Container

We haven’t posted much about the state of Africa, NGOs, or the like. So here goes…

The NGO that we are volunteering for sent a container from the USA to the community center. People at the community center, us included, had been very excited about it because it was suppose to contain good educational materials and things for the center. We were particularly looking forward to receiving books to start a library. After traveling for over a year, the container arrived in Songea this Thursday morning. While it did contain some of the items we had been hoping for, it also contained many other things that were surprising, kind of crazy, and down right useless.

First the books. As promised, there were thousands of books in the container. We were excited. But after opening all the boxes, we discovered that we were sent 20 (sometimes 40 or more) copies of each book. It is hard to fathom what we will do with that many copies. It is harder to fathom what we will do with one, much less 20, copies of some of the books in particular. A few prime examples are How to Grow Shrubs and Trees in Cold Climates or Do I want to be a Mom?. (This book explores many of the American issues associated with motherhood. We were lucky enough to get 40 copies). How about 20 copies of electrical wiring for semi conductors, or many of the books that are in French or Spanish.

Educational Materials: As we have posted before, the schools here have very little, if any, resources. The preschool was very excited that there were educational materials coming. Once again, it was very interesting to see what was sent. For those who are teachers you might have heard of Open Court, a phonics-based reading program. This is a very complicated program that has many materials (books, flash cards, work books, etc). We received 15 copies of the Volume 1 kit, 15 copies of the review kit, and one copy of volume 2. Many teachers in the US (who speak English) go to training courses to understand how to teach using this method. Many teachers in the US would be very excited to receive these kits but it is hard for me to imagine how one, much less 15, of the same kit will be put to use here. Neither the teachers nor the students speak English. The school still does not have basic educational supplies such as paper, pencils, markers, or anything of the sort.

Toys: There were a couple of boxes of toys that arrived (we are guessing for the preschool) that are very interesting. Most are brightly colored, battery operated (people cannot afford batteries here), hunks of plastic crap. The kind of toys you see in the store and wonder who actually buys them. Others are Barbie-type dolls that are scantily dressed, which in this culture is associated with prostitution. Lastly, there are four tents. People don’t camp around here, but you never know, we could start a camping club!

Oh, and best of all, every single book is affixed with a giant sticker that says “for donation only – not for resale.” The stickers literally take up a third of the book cover. Which is great, so when kids are looking at the book on how to grow shrubs in cold climates, they can remember that the totally irrelevant book was given with generosity and thoughtfulness.