The Scissors For You

This is Eveline, a bright student in our Blessed Maria Teresa Ledóchowska pre-school in Kiabakari Catholic Parish. Her dream is to be able to continue her studies in our educational institutions up to Form Six class in High School. She knows too well we have pre-school completed only, while the primary school is still under construction since August 2007 with only six classrooms ready and the school kitchen to be completed in the next month or so. A secondary school and a high school are still in the planning phase only. But she is full of hope that her dream will become reality some day and the ropes of limitations coming from the place of birth and scarce opportunities of proper and continuous education in this area to develop her skills and talents and obtain the best education possible in Kiabakari - will finally be cut through with the help of Fundacja Kiabakari and the people of good will worldwide. Here are the scissors for you from Eveline. Come and take your part in cutting through those bonds enslaving dreams of our children and the youth in Kiabakari.

Pre-School And Primary School Birthday Party - Images

Here are some images of the birthday party, traditionally held in our schools twice a year. First - for those whose birthdays fall into first six months of the year, and the second for those in the latter part of the year. It was a wonderful day of smiles, fun, plays, laughter and good food. Enjoy the images!

Graceful Dance By Little Ones

Germany Appreciation Day And The Fifth Graduation Ceremony in Kiabakari - A Short Movie

This is just a short YouTube version of the full-length DVD (2,5 hours long) of the special celebration on December 3, 2014 in our pre- and primary school. I have posted already a still images but the video is a totally different quality of reporting. A special word of thanks to Mr. Aldimilablis Novatus for the shooting and expert editing of the movie. I hope you enjoy what you are about to see! 

Germany Appreciation Day and The Fifth Graduation in Our Pre-School - Images

Selected images in random order from a special day at our pre- and primary school in Kiabakari on Wednesday December 3, 2014, as we - firstly - honored and showed our gratitude to German people who helped us in the span of past five years with two development project and by sending four teachers-volunteers to Kiabakari. And secondly - celebrated the fifth graduation in our pre-school. We were very happy to welcome our special guests of the day - German volunteers from Internazionaler Bund organization - Hanna and Nele who work as teachers-volunteers at Kigori Primary School since August this year. I leave captions and explanations of images to you, viewers. Link to the full photo album on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152841962026912.1073741853.649361911&type=1&l=f227eec667. Enjoy!

Anticipation

The next few weeks will be filled to the brim with anticipation of results of projects accepted by Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs under the development scheme of Polish Aid 2014. It will be known in the near future if any of our Foundation Kiabakari submitted projects will go through. I am not going to be a prophet of any kind. Just praying to God for His Will to be fulfilled as He himself knows how much we need them in this particular point of development of Kiabakari.

I know the amount of work that went into the preparation of the projects, how well they are founded and grounded in reality, how much the local community in our village and district at large needs them.

It is up to the special commission to decide if our reasoning finds its favorable decision.

To me, either way will not make my year much different. If we get the funding, it will be easier to me to complete those projects. If not, it will be up to me to find alternative sources of funding.

I will not reveal in extenso what kind of projects we sent for funding to the Ministry. I can only say that the primary school project which includes the finishing of the remaining three classrooms and computer room with extension multipurpose service building - is absolutely crucial to me. I have to do it this year.  My standard four students will sit for the national exam this year, as you know from my previous posts. For this I need a registration of the school.

As I struggle to get the registration of our pre- and primary school, one of the conditions for the full registration is the completion of the infrastructure and the basic school equipment. The Tanzanian government during the latest inspection estimated that our school project is 81% done (thanks to the pre-school project funded by Polish Aid 2013 and the Small Grant in 2007 which financed construction of foundations, walls, windows and doors of the present primary school). The lacking 19% is crucial.

That is why in prayerful anticipation I will wait for the verdict of the commission. This will tell me how my year will look like. Will it be relatively easy climb towards the important goal with funding from Polish Aid 2014 or it will be a difficult one with me going around the world again in hope of securing the necessary funding? Time will tell. I can only ask humbly the Lord to consider granting me the easier way...

All I ask of you, my esteemed readers, is to pray to God with me in anticipation of things to come. May His will be done.

2 Out Of 3

After two days of celebrations of Mapinduzi Zanzibar and Maulid, today is finally a day of work. Having celebrated the Holy Mass in the morning, I will be soon heading to the Ministry of Education to receive the official letter from the Hon. Minister - the recognition of the Diocese of Musoma as the lawful owner of pre-school and primary school in Kiabakari and myself as an executive director / manager of the same. This process of registration has there major steps and we have done two out of three. After today, what will be left is to finally register the schools and get the government number. This will enable us to be recognized as educational institution in Tanzania and as a recognized examination center for the upcoming national exams for which our standard four students will sit for the first time in the short history of our primary school.

Apart from this visit at the Ministry, what is on the agenda today is the visit to Crown Healthcare Ltd. - our main supplier and maintenance provider for our health center in Kiabakari. Since we have got a brand new water bath machine and microscope funded by the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the 'Upendo Unaojali' project, purchased at the end of the last year, I am able to bring for the emergency repair our old water bath and microscope - which - after some six years of continuous work in our lab - gave up and broke down.

In the afternoon, time permitting, I may feel tempted to go to the movie theater. Some new movies playing (same blockbusters as elsewhere in the world). We will see!

One Week

One week left till the opening of the new school year, the day when our new pre-school fills with children laughter and smiles. Can't wait! Such a huge reward for all the effort of the passed year.

Modern Pre-School Project in Kiabakari - Images

A few pictures of the final stage of the completion of the modern pre-school development project in my mission in Kiabakari, co-financed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland. These pictures were taken in mid-December, the latest works are not depicted here. I will post final pictures once the pre-school is open and students are in the school. Still, what is seen here, fills my heart with pride and gratitude to God, Polish Foreign Ministry, Foundation Kiabakari and all people involved directly and indirectly in the realization of the project.

