My first couple of weeks here in Bukoba have been incredibly rewarding. It’s hectic, but I am learning so much. When I’m not visiting schools I am sitting at my laptop, reading all I can about teaching maths in Tanzania.
Discussing potential ways of teaching maths.
Primary Education in Tanzania
As far as I can tell the Tanzanian Education system has been improving steadily over the past decade. Children aged seven to thirteen attend primary school, after which they need to pass a national exam in order to enter secondary education. Unfortunately, the pass rate in many schools is around 30%, which is far too low, meaning for many students, education ends at 13.
Since VSO began their partnership with Tanzanian schools, their pass rates have improved to 50%. But this still means that one in two pupils are unable to attend secondary school. Therefore, as I aim to help as many children as possible get a full education I have a busy couple of months ahead of me.
It took me a while but I eventually got to my final destination and new home in Bukoba, Tanzania!
My first stop in Tanzania was Dar es Salaam where I attended language training and cultural awareness courses. This gave me the chance to meet other volunteers, enjoy the local food, and attend unmissable local events such as the Goat Race! The Goat Race is incredible and hard to describe accurately. Needless to say there were more racing goats and elaborate costumes than I ever could have imagined.
Arriving at Bukoba Airport
After staying there a week, I had to get back on the plane to Bukoba, I was so excited to arrive, meet my colleagues and plan my lessons. As we flew over the wonderful Lake Victoria I gazed over my new home and excitement bubbled in my stomach.
Arriving in Bukoba!
However, I had a shaky start as Bukoba had been hit with an earthquake the day before my arrival. We were one of the worst affected areas and though I arrived after the event, I could see the fear and sadness in my new neighbours’ faces. I shared their pain for those killed or injured and took my part in helping rebuild the community. There is something surreal in arriving to a new home at such a time, but I am glad that I got this opportunity to be there for them in their time of need.
I’ve made it in one piece! When I first arrived, I hit the ground running. The first few weeks in Myanmar were packed full of language, culture and security lessons.
The pineapple sunglasses in the photo beside may still come in useful…
Originally I was told my placement would be in a very remote area of northern Myanmar near the Indian border, where I would need to use a motorbike to get around. This has just been changed to Yangon, one of the biggest cities here where the majority of people live in extreme poverty.
I may have dragged my motorbike helmet, jacket, boots and jumpers half way around the world to now not need them, but I’m actually really pleased with the change.
It will be the first time I’ve volunteered in an urban area, so I’m curious to see the differences. Yangon has malls and luxury hotels, yet in stark contrast there are open drains full of rubbish and rats, a lack of clean drinking water and unreliable electricity.
Hello, and welcome to my blog! Firstly, a big thank you for choosing to follow my placement as I share my nursing skills with midwives in Myanmar to save babies’ lives and give pregnant women better care.
I’ve definitely got the ‘volunteering bug’; this will actually be my fourth time volunteering with VSO! After my first placement in Malawi I was hooked – there’s no better feeling than making lasting change in a community with knowledge I’ve picked up in my career as a nurse.
Photo: One of the babies I helped deliver in Malawi. Often they were born weak and under nourished, so we’d put woollen hats on them to keep them warm in their critical first days of life.
Although I am well prepared for the challenges I’ll face on my placement - like a lack of medical equipment - this is the first time I have volunteered in Myanmar. I’m really excited to live and work in a country that has opened to visitors once more after a very tough history.
It feels very surreal to be sitting here in the scorching Nigerian heat, writing to you after packing up shop on my comfortable life in Rutland. I must admit I’ve got a cup of strong Yorkshire tea next to me to try and make myself feel ‘at home’.
I am living above VSO’s office, and share this with another volunteer from India called Amar, who I will be working with to improve income for farmers. Amar is an expert in agriculture, so will be doing lots of practical workshops for the farmers to improve their farming techniques.
Our accommodation has electricity for about 4-6 hours a day, but there have been days without any power at all. We are hoping to get pumped water into the house for showers in the next couple of months. For now it’s the good old bucket shower!
My new room, complete with essential mosquito net
I am living in the city of Minna, which seems to be around the size of Leicester. I have already been very warmly welcomed by my neighbours, and had plenty of conversations about Chelsea Football Club.
I’ve made it in one piece to Nepal! After many months of preparing and packing up my life in Aberdeenshire, it feels very surreal to be sitting here writing to you from my new home in the township of Dhading Besi.
I already love it here, and was welcomed so warmly by my adopted Nepali family - my landlord Sanu Tapa, his lovely wife who always greets me with a smile and “Namaste Bahini!” (which means “hello sister!”) and their gorgeous children Ajeen and Riwaj. It’s just a 20 minute walk to work, and it’s very rare if someone doesn’t greet me on my ‘commute’ to the Sisters for Sisters office.
