Volunteer Reports - Olivia Boyle & Emily Gerard-Leigh

Report from previous volunteers – Olivia’s and Emily’s second visit to Jambiani

Olivia writes:

A year had passed since Ems and I had said a reluctant goodbye to Jambiani. Working under the auspices of ZAP, coupled with the hospitality of the villagers, had ensured a truly unforgettable experience. This summer, we returned with Janie to help her assess ZAP’s work in progress, and to settle in the new volunteer English teachers, whom we had recruited and interviewed together. From the many applicants for the role, Emma and Somaya, the latter being a fellow student of mine at law school, were chosen for their teaching experience, having spent summers in Morocco teaching English. Because ZAP now has official Zanzibar charity status, the girls were officially approved to teach at the village secondary school. We had realised during our previous visit that Form I would be especially in need of their help. The step-up from primary school to secondary school is particularly difficult in Zanzibar as for the first time classes such as mathematics and history are taught in English rather than Kiswahili, a sudden change which presents pupils in this critical first year with obvious problems.

When we arrived, Jen and John, the volunteers from New York, were coming to the end of a wonderful drama based teaching project. The year groups they had concentrated on were Forms III and II and the progress they had made in a matter of weeks bowled us over. With this success in mind we believed that two months of Somaya’s and Emma’s uninterrupted input with Form I could reap huge rewards. Successful negotiations with Mr Maabad and Mr Ame, the head teacher and head of English respectively, resulted in a good initial acceptance of what the volunteers had to offer, and a strong relationship developed in which both sets of teachers, temporary and existing, worked as a team, prepared to learn many techniques and ideas from each other.

Whilst we found the spirit of Jambiani mercifully unchanged, certain aspects of village life had moved on…fewer women were farming seaweed, several now turning their attentions to the sewing cooperative in full flow at the school; the fishing trade had unfortunately dwindled although the construction of the new main road had resulted in alternative employment for some of the young men; and the first Jambiani Champions League was in full flow, utilising all six football pitches, spread throughout the village!

Any fears that Ems and I had been forgotten were luckily unfounded, however. As we set off on our bikes through the village on the first evening we found ourselves stopping every few yards to greet and catch up with old friends. I was particularly happy to see one of my old pupils, Juma, the mountain biking champion of Zanzibar. Last summer Juma had presented himself as someone very keen to master English. From the outset we knew it was a daunting prospect for him but the potential rewards for him were huge. If he could only reach a competent level of spoken and written English a generous Austrian had offered to support him in opening a cycle shop which would provide him with a regular income. This would be tough for him. Juma had never had any formal education and lived precariously with no regular income; he often arrived for our classes hungry and unable to concentrate. Over the past year Juma's level of English has improved greatly. He is now able to hold conversations and his level of understanding is very high. During our stay this summer it transpired, to our pleasure, that one of the reasons for this dramatic improvement is his regular use of the ZAP library. It turns out that during the past year many of our old students have been using the system we set up last summer, borrowing books from the library to practise their English. It was so exciting to see an initiative being seized so readily by all who were introduced to it. As a result, much of our time on this visit was spent expanding the resources available at the ZAP library and showing villagers how to use the Kiswahili – English dictionaries to their advantage. Furthermore, it is not only people in direct contact with ZAP who make use of the library. Word is spreading fast, particularly amongst the women, that the Library is a place where anyone is welcome to come and study!

Emily writes:
Last year Livs and I had spent a fantastic 6 weeks in Jambiani as volunteers, teaching English and learning as much as possible about the Jambiani village community. As Livs explains, this year our priorities were very different; since ten days off from work didn’t allow us enough time to set up regular after school lessons again, we were to help Somaya and Emma settle in, introduce them to everyone in the village and also to assist Janie in progressing the various ZAP Projects.

It was therefore with great excitement and enthusiasm that we set off back to Jambiani, but like Livs, I was full of apprehension as to what sort of welcome we would receive and how many of our pupils and friends from last year would recognise us? Happily our fears were unfounded; within the first twenty fours hours it was as if we had never been away. Blue Lagoon quickly filled up with familiar faces, all smiling away and expressing their happiness to see us. On that first evening cycle ride shouts of “Emily” and “Olivia” brought a smile to my face. It was obvious from the welcome that we received that the villagers really were pleased to see us back again and obviously appreciated ZAP’s increasingly high profile in the village.

