When I arrived to Tamani I was extremely nervous because I had such high expectations that I never thought anything could live up to. But Tamani proved me wrong.
Already on the first day at Tamani the staff treated us great. They welcomed us very well, showed us around and made sure that we felt just like home. At that point my nervousness disappeared and it all changed into excitement.
As early as the first weekend we felt that everyone at Tamani foundation was treated as family- the staff, the guests and the volunteers were all equal.
After the first weekend, the school finally started. From the first day Zahra made us feel comfortable and that we were a part of the team. All of the children were so amazing and the teachers were nice to us and showed that they appreciated us being there. Everyone at the school were really hard working people.
Zahra made me feel needed both at school, during adult class but also during evenings and weekends.
From the first week I knew that Zahra, Femida and Elsa were going to be lifelong friends.
The second week I got a timetable from Zahra so I always knew what I was supposed to do during the school days. Mostly I worked with pupils one to one with subjects that they needed extra support in, such as English and Math. That was the best time during the day as I got to see the kids develop and also feel like they really appreciated the time you worked with them. Because I am interested in sports and like P.E lessons, Zahra gave me the opportunity to teach P.E lessons and they were very fun.
Me and Elsa had grade 1, 2A and 2B for Art lessons once a week. The kids seemed to like it and so did we.
At 1 o’clock the school day ended and we had a lunch break and after that we had adult class from Monday – Thursday. At that class we helped the students and we also got the time to talk to them after class. They told us about their life in Matemwe which is very different from ours in Sweden.
Apart from the classes we always got the time to play with the kids and get to know them, which was amazing!
I knew that the culture was going to be different from Sweden and I found that interesting which was one reason why I wanted to go to Zanzibar. Everything about the culture suprised me, it was so much more informative that I could imagine. The fact that we got the opportunity to meet these children that did not have anything compared to the children in Sweden. I got a perspective of how blessed I am that I got the chance to get such good education, economic standards, healthcare and childhood because those are not evident things for the kids in Matemwe.
The day we left Tamani was really emotional, We did not want to leave the school, the kids, the staff, Fehmida and Zahra. I just wanted to stay and see the kids and school develop. It became like my second home.
In short this was the best and most amazing experience in my whole life and I will without doubts come back to Matemwe and Tamani!