March 2, 2010
NTC is excited to present a new feature in our monthly newsletter! Each month, Michael Kitinya, Headmaster of Kwala Secondary School, will talk about Kwala and NTC in a short video. For lack of a better name, we’re calling it “The State of Kwala Address.” Enjoy Headmaster Kitinya’s first ‘address’!
State of the Kwala Address – February 2010 from NTC on Vimeo.
Smallbean and NTC Complete Solar Powered Computer Lab
Representatives from NTC and Smallbean, Inc. visited Kwala in January to build a solar-powered computer lab at Kwala Secondary School. Eleven students participated in a two-week pilot program that taught students how to use the computers, take photographs, interview members of the community with digital recorders, and upload the materials onto computers. The 11 students who took part in the pilot program are now able to train other students how to use the computers!
A digital archive of the students work will be available soon from Smallbean. Stay tuned!
Having access to computers will allow Kwala Secondary School to adopt Tanzania’s national computer curriculum, a rare opportunity for a community secondary school. Students with computer training have a big advantage in getting better-paying jobs after graduation. A huge “thank you” goes out to the Smallbean team for implementing such a successful project, and to Peet’s Coffee and Tea in Newton Centre for their help in funding the project.
Watch an amazing photo-montage video from Smallbean below:
Smallbean Builds the Solar Power Computer Lab in Kwala, TZ from Smallbean on Vimeo.
Kwala’s Committment to NTC Partnership Continues to Grow
NTC has formed a committee of village leaders, teachers, school administrators, and students to ensure the progress of NTC projects in Kwala and propose future projects that will have the greatest impact in the community. The Kwala Committee marks a huge success in ensuring local ownership, involvement, and transparency for all projects in Kwala.
We’ve also distributed the first edition of the NTC-Kwala Newsletter, which is designed to keep the entire Kwala community informed about NTC projects and visitors. The newsletter is written and translated into Swahili every other month and posted at Kwala’s most important meeting places. Mr. Msemakweli, the Kwala Ward Executive Officer (shown at right), has kindly offered to take charge of designing and printing the newsletter. Check out the new “Kwala Gives Back” page on our website to learn about other ways the Kwala community is contributing to our Kwala-NTC partnership.
Volunteer Kicks off Support at Mahundi Primary School
Judy Citron, a volunteer from Peabody, Massachusetts, raised enough money from friends and family to purchase hundreds of textbooks and recreational books for children at Mahundi Primary School. Equally as impressive, Judy spent a week in Kwala this February, where she brought the books to the school, taught classes at Mahundi Primary School and Kwala Secondary School, and instructed teachers at Mahundi Primary School how to most effectively use the textbooks in their classes. Prior to Judy’s generous donation, Mahundi Primary School had no textbooks for its 600 students. NTC also has plans to build a library at Mahundi Primary School in March, 2010. Our heartfelt appreciation goes out to Judy for all her hard work and perseverance!
No Water Here — Except for Rain
Three attempts to drill a well that would have provided Kwala Secondary School with an ample water supply have failed. The attempts were conducted at no cost to NTC, thanks to a generous donation from Star Water Pumps in Tanzania. But the school still faces severe water shortages that can leave the school without water for days at a time.
The Kwala Committee has reintroduced the idea of a water harvesting system that will collect and store rainwater from the roofs of Kwala Secondary School. Further, the village has offered to connect the community water source directly to the school, allowing it to order and store water in quantities large enough to endure the shortages that result when the community pump breaks. NTC is reaching out to MIT for advice and expertise and hopes to complete this project in June, 2010. To learn more about this project, or to make a donation, please visit the “Water Development” page on our website.
First Village Reading Corner a Success
In February, NTC’s girls scholarship recipients began the first weekly Village Reading Corner in Kwala, reading children’s stories out loud to children in the community. This program, designed to promote reading as a leisure activity in Tanzania, provides children with copies of books written by Tanzanian authors. The program also engages classrooms in the United States and Kwala in cultural exchange programs by reading the same story.
NTC is creating a Village Reading Corner web site and plans to sell the books at participating local book stores over the next several months. We are also ready to launch our first classroom-to-classroom exchanges between Mahundi Primary School and Mason-Rice Elementary School and a school in Binghamton, NY.
If you would like to participate in this exciting project, please contact us.
For more information on this project, visit the Village Reading Corner webpage at www.NewtonTanzania.org/ICLP
To watch video of the village reading corner, see below.
Village Reading Corner from NTC on Vimeo.
NTC Initiates Year Two of Girls Scholarship Program
NTC continues to support ten girls from last year’s Girls Scholarship Program at Kwala Seconary School, and we were able to add four new girls to the program this year. Lisa Walker, our resident teacher and project director, recently passed out school supplies to the girls, and the girls also wrote thank you notes to their sponsors. Once again, NTC would like to thank our scholarship program sponsors!
Meet this year’s NTC scholarship recipients!
23 From Brooklyn to Visit Kwala in Late March
A group of 23 students, teachers, and parents from the Brooklyn Free School in New York will participate in a week-long service/learning exchange visit to Kwala from March 27 – April 9. The group will participate community service activities in the morning and will have cultural exchange activities with student groups in the afternnon. Activities will include building a library at Mahundi Primary School, painting murals at both schools, teaching, and making a documentary about their experience at Kwala. This is the largest group to visit Kwala to date, and both NTC and the Kwala Community are excited about the visit.
Read an article by our future visitors, here.
Hip Hop, Anyone?
As part of a cultural exchange project with students at Newton South High School and Oak Hill Middle School, students at Kwala Secondary School performed at the first ever Kwala Secondary School Hip Hop Show. Students participating in Smallbean’s pilot technology filmed and recorded the event, while more than 200 students crammed into a classroom to hear some of Kwala Secondary School’s finest hip-hop. Tanzania is well known for its hip hop music scene, known as “Bongo Flava.” Students performing will also receive a live recording of their performance on CD, a unique opportunity for kids in Tanzania.
Take a moment to watch a video of the first ever hip hop show in Kwala.
Kwala Secondary School Hip Hop Show from NTC on Vimeo.
As always, we want to thank our gracious donors and partners for their continued support of our projects in Kwala!
