Birthday in Ipalamwa and Makungo


We had a beautiful birthday yesterday working with the RCP (Reaching Children’s Potential) program.  It started with teaching two lessons at the Makungo primary school, about 6 kilometers down a very muddy, bumpy from our RCP Center in Ipalamwa. The wanafunzi (students) speak only Swahili, and Grace, one of the young Tanzanian locals, accompanied us to help with Swahili. We worked with the kids on the alphabet, a few colors, and 5 new words in English via a game where they passed around that object in a circle and said the word. We brought jumpropes and balls and played jumping and clapping games during recess, which was a big improvement over our first day when the kids were just running around the dirt yard or just hanging onto/grabbing and hugging us. The school has no playground, balls, swings or games, just a dirt yard. 

We are learning that repetition is important to learning, so in our second lesson yesterday we had them write the new words and work more on the alphabet. They sang us happy birthday, which was super cute! I put that video up on my FB page.  

In the afternoon, I went on mother/child home visits down in Makungo village with Rita, RCP’s very competent home care worker. The homes are mostly small brick structures (made from local clay) with dirt floors and open fires on the floor as the “kitchen”.


Steve went to meet with science teachers at the secondary school in Ipalamwa, very near where we are staying, so he could walk there. 


On his way home Steve experienced an absolutely torrential rain and windstorm up here on the 6,000’ ridgetop where the RCP program is housed. I was still down in Makungo village conducting visits when it happened, but got to witness the devastation on the dirt roads as we drove back up - lots of mudslides, deep ruts, and huge pools of water. Higher up the road was blocked by a big fallen tree! Our driver Rashiki and I started ripping off the branches to clear the road, when 6 villagers (one with a small child tied to her back) who were walking up came to help us. Soon, enough branches were removed to allow our jeep to pass and all the villagers piled in with us and we bounced our way back up to Ipalamwa! I will include a few photos of the scene.


We meandered downhill through a few small local neighborhoods after work, chatting (Swahili/English) with locals and checking out the post-rainfall bird activity. The icing on the day, so to speak, was a surprise Mama Tony birthday cake after dinner! In the photo below, you can see the volunteer coordinator, Fatna, and cook, Mama Tony. 


Asante to those of you who sent birthday wishes from afar!Loveaabsolutely




 torrential rain and windstorm up here on the 6,000’ ridgetop where the Reaching Childrens Potential program is held! I was down

Makungo village conducting mother/child visits when it happened, and got to witness the devastation on the dirt roads as we drove back up - lots of mudslides, deep ruts, and puddles of water, and higher up the road was blocked by a big fallen tree! Our driver Rashiki and I started ripping off the branches to clear the road when 6 villagers (one with a small child tied to her back) who were walking up came to help us. Pretty soon enough branches were removed to allow our jeep to pass and all the villagers piled into the truck and we bounced our way back up to Ipalamwa! Here’s a few photos of the scene…  windstorm up here on the 6,000’ ridgetop where the Reaching Childrens Potential program is held! I was down in Makungo village conducting mother/child visits when it happened, and got to witness the devastation on the dirt roads as we drove back up - lots of mudslides, deep ruts, and puddles of water, and higher up the road was blocked by a big fallen tree! Our driver Rashiki and I started ripping off the branches to clear the road when 6 villagers (one with a small child tied to her back) who were walking up came to help us. Pretty soon enough branches were removed to allow our jeep to pass and all the villagers piled into the truck and we bounced our way back up to Ipalamwa! Here’s a few photos of the scene… 

We had an absolutely torrential rain and windstorm up here on the 6,000’ ridgetop where the Reaching Childrens Potential program is held! I was down in Makungo village conducting mother/child visits when it happened, and got to witness the devastation on the dirt roads as we drove back up - lots of mudslides, deep ruts, and puddles of water, and higher up the road was blocked by a big fallen tree! Our driver Rashiki and I started ripping off the branches to clear the road when 6 villagers (one with a small child tied to her back) who were walking up came to help us. Pretty soon enough branches were removed to allow our jeep to pass and all the villagers piled into the truck and we bounced our way back up to Ipalamwa! Here’s a few photos of the scene… 


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