Helene_Tansania

Today our teachers Mr Mattlinger and Mrs Stremmel and the eight of us students, as the representatives of the oldest UNESCO-school in Germany the Helene-Lange Gymnasium, met Mrs Mushi, the ex-principal of the Unesco Kiluvya Secondary School, Mrs Mangovy, a teacher at Kiluvya and Mrs Ngulu, the vice principal of our partnerschol. We went to the Tanzanian UNESCO office and had a meeting with the sympathetic natural science program officer Mr Samuel.
After introducing ourselves in the conference room Mr Samuel asked us about the partnership of our schools. Mrs Mushi explained that the contact between the two schools started via internet. In 2006 Mr Mattlinger, Mrs Strocka and Mr Serbser visited Kiluvya with three students for the first time. The next visits followed in 2008 and 2009. We finally got Tanzanian guests in 2010. Mrs Mushi got the inspiration of Kiluvya becoming an UNESCO-school on this trip to Germany after seeing German UNESCO work, but by now the UNESCO club at Kiluvya is even more active. The fact that the inspiration came from Germany and not from the Tanzanian UNESCO was a good example for the problem Mr Samuel has to face: the missing visuality of UNESCO in Tanzania, especially at schools. Afterwards he gave us the opportunity to ask questions. We were interested in ongoing projects about the city partnership of Dar Es Salaam and Hamburg and the number of UNESCO-schools in Tanzania. Unfortunately one school building project failed, because it was just one person in charge of it. Mr Samuel mentioned that in general responsibility over a project should be distributed among a group of people in contrast to only one with which the project rises or falls. For the second question he told us that there are actually around fifty UNESCO-schools in Tanzania, but only sixteen of them seem to be really active. So we started to collect ideas how to expand and improve the partnerships. We formulated steps to be done in the future which include creating a homepage for Kiluvya-Helene Lange partnership to interchange information such as texts, music, videos and pictures. The main idea of partnerships of schools in Hamburg and Dar Es Salaam should be supported as well. Other schools could be motivated to start a partnership and could take the Helene-Lange-Kiluvya partnership as a role model. The homepage could be a medium for that by showing contacts and field reports. Mrs Mushi suggested establishing an office in the two cities to institutionalize the cooperation. We thought about the way of dealing with partnership itself. We concluded that a partnership and the resulting exchange should come from the engagement of students and their over continental friendships between them and not only a few responsible teachers. On the one hand the host of an exchange should try the best to make the guest feel comfortable but on the other side he should try to stick his normal habits. Mr Samuel explained to us that it is a common phenomenon that a host tries to adapt the lifestyle of the guest to make him feel convenient. So we as the ones who experience this exchange should learn from this and pass this on to following exchange students. Before our goodbye picture Mr Samuel introduced some other UNESCO-projects to us such as the Youth Forum, where young people meet at the UNESCO office in order to discuss current issues and later go to other schools for sharing their thoughts and knowledge. The project that seemed high priority to the highly educated Mr Samuel was the STI4W (Science Technology Information for Women), where women get encouraged to study sciences.
We really hope that we will be successful in sharing our experience in Germany so that this partnership of our countries, cities and schools will be expanded and improved.

As the others already wrote, the safari was great! We had 2 awesome days in the saadani national park, and we did two safaris. On the first trip through the national park we saw beautiful African animals although the weather was everything but beautiful. It was cloudy and sometimes raining but fortunately our drivers had raincoats for us to wear, so the little showers didnt break down our good mood. After the safari and after dinner, we lay down on the beach and saw a sky full of stars. It was amazing to see the starconstalletion of the southern hemisphere, many falling stars and even two satellites. We talked for one hour or so and afterwards we went right into bed. Though we had did so many things this day it was not later than 10.30pm when we all fall asleep. And this was good because we wanted to get up at 6am the next day to take a morning bath in the Indian ocean and enjoy the sunrise. Unfortunatley it rained all night and when we got up the clouds had not vanished. So the expected sunrise had been omitted... Nevertheless the experience was unforgettable!
After breakfast we did our second safari. We wanted to take the two safari cars to the river and see lots of hippos and crocodiles (what we actually did in the end) but it was much more difficult to arrive at the river than we thought! The car where I sat in, got stuck in the sticky, muddy ground and although we tried everything to get it out, it didnt work. In the end all of us, were muddy and exhaused so we decided to just take the second car to the river to do the safari. Meanwhile people from our lodge and from the nearby village got a tractor and rescued the car.
At the end of the day all of us fall asleep, tired but extreamly happy and we were looking forward to the next day. Unfortunately it was also today impossible to see the sunrise but all in all we had two awesome and beautiful days.