My working life here is very different to the UK - I was used to being in an office where, as the head teacher of a primary school, I was interrupted frequently by my staff with questions and issues. There are no desks in the office, and the custom is to sit together on the floor to work if we are not out visiting schools. My introduction to this was the monthly meeting – a mammoth seven hours without getting up, ouch!
I’ve had my first opportunity to meet some of the wonderful Little Sisters. An event was organised to celebrate another successful year for Sisters for Sisters, and the Little Sisters were invited to share their experiences. So many of these young girls stood to speak so movingly and with such energy, motivation and intelligence.
Hello and welcome to my first blog! I’d like to start with a heartfelt thank you for supporting VSO, and choosing to follow my placement helping farmers gain a better income for their crops in Nigeria.
This VSO adventure marks an exciting new chapter in my life, as I have just stepped down from my job managing a chilled food company. Retirement begins! My plan has always been to volunteer when I finished my career, and I decided to do this with VSO as I have a lot of respect for the ethos of sharing skills rather than sending aid overseas to help fight poverty.
I have been very busy recently getting ready for my placement in Nigeria. I’ve just come back from a big motorbike ride on a 28 year old Honda C90 from Lands’ End to John O`Groats to fundraise for VSO, and help send more volunteers overseas. It pretty much rained the whole three days, but although soggy I managed to raise more than £3,000, so it was all worth it!
My Honda moped at the finish of my fundraising trip in John O’Groats – the one moment of sunshine!
After a two and a half hour long trip, up the side of a mountain, along a bumpy track I reached the District Livestock Services Office in Besisahar. After meeting the team we went to visit a local dairy. I was staggered to find out that any milk produced here will be transported using the local bus along the potholed road we’d just travelled on!
Having visited more than a dozen dairies since arriving in Nepal, my questioning process is pretty slick. It needs to be since we hurry along as the evening draws in. There are 17 cows in the herd, with 13 ‘in milk’, and daily production is just 70 litres. There is no lack of enthusiasm on this farm, which has been set up for just over a year, but as we talk I discover that many of the cows, despite their stage in lactation and low yield are not yet in calf. This is a very worrying sign for the future.
Hello and welcome to my blog! Firstly a massive thank you for choosing to follow my placement in Nepal, and for understanding the importance of keeping girls in education.
I visited Nepal in the 1980’s and instantly fell in love with the country’s culture and people. When this placement was advertised on the VSO website I knew this was a sign to follow my lifelong goal of helping others less fortunate than myself and sharing my skills as a head teacher.
Choosing to volunteer is a huge change in my life; I’ve been in the same small village in Aberdeenshire for the last 19 years, and the primary school I lead has been the centre of all of this. I’m leaving the post with a heavy heart and nerves of what is ahead, but my whole village has been behind my big move, and has never let me doubt my decision to pack up home!
I am really excited about working in, rather than just visiting, Nepal. I’ve just come back from my VSO training weekend, where I was really shocked to find out how few Nepali girls finish their education. In fact, each girl in Nepal is only in school for an average of three years, and less than half can read or write. This is heart-breaking when you think of the successful future full of opportunities they are missing out on.
But VSO has an established programme called Sisters for Sisters that is breaking this cycle of girls growing up without schooling. Sisters for Sisters groups young girls (Little Sisters) with older girls (Big Sisters) to encourage the Little Sisters to stay in school. It is a wonderful idea using the power of friendship. I’m looking forward to seeing how my experience of training my teachers in Scotland can be used to help the Big Sisters make learning a fun environment for the Little Sisters.
10 year old Prinsi now comes to school every day thanks to the Sisters for Sisters programme. I can’t wait to encourage more girls like Prinsi to stay in school.
So here I am! I actually did it!
My first week was incredible; every person I have met since arriving in Myanmar has welcomed me so warmly and made me feel safe, assured and well looked after.
I'm on the VSO map!
When I first arrived, I hit the ground running. The first week in Myanmar has been packed full of language, culture and security lessons. As well as this I found out a lot more detail on my placement, whilst spending time at VSO’s Country Office.
My temporary home for the week whilst I completed my induction was a beautiful guest house. It was surrounded by lots of greenery and at 5am the local choir rejoice in the courtyard – aka the stray dogs start howling like it is going out of fashion. I’ve been to visit some of the markets, which instantly captivates the senses – the smells were incredible, from the sweet scent of freshly cut flowers to the other not-so-sweet extremes of the meat and fish markets. You can hear the sharp sizzle of noodles as they hit the pan everywhere as you wander round; they are unbelievably tasty too. I loved these market visits, and will definitely be keeping these up throughout my time here!
