1st April 2009 - A New Month

I've finished my project and so am waiting for another one to do. It was good for me to learn all the Rights of the Child and to reflect on how these are or are not being put into practise here in Tanzania. One of them (there are altogether 42) is the right to an education, and trying to make that happen has been my work here for so many years. It means so much to youngsters, especially girls, to have that opportunity. One reason, of course, is that education opens so many doors for a person. It prepares her to make her own way in the world, gives tools for making a living, and is most of all a broadening, mind-expanding process. I think that for girls in some of the more traditional cultures around the world, education allows them to grow up, to mature, to become an adult before marriage and having children forces them into that role. Traditionally many girls are married as soon as they reach puberty, so if they have a chance to go to secondary school, that means that they have four more years to grow up, to mature, to learn, to be ready for the responsibilities of marriage and motherhood. Don't you think that's really important?


It is now the policy of the Tanzanian government to have a secondary school in every Kata. Let's see if I can tell you a bit about how the country is divided. There is first of all the central government, and then the country is divided into Regions (there are I think almost 30 now). Regions (Mikoa) are divided into Districts (Wilaya), Districts are divided into Divisions (Tarafa), Divisions into Wards (Kata), and Wards into Ten Cells (Nyumba Kumi) or Ten Households. So when I lived in Singida my points of reference were: I lived in Singida Region, Singida Rural District, Ilongero Division, Maghojoa Ward, Murigha Cell. So going back to the first sentence in this paragraph, each Kata (Ward) is supposed to have a day secondary school. The implementation of this policy has been more or less successful, with the community expected to build the classrooms and teachers' houses up to the lintel, and then the government finishes the buildings by providing the roofing materials. They also supply teachers, books and supplies. And there is the problem. There aren't enough trained teachers for all of these schools and so many of them are very inadequately staffed. However, that problem is recognized and more training is now being provided, so hopefully that situation will be resolved before too many years pass.


Having said all of that, there is still a great advantage that I see of having these schools, as problematic as they may be. I was really happy to hear from so many of the folks I saw at Murigha and Msange that their children were attending secondary school. Because these schools are of the community, the fees are relatively little, and although there are probably other contributions required (like they need to go with their own desk !) still many families will do their best to manage those fees and contributions. One woman I met in Msange when I visited was a woman who I knew from the early 1990's, a woman who had quite a few children and was always a bit sick and destitute. She was about as skinny as my arm, short and wrinkled, very talkative. I remember that at one time we provided milk for her baby, Micah, every day. She would come with him when he was just little, and we'd have milk for her to give him since she couldn't provide enough for this tiny wrinkled infant who resembled her so much. Anyway, although we were so sure that he didn't have a future, he managed to survive and she told me with great pride that he is attending secondary school at Maghojoa!! That would never have happened a few years ago, and I think it's marvelous. Girls go to that school, too, and all the youngsters go to their own homes every night.

And so education is really important for so many reasons. In the developed world it's so much taken for granted and everyone has that advantage and privilege. In the developing world we're still struggling for that gift to be given to everyone. Some day .... And that, please God, is not an April Fool's joke.