Tuesday, December 21, 2010

A Challenge with Education in Tanzania

When we first opened the school a year ago, I thought we were in way over our heads. The behavior of the students definitely left something to be desired, but I was much more concerned about our teachers. The students, I knew, would eventually come around. Before we opened school, we had led a 2-week staff development to try to get everyone on the same page. We covered tons of topics, from individualizing lesson plans, to group work, to overall school structure. We all left excited and I was hopeful for the weeks ahead.

Hopefulness ended day one when I realized very little of what we had covered in staff development actually sank in. All of the teachers had reverted back to their ‘stand only at the board, the student is always wrong’ mentality, having not a care in the world about the learning that needed to take place. I felt a little stupid for being so hopeful, having fully known this is how education is viewed across the country.

We took the next several months taking the approach of working with each teacher individually, giving periodical evaluations which only had one, maybe two suggestions at a time. Slowly, the feel of the classroom and the school started to change, and to date, our teachers are much more eager to experiment with different methodologies. We still have a long ways to go, but we are extremely happy with the progress thus far.

I bring all of this up not to praise ourselves for the progress we’ve had, but to try to help paint a picture of one of the main challenges facing the entire Tanzanian education system- teacher education and training. Sure, there are not enough teachers in Tanzania in general, but I believe the greater question is “are the teachers we do have good teachers?’ I think so many people, especially ones in administrative positions like myself, focus on numbers and forget some of these greater qualitative questions. We could have a 1:1 teacher-student ratio across the country and still not raise the standard of education because the teachers are not adequately trained. Don’t misunderstand me either. I do not believe there are enough teachers currently in Tanzania. I am merely talking about our focus and where it should be as we look at the bigger picture and talk about scalability, both of JBFC and on a more macro level.

You may be asking yourself- what is the answer to this complex question? What needs to be done? And, I am not going to answer that yet, as this is a solution we are still trying to work out ourselves. It is a complex issue, dealing with systematically changing a long-standing behavior structure, and it must be worked with slowly, which is exactly what we are doing in our little corner of the world.

Friday, December 17, 2010

We are the champions!

We are just back from a 5 day trip to Arusha, where we travelled to take home the gold from an international soccer tournament. We took 28 kids, with me, Rachel, and of course the coach, Ashley. The trip, I can say since we are back now, could not have gone smoother. For the first time in my African life, we did not have a car break down. Mind you, this is a little more than a minor miracle, seeing as we went through both the Serengeti and Ngorongoro National Parks.

The first night of our trip, we camped on the rim of the Ngorongoro crater. Manoj, our travel agent, let us use some of his tents, so we were set. We brought pasta and hot dogs for dinner, cooked over firewood, and watched the sun set over the crater. It was a picture perfect scene, albeit the girls thought they were going to die from the cold. It was good we only stayed one night, becuase the sniffles started the next morning, and we were out of there. We didn't want our players getting sick.

For the tournament, we stayed at an incredible boarding school, St. Jude's, which is a school devoted to alleviating poverty. They have incredible facilities, including hot water in the teachers' rooms and a grass field. They also had an incredible library which was inspiring for all of us.

The tournament started on Saturday, and we only played 2 games. One of the other teams we were slotted to play did not show up, so it was a fairly easy day. We had our challenging points in the game, including myself loosing it with the ref, but our girls were definitely the most fit and practiced team in the tournament. By the end of each game, our girls were ready to keep going, were the opponents were on their knees with exhaustion. We won both games 1-0, one game scored by Neema, and another by Tabu.

The final day, Sunday, we started, and again, the refs were favoring the other team. The team we were playing in the finals were the hosts of the entire tournament. However, after a little half-time talk with the refs and tournament officials at half-time (Ashley did the talking, while I stayed with the girls- my competitive streak came out), the playing field was a little more fair. However, our girls were so bitter after the first half that they came out with a fiery force. They played incredibly, knowing down anyone who came in their path, and we ended up winning the game 1-0, again, Neema's score leading us to victory.

After the game, there was lunch, some team building exercises with the other teams, and an awards ceremony. Our girls also took home 3 of the 4 personal awards awarded to players. Pili for best goalkeeper, Neema for best defender, and Tabu for best striker. We left the field pretty early, and headed back to St. Jude's where we rested, packed, and had dinner before an early bedtime.

Monday, we left Arusha around 4AM so as to make it back to Kitongo in one day, and we were all back on campus by 5PM. Again, no car or other issues on the road, just a long day of bumps! We weren't able to tell the people who stayed back much about the tournament, because they had been following us on the radio, and would constantly hear how the "JBFC Mwanza girls' team is fierce!" All in all, an incredible trip, and incredible confidence booster for all of our girls. It is amazing to see how the villagers keep coming up and congratulating the players, and how much pride there is in this girls' team- something extremely rare in this area. Now we are setting our sights on an international tournament with 60 teams from across Africa next August in Nairobi. We have lots to do before then, but we are hoping to be able to bring home the gold there, as well.

Finally, we would like to thank everyone who made our Arusha trip possible. Without your financial support, we would not have been able to make this happen, and all of us in the JBFC family are extremely grateful. Thank You!

