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New Zealand teachers are helping fight poverty through education

The school bell sounds and hundreds of Tanzanian children pile out of their classrooms as laughter, singing and shouting fill the air. More than 1650 children from impoverished backgrounds from the Arusha region, in Northern Tanzania, are relishing in a free, high quality education at The School of St Jude. They’re now closer to realising their dreams compared to those studying in a Tanzanian government school where there are limited resources, overcrowded classrooms and no meals. At St Jude’s, these children are challenging themselves to escape a life of poverty and are focused on becoming doctors, teachers or leaders in their field.

Over the past eleven years, St Jude’s has flourished with the help of generous sponsors who believed in the vision of its Australian founder, Gemma Sisia. In 2002, Gemma opened the school with three students and one teacher. Through determination, fundraising and sponsorship the school now has three campuses, boarding facilities and well equipped classrooms. It also employs more than 400 Tanzanian staff and welcomes more than 40 skilled international volunteers. Their input is invaluable as the school builds the capacity of the local staff and prepares for its first class to graduate in 2015.

Two New Zealand teachers are part of that volunteer team and are experiencing a once in a lifetime opportunity by supporting, training and mentoring the Tanzanian teachers at the school. Diane Ward is an ESL teacher and Gaye Tiplady is a leadership mentor. Diane works closely with the teachers to improve their level of English. “Every teacher at St Jude’s has two hours of ESL figured into their timetable,” says Diane. “The teachers are very enthusiastic about the ESL classes and it is very rewarding to see them becoming more and more confident in all areas of English language acquisition,” she says.

Gaye’s role is to mentor and provide professional development for the Tanzanian teachers and school leaders. Gaye’s main focus is developing leadership skills and she is working with leaders including headmasters, deputies, heads of department and boarding managers across the school’s three main campuses. Through her work she helps students and staff become critical, creative thinkers. It’s challenging work which takes patience and commitment explains Gaye; “The teachers are starting to ask the kinds of questions in the class that demand critical thinking from students. It’s a big ask for these teachers because there was much less emphasis on critical thinking when they were at school or in their teacher education and now we’re expecting a lot more of them, “ she says.

Both women’s experiences of working in the education system in New Zealand and overseas have prepared them well for their volunteering stint in East Africa. Diane has taught in New Zealand, Iran and Indonesia over the past forty years. Meanwhile, Gaye has worked as a principal and teacher in Auckland and Dubai during her extensive career. Gaye notes her teaching experience in New Zealand was a good foundation and then she gained a lot from her time in the Middle East. “I see a lot of parallels between the way people do things here and some of the systems I found in the Middle East,” says Gaye. “So, there’s not much here that surprises me, I think because I have had that experience of working with people from very different cultures and I think I appreciate a little more how they think and where they’re coming from,” she says.

Both women agree that teachers with good educational experience can take on the challenge of working as a volunteer teacher mentor or ESL teacher at St Jude’s. “I’ve been lucky enough to work in various countries but anyone with the right experience in New Zealand, Australia or elsewhere can be successful as a volunteer,” says Gaye.

Some of the best experiences about volunteering come from the close bonds formed with others from across the world. Volunteers at St Jude’s can live on-campus with their own room and share a communal kitchen, or they can live offsite. There are many opportunities to share meals, go out and learn the local l language, Kiswahili, or do African dancing and drumming. “The volunteer community is fantastic. Most of the volunteers are Australian and last year I was the token Kiwi,” says Diane. “This year with Gaye coming on board, we have doubled our numbers but it’s still hard sometimes to keep our end up. It’s all good-natured banter though,” she says.

A driving force for all St Jude’s volunteers is they are using their skills to fight poverty through education. The academic volunteers are helping local teachers improve their English and in the process they are gaining a lot of perspective. “I think that just by being here and interacting with the local people I am broadening their experience of life outside Tanzania,” says Diane. “It is very rewarding to be making this kind of difference and I would encourage anyone who has the time to do this.”

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