A weblog on Global Understanding for Haukipudas, Haapajärvi, Medina, and Jangwani Secondary School Students.
Through this weblog, we encourage our students in Finland, the USA, and Tanzania to exchange ideas on global issues. We believe direct connections and communication with one another is the best way to learn about the realities of life in Finland, USA, and Tanzania, and in that way deepen our global understanding.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
First Pictures from Our Friendship School in Tanzania
Mkapa Secondary School Students in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The school has altogether 3000 students. There is no Internet connection nor any fax machines in the building.
11 comments:
Anonymous
said...
By Niko Karonen & Anton Laukkanen
In our opinion Africa is a really exiting country, but travelling there would be too expensive. Tanzania is one of the poorest countries in Africa so living there would not be so exciting. People should help people living in Africa. Like sending money to them so they would be able to buy new farming supplies and drill wells. We could also collect funds and send some pupils of our school to see what it is like living in Africa, or send money to them, so they could visit Finland. Or maybe we could send them some computers, video projectors and the possibility to have a broadband connection so we could have “meetings” through the internet. In our opinion voluntary service is important, but we couldn’t do that, because it’s too heavy mentally and physically. And we don’t like to see people in that condition. We appreciate a lot the people who do voluntary work. And we hope that African people could sometimes visit in our school.
By Amanda Alasaarela, Jenni Karjalainen & Jasmiini Vallivaara
We have always wanted to visit Africa. It is a fascinating and beautiful country. We haven’t met any African people, but the first impression is positive. They seem kind, happy, helpful and open. We should increase our communication with our friendship school and try to be in correspondence with them. It is good to send some material to Africa because they really need them. We have a very good substance which means that we can give them different kind of stuff that we don’t need but they do. If we got a chance to travel to Africa, we hope that our trip would be nice and we got to experience something new. We would like to visit their school and learn about their culture. We would also like to keep in touch with them and we hope that they will come and visit our school in Finland. A volunteer job in Africa would be marvellous. If we get a chance to volunteer, we will start it right now and we will make Africa a good place to live.
We find that in Africa the communities are very united and the cultures are really unique and special. In spite of all the trouble and suffering African people still manage to stay positive and happy! Everyday they have enough strength to fight against the diseases and they just won’t give up hope. We find it very respectful! We think that volunteering in Africa would be very rewarding. By giving help we would become as glad as they would by receiving it. It wouldn’t be a surprise if one day we found ourselves in Africa. It would be very interesting to see how people really live in there.
Our friendship school looks better than we thought and there are many happy faces. Students study more than we have thought and they look hardworking.
There are many differences between our school and the Tanzanian school, so we think that it might be a good idea to go there and get to know the Tanzanian people, their school and their culture. Of course, it would also be good for the students in Tanzania to get some experiences in the Finnish school system.
If we had an opportunity to go and visit our friendship school, we would like to get to know about the youngsters and their free time out from school and of course their families and studying. We would really like to go to Africa and do something useful and help the people with their problems with food and pure water.
I have always been impressed by the African’s ability to be happy and keep smiling though they don’t have everything we here in the developed countries find almost impossible to live without. Still they seem to be happier than many of us, at least in those pictures. Maybe we could learn something from them.
It would be great if we someday had a real connection between our schools and students and it wouldn’t be just charity. Communicating with them in any possible way would be great and I truly hope it will come true one day. It would bring their life closer to us if we had a chance to hear more of their daily life.
Had I a chance to visit our friendship school, I would only wish to see them living their daily life and nothing more. I’m sure it would an experience I’d never forget. I have been thinking about going to Africa to give help to the people there. I don’t know when would be the best time for me to go, but I’m quite sure that I’ll do it.
We have been talking about our friendship school in Tanzania during lessons. We are in touch with them, and they need our help. Our school has sent some aid-packages to them, as they requested. I don’t know much about people in Africa, but I’ve seen a couple of pictures and now I’m willing to tell you my thoughts about Africa.
I think there are too many people and that causes problems. People are talking about their poor education, but is it a real problem? Is education needed for good jobs in Africa anyway? I think they may get simple jobs without proper education. It is a thing that is related to culture. Maybe people in developing countries should be helped by starting new businesses there and providing jobs. It would be some kind of solution to their poorness. By Jani Kaipainen
Personally nothing interests us in Africa or Tanzania but we don’t have anything against African people. It would be nice to have a snowball fight with our friendship schools students :D. We could get closer to our Tanzanian fellows by doing cross country skiing and grilling sausages. It’s been nice to help those less fortunate people in Africa, because we have got everything here and they’ve got nothing. It’s not that big a deal for us to give little something to them. If we could go to Africa we would want to see lions, giraffes and maybe a couple elephants. And we would like to know about their culture. We would never go and do volunteer work in Africa because we can’t live without running water and electricity and we couldn’t live in a clay cottage. And we’re afraid that we could get malaria or HIV while being there.
It seems like Medina and Benjamini Mkapa Secondary Schools are quite different from our school in Finland. With this communication we can learn about different cultures and school systems. It could be facinating to come there and see how you are living. We have never been there, so it's quite difficult to understand your way of life.
