Dear Friends & Family,

It's been a while... I hope you all are well. I've just finished my third term teaching -- only one more left; I can't even believe it!

I've felt that this was a very positive and successful term for me. In addition to improving my classroom performance, and doing more lab experiments with my students, I also got a chance simply to spend more time at my school. Since my lesson plans were already done (from last year), I had a greater opportunity to become involved more deeply in the school than I'd been before.

I mentioned in my last mailing that the big International Women's Day event that we had was intended as a kickoff for a Girls' English Club I'd had in mind. Well, it's off and running. The interest has tapered off, as I expected it would (we have about a quarter of the girls in the school participating.)

The purpose of the club is just to have fun speaking English -- nothing serious. To do things they think are fun, but in English. They get English grammar, etc. in class, but they have no personal incentive to speak it socially... which is, of course, the only way they'll ever really learn it. I figured that the desire was likely there, but just like in the States, wanting to do class-related stuff socially OUTSIDE of class is frowned upon by the social aristocrats. However, if you make it somewhat 'cool' to speak English (i.e. by having them speak English in a 'cool' setting) then it becomes OK.

So we'll have dramas, singing (and interpreting American song lyrics), debates, fashion shows, English slang day, stories/poetry, ask questions about America day (with wazungu guests), and other such things. I also have tried to add a sort of feminist slant to many of the things we do. One time we brainstormed 100 careers that women can do. If they had an idea but didn't know the English word, they could describe it in English to me and I told them. Then we put them all on a big flipchart paper and posted it in the library, where it stays today. Then we sang, "If You Want to Sing out, Sing Out!"

Many people think it's strange that I, as a man, am so passionate about Girls' Education/Gender Issues, etc. I think that strangeness is as a result of the traditional stereotype that gender issues are solely women's issues, women fighting to get the rights that they deserve.

However, is gender equality just something we do out of pity, or to throw a bone to women because they 'deserve' an equal shot? While it's certainly true that women deserve equal rights, that logic is tenuous. When equality is achieved out of a sense of duty, that duty often falls apart when it collides with the 'bottom line'. Equal rights is then perceived as a luxury that is affordable only if there are enough jobs/wages for everybody.

But when we perceive gender inequality not as something that ignorant men impose upon women, but as something that an ignorant society (men and women) imposes upon itself (men and women), then my own involvement doesn't seem so strange. Men and women each bring different ideas and perspective to work, culture, religion, government, etc., just the way that people of different places and educations do.

Can we really afford to automatically exclude (or through traditional social roles, discourage) half the human race from participating in key discourse? Can anyone refute the idea that women have something absolutely critical to contribute to all aspects of our society? Isn't there a negative impact on all of us, not just women, when we don't have participation from everyone?

So that's why I'm involved. Not out of pity for the girls of my school, or because of guilt at being a 'privileged' male. It's because my friendships with women have shown me that we will continue to be a half-complete, half-aware human race as long as we dismiss their input in the areas in which it is most needed.

Well, for better or for worse, the rhetoric above may be extending further than this little forum. I have finished the draft copy of the Girls' Education Resource Manual that I have been working on (in fits and starts) for almost a year now. Soon I will be in Dar es Salaam working with the Volunteer Leader and other staff to put on the finishing touches, and make it available for the June In-Service Training meeting of the first-year Volunteers. I will likely put it up on the web site as soon as it is finalized, so any of you can check it out.

My final term is coming up, and my official close-out date is in the beginning of December. Many of you have asked me about my plans for the coming year... and yes, it is true that I'm going to try and stick around here a little longer. I have applied for an extension as Volunteer Leader.

This position would NOT have me continuing in Monduli, or even in the classroom at all. Instead, I would move to Dar es Salaam and work for a year in the main Peace Corps office doing Volunteer support. I would also spend lots of time on the road, visiting people at their sites, as well as helping with all the different training activities throughout the year.

It first occurred to me to apply when I noticed, just as many of you have, that I am already doing a lot of volunteer support in my free time. I've done computer repair at three schools and at the main office in Dar. I've done the Girls' Ed Manual. I've helped out considerably at training events. There are other examples, but each one points towards the same thing: I find myself naturally drawn to work like this, and in this new job, I would be able to devote fully my time to this kind of work. Sometimes I think I could help contribute better to PC Tanzania in this job than I have as a teacher.

Also, because of my involvement in these projects, I've become quite visible to the Country Co-Directors, and other 'bigwigs' in Dar... especially since I regularly share ideas with them via email. It occurred to me that such things may increase my chance of being appointed to such a position should I choose to apply.

However, as I have learned time and again, there are no sure things in this life. So I will have to wait until early August to find out the final answer. (The actual application deadline isn't until mind-July). So in the meantime, it's just the waiting game.... no problem. If living in Africa has taught me one thing, it's patience.

Switching gears again: In April, the results from last year's Form 4 exams came out. These are not my own students, but since there are far more O-Level schools in the country than there are A-Levels, the Form 4 results are a strong measure of the strength of one's school.

Our school's results were exceptional for a private school. We were the highest-ranking private school in Arusha region, and we were ranked 112 out of 666 secondary schools in the nation. This becomes more impressive when you discover that last year we were 200-something, and five years ago (when our current headmaster first came to the school) we were near the bottom of the list.

So it's been a big source of pride... not to mention that students accepted at some government schools are choosing to come to our school instead. It's also a validation that the quality of the school (and not just its reputation) is important. There are many government schools which are severely understaffed, with underpaid teachers who never come to class. The students there do all their learning from textbooks and then take a test at the end of four years. Our results show that having real teachers is important, and that the quality of a student's performance after four years is not solely a function of her/his entrance qualifications.

Another thing that has happened since I last wrote is Form 6 graduation. Though I taught last year's F6 students, it was only for a few months and I had a hard time taking ownership of their performance. This year, I said goodbye to the students that I'd been teaching since I first arrived. Though we'd seen our good and our bad times, it was still strange to see them leave and to know they would never again be my students.

It was also difficult watching these students walking out of their last exam. I knew, probably better than they did, that for most of them this would be the last academic exercise of their lives. Moreover, the vast majority of them will never use anything they formally learned in class. It's true that they will use many of the latent benefits of being a student... but they've just spent the last 14 years in school and now they don't know what's coming next. It definitely hurts to watch them walking out into the unknown like that.

If you're interested in seeing lots of pictures of Tanzania on a very professional site, check out benandsara.net . It's the site of a young married couple serving in the southern coastal town of Mtwara. A very different environment from mine, but there are certainly some common themes.

Niko nje ya hapa,
(Roughly: I'm outta here)
Ethan

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