moisture. The burned area has many flowers and may be in preparation for new tree plantings.

The school has 415 students in 4 forms with expansion plans for 5 more classrooms, laboratories, and a library to accommodate 720 students, including adding Form V and VI.  Trinity Lutheran Church in Stillwater has been supporting the school with building construction, science laboratory materials, and a well.  With that support and the water and electricity supply, Bomalang'ombe is blessed with hard resources but like any school in Tanzania, quality education is still a challenge.

They have 21 teachers with 8 having degrees and 13 diploma holders.  I met with three science teachers, one who had a degree in agricultural economics and two that are Form VI leavers.  We set up to do the practical like at the other school and also took apart a couple D cell batteries to get the graphite electrode in the middle and did electrolysis of water and salt solutions. Then we set up to do the practical with the students. The instructions were given in Kiswahili, unlike at the other two schools, and I had an impression from speaking with some of the students that English might not be used here as much.  I had a nice conversation with a group of students who did speak English well after the practicals.  They had many questions about things in the US like when someone dies does a relative inherit the wife, what happens to the property when a man dies (they were surprised to learn that it goes to the wife since the man's family often lays claim to it here), why do we only allow one wife and a lot of questions about farming in the US.

Lab Microscopes and balances which have not been used yet.

Yet another titration photo to show some students.

Boys dorm and playing 'keep away' with a soccer ball.

 Classes were not being held this week due to preparations for graduation on Sunday.  The canceling of classes for a variety of reasons in endemic with it being common at Tumaini University also.  There were two girls from Germany volunteering at Bomalang'ombe for six weeks to teach English and Mathematics.  They just graduated from Secondary School and were taking half a year to travel before going to University.  They will be in Tanzania for 3 months working at two schools and then go on to Ho Chi Min City, Laos, and Thailand before returning to Germany.  They said that most of the students in their class were taking big trips abroad but usually to the US or Australia.  I told them that most Secondary school graduates in the US would not be so bold to travel like that and some do gap year trips after college.  I left some cheese, bread, drink mixes, and toilet paper, all valuable commodities for a westerner in a village for 6 weeks. I stayed in the headmasters room in the house where the German girls were staying.

Girls dorm in front and headmasters house in back.

Bomalang'ombe has a computer lab with computers from Global Outreach.  Some of them are infected with viruses but most are working and are Pentium P4s with 30-50 GB hard drives.  I left some CDs with content such as past NECTA exams and study guides, digital science textbooks, physics videos, and the entire New Testament in audio mp3 files.  The latter can be used for Bible Studies and also to practice listening to English.  I also left some copies of a couple of the "Mini Books" designed by the staff of Mwangaza Partnership for Education.  Mini Books are two sided pages folded to look like a book with a story in English, related vocabulary words and a grammar lesson, and also content material such as nutrition or anatomy that is related to the story.  They prepared lesson plans to go with the books and each student should be given their own copy of the book.  I gave the materials to Violet, an English teacher, who will work with the German girls and I hope they can send me some feedback on how the books were received by the students.

Computer lab with about a dozen computers.  They also can get 3G internet at Bomalang'ombe.

This last trip to three schools turned out to be shorter than planned because of the need for the vehicle back in Iringa.  I think there may be a lot of value in longer stays like what the girls from Germany are doing and this may be something to discuss with Pastor Ngogo who is coordinating my visit and will be visiting Minnesota in November.