Gillerthwaite - Prep Weekend

Friday’s activities began after arriving at Gillerthwaite and settling in, the first of which was possibly the funniest of the weekend. We separated into two groups, the group I was in were the ‘Durdians’ a group of people who needed assistance from the other group to build a bridge. But, it wasn’t quite that simple, the Durdians had a few customs of their culture which the other group were for the time being blissfully unaware of, such as kissing the shoulder of the person you’re greeting, the inability to say no, only say ‘yes’ while nodding your head – which was so confusing! And gender roles (such as girls not being allowed to touch scissors). Also, just to make things even more awkward for the other group we decided to run at them making dinosaur noises (don’t ask, I have no idea...) When the two groups were reunited I think it’s safe to say the Durdians succeeded in scaring the life out of the other group, who seemed pretty alarmed at the kissing in greeting, but probably more so at us running and screeching at them…Eventually we did manage to build the bridge, even though most of us Durdians couldn’t stop laughing at how terrified the other group were! While the activity was a fun way to start the weekend it was also effective in showing us what it would be like to understand other cultures we may not be familiar with and the difficulty we might have communicating between ourselves and Tanzanians (though I’m pretty sure none of them will run at us screaming like dinosaurs…)

After that we finished off the evening by singing a few songs with James, Sam and Mary playing the guitar, deciding which songs to sing while we’re in Tanzania and then prepared for the busy day ahead of us!



Our hectic day began by clearing the brambles in the field, it was hard work and we all seemed to end up covered in scratches but luckily Becca’s lunch team had prepared some well-earned refreshments. After lunch we got down to planning our time in Tanzania, starting with lesson plans on Science, English and Sports, which we’ll use when we go out there as we hope to transfer the methods used English schools to some of the classes we’ll be visiting, so that the Tanzanians can see the differences between the ways in teaching and hopefully be beneficial to them as well as entertaining!

Next we got out the parachute and practised a few games we’re taking out to Tanzania with us, which was great fun as always. Our next job was to sort out the risk assessment with our newest member Andy, then practise some Kiswahili with the leaders being shop assistants and us having to barter for various items we’d be buying at a Tanzanian market.

The evening then consisted of the making of the group contract (rules to which we all agree on how we should behave in Tanzania) and after a long day, all of the brambles and wood we’d cut down earlier were made into a bonfire for us, courtesy of the owner of the centre who even bought us marshmallows! So we sat out under the stars toasting marshmallows and chatting, then finally taking a walk to a lake, delayed only slightly by one of us managing to get stuck in a swamp…*ahem, Slyvia. ;)

The final day began with breakfast and Tash’s quiz on English and Tanzania culture. We then had a quick tidy and clean of the house before going home after a very tiring but great weekend! And I think I speak for us all when I say how excited the preparation weekend has made us for Tanzania, not long left until we go now!! :)

Holly Stainton