The Great TZ Debaters

One of the greatest joys of this year at Joseph and Mary Academy has been the re-introduction of clubs. In an attempt to enhance our curriculum beyond the traditional Tanzanian syllabi and to continue to mold our students into future leaders with adequate critical thinking, problem solving, and creative skills, we have introduced a weekly club time with a focus on skills not necessarily obtained in a classroom.


Every Tuesday our students enjoy clubs ranging from vocational skills, to arts and crafts, to singing, to drama, to permaculture, journalism and drama. The club that I co-sponsor, Debate, has been working all year to improve students’ confidence in speaking English, public speaking skills, annunciation, and vocabulary through English games and competitions. On occasion, when feeling really mean, we make one of our debaters stand up in front of the club and perform English tongue-twisters with a white-board marker in their mouth (always generates some laughs).

This past month the drama club, led by 7th grade teacher Mr. Freddrick, and in conjunction with secondary school English teacher Mr. Voston, hosted JBFC and Joseph and Mary’s very first “general debate.” Attended by over 150 students, a dozen teachers, several administrators, a couple of curious Masai security guards, a few guests, a couple herders, and four or five cows, the event was one of the largest events held to date at JBFC’s new dining hall.



As a twist, the debate competition was formatted to model the Tanzanian government’s parliament. Mock government officials were elected and the proceedings and traditions of government followed to a T. The President (Eliza) was joined by a Prime Minister (Leticia), Judges (Teddy and Athumani), a Sergeant in Arms, two chair-people (Jackie and Baraka) and various ministers of health, education (Jonas), and finance (Richard Boniface).


The motion for debate- urban life is better than rural life- is an important debate in the lives of the children at JBFC and at Joseph and Mary Academy. For many of them, the topic is not something to simply be debated at school, but a decision that will impact their lives for years to come. After finishing school many of them will be forced to decide whether to stay on the family farm or move to the city to look for employment, to educate their own kids in their home villages or bring them to better schools in the cities, to support development sometimes at the expense of the environment or fight for tighter regulations.



The two sides convincingly debated points such as pollution, access to health care, quality of education, development money, transportation and employment opportunities- topics rarely mentioned here in Tanzanian classrooms. The “proposing side,” arguing that urban life is indeed better than rural life, was deemed the winners at the end of the day receiving 28 points to the “opposing” side’s 17 points.


After the debate I was able to ask a couple of JBFC’s high school girls what they thought of the debate and, more importantly, if they thought it was important and helpful.

According to Liku, the debate “is important so we can continue to learn to be confident in front of people.”
 
Eliza added that “debate is a chance for us to practice problem solving that we don’t always get.”

















Seth Diemond is JBFC's Campus Director, the Co-sponsor of the Joseph & Mary Debate Club and always quick with a counter-argument.

Creating Global Citizens

 

Many of our recent blogs, Facebook and Twitter posts, have been about the many and various guests we have had through our campus this guest season (the time of year when our campus is full of volunteers). Most of these posts focus on all of the great things these guests have done for our children, staff and campus in general.

 
While all of these guests and interns have left an incredible mark on our campus this year, one of the things I am most passionate about is what they, the volunteers themselves, walk away with.


Because this trip isn’t just about what our volunteers do on campus or for our girls. It’s also about the transformation and personal growth that happens to our young volunteers. In between the cooking and cleaning, the planting and fertilizing, the tutoring and playing, we at JBFC, try to impart an important message to our young volunteers – change is possible and YOU can be a part of it.



It is our hope, at JBFC, that these teenagers return home with a new perspective on the world, a renewed belief in what kinds of change are possible, and a drive to find what their role in this changing world can be.


Through my own story, the story of how JBFC has developed, and the stories of each and every staff our visitors interact with, our volunteers see real life examples of change, empowerment and successful programming. We try to emphasize that what looks like a big, complicated system, all started with a single decision, a single action. And it’s those kinds of small steps that they are more than capable of making. To me, this is what makes JBFC’s summer program different than most voluntourism trips or mission trips. Our trip isn’t just about the two-week experience. We want our trip to plant the seeds of global citizenship for a lifetime.  



It is my hope that all of our volunteers become life-long partners in helping JBFC end extreme rural poverty, and that this experience is just the first step in helping them understand their responsibility and place in doing just that.



So, for all of you who have visited this summer- we are excited to have you as a part of our family and have truly enjoyed sharing our lives and stories with each one of you. I hope you learned more than what you thought possible and are inspired to make a change in the world wherever you are.



