Katha, we are so proud of you and we will think of you always. We extend our
deepest sympathy to her family and to Kai. Tutaonana.... Lala Salama.
Masomo e.V. Mommsenstr. 11 12203 Berlin
April Newsletter 2010
info@masomo,org www.masomo.org
Dear Friends and Sponsors, In Memory of Katharina Wunsch ( December 6th, 1985 - Januar 29th, 2010) Katha, one of our first volunteers, and thus an original kuku (literally 'chicken' in Swahili - as all of our volunteers are now lovingly referred to) entered our lives in the summer of 2005. After graduating from high school, she joined Lena, Kathrin and Tini on our annual trip to the Starehe Children's Home. Having fallen deeply in love with the children, Katha returned from that first trip to Tanzania deciding to devote her time to finding sponsors, collecting toys, packing boxes, and selling African curios to help realise our dream of building the kids a nursery school. Her charm and infectious smile helped to convince hundreds of people that they should make it their personal business to help these children. In 2009, Masomo members honoured her unfailing commitment and financial savvy by electing Katha as their treasurer. Katha brought smiles and pleasure to Mwanza on every subsequent visit she made, playing football with the children, organising climbs to the nearby hills, offering plenty of hugs and cuddles, and making all of us laugh so hard that our bellies ached. Shortly after returning from another summer in Tanzania in 2009, Katha was diagnosed with leukemia. She fought her illness with dignity and optimism until the day she lost her battle on January 29th, 2010. Katha, we are so proud of you and we will think of you always. We extend our deepest sympathy to her family and to Kai. Tutaonana.... Lala Salama.
A Sneak Peak into the Life of a Starehe Nursery School Volunteer: Simone Nebauer is a 22 year old volunteer who came to us from Regensburg, Germany. She has been a full-time Volunteer at the Nursery School since August 2009. She has earned a stipend to cover a part of her expenses for her volunteering time through the German government. At home, Simone works with physically and mentally handicapped children and teenagers at a large special needs facility. My trip to Tanzania, is not my first African experience, as I previously spent some time in a school project in Ghana. I had a pretty good idea of what to look forward to and what I would encounter in Mwanza. Of course Africa is very different to my picturesque and historic German hometown. The colourful markets, dirt roads and hustle and bustle of Mwanza soon felt like my new home though. Thankfully, the Nursery School is much like you would expect to see at a preschool at home, and so workwise I knew where to start immediately. This has often made me forget, just how different life is here. I often catch myself pushing thoughts aside, because it can be difficult to face the two worlds and attempt to make sense of the sharp contrasts. These differences can be very funny, but often they are not and this can be frustrating and sad. I sometimes forget, that it isn’t just the children who have come from different backgrounds to those of my students at home, but also the Nursery School staff. We had a lovely example of this at school the other day, which I would like to share with you: We were given several cute little Fisher Price shopping carts when a container arrived from Canada. The children have been zooming around the hallways happily for weeks, when I noticed a Tanzanian collegue referring to them repeatedly as ‚cars‘. I explained that they were shopping carts and then noticed that she had no idea what I was talking about. I carefully and slowly explained that at home, we use these carts to drive around supermarkets so we do not need to carry our shopping. Still- blank stares and then I started thinking of how different even just supermarkets are. At home you breeze through the isles casually flinging items into a cart, designed to make our life easier. At the end, you quickly hand over your debit card, loads things into the car and you’re off. Here- things could not really be more different. There aren’t really any supermarkets and so most purchases are made at ‚dukas‘. Dukas are usually several planks of wood hammered together precariouly, which sell a handful of items. The upscale dukas are miniature rooms with iron bars in the front. You go up to the ‚counter‘ and point to or say the things you want to buy. No self-service as that would just invite sticky fingers. Prices are either known or you have to ask as there are no price tags. Flour, sugar etc are weighed by hand using ancient looking scales and are then carefully wrapped in newspaper. Needless to say- shopping takes a fair bit of time here and can easily consume the majority of a day.
So our lovely Tanzanian colleague was still staring blankly at the shopping cart. „ So why do you use these carts?“ „Are your shops big enough to drive around in?“ „Where do you pay and how do you know the prices?“ „Does every person own their cart? And if so, where do they keep them?“ „If you can take things yourself why doesn’t anyone steal?‘.... It ended up costing a great deal of time and patience to answer her, especially seeing as all the while 12 toddlers were zooming around our ankles with shopping carts full of plastic groceries. But the questions didn’t seem to stop. She then discovered the little seat at the front of the cart. „So what is that used for?“ I now explained that we use it to sit children in, so they are safe while we are doing our shopping. A sheer look of disbelief raced across her face: „You don’t carry your children tied to your back?“ It can be so easy to forget how different these two worlds are. Shopping carts and grocery stores are normal for us. I think we often forget how easy and comfortable our life is at home. The markets might be lovely, colourful and fascinating- but sometimes I do miss breezing through a supermarket... This is just one of so many differences and I am full of anticipation about the final four months of my stay. I am sure there will be many more stories and questions to look forward to.
Sunny greetings from Mwanza,
Simone
The children of Starehe Nursery School and Isamilo School are doing very well. We look forward to sharing some more details of their educational and personal development in our next newsletter. We would like to wish you all the best and thank you, once again for your friendship and support .
Your Masomo Team
