Today was a difficult day.
If you read my previous report on the school, you
know St. Dymphna’s Special School is doing poorly. For the past week I have
been trying to understand their problems and communicate them back to members
of AFLLFA so we can finds sustainable solutions. The problem I faced today was
that, although they are sponsored, Jackson, Lucy, and Hosna have not been
attending school because the bus isn’t operating and their disabilities and age
make it impossible to travel all the way to the school alone. After discussing
this with Mary, it was decided that I would meet with the student’s parents and
see if they would be willing to meet me at the Arusha Post Office every morning
and I would bring the students to and from school. After I leave Tanzania, a
former teacher volunteered to continue accompanying the children.
Today the school’s guard and the Nursery I teacher
took me to meet the families. We took a dala
dala into Arusha and then spent the next three hours deep in the slums
searching for the children. I wasn’t ready to be confronted with the extreme
poverty I witnessed. The narrow streets were lined with raw sewage and waste.
Children were in rags entertaining themselves with sticks and trash. The houses
were made of long, wooden poles and insolated by mud that had run down the
streets due to the rain of the night before. Others were lucky enough to have
the protection of metal siding or tarps that were worn thin by the rainy
season. Everywhere people were staring at me because white people pass through
their area often (or ever). I tried to keep my eyes on the road ahead, not gawk
at their living conditions, and pretend like walking through the convoluted
maze of the slums was the most natural thing I have ever done.
Neither of my guides spoken English, so I remained
quiet as they asked locals if they had any information about the whereabouts of
the children. I was unable to do anything but follow them so I prayed inside my
head;
Dear
God, please look after these children. Please keep Jackson, Lucy, and Hosna
healthy and please please please help me get them back to school.
First we found Hosna playing soccer with other
children using a ball made of trash and string. Her face lit up when the
teacher told her I wanted to take her back to school. Unfortunately her parents
were not around but we got her mother’s number for the headmaster to call later
this afternoon. Next we found Jackson watching over a few younger children and
protecting them from a stream of sewage rushing from a plot of houses. He
recognized me immediately, but was hesitant to show me his home. The teacher
assured him it was fine, and he took us to see his little sister Lucy. Lucy has
Down syndrome and is not very mobile. We found her lying alone in a dark room
on a concrete floor. The teacher called to her, and she made an enormous effort
to get up and greet us at the threshold. She also smiled when she was told that
I wanted her to return to school, but unfortunately her mother was at work, so
again we left with only a phone number.
I wasn’t scared by my experience today, just sad. I
can’t find the words to explain how depressing visiting the slum was today, but
it was overwhelming. Once we walked back to the city, the staff and I went our separate
ways because I needed to decompress. I managed to hold myself together until I
got to the hostel. Then came the tears.
I think I hit rock bottom today but the only place
to go is up. It’s difficult to experience intense emotions here so deeply, but
I can either be crippled by it or grow stronger because of it. Conditions aren’t
going to get better by me hiding in the hostel and feeling sorry for the
children. Conditions are going to improve through my actions. Here’s what I’ve
been working on for the past week:
1) Negotiating
a contract with a local volunteer organization so they can send qualified
volunteers to support the school and train teachers. Mary (the headmaster) can’t
be everywhere at once, and volunteers with a background in education can bring
new ideas and perspectives to the school that Tanzanian teachers may not have
previously considered or been aware of.
2) Writing
a manual for volunteers that do not have a back ground in education. Students
with disabilities need routine, structure, and sensitivity. Volunteers that do
not understand that can easily disrupt their progress and end up doing more
harm than good. It’s going to be a sort of how-to guide to Special Education
and St. Dymphna’s.
3) Assessment
of the students. The range of disabilities at St. Dymphna’s is huge. I want to
work with the teachers to figure out each student’s strengths and weaknesses so
we can tailor their education to their specific needs.
4) Get
Hosna, Jackson, and Lucy to come to school every day. They are among the most vulnerable
in Arusha and need to receive an education and vocational training.
It’s not going to be easy, but I’m lucky enough to
have an amazing network of former volunteers, family, and friends for support. I’ll
try to keep my blog updated with what I’m doing and in the meantime please keep
myself and the school in your thoughts and prayers! Asante Sana
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