LOCAL STUDENTS turned teachers when delivering lessons during a recent trip to Tanzania, as part of a cultural and caring initiative at the British International School Abu Dhabi (BISAD).
The Nord Anglia Education school participated in the inaugural trip, which featured over 100 students from 18 schools in eleven countries. Seven students from Year’s 9, 10 and 12 visited the country earlier this month.
Working with a local primary school in Arusha, Tanzania the BISAD students took part in painting and renovating classrooms, cultural experiences and even spent a full day teaching English, science and maths to the students.
The primary school currently houses over 150 students from ages four to 14.
For three months, the UAE students fundraised for the project, hosted assemblies for both students and parents, took part in planning lessons and wrote weekly articles for the school’s web log about the initiative. BISAD also hosted a school-wide Tanzania day to get the entire student body involved in learning more about the area.
Speaking about the initiative, Jo Croome, head of Curriculum Access, BISAD said: “We wanted to bring about an awareness for how other people live and how caring can make a difference to people.”
“I wanted to go because it was a different experience from what I was used to and a chance to see a different part of the world,” said fifteen-year-old participant Melissa Locke, Year 10.
Seventeen-year-old year 12 student Iman Jafri said: “I thought it would be a good opportunity to see what the world is really like and gain an appreciation of what we have.”
BISAD hopes to make this initiative an ongoing project. “Work doesn’t stop now. We have an understanding of what they need, for how we can support them in the future,” said Croome.
