Football: The Goat Cup

The inter-form soccer tournament is underway. Called the Mbuzi Cup; mbuzi is Swahili for goat. There isn't actually a cup - the trophy is a goat, a live goat, to be cooked and eaten by the winning form, always remembering to save some for the teachers.
Results so far: IIIA beat IIA 2-0, and IB beat IIA 1-0.
We are grateful to our sponsors in England and USA for the donated footballs. Our new pitch is still a bit rough and thorny so we get through more than one ball per match. We can then mend the punctures ready for the next one.

Cape to Cape

We had an amazing visitor yesterday. Gijs Stevers is cycling (!!!) from the North Cape, ie the Arctic Circle, to the Cape of Good Hope, ie Capetown. On the way he is finding out about the use of sustainable energy in the many countries he passes through. He is also giving workshops in schools and colleges using towers of Lego bricks to represent the different energy sources and guiding students to think about planning for the best use of energy resources in the future. He spoke to the whole school at morning assembly and described his six month journey as far as Dodoma. Some Form III students took part in the workshop and had fun with the Lego while getting to grips with the challenge of responsible use of resources. Then we wished him Safari Njema and he pedalled off towards Iringa to check out the Hydroelectric power station at Mtera. We are wondering what he will say about us on his blog. We can look at www.capetocape2012.com/

A fresh coat

Eltham College students have been hard at work applying a fresh coat of paint in the new classrooms at Kisasa Secondary School.

Graduation

Form IV graduation at KSS today. We enjoyed songs, dancing and lots of entertainment as well as speeches honoring the graduates. Hongera and best wishes to all the graduates!

Field trip

Today the Eltham College students made a field trip to the Kisasa Primary School, for a day of smiles and outdoor games.

Karibu in Kisasa

Eltham College have arrived at Kisasa Secondary School! After a sunny Monday morning welcome, nine students set to work straightaway, meeting teachers and students, teaching English nouns and verbs, organizing debates, and performing "Twelfth Night" along with Kisasa students.

English lesson--nouns, verbs, adjectives

Preparing for lessons

Kisasa Secondary School and Eltham students reading Twelfth N ight

Asante Sana Madame Jenny

School has now closed for 5 weeks, following the government's directive to release teachers to help with the Tanzanian national census. In fact the school will be open for students to prepare for exams and use the library facilities. But it was the last official school day for Jenny Bowie aka "Madame Jenny". In an emotionally charged final assembly she was presented with some goodbye presents, each of which had a special significance relating to her time at Kisasa. For example a beautiful carved giraffe because the giraffe is a "polite" animal like Jenny and because it is tall it can see a long way, perhaps as far as London to Dodoma. Form II performed a farewell song and two students read letters of appreciation, reminding us of all she has achieved - English teaching, drama, the library and its facilities, the trip to Mikumi and more. Meanwhile Jenny and Pippa, as well as "Mr Peter" Swaffield (for another week), will be in school during the census closure to give revision lessons and individual help to all comers. Next term starts on September 10th.