Mozambican Adventures of the Beilfuss family (Madison chapter)
20 May 2007
Chitengo School
Natasha has founded Chitengo's first school! At the moment it is purposefully small - only 4-6 students, all beween the ages of 3 and 6. We have supplied the school with a variety of materials including children's books in Portuguese, fingerpuppets, a small kitchen with plastic plates and utensils, and wooden food (Mom, remember these?), and a variety of musical instruments. Sophia and Natasha brought a lot of things from Portugal as well - plasticine clay, paints, colored pencils, and other games. These kids haven't yet had any school here, and are delighted by everything they are exposed to. I bought a chalkboard along the road in Chimoio last week so now Natasha is working with the kids on reading and writing letters and numbers, and even a little bit of math. The local kids are due to be moved to their new housing situation soon, and we're not sure what will become of the school when this happens. Natasha is planning on offering her services for visiting tourists as well, or for any of the kids of staff who are living in Chitengo. Ian is very happy to have friends and playmates, and as the school is all in Portuguese, he is forced to listen and try to understand, and maybe he will start speaking some of the Portuguese that we know has managed its way into his brain...
Our family has moved back to Madison (we returned mid-August 2008) for a variety of reasons. While we are very sad to have left the Chitengo family we had come to love -- and the extraordinary natural resource, Gorongosa National Park -- we are very excited to be back in our old Jean Street neighborhood in Madison, and to be able to see and communicate with our friends and family more readily.
"A Complicated War: The Harrowing of Mozambque" by William Finnegan.
"Drawn from the Plains: Life in the Wilds of Southern Africa", by Lynne Tinley, wife of the ecologist who documented the plants and animals at Gorongosa before the wars. Out of print but available through www.abebooks.com
"The Safari Companion: A Guide to Watching African Mammals" by Richard D. Estes
Natasha has founded Chitengo's first school! At the moment it is purposefully small - only 4-6 students, all beween the ages of 3 and 6. We have supplied the school with a variety of materials including children's books in Portuguese, fingerpuppets, a small kitchen with plastic plates and utensils, and wooden food (Mom, remember these?), and a variety of musical instruments. Sophia and Natasha brought a lot of things from Portugal as well - plasticine clay, paints, colored pencils, and other games. These kids haven't yet had any school here, and are delighted by everything they are exposed to. I bought a chalkboard along the road in Chimoio last week so now Natasha is working with the kids on reading and writing letters and numbers, and even a little bit of math. The local kids are due to be moved to their new housing situation soon, and we're not sure what will become of the school when this happens. Natasha is planning on offering her services for visiting tourists as well, or for any of the kids of staff who are living in Chitengo. Ian is very happy to have friends and playmates, and as the school is all in Portuguese, he is forced to listen and try to understand, and maybe he will start speaking some of the Portuguese that we know has managed its way into his brain...