And for those of you, who have not had the opportunity to come and experience this one-of-a-kind cross-cultural experience, I welcome you and hope that we can one day see you in Tanzania.

Editor's Note: For more information on volunteering at JBFC, please click here.





When he was still in high school, Chris Gates volunteered at a boys' home in Tanzania, before going on to create JBFC in 2006. He now leads the organization as its Executive Director and spends most of his time in Tanzania.

Job Well Done!

Editor's Note: JBFC's Guest Coordinator, Travis Purser, gives a shout out to all of the high school groups who have visited and worked hard for JBFC over the last three months.


Six months ago, I made the decision to move to JBFC to work as a volunteer. I was a bit unsure as to what I would be doing here, but the opportunity to go to Africa and work with children was something I couldn’t pass up.



I was excited to say the least, but nothing could have prepared me for the abundant amount of joy that has been introduced into my life. After a couple months, I was offered the Guest Coordinator position giving me a chance to not only work for JBFC, but watch other volunteers or school groups understand how truly remarkable JBFC is.




Since my time as Guest coordinator we have had Deerfield Academy from Deerfield, Massachusetts; Lowell Whiteman School from Steamboat Springs, Colorado; Brunswick School from Greenwich, Connecticut; and Holland Hall from Tulsa, Oklahoma. We are also excited to welcome back Bronxville High School students who will be joining us from New York, on June 27th.





The help these schools provide us is amazing. Deerfield helped record the height and weight of every student at Joseph and Mary school, as well as, 300 students from the Kitongo Public School, which will help us follow the nutritional health of the children in the area. And they helped freshen up the girls' dining hall with new paint and a personal touch (handprint design on the walls).

 

 

Lowell Whiteman and Holland Hall helped create bamboo pyramids that are placed in the sweet potato rows, helping provide shade for the more sun sensitive beans that now can be planted inside the sweet potato rows, utilizing as much land as possible to produce more food for JBFC. 

Brunswick did tough work out in the fields, tilling and removing weeds and thick brush from a large area, which we are now able to plant beans and cabbage. Working on the farm can be a tough and sometimes very daunting task, yet the attitude and spirit of all these groups were always positive and their work ethic was incredible. Great job, everyone!

 

 

 

Along with work on the farm, educational support was also provided by these incredible schools. Deerfield had several student-led lectures to the 7th grade and 4th grades. Lowell Whiteman became tutors and helped the JBFC girls study during their Easter Break. Literacy games and lessons from Holland Hall were both a blast to watch and helpful to our girls who are always learning and practicing English.

 

 

Everyone loved Reading Buddies, which is a time in the afternoon where our volunteers get to read a book with one of our girls, is fun and helps them develop a better understanding of English.

But the most notable thing to me, about all our guests, was their ability to create incredible bonds with the JBFC girls. I want to thank Deerfield, Lowell Whiteman, Brunswick and Holland Hall for all of your help. I promise your work and presence here has impacted JBFC and you’re missed, but we look forward to seeing you again next year!

For more information on volunteering at JBFC or to book a trip, click here.

Travis Purser, Tulsa, OK, is a JBFC volunteer turned guest coordinator.

JBFC Interns

During summer, JBFC is bustling with guests. We have a wide range of guests from high school groups to families to our ever-growing summer internship program. The internship program is an opportunity for youth to come spend a longer period of time at JBFC with ownership over a certain area of need for JBFC.

Here is a little about the interns on campus right now.










Peter Kowarick is from Bronxville, NY and has been our Right to Play coordinator for the last couple of months. He has played soccer and capture the flag for countless hours with our school children and JBFC girls. He loved it here so much he decided to stay at JBFC for another month!

Camille Sokolosky, a student at Oklahoma State University, is working on reorganizing our entire library based on literacy level. She has researched the reading level of each and every one of our books on very, very slow Tanzanian Internet. She has re-labeled all the books and is working to shelve the books based on reading level. Kids will now be able to go straight to the section of the library suited for their reading skills.

Borna Kassiri comes to us from Duke University and is a pre-med student who is focusing on science at Joseph and Mary Schools. He brought a binder full of experiments with him and has taught our teachers and students numerous labs. He is also helping us design our new science lab!

Anna Sokolosky is a student at Holland Hall in Tulsa and veteran JBFC volunteer. She is putting her excellent photography skills to work for us this summer. She is helping us put together our first ever Joseph and Mary School Yearbook. She photographed each student in the entire school before we closed for break last week.

