Sue and I visited a preschool in Ilula called the Incubator, that has been started by Charles Kifwe who was a student at Tumaini when I was there in 2010 and now is a secondary school teacher at Ngangwe Secondary. The preschool has about 80 students and the teachers do an amazing job of maintaining order. They do some instruction with desks in a small classroom and have found that students from their preschool are doing very well when they go to primary school. Too few young children in Tanzania have the development opportunities that students in the US have. Most homes lack books and educational toys for children. This is changing as there is growing interest in preschools and English medium preschools. The fee for the preschool is 8,000 shillings/month or about $4 per student. This gives them monthly income of about $320 which doesn't leave much for operations after salaries are paid.
Sue and I brought some soap bubbles that Margaret, from our group, had left. When we first arrived there were only a few students and they were afraid of the bubbles but when we returned later, they gained confidence in numbers and the bubbles created quite a stir. Charles reports that the bubbles are still a favorite activity after we left. We have a preschool at our church with about 15 students and hope they can share some of their ideas with their Tanzania counterpart.
Charles with the assembled students in the play area.
Students interested in the camera.
Students in class, notice the UK spelling for colour and the date for Feb 6 as 6/2/17