One of the things we had learnt last summer was that the school was desperately short of English, Maths and Science teachers with the requisite experience to ensure that the Form III and the newly introduced Form IV pupils passed their exams. The village committee had asked ZAP to sponsor bursaries for teachers to go to the Zanzibar State University for further training in these disciplines. ZAP Directors agreed to fund two places and our challenge during this visit was to choose candidates from a long-list prepared by the committee. All short-listed candidates submitted letters, some in more fluent English than others, and we set up a series of interviews at Blue Lagoon.

It was a tough prospect; even those applicants whose English was limited were able to convey their hunger and enthusiasm for this opportunity and we hated to dash so many hopes. However, we had Mr Pandu standing by with ‘wise and technical advice’ as always, and we all felt that the main criterion was for the teachers to return to Jambiani after their stint at University in order to benefit the pupils of our school. Whilst it would obviously be hard to enforce, those with family ties in the village, and previous local teaching experience would be prioritised. Another fact to take into account would be the likelihood of the ZAP sponsored students attaining good degrees – our first University graduates should be reasonably assured of success in this regard, to encourage others to take up places in future.

We decided that a detailed study of university admissions criteria in Zanzibar was essential, and were advised that a minimum standard of achievement in higher secondary school grades (Form IV) should be insisted upon. Two excellent applicants, Makame (man) and Nassra (girl) were awarded these first bursaries, and have already begun their degree courses.

During our ten days we spent a couple of mornings visiting the colleges where ZAP has sponsored vocational students in Stone Town. What was apparent from these very interesting visits was how grateful the students were for the opportunity to receive technical training. They were keen to show us how hard they were working and eagerly flashed their exam results in front of our eyes; these were certainly impressive, with several ZAP students coming top of their class. Nothing is simple in Zanzibar, however, and Janie was horrified to find out (initially through Mr Pandu, but also by their stick-thin appearance) that all the students were going hungry. Unable to work to support their families, they had become seriously and quite evidently under-nourished, and she quickly authorised a food allowance for them. (See Janie’s report and Mr Pandu’s ‘soup kitchen’) It was a lesson well learnt – you cannot give a young man the opportunity for full time study without providing him and his family with the basic necessities for survival while he is away from home.As we pondered on ‘our’ young men’s future, when they return to the village newly-qualified, we felt that there was another obligation looming for ZAP - to help set them up with the resources necessary to make use of their trades. Only then will they be in a position to improve things for their families, and to have the effect on the wider village economy which has always been ZAP’s goal.

Having spent time last summer helping Janie set up the ZAP Library and Internet Café I was keen to see how things had progressed since last year. We were delighted that the two ladies who are now employed part-time (in conjunction with Salum’s tourism office next door) are having an enormously positive input. Nabawia and Vivian are bright, enthusiastic and efficient, good with the tourists and excellent in communicating with the UK. But the most exciting thing for us was to see the extent to which they have been encouraging the village children to come and make the most of what the Library has to offer. At 5 pm every day you could barely hear yourself think in the library as the younger children descended on the library to hear their older brothers/sisters/ friends read English books aloud whilst they drew pictures from the story books ably assisted by Emma - while Livs and I took the opportunity to talk with the older school boys and girls whom we had got to know last year and who were eager as usual to practise their spoken English. It was certainly ‘all go’ down in the ZAP Library until 6.30 the time for people to head off to evening prayers.

It was sad how quickly ten days raced by, but what we managed to achieve in those ten days was amazing and could certainly not have happened had we not been so closely integrated into the village community, who are always directing us to the areas where ZAP’s help is particularly required. Having cemented our friendships with these lovely people we very much hope that we will be able to return to Jambiani again in 2008 to revisit them, and all of ZAP’s ongoing projects in this beautiful but desperately needy part of Africa.

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