Rachel Dow, also from Holland Hall, when not working on the launch of the yearbook, is our resident organizer. She is my personal hero for taking the storeroom in the Rock House by the horns. She is re-organizing everything that is in the storeroom, as well as sorting, inventorying and labeling donations that arrived this summer with the various guest groups. Once she’s done, the girls will get some new clothes, which I know they are all very excited about.

Felix Kowarick, a high school student at Fordham Prep in Bronx, NY, is a jack of all trades. He has been working hard on the farm, helping to sand and varnish the chairs at Papa’s, and yesterday, he and his brother, Peter, counted all the trees on campus. Anyone that has been on campus lately knows that that’s quite the feat.

I also want to give a special shout-out to Hana McGinis and Shannon Foley who have already gone back to the US, but spent a month here doing literacy evaluations of the JBFC girls.


Without the interns, the summer would be a lot less fun for both the girls and the staff alike.You’ll be hearing a lot more from the interns in coming weeks as they blog about their experiences here at JBFC.


If you're interested in volunteering at JBFC next summer, please click here for details.











Blogger Melinda Wulf is JBFC's Administrative Director and oversees the summer interns.

 

 

 

Children of Africa Day: Part 2

Editor's Note: Children of Africa Day is June 16th. Our last blog told you about the history of the holiday and why we use it to celebrate our girls' birthdays. This blog from JBFC's Campus Director, Seth Diemond, explains how we celebrated this campus-wide birthday party this year. If you'd like to help us celebrate, by donating to our Children of Africa Day campaign click here.

Children of Africa Day or Siku ya Watoto wa Africa in Kiswahili, is an incredibly special day here at JBFC.


Celebrating 44 birthdays in one day is a challenge- it means we must provide the birthday party necessities on a massive scale. This year, like most years, the birthday festivities included more than just the 44 girls.



We were lucky enough to have six guests from Holland Hall, six wonderful interns, JBFC’s international administrative staff, and dozens of local employees in attendance. Various other guests stopped in throughout the day including neighbors, Joseph and Mary students, a couple of confused fishermen, the Masai security guards, and of course, dogs Cony and Maggie. All in all, our girls’ birthday party was roughly 100 strong- if not more- and included all the makings of a good day.



Preparations started a week ago here on campus. The girls selected six leaders from the girls’ government to form a “planning committee” that was responsible for organizing the day’s events. The girls met for over an hour, two nights in a row, discussing everything from decorations, to games and food, to soda and juice, to special guests and scheduling.




At their final meeting they created a list of “requests” to be submitted for approval- including a budget. Sausages, cake, beef, pizza, burgers, chicken, pilau (Tanzanian spiced rice with potatoes), salad, soda, juice, dancing, movies, water fights, and practically every other party activity imaginable were originally on the list. After a little bit of narrowing down, the list was approved and the preparations could begin.

On Monday morning the girls started cooking at 7AM. They prepared pancakes and fresh fruit for breakfast and by 10AM had already lit the charcoal fire outside for the BBQ chicken. In the kitchen, the scent of spiced rice was palpable by 11AM and six full crates of soda sat in the corner.

 A group of girls marched up to Chris’ house to use his blender to make fresh passion juice. Another group baked two cakes in the Papa’s kitchen. Still another group peeled potatoes for French Fries on the veranda outside of the dorms. Our Holland Hall guests, assisted by some of the younger girls, helped turn the dinning hall into a dance floor- a DJ booth, ceiling decorations, and wall decorations.





By 2PM the party was on. The girls, dressed in their best outfits, danced to Tanzanian pop songs while guests arrived. After a short welcoming from Mzee Kitula (JBFC’s campus manager and on-site MC), the JBFC choir performed three songs that they had been practicing all week before inviting everyone for lunch- starting with the youngest girls first. The final menu- slimed down from the original request- included pilau, salad, French Fries, BBQ chicken, BBQ pork, hot dogs, fresh fruit, and soda. Following dinner, our Holland Hall guests handed out gift bags to all of our girls and some of our neighborhood children.


As is ritual, the day ended with a massive every-man-women-child-for –themselves- water fight that lasted over an hour. Everyone was soaked- and usually soaked again after attempting to change clothes- but loved it.

Indeed, the party had all the trappings of a birthday party- most notably a family and community’s love.

 

 

 

Children of Africa Day

Watoto wa Africa or Children of Africa Day is June 16th. It’s a holiday that’s celebrated throughout the continent of Africa and is a truly special time of year at JBFC.


