Friday, 8/7/2009

On Friday, 8/7/2009 we started our day out visiting SEKUCo.
We met with some of the head's of the university and then were given a tour. It was really nice to be able to actually see the university that we had heard so much about at home. We had a lengthy conversation with some of those who work for the University. They told us many things about SEKUCo, how it functions, some of the programs, etc. The said something that sent us all scrambling for our journals to write down:

Gather Knowledge, Serve Compassionately.

This is a motto that they function by, and upon our tour of the campus, it became clear that this is truly fitting and what is happening here. The university was started just a few years ago, much in part to Mama Munga's passion for Special Needs Education. One of their main focuses, is on special needs education. Both for those wishing to be special needs teachers, and for those with special needs attending the university. They also have other programs, including a program that is partnered with Penn State University. It was very interesting to be all the way across the world, and realize what a small world it actually is when they said they were partnered with Penn State. We were around the world, but found a connection that is very close to home for us.

We were given a full tour of the university.

We saw the dorms...

We saw many of the classrooms at the university...

The library...

We saw the computer lab...

We saw the Special needs education center...

With brail type-writers...

And brail that had been printed on paper...

We saw the way brail is printed...

We saw classrooms with widened doorways, and the outside of dorms that are especially equipped for those with special needs.

It was really inspiring to see all of this. In a country where having a disability has essentially meant that your life is worthless and you have nothing to offer the world, it was amazing to see an institution set up such as SEKUCo, that clearly sends the message that having a disability just means you are differently abled, not unable. SEKUCo gives an incredible opportunity to those with dissabilities and is helping Tanzania to see the value of a person with a special need.

Once we finished at SEKUCo, we went to the school for blind children and were met by Mama Rubin, who is the headmaster here. Mama Rubin is an incredible woman. She attempted to retire 9 years ago after being at the school for more than 30 years. Pastor Sharon remembered her from her first visit to Tanzania 9 years ago. Pastor Sharon mentioned to her that she thought she was getting ready to retire. Mama Rubin noted that she had, in fact, retired.

How'd that work out for you?!

Shortly after she attempted to retire, she received a call. From Bishop Munga. He was requesting her return to the school. She obliged. It is truly where she belongs. So today, she has been working with these blind children for more than 40 years. She is remarkable. She told us so many stories. She talked about how rewarding it is to see people who were completely shunned because they had low vision or were blind who went on to be teachers, or business professionals, some even leaving Tanzania for their career. Some are now teachers themselves at the Irente School for the Blind. As she talked about this school it became clear that this school has changed lives, and has begun to change the perception that people have of blind individuals in Tanzania. The school has actually gone in search of children who are blind and brought them to the school. The fact that this school is even here gives parents a huge sense of worth for their child. Even their child, the blind child who is deemed useless, has value and is worthy of an education. The blind school has several blind albino children. Being blind is common among albino individuals. Being born albino in Tanzania automatically means that your life is in danger. Their is the thought that these people are associated with witch craft, and are very often killed. If you kill someone who is albino, praise is given to you. It is a horrible practice and we were stunned to learn this. However, there are many working in Tanzania, including Mama Rubin, Mama Munga, and all those working at the school for the blind, who are working tirelessly to not only spread awareness and end this practice, but they are also speaking out and standing up for the rights of all those who are blind. It is not an understatement to say that the school for blind children is more than a school, it does more than educate children, it saves lives.

The children were so loving and we were met with beautiful songs that they had prepared for us, complete with hand motions. Once they were finished singing, Pastor Sharon offered a word of prayer, and we presented the school with gifts. We gave many of the institutions a wooden cross or plaque with our scripture on it that was our theme for the trip That they may be one as we are one. We also gave a bag of toys to Mama Rubin to hand out to each of the children. One of the toys included in the bag was a noise maker toy, that was plastic hands, which when shaken sounded like hands being clapped together. Because they cannot see, we thought something that made noise would be better for the blind children. We would venture to guess that the teachers at the blind school did not feel the same after a few days :) Days later when we were walking around at Irente we could hear the familiar clapping of those toys. Sorry, teachers :)

The school is a residential school, so the children reside there except when they are home on break or for the summer. We got to tour the classrooms and see where and how the children learn. We saw how the write brail, read it and type it.

The children themselves are just amazing. You very often see one child leading another. Some of the children have low vision and the rest are completely blind. It is common to see one child with another by the arm leading them in the right direction. Even for being blind the children do so amazingly well. They run around the premesis without a care. I would watch them run by and be absolutely certain that when they attempted to turn a corner they were going to run into the building. Never once did that happen. I would cringe when they ran by me and there was a stone that stuck up on the pathway. They never tripped and fell, they know where they are. I wanted to close my eyes when they were on the staircases. No need. No one fell, no one tripped. The eight of us on the trip have our vision and we even had trouble with this :)

We had FULL days when we were in Tanzania and this Friday was no different. After we went to the school for the blind we went to another subparish. It was a wonderful time, again.

We played outside with the children, visited with the adults, and spent time eating homemade snacks and drinking tea. We saw here how resourceful these people are, including the children. They had soccer balls made out of trashbags and rubberbands.

They had pull toys made out of empty plastic cartons. What is our trash, they used to make toys. Later in the trip, as we were packing to leave Tumaini we were throwing away plastic bags and someone noted that we were throwing away plastic bags, toys to the children here.

We felt guilty that what was our trash, was there treasure, and we wished we could do more, we wished we had more to offer.

After this subparish (yes, we're still going) we went to a beautiful viewpoint near Irente. It was a shorter hike and what was at the top was beautiful!

When we were ableto see things like this we were just left in complete awe at the beauty God has created.

Pastor Joyce had her little boy with us at this view point, and the only thing that was a ledge at the cliff was a stone wall, about up to my knees. So, to keep him occupied and away from this ledge, I put him in this huge flower pot to play in the dirt. And, it worked.

And Alfred also thought it was a good idea :)

After this we attempted to visit another subparish. What I mean by attempt is that the walk to get to this sub-parish was on the edge of a cliff, and the path was not more than 12 inches wide. Pastor Sharon was first in the line of us and when she and the person guiding us came to a spot on the path that was literally a 5 foot drop off, Pastor Sharon insisted that were not going to attempt this (and we all thanked her for this later on.) Remember the part about Tanzanian's not liking to give bad news. Well, we were not aware of the walking on the edge of a cliff part before we embarked on this journey. I didn't add any pictures of this because most of them were of the back's of someone's head and you really can't see the path, or the cliff on the edge. I think we were all much more concentrated on walking and not falling than we were on capturing the moment :)