On 13th July 41 students and four members of staff left Harrow Way to start an epic journey to Zanzibar. Students had been fundraising relentlessly to gather over £2000 to pay for their place on the trip and after two years they were buzzing to set off. The journey took us to Dubai then south to Dar es Salaam in Tanzania and despite being incredibly tired we were able to find a TV to watch England in the Euro’s final! Waking up to a glorious sunrise we packed up and headed to the ferry port to take the two hour boat over to Zanzibar. As we sailed past some beautiful turquoise waters we were greeted with the ‘Karibu Zanzibar’ (Welcome to Zanzibar) sign, the locals couldn’t have made us feel more welcome.
The following day was our first day in Kinuni School. As we drove down the dusty, narrow lanes we arrived at the school. Kinuni school has over 7000 students. They split the day into School A and School B to accommodate all students. Despite viewing photos of the school before we arrived, we were shocked to see how deprived these students were. A humbling experience from our first step inside the school grounds. Over 150 students sat on the floor in a concrete building under a tin roof, students with odd and oversized sliders, teachers with very limited resources but there was not one sad face. The warmth and affection the students showed our group was overwhelming. We got to work on our volunteering projects; teachers were thrown in at the deep end and put in front of 150 students to teach a topic they were given a few moments before, our construction team got to work chiselling out concrete where the windows were to fit into
and our sports teachers had to be so creative to manage large crowds of super enthusiastic children. Our students were outstanding and they all made the staff very proud.
As the week in the school went on, students learned to adapt their teaching to suit the conditions they were in. Broken English and limited resources, the use of hangman and repeat after me became the winning teaching style! We completed the window fitting and painting on two classrooms to ensure they were safe
spaces for the students and the sports team discovered that skipping, hop scotch and bubbles are fun regardless of your nationality and age!
On the final day at Kinuni school our students had the opportunity to visit the houses of some of the children they had been teaching. We took maize, flour, rice and oil as gifts which were all so gratefully received. We listened to the stories of the families lives and the struggles they face on a daily basis. This experience was truly life changing, listening to a mother who was extremely poorly using her money to feed her family over paying for the medication she so desperately needed to treat her diabetes was powerful and to this day I think about that lady and hope that she is well.
Kinuni school then put on the most amazing farewell celebration. With a number of singers and dancers along with a young chap who wrote a poem for us. The headteacher thanked us for our visit and I offered my thanks and gratitude for allowing us into their school. Following a tough, emotional week we then headed onto our ‘Taste of Zanzibar’ weekend. We learned about the old slave markets and visited the site of where the slaves were kept before being sold. We walked through the streets of Stone Town to visit Freddie Mercury’s house before heading to a Spice Farm. After a delicious meal prepared using the freshest spices from the farm we went on a tour of the spices finishing with a freshly cut coconut and a rendition of Jambo Bwana!
The weekend finished with a hotel stay on the east side of the island where we were treated to golden sands and turquoise waters. It was the perfect way to end our time in Zanzibar. I want to thank the students of Harrow Way for fully embracing this experience. I know it has touched you personally and you have been humbled by the trip. I also want to thank Ms Holton, Mrs Blair and Mr Bearpark for supporting me on the trip, I couldn’t have done it without you.
Mr Briggs