Mission statement
The aim of Cairo to Cape Town is to look at how different African international schools are engaging with their local community, and to develop strategies for successful positive links. We intend to create a network of 10 international schools and 10 community groups using the theme of global citizenship. By developing community connections we aim to promote mutually beneficial and sustainable local partnerships.
(For more information on global citizenship visit
http://www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/schemes2/ks12citizenship/?view=get)
Liza Uprichard
My Northern Irish parents had already been working in Kabompo, Zambia for two years by the time I came along. With a teaching mum and an agronomist for a dad, I spent all of my childhood in Southern Africa, with Ndola being the first home I knew. Later, dad’s work with farmers and developing farming practices meant that the places we lived were often fairly remote and this, along with years of wonderful family travel made southern Africa a part of the world I came to know well, and couldn’t fail to love.
Choices through higher education in the UK first led me to study Agriculture and Economics… a brief two year affair which ended in another trip to South Africa before returning to the UK to do a degree in Primary Education. I loved teaching in Streatham, south London for a further two years before deciding, inevitably, to move overseas again.
A trip the length of Africa is something I have always wanted to do. The beauty, the people, the changing landscape… the ‘flats’, the ‘stucks’ the negotiating tricky situations! The frustrations, the mind boggling and the bizarre… all of it. And getting to do it not only without taking a break in my career, (which I love), but helping to push it in the direction I’ve always wanted it to go is an unbelievable opportunity.
Nadine Bogan
I experienced a very transient childhood, as a family we always joke that we have had far too many homes to count as we gradually moved into double figures. I was born in Gloucester and then grew up in the south of England.
As a family we became quick at adapting to new places. Being inspired by my mum, I developed a passion for music and enjoyed going to the theatre, therefore found myself joining numerous youth organisations such as orchestras, youth theatres all over the country.
To combine my interest in the arts and working with people I went on to study community music at The Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA). During my three years at LIPA I facilitated a variety of community projects, including working as a music teacher within primary schools and developing a carnival project in Nigeria.
My work as a community musician has always led me into education. After my years at university I went on to develop links between schools in Merseyside and Cape Town delivering arts programs alongside a number of NGO’s. Therefore it was natural progression for me to gain my post graduate certificate in education.
… and so here we are. Two teachers, with a shared vision of a huge project that is rooted in the idea of community… but why are we doing it?
Statistics suggest that many of the children who grow up as expatriates will choose careers that will take them overseas, one of them is co-writing this article! For the children involved we hope that experiences like being involved in this project will encourage children to take on views which reflect important human values such as dedication, understanding, respect, appreciation, kindness and empathy and all this with a strong sense of fun.
We want children to question what they see around them and to think about important issues such as equality and race - to take responsibility for their views and think about what experiences made them feel that way.
We know that many of the children we come into contact with on this trip will grow up to hold positions of influence in their places of work and maybe one day look back and remember the experiences they had doing a project with some other children in a place which was temporarily their home. A project that aimed to teach them how to work and play together with other people regardless of the differences they found between themselves. Maybe they will remember how satisfied they all felt when they had achieved what they set out to do together. And maybe they will help to influence views of those around them who were not so fortunate as to be a part of something bigger…
As we have travelled you see many types of travellers....
The Gortex Crew, who walk purposefully around towns in green.
The Gap Students, who seem to hang around the backpackers waiting to volunteer.
The Ethnic In Its, who seem to want to camouflage themselves into the local culture by wearing traditional fabrics and getting their hair braided.
I think you can see which gang we want to be in!!!!
For the last part of Jems visit we headed back to the coast. Kippepeo village became home for a week, with its beach huts and chilled out atmosphere.
With clear blue ocean (apart from the seaweed) we headed out on a dhow boat to explore the local island of Sinda and check out the snorkling.
A perfect way to end Jems holiday with us, or should I say Master Snorkler as she now likes to be called!!!
Time for another service… not too much wrong. A bit of welding here, bit more break fluid there… Just connect that bit with that bit… yes, yes... what about if you make the black bit touch the red bit?… TOTALLY qualified to be driving a Land Cruiser through Africa, la, la, la...
Jemma suggested we part exchange it for this heap of awesomeness parked in the same garage… She’s right, windscreens are well overrated.
First puncture with the new tyres... this time because of the hot tarmac. Hopefully not a sign of things to come!
You may think that our days are spent walking with giraffes on the plains of Africa... we would be if you did not have to sell a small house to do it! Mikumi National Park south of Mororgoro provided us with our first budget game drive. The park itself is small but prides itself in a large amount of game for the viewing (you can see most of it on the main road that divides the park!). The blazing sun and Tsetse flies shortened our drive but we still saw our fair share of animals. Alongside elephants, giraffe, zebra, hippos we saw a lion and lioness relaxing in the shade of a tree. The lazy lions reflected the mood of the day….hot…hot…hot!!!Click on the photographs to see short clips of the animals we filmed for school... Move over Sir David!
Nadine’s sister Jemma came to join us for three weeks in Tanzania, and when we weren’t making her work, which wasn’t often, we found time for a couple of lovely trips!…
Morogoro International School in Tanzania was our next project stop.
195km east of Dar es Salaam, (along what is referred to as the HIV highway), this bustling little town sits at the foot of the scenic Uluguru mountains
MIS had set up a Friday school in the 2008 / 9 academic year as a way of helping some children from a local primary to learn some English before they went to secondary school, where they are taught for the first time in English. The main idea was to help with some understanding of basic vocabulary so that the children could gain a head start for their move to secondary. It was also identified as an opportunity for children to gain some ICT skills and to have access to the swimming pool – an experience that most would never have otherwise.
The Friday school project had been set up with the intention of being run by GAP students that visit the school each year. While offering enthusiasm and good ideas, there was a need identified for some experienced teaching and learning support in order to effectively plan for language acquisition and pupil interaction. After discussions it was decided that our time at MIS would be spent working on developing a planning folder to support the organization and running of the Friday school sessions.
Click here to see a video showing what some MIS pupils think of Friday project...
We facilitated a teacher INSET to help gather an ideas bank to support planning sessions for future GAP students, as well as to make sure all teaching staff are aware of the project, its intentions, issues and future plans. A member of staff was selected to act as a co-ordinator and point of contact for support in planning and evaluation and to keep the project moving forwards.
We delivered of one of the Friday school afternoon sessions to demonstrate ways to work creatively with larger groups of pupils, showing interactive games while using minimal language and maximizing pupil involvement.
At the end of our time we handed over a folder offering a step by step guide to planning six week interactive language projects.
While the approach here was different for us, as we are used to being much more involved with the children, it forced us to look at the project from a different angle and to clearly outline and justify what elements should and shouldn’t be included in this type of pack. (A copy of the documents in that folder can be found in the staffroom on the Cairo to Cape Town area on Fronter.)
We still managed to find some time to work with children about Egypt!...
Click on any photograph to see more from the project in Morogoro
Over christmas we had both had it mentioned that there are hardly any photographs of us on this blog! So... here is one of us sitting at the bar at Forty Theives after a hard day on Diani beach, Mombassa. Shiney, eh?!
As we have travelled you see many types of travellers....
Nadine’s sister Jemma came to join us for three weeks in Tanzania, and when we weren’t making her work, which wasn’t often, we found time for a couple of lovely trips!…
Over christmas we had both had it mentioned that there are hardly any photographs of us on this blog! So... here is one of us sitting at the bar at Forty Theives after a hard day on Diani beach, Mombassa. Shiney, eh?!