Africa is the place where the whole civilisation was born. Because of that, it is hard to understand why it is the poorest continent in the world today. A lot of sad and unfair things exist in the history of Africa: poverty, hunger, child labour and slavery, while the western millionaires’ drink their chilled dry martinis and eat a little bit more than they should. Isn’t it unfair? We know that it is the same old thing that humanists and reformers try to tell us every time, but why doesn’t anyone really do anything? Or at least: not enough.
We think that our school’s Tanzania project is a cause of pure sense of justice. We are a rich Western nation and we are responsible for helping those who are poor. It is a must for us since we keep developing the entire time by exploiting Africa and the other third world’s nations. And we still try to tell them that it is good for them; that globalization is in fact for all people’s best. Well, where is all the evidence for it? Where is global equality, peace and justice? Have people really stopped exploiting each other? For god's sake: no! We’re sorry for breaking through your bubbles, but the world is still in fact a hopelessly unfair place to live for thousands of millions of people. And it is a terrible fact.
This project should just be a peak of the iceberg: an example for all the Western people how all of us should react to third world’s nations. We must stop being arrogant and start to realize that we are not the only ones in this planet. There's just one humankind and the species is as strong as its weakest individual. That’s why the human species today is in fact very weak, and some rats live longer than people in the poorest areas of the earth. And it is really a shame.
The attractiveness of African people consists of their joy of life regardless of the many problems they have. There is a certain contentment to the opportunity to study that comes across from the pictures of our friendship school in Tanzania, even though their resources seem very poor to our eyes. This is something we Westerners should learn more about.
The co-operation between our school and Mkapa secondary school in Tanzania seems very important to me, because I think that it is very important for us, who have everything, to try to help those who don’t have. It also teaches us that life is not as simple as it seems in Finland or in the whole Europe. We think too easily that education and career are automatic. For us it is, but there are millions , or even billions, of people in the world for whom it’s not. Mkapa secondary school’s slogan “Education is living” tells it very well. And because it is, that’s the point of the co-operation between our schools.
We think the most interesting thing in Africa is nature, wild animals and the culture (music and religions), because they are so different from ours. We would also like to see how they live in Tanzania and how they spend their normal weekdays. If we could also show them how we live, it could bring our schools closer to one another. Video clips, photos and letters could be a good thing, if we want to tell each other about our lives and schools in Finland and in Tanzania. Also pen pals from Tanzania would be nice to have.
Maybe exchange students from Tanzania could also be a good idea, if we want to tell them about our life in Finland. If we had an opportunity to go to Tanzania, we would like to familiarize ourselves with the local culture and nature, as well as the way they live there.
Mkapa Secondary School Students in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The school has altogether 3000 students. There is no Internet connection nor any fax machines in the building. 
11 comments:
By Niko Karonen & Anton Laukkanen
In our opinion Africa is a really exiting country, but travelling there would be too expensive. Tanzania is one of the poorest countries in Africa so living there would not be so exciting. People should help people living in Africa. Like sending money to them so they would be able to buy new farming supplies and drill wells. We could also collect funds and send some pupils of our school to see what it is like living in Africa, or send money to them, so they could visit Finland. Or maybe we could send them some computers, video projectors and the possibility to have a broadband connection so we could have “meetings” through the internet. In our opinion voluntary service is important, but we couldn’t do that, because it’s too heavy mentally and physically. And we don’t like to see people in that condition. We appreciate a lot the people who do voluntary work. And we hope that African people could sometimes visit in our school.
By Amanda Alasaarela, Jenni Karjalainen & Jasmiini Vallivaara
We have always wanted to visit Africa. It is a fascinating and beautiful country. We haven’t met any African people, but the first impression is positive. They seem kind, happy, helpful and open. We should increase our communication with our friendship school and try to be in correspondence with them.
It is good to send some material to Africa because they really need them. We have a very good substance which means that we can give them different kind of stuff that we don’t need but they do. If we got a chance to travel to Africa, we hope that our trip would be nice and we got to experience something new. We would like to visit their school and learn about their culture.
We would also like to keep in touch with them and we hope that they will come and visit our school in Finland.
A volunteer job in Africa would be marvellous. If we get a chance to volunteer, we will start it right now and we will make Africa a good place to live.
By Laura Mämmelä, Juha Uusitalo & Johanna Ålander
We find that in Africa the communities are very united and the cultures are really unique and special. In spite of all the trouble and suffering African people still manage to stay positive and happy! Everyday they have enough strength to fight against the diseases and they just won’t give up hope. We find it very respectful!
We think that volunteering in Africa would be very rewarding. By giving help we would become as glad as they would by receiving it. It wouldn’t be a surprise if one day we found ourselves in Africa. It would be very interesting to see how people really live in there.
By Pirita Niemelä & Reetta Hellgren
Our friendship school looks better than we thought and there are many happy faces. Students study more than we have thought and they look hardworking.
There are many differences between our school and the Tanzanian school, so we think that it might be a good idea to go there and get to know the Tanzanian people, their school and their culture. Of course, it would also be good for the students in Tanzania to get some experiences in the Finnish school system.