Thursday 8.30 in the morning, that was when the driver picked us up for the shaking bus ride to Saadani National Park which made us see a lot of villages and small communities, totally in contrast to Dar Es Salaam. The nature and beach of Saadani were extremely beautiful, swimming in the hot Indian Ocean for the first time and enjoying the time in our sweet lodge. Our safari was pretty adventerous, the day we arrived we left for the safari after lunch and saw a bunch of monkeys, antelopes, birds, a buffalo and a giraffe with her baby (very cute). The next day our plan was to do a boat tour on the Wami river, but unfortunately our jeep got stock in the mud and at first we thought that we would fall into the water next to us, but we managed to get out and our boys were motivated to save the car. It ended with twelve people on one jeep (the other one got rescued by a tractor later) and we could continue to the Wami river, where we saw some hippo families and a crocodile. And this morning we already had to leave. The way back was again pretty shaky, but we rested for a while at a petrol station, where we forgot Mrs Stremmel. We continued our ride for quite a while, when Lea asked where Mrs Stremmel was and everyone was shocked and amused at once. But as a happy end we found her at the station and drove together back to Dar Es Salaam.

After getting the first impressions of Africa in our first days in Dar-es Salaam we went to the Saadani National Park to our Safari-Lodge. After breathing the fresh sea air we had lunch in the restaurant. Finally something to eat after a 5 hour trip in the bus. On our first safari trip we saw quite few animals, a giraffe with her baby, some monkeys etc. After getting showered in the rain we had dinner and afterwards went to the beach to look at the stars. Next Morning we went onto the Game Drive again and our trip started with an accident. Our driver wanted to drive around a hole and drove into the saline. After an hour or so we drove on to the Wami river and saw some hippos and crocodiles. The rest of the day we spended with at the beach and in the restaurant playing cards and eating. The trip itself was very nice although we didn' t see that many animals. Im looking forward to the next 7days with our trips to Bagamoyo and Bongoyo Island and to our Home stay in Kiluvya!

we arrived for lunch at the lodge. everything was very beautiful, and the indian ocean with the beach was perfect. after our nice lunch we did the first safari.
i was with mira david justin and mister mattlinger in one car and the others were in another car. we had the luck to see a baby giraffe and her mother, the baby was very sweet. we came back for dinner and enjoyed another swimmingaction in the sea. the next day we stood up early in the morning for the next safari. unfortnunately our landrover got stuck into the sand at the side of the way, julian justin mister mattlinger david mira and i were sitting in the car, it was a little dangerous feeling because the car was aslant. so it needed over one hour until we got all together into the other car and went on with our safari, while the hotel management tried to rescue the other car. we did a river safari where we saw a lot of hippos and a baby crocodile! so sweet!
in the afternoon we could enjoy the beach again and hat a nice evening. we all tried to enjoz as much as we could the beautiful sea.
today in the morning we drove back the bus took us back to dar es salaam. the way was quite long (6 hours) and we had a break at a petrol stastion. we all brought some food and some souverniers. happy with some chips or nice dishes our journey went on. after some minutes lea looked around. everything was good, but where was mrs strmmel? she was nowhere in the bus, we totally forgot her because she was on the toilet!
but luckily we tourned around and drove back and we picked her up again. so now we are all completely and save in the hotel jambo inn again and in an half hour we are having dinner.

Some hours ago we arrived in Daressalaam again, after being 2 days on our Safari. We went to the Sadaani Nationalparc.
The first day,thursday, we arrived at the lodge and went straight to the ocean swimming. It was great and the beach was so beautiful and impressive, it was really hard to leave again today.
Then we had our first game drive, where we saw different animals, like a giraffe with her baby and so many cute monkeys! Unfortunately it was raining and there were some fires,so the animals were hiding,therefore we didn't see so much of them.The next day we did a river tour, which was very interesting, because we saw a lot of hippos and also a crocodile !!! When we were driving to the river it was raining and so the sand on which we were driving was very wet and humid. I was in the second jeep, we were separated into two jeeps, and when the jeep in front of us tried to drive around a hole, it nearly drove into a lake neraby. After that the jeep couldn't be moved anymore and it took a lot of time before we decided that all of us drive with the second jeep to the river.
After that we had a great time and i enjoyed it so much!

