Ilpo's Mwanza update

Less than 2 weeks remaining! Omg, time flies! There's still so much to do and so much to see! I guess we just have to make best out of every single day here and that is what we have been trying to do.
This week we visited 2 schools. On Tuesday and Wednesday we went to Mirongo and spent 2 quality days there. We attended classes, got to see their special education unit, had great conversations with the representatives of the administration, the teachers and the students. Kaisa and Ira again demonstrated some new teaching methods and again they were widely appreciated. Jasmine and me also got to attend a social skills class, which was quite an experience. The methods used in that class will definitely be something we will take home with us.
At the end of the second day we had a meeting with the teachers and got to exchange ideas about both teaching and councelling. We also left behind some ideas and suggestions and things that the teachers at Mirongo can talk and see if they want to use them in the future.
The people at Mirongo treated us really well, we were overwhelmed by the amount of their hospitality and their friendship. Mirongo is a new school in this project, but a really great addition. Personally, I was especially impressed by the special education unit, they do a lot of things that all teachers everywhere could learn from.
On Thursday and Friday we took a 50-minute drive to Sahwa school. Sahwa had a partner school at Tampere even before the Tampere-Mwanza -project in schools started, there were drawings on the wall from 2003, sent from Tampere.
Sahwa has been involved in this project before and it shows. You could easily tell that by for example some of the teaching methods that were used (including groupwork) and also the way that councelling was already being run in the school. Sahwa's location provides the school it's own challenges - but also some strenghts. We tried to build on the strengths and suggest some ideas on how to deal with the challenges.
Sahwa is very proud on being involved in this project - as they should be. They are are already doing a very good job, but they are also open to new ideas and that is how they really made us feel welcome. And it is not only about teaching and councelling, the school wants to develop the education and the environment together so they also put in a lot of work in environmental activities, especially composting.
We hope that the school can spread the word about the importance of a good education to the entire community just as they are spreading the word about the environmental issues.
Now it is weekend here and we have been invited to a local wedding! That will be another great experience. But again, every day seems go be full of great experiences here.

Text: Ilpo Rantanen