May 3, 2010

NTC Launches the Village Reading Corner

NTC is kicking off the Village Reading Corner initiative at the Newton Free Library and local book stores this month, offering Tanzanian children’s books at a “buy one, give one free” rate of just $10.00.   NTC’s Village Reading Corner will be featured in one of the Newton Free Library’s display cases near the main circulation desk, as well as in the children’s room. Books will be available for purchase at The Children’s Book Shop in Brookline and at the International Childrens Literature Project page on our web site.

Purchasing any of these great books will allow your child to enjoy and learn about Tanzanian culture, become a member of the village reading corner book club, give a book to a child in Kwala (after it is read aloud to them at the weekly village reading corner), and fund additional classroom-to-classroom exchanges in Newton and Kwala. For a look at the the Village Reading Corner Book Club website, click here.

Last month, students at Mason-Rice Elementary School in Newton and Mahundi Primary School in Kwala each read The Story of the Crow and Frog by Walter Bgoya, and shared their favorite illustrations from the book. See some of the results in the slideshow at the Village Reading Corner Book Club page.

This project has required countless hours of volunteer work and the participation of many gracious people. NTC would like to thank Joni Waldon, Jamie Bushell, and Maggie Jones as general advisors for this project, Laura Aglin for designing the posters and website layout, Christina Patton for constructing the website, New England Mobile Book Fair and The Children’s Book Shop, the Newton Free Library, and teachers and staff at Mason-Rice Elementary School.

For more information about the Village Reading Corner, please visit www.NewtonTanzania.org/ICLP

A (Kwala Kwala) Tree Grows in Brooklyn

23 members from the Brooklyn Free School community traveled to Kwala with NTC last month to visit Kwala Secondary School and Mahundi Primary School, connect with the local community, and complete several projects at Mahundi Primary School. The group funded the construction of a library and a playground, and painted a mural at the school, while participating in cultural exchange activities with students, teachers, and community members throughout the week. NTC would like to thank the Brooklyn Free School for their efforts in creating a meaningful and life-changing experience for the entire group and the Kwala school community, and we look forward to their continued involvement with Kwala! Special appreciation goes out to Gia Rae and Lily Mercogliano for helping to organize the trip.

From Alan Berger, the Director of the Brooklyn Free School:

“The trip to Tanzania was a huge success and an unforgettable experience for all involved!! We spent time in the largest city-Dar es Salaam, and traveled to Zanzibar, a fascinating island which until fairly recently was a separate country, spending time in Stone Town, and at the beach on the Indian Ocean. We also went on a fabulous safari to Mikumi National Park, but most of our time and the centerpiece of our trip was living and working in the village of Kwala, a small rural community of about 3,000 people, getting to know the people, and working on projects for their primary and secondary schools.

We built a playground, painted a large mural, worked on the secondary school library, met with the headmasters of both schools, taught classes in both schools, taught American football and whiffleball, how to make pancakes, did a lot of filming for our documentary, held two democratic meetings, learned Swahili, learned a lot about the Tanzanian educational system and its many challenges, local economics and culture, how to buy, wear, and use khanga (beautiful colored fabrics), how to cook chiappati and, one of the highlights, learned some local dance moves at a big school dance party.  We also donated school, sports and medical supplies, mattresses, mosquito nets, and solar showers.”

As always, we want to thank our gracious donors and partners for their continued support of our projects in Kwala!