When we were driving back today, we had a short brake at a petrol station. Some were using the toilets, others were buying some water and chapati. Back in the bus, we were all playing cards and talking. Suddendly i was looking around and wondering where Mrs. Stremmel was. So i asked the others.We then realized that we forgot Mrs.Stremmel at the petrol station! Everyone was really exicted, but it turned out, that someone already offered her to help her and so she was in a car behind us.
When Mrs.Stremmel was back and safe in the bus we could drive back to the Jambo Inn, our hotel in Daressalaam.


Im very exicted for our next days and hope that the great time we're having at the moment will continue!

Today we came back from our game drive at the sadani national parc. There we stayed in a nice lodge near the ocean. It was amazing! On thursday in the evening we started our game drive, the tour was very exciting. we saw a buffalo, a giraffe with her baby and a lot of monkeys and antilopes. I really enjoyed the landscape. On friday at 7 am we had another game drive on the river ,were we saw a hippo family and crocodiles. This tour was very exciting, because on our way to the wami river, we were stucked in the mud with the car. In the afternioon we chilled at the beach and went swimming in the ocean. I was quite suprised about the temperature, the water was really warm! Today On our back way to Dar es salam we forget Mrs Stremmel at the filling station. Thank God Lea noticed it after 10 minutes! Greeting from Luisa

Today was our 3 day here in Dar es Salaam and after 2 days of sightseeing and getting to know the city we went to visit the Kiluvya secondary school today. The city is very different from our's and the Tanzanian culture is very intresting. The first 2 days were full of impressions but we had rather superficial meetings than real cultural exchange. The atmosphere of Dar es Salaam is very vibrant and dynamic but also very loud and stuffed. I'm impressed how openminded the Tansanian's are and how easy you get in contact with other people. The visit at Kiluvya secondary school was amazing. The school building is of course very simple but Mister Mattlinger said it improved extremely within the last 5 years. We were very warm welcomed and I felt comfortable from the first moment on (Mimi mwenyewe walifurahia sana). The Unesco group of the school and a few other pupils had a long and fruitful exchange of cultural ideas and rituals with us and we compared Germany to Tansania. I learned a lot and this time was very interesting for me. After that the school grounds were shown to us and we could talk to the students for a while. We had a very tasty lunch and unfortunately had to leave then. I'm looking forward to the next days and I'm exited what experiences will follow. Greetings to everyone Jonas Beyerlein

We are now for 3 days in Tanzania and I have a lot of different impressions. We arrived in Daressalam at three oclock at night, and the luggage of julian was unfortunately lost. Our Hotel Jambo Inn is very beautiful and there are lots of paintings at the wall. The first day we just went through daressalam and organized some stuff. Daressalam is directly at the indian ocean and it is SO beautiful. The second day we wnt to the national museum which was quite interesting. after the sightseeing mira luisa lea and i decided sponteniouslz\y to visit a beautishop to make our hair to cornroes, after a lcomplicated search we found our babershop and there was a big baba sitting and let his sister or wife or something wash his feet. we traded out a price (which was a little too high) and i started to risk my hair;-) now we all have cornroes on our right side and i love it. unfortunately we arrived too late at dinner and got a little anger but i think now its okay. today we went to our partner school, kiluvya. when we arrived a nice breakfast waited for us, and a big discussion round with the pupils followed. we discussed about global warming, religion, familys, politics and even about love affairs at school, so nearly about everything which is different in tanzania and germany. they even sang a swahili song for us! it was very nice and interesting. while the long discussion, i got a new best friend :-) his name is Issaya and he asked loads of complicated questions with his friend to me. after the discussion we visited all the classes and they showed us the huge break place and their places where they play football and everything. In the end we even got lunch from school which was also very good. Mzuri sana! in the end we left very tired and happy, we all got known many new nice people. today we got the information that we all will t\stay alone in a family which is very exciting and i am really looking forward to nthis! One second ago the airport called, julian gets his luggage this night!! miracles still happen ;-)
In two days the safari starts which is soooo nice!!!
Altogether i am very happy and thankful to be here, its such a big difference to germany. and only three days passed and i already feel like beeing here for much longer.
See You!

Jambo!
This is my third day here in dar es salam.
Im so happy to be here!This city is so exciting and amazing.
On our first day here we discoverd the city and relaxed from our long journey.
I`ve never been to such a big city. When we walked trough the streets, full of people, they were all looking at us , because we are white. And at every corner the people talked to you and were very amembel. With the attention to sell you things.
Yesterday we went to the national museum and on our way back we went to very nice drapery shops were we bought kangas.
In the afternoon Charlotte, Mira, Lea and me went to babas beauty shop, to make our hair. That was really funny. The m k Today we went to the Kiluvya highschool. We were so nicely welcomed. And we had a very intresting discussion with the Kiluvya Students about the diffrences in education, politics, religion and many other themes. I really enjoyed talking with the students, they were so amenabled.

