When we first arrived at Tamani, tired from a long journey, we were welcomed with a warm hug and a sign on our door saying “karibu” (welcome). We didn’t know what to expect out of this adventure. We wanted to do this together as mother and daughter for many reasons. One was to get experience in our teacher roles, and the other was to see something new. We could never imagine what it actually brought into our lives.
Both of us work as teachers back home in Sweden. We love connecting with the children and to see them grow, both socially and educationally.
Tamani is a school located in the village Matemwe. Matemwe is full of life with happy and playful children everywhere you look. Children that go to Tamani are blessed with a free education, and therefore a bright start in their life. You can see it in their eyes, happiness and thankfulness. And you can also notice it in their playfulness and focus in the classroom.
We had the chance to be at Tamani for two weeks. During these weeks we worked with children that needed some extra support in their learning. We also discussed areas of development with teachers and head master. All our ideas and thoughts were taking into consideration and some of them were actually initiated during our stay. Everyone that works at Tamani put the children’s needs first, which can be seen by the recent amazing results produced from their first grade 4 national exams.
First we thought that working in another country for two weeks would be hard, but this changed us in so many ways.
We met people that we now call our friends.
We got to know children who fight for their future in a way we have never seen before.
We realized that education is crucial for a bright future, and that people can make a difference with so few founds.
We also realized that we want to come back, which will happen very soon