What We're Thankful For

Editor's Note: Every Thanksgiving, we take a little time to talk to the JBFC Girls about what they're thankful for this holiday season. While Thanksgiving is an American holiday, gratitude is universal. And it's definitely in abundance at JBFC. Thank you so much for being a part of the JBFC family. We are all thankful for you!








Reka, 15

I want to thank all people who think about us and take their time to love us; I'm thankful for my loving family, we help each other everyday; and I want to thank God for everyday.



 

 Neema Mdogo, 10

I'm thankful for God and everything He has done; thankful for Donors who support me at JBFC; and thankful for My Family at JBFC.



 

Pendo, 12
I thank God for everything; I'm thankful for having shelter and food; and I'm thankful for the Mommas, who take care of me.




 
Happiness, 14

I'm thankful for all who help me in my education; thankful for food and a homes to sleep in; and thankful for Chris and all the teachers for teaching us how to be good people in the future.

Jackie, 14
I thank God for everything he has done; I'm thankful for the teachers for everything they have taught me and everything they have done; thankful for all the sponsors who give me food, and shelter and education.






Gertruda, 9

I'm thankful for all my sisters and Mommas at JBFC; thankful for my education; and thankful for Chris and everyone who care for me at JBFC.

Abby, 13

I want to thank the Matrons, Directors and teachers for everything they have done for me. I want to thank the donors for giving me an education and food and home. I'm thankful for everyday.





To watch a video from the JBFC Girls, click the link below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Et17t2097BQ&feature=youtu.be

JBFC Tech Update: Sharing the Joy of Learning

Editor's Note: Blogger Melinda Wulf shares the latest on JBFC's high-tech boost which aims to integrate technology like e-readers, tablets, and an intranet system to improve education at Joseph & Mary Schools. We would like to extend a special thanks to Nina McManus, a JBFC Ambassador from Bronxville, NY for raising the funds for the Kobos and Deerfield Teachers, Kristan and Ben Bakker for providing the RACHEL Pi program, which is giving JBFC teachers and students access to Kahn Academy videos and hundreds of other educational resources.



Oh, Technology! We love technology here at JBFC. We may be in rural Tanzania, but that doesn’t stop our teachers and students from enjoying Kobo tablets and eReaders here on campus. JBFC now has nearly 100 eReaders and dozens of tablets, thanks to a JBFC ambassador from New York, Nina McManus, who was committed to bringing technology to JBFC's campus.


The secondary school at JBFC has integrated eReader time into their English curriculum and scheduled library time during the 2014 school year. When we first introduced the program, the kids would ask me after school, “Can we PLEASE use Kobos tomorrow?” They love them so much we had some of our Form 3 students break into groups to articulate why that is.

The general consensus from all the groups was that the Kobos have taught them better English, including how to pronounce words, the meaning of words, and how to construct sentences with proper grammar and tenses. They are now able to understand the themes from the various books they have read.          

“As English is a second language to most of us students, Kobos facilitate easy reading and allow us to acquire more knowledge in reading and writing the language,” said one group that designated themselves the "Kobo Veterans."

 

The one thing that really made me proud of the Kobo program, though, was the fact that the students feel their self-confidence building because of the Kobos. They have no fear when speaking in front of the class about things they have studied in the Kobos and they say their vocabulary is growing day by day.

Click here to see JBFC students and the eReaders in action.

Now that we have the Arc tablets on campus, we expect to see this knowledge and confidence continue to blossom. Mr. Fred, our 7th grade teacher has been leading the charge with the tablets and noted that the students love them for the various applications like the dictionary, math and geography quizzes, story books and the Rachel pi program.

JBFC's internet access remains unpredictable to say the least. It was the Bakkers, two teachers from Deerfield, Massachusetts, who helped us find a way to introduce our students to the world wide web without worrying about network drops and sluggish uploads. They gave JBFC a RACHEL Pi - which stores some of the internet on a piece of hardware that a classroom of students can all access at once on different devices.

We introduced the Rachel Pi intranet program to a group of selected staff members last month. This program gives us access to Kahn Academy videos and activities, Wikipedia for schools, medical encyclopedias and countless textbooks and story books. When the 2015 school year begins in January, JBFC's students will get to benefit from these wonderful tools. Soon, whole classes of JBFC students will be able to follow along with a Kahn Academy video to learn physics and chemistry. It's an amazing opportunity for these students who have very limited access to technology like computers and laptops.


The teachers were really excited about the Kahn Academy videos and the textbooks. Our school nurse, who was working in the Learning Resource Center at the time, loved the medical encyclopedia so much she grabbed Mr Fred's tablet from him and wouldn't give it up!



 If you would like to support JBFC's technology initiative, you can donate to Nina's Share the Joy of Learning project. Please click here.

Click here to learn more about becoming a JBFC Ambassador.

 

Working for a Good Education

Guest Blogger Lauren Lesch shares how JBFC's work study students work hard for a good education.

JBFC runs the Joseph and Mary Primary and Secondary School on campus. Close to 300 students are enrolled including our 44 JBFC girls and other children that live in the area. It is a private school so there are school fees associated with attendance which can be paid with cash or surprisingly through bartering…say one family that raises cattle for a living can trade a cow for a daughter’s education or say another family are rice farmers, they can provide "X" amount of bags of rice for our school lunches for one of their son’s to attend school.

We also have scholarship programs for star students in the area that simply cannot afford it. These girls and boys vary in age and grade and have agreed to working after school to help beautify the campus in various capacities in order to contribute in some way to their school fees while donors and special friends of JBFC in the US cover the rest. Some days they pick up trash, tend to the gardens, plant seeds, water crops, etc.

Afterwards they walk home and some are then responsible for watching over their siblings, making dinner, and then doing homework. It’s a long day for these students but a good education is worth it all. An extra benefit is that when guests are on campus this group of students works with them after school which allows relationships to form and gives them an opportunity to practice their English.

All visitors of JBFC participate in a village walk that includes a tour of the public school that is within walking distance from the Joseph and Mary School. The differences between the two are vast. There can be an upwards of 300 students per class, per teacher. The classrooms are not tiled so some rooms have massive holes in the ground, chalkboards are unusable because they’ve been written on and erased so many times, there are not nearly enough desks so 3 students share 1, and breakfast or lunch is not served so students walk home (sometimes miles) for something to eat, which they may or may not get, and then walk back. Sometimes its just too much work to return, so they miss the rest of the school day entirely.

I am so impressed with how the Joseph and Mary school recognizes these challenges in the area and tries to create a school environment that combated them. Most of our star scholarship students walk past the government school everyday on their way to Joseph and Mary and as 6th grader Peter says “at JBFC we have more choices and better opportunities to study English and travel outside of Tanzania.” He hopes to one day be a doctor, another young man hopes to be a football (soccer) coach and another an engineer.

These students have such big dreams and at JBFC we want to do all we can to make sure each one of them succeeds.













Lauren Lesch is from Dallas, TX, she worked in Tanzania for six months.