Im so happy to be here , we are having a great time together!

Jambo!
Our third day here in Tanzania was definitely the most exiting one for me: our first visit to Kiluvya Secondary School. We spent sunday and monday in Dar Es Salaam and got a good overview and impression of this beautiful city, we bought some kangas, sat at the sea and drank a coke, went to the barber shop of BIG BOSS to get some cornroes, visited the national museum and tried on our Swahili skills. Mambo? Poa. Habari? Mzuri. Some basics are always really helpful.
So a HUGE ASANTE SANA to Kiluvya Secondary School for this hearty and warm welcoming (Karibu!)
The kids at Kiluvya were so opened for our questions and asked us really interesting questions, so we could have a great exchange of impressions, differences and similarities of Tanzania and Germany. And thanks again for your nice song, I really enjoyed listening to the Swahili song about beautiful Tanzania - it was so beautiful!
After our dialogue on education, global warming, politics, religion and family the students showed us their school and we had the chance to get to know them a bit better and exchange facebook and email adresses, so we can keep in touch.
I don't know what to say, but it was a great day and I am sooo looking forward to our projects with Form 4 and the UNESCO Group, because all of you from Kiluvya seem so interested in our world and politics and the environment, so we'll have a lot of fun and learn a lot while discussing and working on tourism, global warming and rituals!

Hi, I am Julian Baehr from Helene-Lange-Gymnasium. Our first day at Kiluvya was great. It is my first trip to Africa so it was pretty hard to imagine how school, education and life differs from the European. We were welcomed overwhelmingly nice and the teachers and students were unbelievably kind. It was a great experience and I am really looking forward to spend more time with you!!
Yours Julian

(This should be posted at the blogger-page of Kiluvia High School but THIS IS NOT POSSIBLE!!!!)

After arriving on sunday 25th in the early morning everyone catched his luggage beside of Julian who unfortunately only received his guest presents.
On the next day we started to discover the city which was really interesting because most Tanzanians are not used to such a big group of white people in their city. So many of them greet you and try to start a conversation with you. But it's likely that the intention behind this conversation is to sell you any amount of pictures or "kangas".
Daressalam is a very lifely city and the great thing about the traffic system is that there is no. Wheter there is a red traffic light or people on the street the cars are just honk but don't really brake.
Today we had our first visit at Kiluvya Highschool and it was pretty impressing how warmly the school welcomed us. It seemed as if everyone was happy to see us and they all wanted to take pictures with us. Very interesting was the discussion/conversation with a group of pupils over topics like education, religion, family and politics. It was nice to hear the opinion from a completly different perspective and I was surprised about the immense knowledge about for example global warming.
Now I'm really looking forward to the homestay because we allready got known to many students and they were all very nice so it's going to be an experience I'll never forget.
David

It's our third day in Dar-Es-Salaam now, and we're having a great time.
Yesterday we went around the city, had some problems with the telephone cards, and took care of Julian, who unfortunately didn't get his luggage yet, becaus Turkish airlines somehow lost it.

And today we went to the Kiluvya secondary High School.
We were welcomed were warmly and had a good talk with the teachers, while eating some very good food (like fired bananas and african tea).
Then we went into a class, where the student Eric lead a discussion abouth different topics. We started with the different education systems, talked about religion, famaly, global warming, politics and a whole lot more. I experienced this time as really informative and the tanzanian students were so ambitious and knew much about the government and their projects, more than we did about our projects and government. It was a great cultural exchange and there i got to know many nice students. After the discussions we were shown around by some students. They were all so great, i got to know many new people and i'm so exicted for the homestay. I don't know in which famaly im in yet, but i know that it's going to be a great experience.

I'm really,really happy and pleased to be here and i like the people and Tanzania a lot !

My first day at the Kiluvya secondary was very impressive! Discussing with students from another world about politics, religion and economy was very interesting. I was surprised by the way we were welcomed and how nicely people from other countries are treated in Tanzania! I'm so glad to be here, the first days in Tansania were great! I hope we'll have a lot of fun in the rest of our time in tansania!

Thanks to all Tanzanians to be so kind to us,
Justin

you are most welcomed to our school
it was nice to meet you and your coming
we hope its not the end of you to visit our school
welcome once again and fill at home.
am more pleased with the kind of friendship that is going on between Helene and our school we hope it will last forever.