The holiday’s history is really about raising awareness about the plight of children. On June 16th, 1976, hundreds of South Africans marched and died trying to get better education for their children. In honor of their struggle, June 16th has become known as Children of Africa Day.





At JBFC, the holiday is one big party. Many of our girls don’t know their birthdates. So, Children of Africa Day is the day we celebrate everyone’s birthdays as a family.



The day is filled with singing and dancing, games and presents, and culminating in a gigantic water slide and massive water balloon fight. And it’s become one of the favorite days on JBFC’s campus for guests.



Here’s what they’ve had to say about the holiday over the years:



“My most memorable experience was on Watoto Africa when we had a water fight. It was so fun to see how much the girls were enjoying it. I loved being a part of something so fun for them.”




“My favorite day was Children of Africa day. Just having little fun things to give to the girls and watching them sing and dance was so fun. The food was also muy bueno.”



“I loved Watoto Africa. It was so fun to see all the girls dressed up and they all enjoyed the party.”



“Children of Africa Day: a genuine experience to spend time with the girls and celebrate. It warmed my heart to sing and dance with them and watch them open presents. It was a great bonding opportunity that I won’t forget.”

Children of Africa Day is a celebration. A celebration of the family JBFC has created, the childhoods restored, and the chances for brighter futures that these girls have thanks to our friends and supporters.



If you’d like to wish a JBFC girl happy birthday, click here to join the celebration.

Seeing Clearly

In May, JBFC was fortunate to have a team of medical professionals visit our campus in Tanzania. They did dozens of health check-ups, seeing JBFC's 300 students and many of our staff members. One of those volunteers, Megan Kirkpatrick, wanted to help those who weren't seeing clearly and may not have even known it. Here are some pictures from her time at JBFC and her thoughts about her trip:

I wanted to bring eyeglasses to Tanzania because I know that 1 in 5 children have vision problems which can prevent them from learning to their fullest. Although not all of them can be corrected with glasses alone, most of them will benefit from the glasses which were brought for them.

Sunglasses are very important in Tanzania because they are so close to the equator and get intense sun exposure. Due to the increase sun exposure, sun damage to the eyes can be seen at a much earlier age. Some of the 10-year-olds we saw had severe enough sun damage that we usually don't see changes like that until patients are in their 50s.

 

 

Some girls weren't to thrilled to hear they were getting glasses, but once they received them you could see their faces light up! I was able to ask some of them how school was the next day with their glasses, and they were so thankful to have them.

 

 My experience at JBFC was wonderful! I have been on many medical trips like this before, but have never had such young women and men be so thankful and appreciative for our services and the glasses and sunglasses they had received.

They would always make sure to bring their glasses back everyday and I was able to see them wear them.

 It made my experience so wonderful and I can't wait to go back again!
 

 

 

Megan and all of us at JBFC would like to thank the following companies for providing our students with prescription glasses and sunglasses: Modern Optical International, Doug Rogers and Hoya Vision, Dr. Jeff Ross, Restoring Vision, Steve & Vicki Kirkpatrick.

 

 

Budding JBFC Journalists

With a Journalism degree and a high school career on the newspaper staff under my belt, it was only fitting for me to initiate a Journalism Club at Joseph and Mary Schools.

 A school newspaper and yearbook are such foreign concepts to our students, it took a few weeks to get across what we hope to create.



So we enlisted guests from the United States to bring newspapers and printed copies of yearbook pages over to Tanzania just so we could show the kids what we had in mind. They pored over the pages of the examples we showed them for the entire club period.

We had a photography workshop one day where we split the club into two groups and did a walking tour of campus. The kids stopped and took pictures of things on campus that they could write an article about. The two groups then joined up and told each other what they took pictures of and the seeds of their potential stories. These are the images that caught their eyes.

We held a brainstorming session to choose a school newspaper name and had each student write down a potential name and put it in a ballot box. Watch for the Joseph and Mary Vision, coming to a newsstand near you very soon!


We look forward to two of our ambassadors arriving this week to help us kick off the yearbook project. Our hope is to create a yearbook very similar to what you see in the States. So item number one on the list for them is taking school pictures! Each class, club and individual student and teacher will have their picture taken for the yearbook.

Stay tuned for updates throughout the year, and perhaps even some guest blogging from our Journalism Club. I am so proud of our budding journalists and photographers at Joseph and Mary Schools.







Blogger Melinda Wulf is the faculty sponsor for Joseph & Mary School Journalism Club and the Administrative Director for JBFC.