During the
month of July, and into the first week of August, I taught the preschool
children at Shaloom. We worked on a little English during the first hour of each school day, and
after that it was all Kiswahili lessons until the close of the day at 1pm. God bless Rehema, the woman who has
been doing most of the work with the children during my transition! She is so
patient with me, and the children! I’m happy I made the attempt to begin teaching the
children while I studied the language, but I realized during that month that I needed more help with
Kiswahili before I could really work well with the children. The lessons I was getting at the International Language Training Center in Mwanza just weren't sufficient enough to meet my needs. I knew there was another four month course beginning at Makoko
Language School in Musoma, three and a half hours northeast of Mwanza, because one of our new S.M.A. priests, Fr.
Jean-Francois’ (John Francis) was preparing to attend. I asked my superiors if I could attend the course and they were delighted! Within days I was registered and off to Musoma on August 9th! The course began on Monday, August 12th. 
My room is on the 2nd floor; last room on the right.
The classrooms are on the lower level.
I am one of ten students attending the language school, and the only lay missionary. We have two priests in our group; Fr. Jean-Francois' S.M.A. from French speaking Quebec, Canada, and Fr. Orlando from Mexico. We also have seven sisters studying with us; Sr. Dariana from Poland, Sr. Chiara from Germany, Sr. Theresa and Sr. Linet from India, and three sisters from various islands in the Pacific Ocean near Australia. These sisters are Sr. Sofia from Samoa, Sr. Margareth from the Solomon Islands and Sr. Lucinder from Papua New Guinea.
Makoko Language School was founded by the Maryknoll fathers and brothers in the early 1950's. However, since 2001, the diocese of Musoma has been operating the school, under the direction of Fr. Edward Gorczaty, from Poland (front and center in the photo).
The school has a very practical approach to teaching Kiswahili. The teaching staff includes eight teachers, all of whom live in the local villages.
Daniel (teacher), Petro (guard) & Joseph (teacher)
Joseph
Magdelena
Silvester
Stephano
Classes begin each morning, Monday through Friday, at 8:30am. Each morning includes five (5) 40 minute class periods, with a 15 minute break after the 3rd period. The classes include story reading and memorizing; practicing dialogues between local people, which are read, played out and memorized; grammar lessons and practical exercises based on the grammar lessons. The students are divided into five classrooms, with two students in each class. The teachers rotate between classrooms. Classes conclude at 12:25pm, with lunch served for the students at 12:30pm. The teachers return to their homes for lunch after the final class, but return to the school by 2pm to work with students in the lab, and to be available for extra assistance. Many of us students walk into the village in the afternoons and on weekends to chat with the local people. I think that has been most helpful. After completing the third week of study, I feel confident that this course will help me improve my Kiswahili language skills.
The school staff is very accommodating, providing three meals a day, seven days a week, washing and ironing our laundry, washing our bedding, cleaning our rooms and cleaning all of the other rooms in the facility. The cooking staff is excellent! There have been very few meals that I haven't enjoyed, and I've tried at least a little of everything. On Thursdays we have a traditional Tanzanian meal. There is a beautiful chapel within the building. We have mass every morning at 7am and rosary every evening at 6. We also have adoration of Thursday evenings at 7:30 for an hour. We have a recreation room (right next to my room!) with a TV, DVD player, refrigerator stocked with sodas and beer (at a very minimal cost), and free coffee, tea and water 24 hours a day. We also have WI-FI available at a reasonable cost. We have tennis and volleyball courts on the grounds, as well as table tennis in one of the larger classrooms. There is a beautiful retreat center, called Epheta Centre, run by the Capuchin friars, located on Lake Victoria, which is only a five-ten minute walk from the school. (More on the Epheta Center in another post.)
School Chapel
Epheta Centre
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