White Plate White Mug

On my to-do-list for today in Dar es Salaam there was a quest for food warmers / food servers for our new kitchen in health center and in new pre-school. I went to Kariakoo to search for them. Found them here and there, but what caused my heart melt were white plastic plates and mugs I bought from the wholesale Chinese shop for the pre-school dining hall. 

As I was holding a sample plate and a mug in my hands, my mind went to the opening day of the new pre-school, November 22. On that day we will not only have the ribbon cutting ceremony at the gate, but also the short sample of 'a day in new pre-school' which means - first lesson in each age group, breakfast in new dining hall and first games in our new playgrounds. 

I felt touched by the mental picture of some one hundred happy pre-schoolers sitting at the new tables in dining hall and having their first breakfast served from the new kitchen, equipped with modern stuff. Nice nutritious breakfast served on new white plates and a mug of freshly brewed tea for our little ones... All effort that went into the planning of the project, waiting in anticipation for the announcement of the Polish Ministry for Foreign Affairs - if the project passed or not, then the entire construction process up till now - it was worth it. 

The picture of our pupils enjoying their first day in their new pre-school is priceless. And melts my heart. Grateful to God and so many grand people of good will - from the donors through our Foundation Kiabakari to the task force - who made this possible, who made this happen. 

Registration Of Our Schools In Kiabakari

Just a quick note. Went this morning to the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training with the complete documentation from Mara Region for the registration of our pre- and primary schools. Met nice people there. Hopefully, Hon. Minister will find time to sign approval of the docs, so we can process with the full registration. Fingers crossed and prayers, please!

IB Office In Pre-School

Thanks to the great dedication and creativity of Denise and Thomas, they created a fully equipped office for Internationaler Bund volunteers in the premises of our pre-school with all kinds of teaching aids, laptop I gave them (a gift of one young boy from Ulmerfeld in Austria), scanner and printer. I allowed them to use for this end one of the offices in the former pastoral center - now pre-school. They took this offer seriously and put a lot of effort in making sure that future volunteers of IB will have a secure and orderly place to keep their tools, stationary, school equipment being a property of IB in Kiabakari. It is my firm hope that the coming volunteers will appreciate this huge effort of Denise and Thomas and will contribute more to keep this office useful and fully furnished with everything that is needed for the volunteers-teachers work in our school.

Recycling Education

I would like to share with you quickly a remarkable story of a lady in my home parish who relentlessly goes around people's houses collecting papers, magazines, newspapers for recycling. The money she gets from the recycling center she collects until it suffices to support one child in my pre- and primary school in Kiabakari through the educational adoption program of Foundation Kiabakari. So far this year she was able to adopt educationally four children already. Amazing effort! Recycling for education. Recycling wasted paper to give it a new meaning - a hope for quality education for underprivileged children in rural Tanzania. Hats off to the wonderful lady! I applaud her effort as I send a thanksgiving letter to her today for the donation of the fourth adopted child in our school.

New Volunteers

I expect to welcome two new volunteers in Kiabakari, coming from Germany, through the same Internazionalen Bund organization that sent Denise and Thomas last September. Franziska and Tobias Breitfeld will replace Denise and Thomas who will be going back home after a full year of genuine commitment, hard work, dedication, going beyond their duties and showing remarkable talents, skills and sense of responsibility for our children and the ability to blend in perfectly in our parochial community. It is my hope that new volunteers will follow in their footsteps, building on the solid foundation of priceless legacy that Denise and Thomas will leave in Kiabakari.

Our new volunteers have just started blogging. This is their Kiabakari experience blog: http://breitiandfraegokiabakari.blogspot.de/

On behalf of the whole Kiabakari community I wish them God's blessings in their preparations and every success in their voluntary work for the benefit of the young generation in Kiabakari.

Ad Gentes

I am truly grateful for the Polish Episcopal Conference 'Ad Gentes' Department funding for the provision of breakfast for our pre- and primary school students and the salaries of a cook and a cleaning lady - for the next two years. This - together with Foundation Kiabakari continuous educational adoption program - certainly will ease off immensely the pressure to increase school fees due to skyrocketing costs of life in Tanzania and will help to maintain the same high quality education for our children in Kiabakari for the basement level of financial committment of the families. Very, very happy!

Fencing Off

For a long time my sisters have been complaining that some of the local people come after school hours to pre-school and devastate the playground. They managed already to cut off one of the swing, steal bolts and nuts, wood planks and wreak havoc on the playground area in general...

Dividing The Time By The Spoon

Since my comeback to Kiabakari at the beginning of October, I have this prevailing feeling that the time has become densely congested, packed with numerous activities and challenges, all thrown at us at once. It feels like if the time has become a jelly which is so thick that one can divide it by the spoon...

Chapati

Expecting Mare and Mare to come back from school safari to Serengeti any moment now. They went with some forty plus children, two sisters and two pre-school workers this morning to visit one of the most famous wildlife parks worldwide. Of course, muffins and sandwiches went with them as well...

Muffins

Tomorrow is the big day for children from our school. They are going on school tour to Serengeti National Park. You can only imagine how excited they are! Since I came to Kiabakari in 1991, I have never heard of any school tours in government primary schools in our area to Serengeti. So, tomorrow is a historic day. The very first ever school safari to the Pride of the Nation - the Serengeti National Park...

Meetings

The day of several crucial meetings and visitors. My head is already spinning and still there is one more meeting 'sine qua non', but so far I have been very pleased and happy with the day's proceedings!