And so I have survived my first week back at SEGA!
Why am I back?
Because I believe in why Polly and Nurturing Minds started SEGA. That educating girls in a developing country empowers them and gives them choices! I also want to support and nurture the Graduates and the ongoing programs that we started in the Lifeskills areas.
So much is familiar…. So much has changed. Progress does this. I am excited by what is happening here.
If you are not familiar with my journey thus far, I suggest you flick back through the pages of my blog and catch up.
My journey between 2010 - 2013 was spent in helping build the foundations of SEGA as a start up school. (Founded in 2008). I have returned to find a viable, competitive Tz Secondary school producing girls who are already successful in many areas and girls who are hungry to follow the examples of their older sisters. Our Graduates are making a real impact on their journeys to success and in empowering other young girls and women in their paths.
I arrived at SEGA, Thursday 24/2. 30 hours of my time had been spent above the earth chasing time and waiting in airports for my journey to continue. I had left my Dutch friends, Liesbeth and Fredrick (ex-Tz vols) after a wonderful week of sharing the joys of their current lives in Singapore.
Friday I was starting to absorb being back...living in the Volunteers’ house which I had only visited in the past... and loving being back on campus!
I was greeted with overwhelming excitement and enthusiasm when I visited Madam Clementina and our Graduates who are leading the Msichana wa kisasa (Modern Girls) program in their own communities. These are the girls with whom I had spent a lot of time and so it was an emotional reunion!
Back in the driver’s seat, I drove the volunteers into town for supplies! So familiar!
Saturday afternoon:
Many many little Tz challenges later (I remembered very quickly why we become so tolerant and patient here!) I arrived with all the Msichana wa kisasa leaders and all their girls squashed into a dala dala made to carry 18 people. …… 😊
Our Graduates:
Lucy, Siwema: Kihonda Magorofani centre. 12 girls
Subira, Nuru, Happy: Mjimpya centre. 10 girls
together with Madam Mia …. a SEGA teacher with a wealth of knowledge in baking… and a fundi (worker).... helped their girls learn the skill of baking cake.
It was almost overwhelming experiencing first hand a ripple effect of the Lifeskills program I had nurtured into place over 4 years ago! Here were our Graduates educating and nurturing Lifeskills in the young girls from their own communities. It was so obvious that these young girls respected and loved our Graduates and Madam Mia!
Lucy told me on Monday that her girls “knew everything and they are making cake for their families!”
The groups meet Saturdays for practicals and Sundays to reflect and attend to relevant theory.
