Another side to living in Africa.

We have come up to Arusha to stay with some new friends we have made in Tanzania. In doing so, we are enjoying a completely different perspective of living in Africa. It is absolutely delightful!

The climate up here in Arusha is delicious. It is much cooler, feeling more like a nice sunny summer’s day in the UK. The evenings are very cool and I have found myself wearing a jumper, sleeping under a duvet and we even lit a fire! Living here for a substantial period of time (3 years I think), they have created a little haven, an oasis to retreat to. 
The house they are renting is spacious, colonial in style and has a 27m swimming pool (guess what I’ve done every day). It is absolutely beautiful. The girls have enjoyed playing outside (plenty of shade and the pool is obviously a real magnet). And it feels like we have eaten like royalty during our stay. Arusha is a big city and has certainly evolved to cater extremely well for the ex-pat contingent living here. They even have a ‘western’ style shopping mall which we visited on Sunday (complete with a supermarket stocking things like Yeo Valley yoghurt – you certainly pay for it though!). We went to the cinema which was every bit as nice as any cinema complex you would find in the UK! To be honest, right now it feels like one of the nicest places on earth. This has been a really fantastic break for us all. I feel like our batteries have been not only topped up, but reconditioned too.

Supermarket, well stocked shelves!

I have made the most of being here and enjoyed running out of the door soaking up all the sights and sounds. The temperature in the mornings is around 17°C and is perfect for me (it does get hot in the afternoons). I set off feeling like I actually have retained some kind of fitness (running in Muheza is so draining). It was a challenging route, “a bit up and down” was in fact just slow steady up! And at altitude, I started at 1500m and hit 1650m when I turned around. But it was fantastic (hopefully good training for Kili too) and I got back feeling great and was able to dive into the pool. For me, a heavenly way to start the day.

It has also been very interesting to hear about the International School here, it has a fantastic reputation. The International Baccalaureate curriculum and approach to teaching is very different to what we follow in the UK. They have clear goals and standards but approach these in a very different way and have a very different perspective when it comes to assessment. The endless generic tests now running rampant in the UK are non-existent. Once a year the students sit an online knowledge-based test which is used to assess the school only (Students and parents do not see the results). Other than that, they have more formal assessment only twice (equivalent to GCSEs / A-levels). They do however get regular feedback and do work towards levels of achievement (which are ‘awarded’ when the student has demonstrated such aptitude). Attaining these means that they are then challenged to progress to the next level, usually requiring the development of new skills (rather than knowledge). All very interesting. The whole approach and ethos is about engaging the students in things that they are interested in and helping them to learn for themselves. Subjects like history and geography are covered generically in ‘classes’ where the students choose a project and work towards some kind of endpoint (it might be to write a children’s book, perform a play, present to parents or staff, create a product or teach younger students). They learn through doing and researching and the teachers help each child in real time, rather than preparing specific material. They learn many life skills in the process. This all sounded like a revelation to me, so much more in line with all the educational philosophy that I learned during my Master’s Studies. It is also interesting that universities from all over the world (including the likes of Oxbridge and Harvard) come to visit to ‘headhunt’ potential students for their universities.

The only downside to our weekend is that I turned my ankle crossing the road whilst giving a piggy back to our smallest child (typical, I run on rough terrain, then somehow injure myself in such an unlikely way). Its ok, but pretty sore. I just hope it holds out for our little climb next week.