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Thursday, October 27, 2011

30's not so bad...

Here's what I did during the week of my 30th birthday!

Map THIS!!!   
...don't forget South Sudan

The World Map Project... a Peace Corps Classic


 We moved walls... here is our new blank dirty canvas. The primary school is near the first wall we picked but those young whipper snappers with all their energy can be some what of a disturbance (imagine that). 

The Headmaster and I shifted the World Map Project to a wall on the other side of the secondary school campus.  This area is covered in shade most of the day making it a popular hang out during break time. A better choice indeed!


First things first, we cleaned the wall and then slapped on a fresh coat of white. It took about 4 liters to cover the entire wall. 
Here is my apprentice/ cousin/ small father, Jonson, up on the ladder.

We finish up the White Wall on Friday and let it dry over the weekend.



and then we did some math...
Total area for the map: 252 cm x 504 cm. 
Since we are using the grid method to aid our drawing efforts, each grid square will be 9cm x 9cm. 

We used a meter stick to measure the map area and started to paint the ocean blue as our map base. This was a excellent suggestion from the World Map Project Book, we won't have to worry about painting the water around all those tiny islands later on!


All the students are excited to help out. 
They wouldn't let me paint for more than a few minutes at a time.

Last touches of blue on Monday afternoon.

... So Fresh and So Clean!

We got back to work on Wednesday by drawing the GRID lines. 
We used white chalk to draw the lines so they can be easily erased later on after drawing. 
Our grid is made up of 28 rows and 56 columns, with a total of 1,568 squares.



Coming Soon... Drawing and Painting THE WORLD MAP!!!




Yum a Liberry... Even tastier than a strawberry!

So as we wait for the library structure to be completed we are in process of requesting book donations, creating a floor plan for the furniture and organizing our current inventory. 

There are so many NGO's that give used books but most of them send in Sea Containers. 
With 10,000- 25,000 books inside they can be very difficult to manage at customs and with transport to the village. We have decided to avoid the hassle and focus on small donors and maintaining the books we do have.

Here we are making a plan to organize our current room that houses the few beat up books we have.


Each student was given a different course subject and tasked to write down the author, title, publisher and quantity of books in the book room.

We had a lot of work, but about 10 students volunteered to help.


...and it got worse before it got better... YIKES! 


Starting to get things in order... Mwalimu (Teacher) Shabani was a great leader for this task! Bravo!



Much Better and ready to get moved to the NEW Library when it is finished.



Here is the current state of the new library... 

and a peak inside!


Next set of tasks: follow up with small scale book donors and the Tanzanian Library Board Services for librarian training.


Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Cheers to YOU Anna!

What do most girls ask for for their birthday 9th birthday???

I’m guessing an I-pod upgrade, a better cell phone plan with more txt messages, her own bathroom, fashionable clothing…  and I’m sure this list would be updated on an hourly basis.

But not my Anna Ndizi (banana in Swahili)  she gave away her 9th birthday to help others.  That’s right, my fantastic and incredibly selfless NINE year old niece chose to ask family and friends to make donations to my Peace Corps projects instead of receiving presents.

In honor of Anna’s 9th Birthday and generous donation, here’s what we are planning:

The World Map Project     www.theworldmapproject.com
Barbara Jo White (Dominican Republic '87-'89) created The World Map Project while serving in the Peace Corps.
Our blank canvas. We chose this wall at the school because it gets the most foot traffic and this wing is closest to the neighboring primary school. The plan is to assign numbers to all the countries after painting. On the left side of the map we will write the country names in English and on the right side in Kiswahili. This will give all the students at the secondary school and primary access to it.

The Form 4 students will finish NECTA exams next week (13/10) and then we can get started. First a fresh coat of white for the whole wall. Then we will measure the 2.52 meter by 5.4 meter space for the map. That entire section will be painted blue and then the grid drawing will begin.  After that painting and labels…

photo taken from the WMP website.  We hope ours will be this GREAT!
 
Book Donations for the new library

The construction of the secondary school library began in January.  The ceiling beams and large rocks for the floor are the latest update to our progress.  If all goes well the library will open in December 2011.  The biggest problem we face for the future library is the lack of quality books.  The few books we have are outdated and in poor condition. We only have one book (three copies) on the English required reading list from the ministry of education. This year, my form 4 students, 72 in all, shared one English to Kiswahili dictionary.  Can you imagine trying to study physics or chemistry in a foreign language without a dictionary to help translate?

Anna’s birthday money will go towards buying books, dictionaries, and study guides from local publishers. I will work with my  headmaster to form a small committee of students and teachers to create a wish list and to find book dealers who can give us a discount for buying in bulk. To round out our libraries book selection, I am in contact with the Tanzania Library Services Board and several local NGO’s that coordinate overseas book donations.  Last but not least I am reading Libraries for All, a great book on how to set up and manage a library. Once the building is complete and we have books I look forward to holding training sessions for those students who want to work as librarians.

HAPPY 9th BIRTHDAY ANNA + I LOVE YOU!  I am so Proud of YOU!  and Thank You to everyone who made a donation to Anna.

and some Stevie Wonder just for the b-day girl:'Cause we all know in our minds
That there ought to be a time
That we can set aside
To show just how much we love you
And I'm sure you will agree
It couldn't fit more perfectly
Than to have a world party on the day you came to be


Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday