More Notes From The Field

Dear Friends,

Now, let me start with an overview of my travel in Tanzania. After starting in Moshi, at the base of Mount Kilimanjaro, I travelled to Dodoma by bus (approximately 10 hours) and from there I travelled by bus to Mbeya and Tukuyu (approximately 10 hours). From Tukuyu I will head back to Mbeya, fly to Dar es Salaam for a short visit and then return by bus to Moshi.

In Dodoma I visited Mirembi School of Nursing, on the grounds of Mirembe Hospital. Mirembe Hospital is the only psychiatric hospital in Tanzania and includes a unit for housing the criminally insane. While there, I reviewed student files, interviewed students and accepted several for sponsorship. Below is a photo of the three newly sponsored students:

All three students come from peasant families with very small farms. Cash income is derived from selling small quantities of farm produce. Catherine and Juvines come from families headed by their mother. Oziah’s father suffers from kidney failure. Their siblings have very limited to no education, some not completing primary education. The cost of school fees, uniforms etc. at the primary and secondary level are always a problem – if fees are not paid, students are usually sent home to find money. For example, Oziah scored sufficiently well on the national examination that she was eligible to continue her secondary studies at the A-level but could not do so because the family was unable to pay school fees.

Education provides students and their family with an opportunity to escape poverty. Let me share the following story. One of my activities with newly sponsored students is to introduce them to email. We get each student an email address and we practice sending and receiving emails. Internet response time tends to be pretty slow (sometimes analogous to watching paint dry) so while waiting I show students some of the photos on my laptop. So, we came across the photo below:

One of the students commented how she recognized herself in this photo. We then had a group discussion about poverty and their own education as a tool to improve the economic status of their family, including educating their siblings.

In the fall of 2015 I visited Bridgeport Hospital School of Nursing with Lilian Mejool (the tutor who was a visiting scholar at UMass last year) and gave a talk about the nursing student sponsorship program. At the conclusion of our presentation they provided us with various items as gifts for students and items that were appropriate gifts for the school. Below are a few photos of the gifts shared at Mirembe:

Let me end with a photo of a boulder formation near Dodoma, located in central Tanzania. Based on conversation with geography lecturer at the University of Dodoma, such boulder formations are common in certain areas of Tanzania. They standout on what is essentially a very dry and flat plain.