" Idigima Secondary School Beginnings"

-an article by alumni student Stan Mwampamba

Stan Mwampamba

Stan Mwampamba is a 2011 Division One (highest National Exam scores) graduate from Idigima Secondary School. He served as a part-time teacher following graduation, prior to moving on to Form Five Advanced Secondary School education in the Iringa Region. We asked him to write about the early days of Idigima. He was with the very first Pre-Form One class, meeting under a tree for class, before any buildings were completed. He and his classmates have been involved in the building of their school, from the digging of the first foundation stones to the completion of twelve classrooms and other buildings. Since their graduation, ten more classrooms have been added.

(Editor's note: Stan’s article was forwarded as typewritten words in an e-mail, with edit helps by Gary & Joanne that are in parenthesis. It is unknown if Stan typed the article himself, dictated as it was typed, or written on paper and later typed out by Gary or Joanne. Assuming the latter, while maintaining it as unedited, for visual impact I took the liberty to change the font to simulate handwritten words and to display it on tablet paper images to better replicate what Stan's original article may have looked like.)

Pre Form 2007 studied under the trees

Headmaster Chaula

Boni

Ombeni

Building Idigima

On September 1, 2009, we arrived at the Village Schools Tanzania headquarters at Madisi Secondary School in the Iringa Region. After two weeks of training and living with students in their single room “ghettos,” we were sent to serve as volunteer teachers at Idigima Secondary School. We arrived on Saturday, September 12, 2009. You can pick up on the history of the students and campus growth through our archived blog updates.

God bless you for partnering with us in this adventure with God.

Your Hands & Feet in Tanzania,

Gary & Joanne

Social Skills

Here are audio presentations, in three parts, about social skills and how they differ from here in the United States, in Gary’s own voice.

(At the beginning of part one there is an 11 sec. delay before Gary’s voice is first heard. And, toward the end of part one you will hear Gary’s son-in-law, Trevor, briefly comment on the recording.)

To play back the audio recordings, be sure to first turn on the speakers of your computer, and either scroll down the right side of the blog to reach the "Featured Audio Clip" or click on the "Audio Clips" tab across the top of the blog to open a new page that holds the archive of all the audio clips.

John Williams, Your Hands & Feet blogmaster (for the Grenells)