WONDERFUL
SUPPORT FOR IDODI
SECONDARY SCHOOL FROM ALASKA!
More about Idodi Secondary School
Photos provided by Linda Branham.
Linda, Sue, and Chris signing the guest book at Idodi.
In February, our good friends Linda and Chris Branham, (who own and
run the Royal Wolf Fishing lodge in Katmai National Park, Alaska)
came to visit us here in Ruaha National Park. They stayed at the
beautiful Jongomero Camp which is not too far from where we live.
Linda had become interested in what I was doing with the communities
and village schools outside the park, and so we had arranged that at
some point on their stay, I would take them to visit with the Idodi
Secondary and Primary School. Much to my delight, Linda had done an
incredible job, before leaving Alaska, of gathering together a
mountain of gifts for these schools. There was so much stuff that it
had added greatly to her luggage and I am sure, had already cost
her quite a bit in excess baggage!
It is a long way
to Idodi from Jongomero so a full day was scheduled
for this event. I collected them at 8.30 am after enjoying a hearty
"Jongomero" breakfast and set off on the journey. It had rained
heavily in the night so the dirt road was wet and muddy, but the
drive proved to be varied and interesting, herds of Elephants with
new born babies, Female Kudu antelope, loads of Giraffe and Impala
not to mention the flowers, the 'ginger' lilies were out en-mass
under the bushes. After a couple of hours we were out of the park and
heading towards the Idodi village going via Tungamalenga village and
Mapogoro. Once on the village road the scenery continued to be filled
with beautiful flowers, this time bushes of wild Jasmine adorned the
roadside, and we spotted a small herd of Kudu and Elephants prior to
our arrival in Tungamalenga, which is some 30 km from the Park
boundary.
We finally reached
our destination, the Idodi Secondary School. This
school is situated on the side of a hill so enjoys a commanding view
of the Idodi valley plus of course gets a much needed, cool breeze,
as it was fairly warm and muggy after the rain the night before. We
were met by Doctor Dulle, the Founder and Chairman of the Ruaha
Conservation Fund. (All money that I raise goes through this Fund).
We then walked to the Headmasters office and met with the deputy
head. We had a good meeting in the office where-by we chatted about
the Environmental Center that I was proposing to build and that the
Branhams were very interested in supporting. Linda then delved into,
the bag of goodies that she had brought and gave the school a large
selection of educational posters on biology, Geography etc. They were
well received and would prove very useful as teaching aids. The
school really needs as much help as it can get with visual material
to help illustrate the school curriculum.
We left the small,
dark office and were given a tour of the school,
we noted that the school needed a kitchen and a dinning room as at
present the students eat outside, and the cooks have to make do with
a temporary shelter. People here, traditionally cook outside so this
is one of the reasons the school has not made the kitchen a priority.
Though they hope to build it in the near future.
Current kitchen at the school.
We looked at the
site for the proposed Environmental Center. This
spot is one of the prime spots on the hill as it has a wonderful view
of the plain below and has a good, cool breeze much of the time.
(Incidentally since Linda and Chris's visit, work has now commenced
on the Center, the block making machine is working hard and the shed
for storing all the materials is now built.)
The proposed center
is to be built in an environmentally friendly
way, using new, low cost, low environmental impact, technology for
making bricks. Instead of using the traditional clay bricks which,
as clay is needed are made in the wet-land areas and usually ends up
destroying the wetland, coupled with the fact that the bricks have to
be dried by fire, which means cutting down an awful lot of trees to
cure them. So we have imported a hand operated, block making machine
which makes strong, hollow bricks with a very economical cement
mixture. (These bricks are now in production at the school.) The idea
is also that once the project is completed the machine will be
donated to the school for them to complete the rest of the buildings
that are still needed.
Secondary students at Idodi.
We left here inspired
by the students who were diligently going about
their lessons, Linda and Chris were impressed by the serious attitude
the students and teachers had towards their studies and education in
general. They noted that this was sadly not the case over in the USA,
where schools and students had access to the most elaborate
facilities and tuition opportunities but did not appreciate them.
After we left Idodi
Secondary school we paused for a moment on the
wooded lane to have a welcome cold cup of water, before going on to
the next engagement at the Idodi Primary School.
We were warmly welcomed
by the Head teacher of the school and ushered
into his small 'office' where everything precious the school owned
was housed. The text books and boxes of chalk, were piled into an
ancient looking cupboard, the school terms schedule was pinned up on
the wall carefully written out by hand as a home made chart, a large
poster of the wild animals of Ruaha Park adorned the other wall.
Apart form this; there was not much else in the room. All the
teachers were summoned into this small room to meet us and once
everyone had shaken hands we were all seated. Chris explained in
Swahili, which impressed everyone no end, that they lived in a
national Park in Alaska and showed them, with the aid of a map and
pictures where they were from. We then gave out the teaching aids
that Linda had so thoughtfully collected. Much to our surprise an
'alphabet train' that was used for standard one, was a huge hit with
the staff and they could hardly wait to stick this colorful Alphabet
onto the, up to now, bare walls of the classroom.
Classroom at Idodi Primary School.
The head teacher
then ushered us outside into the bright sunshine,
where we had a short performance from the school choir under the
shady trees. It was now time to go, we shook every ones' had
profusely and climbed back into my land-rover and made the long treck
back to Jongomero. We stopped off briefly at Hippo pools, just
inside the park gates to eat our very late lunch, it was around
4.30pm. We finally got back to Jongomero Camp at around 7.00pm.
It had been a long but enjoyable day and certainly the folk of Idodi
will always remember the Branhams visit.
I have since received
the news that the schools were really
delighted with the posters, and other gifts, so much so that now
the other schools in the area are all asking for 'the Alphabet
train'! I hope to acquire a selection of these when I go to Houston
in April!
But that is not
all that Linda and Chris are doing for our Village
programs. They have most generously donated a weeks Fishing Safari to
their beautiful Lodge in Alaska. Plus 2 nights in Anchorage at a
wonderful B&B for the first and last nights of the trip. This kind
donation will be auctioned off at our forthcoming exhibition in
Houston on the 27th April 2006. (For details of this please see
updates on the Exhibition page)
I would like to
take this opportunity of thanking the Branhams for
their invaluable support and their wonderful commitment to making the
world a better place.
-Sue, March 2006
For more information on this project, please email suestol@bushlink.co.tz