Enjoy this special narrative from Suma, HSS School Manager, who shares insights into the home visits conducted in November (2011) by the HSS Selections Committee to help select students for the incoming Form I class to join HSS in January 2012. The HSS Selections Committee is made up of the HSS School Manager, Deputy Head of School, Head of Academics, and Head of Discipline.
It is a sunny November morning and as usual for Mkuranga this time of the year, it feels too hot to be only 8:15 am. Two rented motorcycles are ready to go, as well as two team members, and we are waiting for the last member of the Selection Committee to join us before we embark on a long journey to visit the homes of our prospective students for the coming year who have passed the first round of the application process.
On this first day, we visit about 9 homes. Most of the students come from villages or wards close to HSS. Others come from Dar-es-Salaam. They all have these in common: they come from needy families, and they need secondary school education.
We saw children from single parent households, children having both parents, and orphaned children – all who had applied to attend secondary school at HSS. You could see some families were really economically challenged, but had up to six children. Some children belonged to polygamous families; and some of the orphaned children were being taken care of by relatives who already had other dependents to care for. Our trips were not straight forward.We had to ask around a lot, and sometimes re-trace our steps in order to get to the right house.
At Vianzi, a primary school student was kind enough to take us to the home of one student we needed to visit, about a 10-minute motorbike ride away from the school. After the bumpy ride, we did not get to meet the student as she was away attending to some family business. However, her father was around, as well as his two young wives. During an evaluation after the visit, every member of the committee agreed that this applicant would not be eligible for HSS, as she was neither orphaned nor economically disadvantaged.
We went on to visit another student candidate’s home. This candidate’s father has passed away, and he lives with his mother and a younger sister in a single room which is the living room of their house. The single room is multi-purpose – it serves as a kitchen, make-shift storage, and living room during the day. At night, the mattresses that were stacked upon the couches during the day are spread out so the family can sleep. The rest of the rooms in the family-owned house have been rented out, and the rent is the only source of income for the family.
At Mbezi Beach in Dar es Salaam, we visited the home of a boy located in Jogoo area. The appearance of the home suggested the boy might not be eligible for HSS. It is a block house, with electricity and good furniture. But as the boy’s mother unfolded the story of how she lost her husband to a car accident, and how she was struggling to hold the family together, we realized that her son was not very different from the numerous children whose homes we had visited in Mkuranga the day before.
Next, we went to meet and interview another candidate who was staying at the Salvation Army Home for Orphans, located at Mbagala (in Dar-es-Salaam). This student had performed very well in the pre-entry exam, and we were eager to learn more about her.
We learned that she has two older sisters and one younger sister. They were orphaned when she was very young, and all of them were brought up at the orphanage. During the last few years however, there has been a change of partners who support the orphanage, and the current sponsors only want to support children for a maximum period of six months, after which they are to be handed over to foster parents or go back to relatives.
Fortunately, this student’s two elder siblings have completed secondary school. However, she and her younger sister had to leave the orphanage some time ago because of the new policy. They were adopted into a foster family and taken to Mwanza. After some family misfortune (details of which are unknown) the foster family fell apart, and she and her younger sister were literary out in the streets, homeless. Someone called the orphanage in Mbagala to let them know what was happening, and Mrs. Kilingomtwa went to Mwanza to pick the kids and take them back to the orphanage regardless of the regulations set by the sponsors. Mrs. K earnestly requested for us to invite her to study and live at HSS, because she was simply no longer eligible to remain at the orphanage.
When members of the Selection Committee tried to question the student to get her side of the story, all she could do was bend her head and cry. We concluded that probably the memory of what transpired must be too painful for her to talk about, so we decided not to push the matter.
The home visits also opened our eyes to how vast the region of Dar es Salaam is. We had to go to a different locality in Mbagala, known as Mbagala Kingugi. After the last bus stop, walking for several minutes, going down some very steep slopes, going round a lot of corners we eventually reached our destination. It is home to one of our students. She is the younger of two daughters. Her father has been mentally ill since she was a baby. She and her sister were raised by their mother only, who is a petty trader. They live in a single, rented room in a partially completed house. When we got to her home, the mother was out selling millet flour. Her aunt gave us the family background. The room was locked, so the interview had to be conducted outside. The girl carrying a child in the photo below, seems very bright, as she was able to answer questions logically. She also seemed very eager to study.
Making the final decision on who to accept or reject was a very tough call for members of the Selection Committee, as so many of the children visited met the selection criteria. Despite the fact that one can’t help but be sad after witnessing the dire situations from which most of the students come, it is very comforting to know that HSS is able to bring hope to these children. According to their own statements, every one of them believes that education will give them an opportunity to have a better life in the future.
And before they embark on their futures, we can take comfort knowing that although we couldn’t take them all, a few kids like the students described above will have a safe and secure environment in which to live, study and grow.