If we had an opportunity to go and visit our friendship school, we would like to get to know about the youngsters and their free time out from school and of course their families and studying. We would really like to go to Africa and do something useful and help the people with their problems with food and pure water.
By Reetta Kärkkäinen
I have always been impressed by the African’s ability to be happy and keep smiling though they don’t have everything we here in the developed countries find almost impossible to live without. Still they seem to be happier than many of us, at least in those pictures. Maybe we could learn something from them.
It would be great if we someday had a real connection between our schools and students and it wouldn’t be just charity. Communicating with them in any possible way would be great and I truly hope it will come true one day. It would bring their life closer to us if we had a chance to hear more of their daily life.
Had I a chance to visit our friendship school, I would only wish to see them living their daily life and nothing more. I’m sure it would an experience I’d never forget. I have been thinking about going to Africa to give help to the people there. I don’t know when would be the best time for me to go, but I’m quite sure that I’ll do it.
We have been talking about our friendship school in Tanzania during lessons. We are in touch with them, and they need our help. Our school has sent some aid-packages to them, as they requested.
I don’t know much about people in Africa, but I’ve seen a couple of pictures and now I’m willing to tell you my thoughts about Africa.
I think there are too many people and that causes problems. People are talking about their poor education, but is it a real problem? Is education needed for good jobs in Africa anyway? I think they may get simple jobs without proper education. It is a thing that is related to culture. Maybe people in developing countries should be helped by starting new businesses there and providing jobs. It would be some kind of solution to their poorness.
By Jani Kaipainen
Personally nothing interests us in Africa or Tanzania but we don’t have anything against African people. It would be nice to have a snowball fight with our friendship schools students :D. We could get closer to our Tanzanian fellows by doing cross country skiing and grilling sausages.
It’s been nice to help those less fortunate people in Africa, because we have got everything here and they’ve got nothing. It’s not that big a deal for us to give little something to them. If we could go to Africa we would want to see lions, giraffes and maybe a couple elephants. And we would like to know about their culture.
We would never go and do volunteer work in Africa because we can’t live without running water and electricity and we couldn’t live in a clay cottage. And we’re afraid that we could get malaria or HIV while being there.
By: Heija ja Arto
It seems like Medina and Benjamini Mkapa Secondary Schools are quite different from our school in Finland. With this communication we can learn about different cultures and school systems. It could be facinating to come there and see how you are living. We have never been there, so it's quite difficult to understand your way of life.
By Arttu Baldan & Elmo Rautio
Africa is the place where the whole civilisation was born. Because of that, it is hard to understand why it is the poorest continent in the world today. A lot of sad and unfair things exist in the history of Africa: poverty, hunger, child labour and slavery, while the western millionaires’ drink their chilled dry martinis and eat a little bit more than they should. Isn’t it unfair? We know that it is the same old thing that humanists and reformers try to tell us every time, but why doesn’t anyone really do anything? Or at least: not enough.
We think that our school’s Tanzania project is a cause of pure sense of justice. We are a rich Western nation and we are responsible for helping those who are poor. It is a must for us since we keep developing the entire time by exploiting Africa and the other third world’s nations. And we still try to tell them that it is good for them; that globalization is in fact for all people’s best. Well, where is all the evidence for it? Where is global equality, peace and justice? Have people really stopped exploiting each other? For god's sake: no! We’re sorry for breaking through your bubbles, but the world is still in fact a hopelessly unfair place to live for thousands of millions of people. And it is a terrible fact.
This project should just be a peak of the iceberg: an example for all the Western people how all of us should react to third world’s nations. We must stop being arrogant and start to realize that we are not the only ones in this planet. There's just one humankind and the species is as strong as its weakest individual. That’s why the human species today is in fact very weak, and some rats live longer than people in the poorest areas of the earth. And it is really a shame.
By Iida Kaikkonen
The attractiveness of African people consists of their joy of life regardless of the many problems they have. There is a certain contentment to the opportunity to study that comes across from the pictures of our friendship school in Tanzania, even though their resources seem very poor to our eyes. This is something we Westerners should learn more about.
The co-operation between our school and Mkapa secondary school in Tanzania seems very important to me, because I think that it is very important for us, who have everything, to try to help those who don’t have. It also teaches us that life is not as simple as it seems in Finland or in the whole Europe. We think too easily that education and career are automatic. For us it is, but there are millions , or even billions, of people in the world for whom it’s not. Mkapa secondary school’s slogan “Education is living” tells it very well. And because it is, that’s the point of the co-operation between our schools.
By Miia Grekelä & Juuso Heinänen
We think the most interesting thing in Africa is nature, wild animals and the culture (music and religions), because they are so different from ours. We would also like to see how they live in Tanzania and how they spend their normal weekdays. If we could also show them how we live, it could bring our schools closer to one another. Video clips, photos and letters could be a good thing, if we want to tell each other about our lives and schools in Finland and in Tanzania. Also pen pals from Tanzania would be nice to have.
Maybe exchange students from Tanzania could also be a good idea, if we want to tell them about our life in Finland. If we had an opportunity to go to Tanzania, we would like to familiarize ourselves with the local culture and nature, as well as the way they live there.
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