Peace House Secondary School

We spent our first 9 days in Tanzania volunteering at Peace House Secondary School in Arusha. This school seeks to provide superior secondary education to orphaned and otherwise vulnerable Tanzanian children. It was an amazing experience for both of us, mainly driven by the students. We were absolutely amazed at how disciplined, motivated, organized, welcoming, talented, self-sufficient, appreciative, helpful and respectful these kids are. Don't get me wrong, they still know how to be kids - as evidenced by the fight that broke out during the soccer match and by some of the acts they performed in the weekly talent show (more on that later!) - but these kids are truly remarkable. Their time at Peace House is very structured -- classes, meals, prayers, study time, activity time (sports, arts & crafts, debate team, etc.), laundry (yes, they do their own laundry). Even on the weekends when the teachers aren't around, these kids take it upon themselves to stick to their schedules and to fulfill their responsibilities....unbelievable!

Pallavi's main project was teaching poetry in the English classes. Not surprisingly, the kids really liked Pallavi and got into the creative writing exercises she taught them. Here's a picture of the kids enthusiastically volunteering to read their poems during one of the class exercises.

My main project was working with the Commerce teacher to organize a business plan competition. Here's a picture of me announcing the winners of the competition. The winning team's idea was to create and sell local arts & crafts to tourists visiting Tanzania.....their final presentation even included visual aids (sizzle is always good!).
In addition to these main projects, we tried to interact with the kids as much as possible. I played soccer with the boys -- it quickly became clear that I was the worst player on the field....but they were patient with me. Below is a picture of me trying to keep up with the kids (I'm the one in the red shorts desperately chasing after the ball). We also did a little painting to add some color to the campus. On a completely random note, I was asked to give impromptu motivational speeches on business, debating, and the performing arts. Yes, it was as absurd as it sounds.
Also, we worked with the 10-person Drama group to perform an original skit in English. The skit included a short English song (which we taught them) and a short Swahili song (which the students taught to us). We performed the skit at the weekly Talent Show on Saturday night. Key learning -- Tanzanian kids love jokes about their cuisine, especially the Ugali and Beans. The skit ended with a strong 'We are (clap, clap) Peace HOUSE!'

The 2-hour talent show was absolutely amazing. It was very organized and very impressive -- there was singing, hip-hop dancing, rapping, soap opera plays, and high-caliber acrobatics/gymnastics.....these kids were flipping and tumbling and standing on each other all on a concrete floor. Check out the two short video clips at the end of this post (for some reason, they uploaded sideways.....and they're a bit dark....but other than that, top-notch camera work!). Really impressive (and scary!) stuff!

In an unexpected twist, the final act of the talent show was two kids dancing to a Bollywood song......of course, Pallavi and I couldn't resist. The dancers were leaving the floor halfway through the song, so we took their place (yes, we stole the spotlight from two underprivelaged Tanzanian kids....) and showed off our Bollywood moves much to the students' delight.....anything for the kids :)

As the name would suggest, the setting of Peace House was really.....well, peaceful.....just outside the center of Arusha. Here's a sunset picture taken from the porch of our on-campus volunteer housing. As I said throughout our time in Tanzania, 'nature....who knew!!'

It was an amazing week, and we're so glad we went there. Asante Sana (Thank you very much) to Team Laughlin for hooking us up with the Romsolos, who told us all about this place.....and asante sana to Peace HOUSE!