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Redefining our Labels

I want to take a minute to describe something very important to me and I think something central to the JBFC model and what makes it so successful. I am going to start by talking about some of our issues with the word “orphanage” and “orphan”, primarily its usage to describe our girls. I think before I dive into this, however, I want to describe a conversation I had a while back with one of our girls, so as to paint a clearer picture. It started by me asking what her definition of the word orphan was, and what her feelings were associated with that word. Her definition were pretty much the same answer any one of us would give, but the “feeling behind the word” was incredibly touching, and helped me to see that we are doing a good job raising our girls. She expressed that the word orphan represents hopelessness and a life of poverty, something she herself does not associate with. Yes, they could have been thrown into that category if it wasn’t for JBFC, but because of this family (albeit non-traditional) had given them a second shot at life, they were filled with hope and had a life full of potential ahead of them. Therefore, even though they had unfortunate, and sometimes traumatic backgrounds, they are not orphans. They are simply children.

This brings me to the second point on the word “orphanage”, and how it is so often used to describe JBFC. Because of my background, and how JBFC started, it was often associated with traditional orphanages. Despite telling even close family members countless times about my views on the words and the inaccuracy of usage in describing JBFC with that word, it is relatable, and people understand and sympathize with the word. A traditional orphanage, in my opinion, is simply a place to care for and raise children. There are many wonderful organizations that do an incredible job raising and loving children as if they were their own (much like we do), but I have a firm belief that we cannot stop there, especially when you are working in developing countries. By simply stopping at raising, and possibly educating a child, you are missing huge potential, and will ultimately set a child up for failure once they leave the “orphanage” because there is no infrastructure, market, or support within their communities. You are taking a child out of a certain environment, raising them in a wonderful home for many years, then returning them to the same environment they came with. Hopefully, they will have the skills needed to survive in that environment, but surviving is not the same as thriving. That is where we differ at JBFC. We are working to change communities in order to truly and effectively change lives. Ultimately, we hope that our girls will become empowered, educated women who are change-makers in their own society.

Friday, November 19, 2010

A Documentary About JBFC: Little by Little

It seemed so long ago that Ashli Sims and I were talking about the dream of creating a documentary of the ins and outs of JBFC. It is an incredible idea, but it seemed to be quite the challenge. However, thanks to Ashli and her fellow filmmaker Jonathan Wooley, the dream is about to become a reality. It will be an incredible platform to share our story, our start, what makes each and every member of JBFC tick, and how JBFC has touched the lives of so many people.

But, we need your help to get this dream to the big screen. Ashli and Jonathan have launched a new blog and have begun the incredibly fun process of fundraising. I really encourage you to check out their blog and learn more about the film, filmmakers, and how you can become involved. Please share this link to as many people as possible so that we can start spreading the word about "Little by Little".

http://littlebylittlemovie.wordpress.com/

If you are interested in assisting with fundraising, visit their Kickstart page at:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1801105660/little-by-little

The documentary's title, Little by Little, comes from a Tanzanian proverb. "Little by little, a little becomes a lot." It pretty much sums up what JBFC has done for Tanzanian orphans. And if you give a little and you ask a friend to give a little... a little will become a lot. And we can see "Little by Little" become a reality.

A little about Ashli Sims, JBFC Board Member and New on 6 Reporter:

As a veteran television journalist, Ashli Sims has spent the last eight years telling stories that matter at KOTV in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She graduated from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, was a contributing producer for the Emmy-award winning education series “Raising the Grade,” and has been honored three times with the Marshall Gregory Award for year-long education reporting by the Oklahoma Education Association. Sims has done several stories on Chris Gates and JBFC from his hometown of Tulsa and she’s eager to tell the rest of the story from his home in Tanzania.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Why Africa? Why not help in our own backyard?

When I am speaking about our work in Tanzania, a question that seems to consistently arise, is: why there, why Tanzania? Why go halfway around the world, when there are so many people here in the America that need your help? It is an interesting question, and one that I have thought long and hard about, and my answer changes slightly from time to time. This very question was recently posed to me by Ashli Sims (JBFC Board Member and News on 6 Reporter), who is working on JBFC's documentary "Little by Little." We were exchanging emails and Ashli, with her incredible persistence, kept trying to figure out what makes JBFC and me tick. She wanted to know the ins and outs of why and how I am doing, and this question kept coming to the surface, despite my best efforts to evade the question.

She has recently compiled my answers to many of her questions, and I thought it would be interesting to share some of her journalistic work on why I am doing what I am doing...

I believe we all have a calling in life, we all have a purpose. If we all followed this calling, the world would be a much better place. I truly feel that Tanzania and these girls, this work, is my calling in life. I am right at home and I feel this is where I should be, doing exactly what I should be doing... I agree there are tons of girls, people, animals, and environmental issues in America that need help, but I also believe that in America, we have the luxury of systems that work to protect and assist people. I have worked in the public sector in New York, and I know how frustrating the bureaucracy and the formalities of our systems can be...however there are systems in place in America, and compared to Tanzania, they work like a very well-oiled machine (mind you, this is definitely in comparison). Since there is a complete lack of systems in Africa, and the third world, I believe these children and the impoverished lives that most people lead, require more help in Tanzania, than is needed in America. When we are working in Tanzania - we are the only system in place to help these people. Whereas in America, there are tons of opportunities, comparatively, that help people bring themselves out of hard times.

MSNBC Appearance with Alex Witt

Here is the link to my appearance on MSNBC last Sunday with Alex Witt. Pass this link around to your friends and families and help us spread the word of JBFC and what we are doing to help alleviate poverty and rescue children in Tanzania!

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Mwenge (Freedom Torch)

The freedom torch is a national government honor bestowed upon organizations that are making a significant impact ont he communities of Tanzania. It also shows the government's new commitment to assisting JBFC with our needs as we expand.