Karatu Secondary School

By Sarah Sevcik
Tanzania
July 18, 2008

On Wednesday Andrea, Lena, Lizz and I visited Peter at Karatu Secondary School, where Peter teaches advanced math and physics to an all-male boarding school. Until recently, most Tanzanians did not make it this far in their education—most only finishing primary school, if that. Thankfully, more and more secondary schools are opening around the country and students are enrolling.We sat in on Peter’s physics course, watching 15 young men dressed in uniform, quietly and intensely listen to their teacher. I have to admit, the course was really hard; I was lost in the first five minutes. Peter says he has really great students, but unfortunately they really only care about what is going to be on the national exam and let go of anything else. At times, he’ll want to teach something interesting and with more activity, but the students first ask, “Will this be on the exam?��? It’s understandable, of course, because the exam is the only thing that really matters. Thinking about this, it helps me appreciate my education, which not only emphasized grades, but also creativity, the arts, and involvement in community and school activities.
















Peter and some of his physics students.

After class we took a long walk through fields of wheat to visit coffee plantations and see wildlife and birds. It was truly like a piece of heaven; I love to be in nature and get away from the hustle and bustle of cars, commerce, and people. I included a photo of the area to show you just how wonderful it was!
















A view of heaven.

Upon returning to Peter’s home, we spent a couple hours playing with the neighbor children, who were such a delight! They loved to count to three and have us spin them in circles (see photo), play tag, and practice making the sounds and movements of different animals, such as lions and elephants. Again, I'm reminded that people who have very little (materially) can find the greatest joy in the simplest of activities. I love it!




















Lizz and the kids.

Peter and me with the neighbor kids.

On food:Meals in Karatu generally consist of rice and beans for every meal, and sometimes spicing it up with French fries, eggs, bananas, and roasti (beef stew you put on rice and beans). Although the food here tastes great, we have been trying to be creative in adding more vegetables and protein to our diets. Every day we go to the market to buy fresh produce—green beans, potatoes, carrots, eggplant, onions, garlic, tomatoes. We’ve cooked these in every way we can think—as stir-fry, as soup, as sauce. Regardless of what we do, it’s always amazingly fresh and tasty. Admittedly, there are certain foods I really miss, namely milk, cheese, and ice cream (i.e., dairy), but thus far we have been getting used to adding powdered milk to our filtered and boiled water to make tea. Yesterday, however, was a great treat. While visiting Peter, we made pumpkin bread with a fresh pumpkin from his garden, and then made alfredo sauce with real milk. When we asked Peter where he found milk, and he said, “Find a man with a cow and bring an empty water bottle.��? So, we had seriously fresh whole milk, and it was great! Peter doesn’t have an oven (who does?), so to bake bread we had to create an oven by using multiple layers of pots, the stove, and coals (see photo). This was all done in a room without electricity, so we cooked with flashlights.

The "oven" :-)

I have been working on an Excel tutorial, which will be taught on Friday during the lunch hour. We’ll be talking about everything from how to make borders, colors and fillings to making bar charts and using the “sum��? feature. I'll let you know how it goes!