I left as the sun rose Friday morning for Mairowa. I went to meet with the pre-primary teachers that fill the Masai area. There were seven teachers who were able to attend, the Director of Education from the church leadership, and the village leader/elder in one of the churches. It is a group that hungers for help and aide to educate the masses of young minds that fill that dusty part of the country. I will admit that I was feeling a little overwhelmed and at a loss for how to guide this seminar.
But, as usual the best moments were those that are unplanned. Within those moments God through the Holy Spirit is able to do His work and I once again become an instrument in which He can use. I am always humbled and in awe that the creator of the world desires to use me in this venture to love His people.
It is always hard to know how to start. The needs seem endless at times that it is hard to figure out how to help. These teachers often show up to work day after day without pay. They have no resources with hundreds of kids that can come on any given day. The kids are various ages and ability. These willing teachers are often illiterate and are teaching with no curriculum. Some of the teachers who met with us last time were not present because they had to go elsewhere looking for work that could pay to feed their families. Their classrooms are narrow wooden benches with many hungry children lined up with an
eagerness to learn. I knew I needed to follow up on the things that we had talked about before I left for language school. We met and talked about the importance of teaching the ABC's and creative ways to go about learning them. Our learning time together went very well but with the challenges that face them as teachers I didn't know if the tools I gave them would be useful. I am still learning as well of what works and encouraging them to teach in a way that is difficult because it is beyond their knowledge and experience. But, it was encouraging to hear the stories of teachers who were able to use some of the material and put it to good use!
The way that we approach ministry here in Tanzania is based off the CHE (Community Health Evangelism) method. The method is not new but I am blazing the trail in how to use it with people who desire to teach the children in their village areas. The heartbeat of who we are is to train/empower nationals to lead and transform their communities for Christ. The people establish a need within their community and we brainstorm how to address the problem and glorify Christ. It is hard to train because many times at this point the group has a difficult time seeing around or over the challenges. So, we listed and prioritized the challenges and the struggles. The list included: no classrooms or enclosed places to meet when the air is cooler, no blackboards, no textbooks or curriculum, teachers salary not being met, to many children at a time, young children who come in hopes of ugi being served. We began to prioritize the needs. The battle to hurdle is that because I am white that I am there to provide for the needs and tell them what to do. The goal however is to brainstorm and problem solve to address the needs. I am there to ask questions and allow their minds to be stretched to think outside their rote way of learning and thinking. I can become frustrated because it is always the same things and they seem like mountains to all of us. As I took a deep breath is was almost as though the spirit was just waiting for an entrance because all of a sudden my mind opened up in the direction to start trekking. God created order and that order can take different forms. I slowly realized that the largest problem within these school scenes is the cautious. The curriculum I am writing is difficult to give them because the amount of children hundreds at a time who are various ages is to tough to tackle as one teacher. The mud classrooms don't work because there are to many children at a time. The attendance is poor because of the overall mindset of the importance of education by parents. Because of the amount of work that needs to be done around the house. I realized that I needed to help them see that order and ability to create a healthy classroom would open up the possibility to tackle challenges that could be attainable. The desire is big to reach as many children as we can but in the masses little is done because of the inability to meet the needs. I began to ask the questions that allowed them to see the challenge of the cautious but the possibilities with healthy order. January begins our new school year. First we tackled that Pre-Primary should only be for six year olds come registration day. And what they call "Baby Class" can be offered for five year olds. None of this any age who comes is just around for the day. A reasonable class size should be formed of no more than 20 to 25 kids at a time. The class is offered for three hours so we talked about how more than one class can be held in a day. We came up with a year class fee that was reasonable in hopes that salaries can be paid and some set aside for resources. Equipping them with curriculum didn't seem like such a difficult task! These were things they had never thought of before. They become excited for the year ahead. By creating healthy classrooms it gives us opportunity to begin climbing that tall mountain. This will empower them to address the needs of the area one class at time with room to grow adding teachers and classes. The task for me in ways to train and equip them teaching with the world as their classroom became a much more reasonable and exciting task. We brainstormed how the approach to a healthy classroom could be shared with their village leader, area church planter, and board of the school. Then together they can communicate the growing order in the importance of early learning in Masaailand to parents. I had no idea what I was doing and the Lord kept telling me just be willing! All of a sudden it just made sense!
These are all very new things and we walk slowly in new steps. But, I believe we are moving in the right direction! We have a couple of months and we pray for these teachers as they communicate what we discussed to area leaders. Another battle in the education system here is that not only is it by route thinking but they push English to be taught because it is seen as a hope of a job or intellect. The word might be taught and memorized but very few know the meaning. I told them with six steps a picture they needed to draw. I described snow since it was something they wouldn't know. I described it in English first, then in Swahili, then in Ma by a translator. I asked which time could they understand enough to draw the picture. Of course it was Ma and Swahili. We discussed how that is the same for these kids as they are early learners trying to understand how to count etc. They need to understand first in their mother tongue. We prayed for one another and said our goodbyes. I headed back to Arusha with little problem only being very tired!
Prayer Points~
- Pray for these teachers as they communicate to their village leaders the importance of a healthy classroom and the reasons behind it. Pray as they prepare to organize the classes for next year. May this be a year of opportunity of climbing over these mountainous issues with excitement to educate young Masaai children!
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