Arusha Campus News – 18 Apr 2020

Mr Ratsakatika summited the heights of romance on the roof of Africa during the holiday! Yes, thats right our very own Head of PE made his marriage proposal to Miss Ellis at the top of Kilimanjaro …… in next week’s newsletter we will reveal whether she said ‘Yes” or not.

And so from one Head of PE to another! Time to meet the man who will be taking over from Mr Ratsakatika in August and also the lady who will be joining our English Department…

Hi, We are Matt and Amy, joining you from Shanghai where I have been Athletic Director for the last 3 years and Amy teaching English. Amy and I travel to Arusha with our two cats, Tiger and Vinnie. We’ve been teaching for quite a few years now, and in the UK, Qatar and China, and we are very excited to be moving to Africa, and UWCEA. We can’t wait to explore this wonderful country, as well as our teaching, and starting this new chapter. We are so excited for August and the new year, see you all soon!

This beautiful chap was crawling around campus this week, before i restored him to the safety of the shrubbery on the northern plot. Its amazing how the wildlife is enjoying Arusha Campus now that there is some peace and quiet! The swallows are busy building mud nests on all the buildings and bats are now roosting right outside my office!

Welcome back to the new quarter and the fascinating world of on-line learning. As teachers we have found out things we never knew existed in our attempts to deliver a quality distance learning programme. I will be very quick to say that we are getting better each day and my message this week is one of thank you to all of you for bearing with us while we find the best way to deliver teaching to your children. I  can assure you that our teachers have never worked harder!

I would also like to say a special thank you to all of our AMAZING host families who have been looking after our boarders for the April holiday period. As you will read below, the boarders are now safely in Moshi.

Look out in the newsletter for amazing Christy Willet (Head of ENglish) and her challenge ion instagram

Finally, an appeal! Please do not hesitate to send me pictures of your children being creative at home. One of our mums had the brilliant idea of staging a weekly competition to see who has been the most creative at home so start sending me your pics!

Have a great week,

Phil

To help our community stay united, the House Council challenges UWCEA Arusha students, staff, and parents to share their spirit!

To participate in the #UWCEA-StayUnited Challenge simply follow our House Council Instagram page @uwcea_ahousecouncil and tag our account when you post your challenge pictures/videos.

New challenges will be announced on our Instagram account every week!

You can complete as many of the weekly challenges as you want. Make sure to tag the photos with the correct challenge hashtag.

Use our unique hashtags on your post so others can view all entries.
#UWCEA-StayUnited
#UWCEA-StayHealthy
#UWCEA-StayFocused-Learning
#UWCEA-StayFocused-Service
#UWCEA-StayPlayful
#UWCEA-StayCreative

Make sure to tag your House too so we know which team to give points to!
#UWCEA-Meru
#UWCEA-Kibo
#UWCEA-Mawenzi

School accounts to tag
Arusha House Council account @uwcea_ahousecouncil
Official school account @uwc_ea

Christy Willet

This is how Miss Amanda sees her class every day – how irresistable!

Way back in 2019, my MYP art class submitted some art pieces for the Art for Peace Exhibition organised by CITYarts

CITYarts, Inc. is a nonprofit public arts and education organization founded in 1989 by Executive and Creative Director Tsipi Ben-Haim after its predecessor, Cityarts Workshop, closed down in 1988. With a new name and a new mission, Tsipi Ben-Haim wanted the voices of our youth to be heard. She created 5 different programs that bring together children and youth with professional artists to create public art in New York City and beyond. CITYarts empowers youth through the creation of murals and mosaic that transform their community, impact their lives, and address social and civic issues.

Take the time to click on this link to see some wonderful art and look out for some from some familiar faces!

https://www.cityarts.org/pieces-for-peace-exhibition

As the Covid-19 pandemic struck, there was a scramble to get our boarders home to their far flung lands and back safely with their families. Unfortunately, not everyone found a flight home and so a very cheerful group of stalwarts has remained behind. Up until now they have been hosted by the wonderful parent community at Arusha Campus. I have to say my gratitude for the support from these host parents is unmeasurable. Thank you so much. But with the situation entering new phases, the decision was taken to bring all remaining boarders together on to Moshi Campus where they can be togeher, study and socialise in comfort and retain a significant degree of isolation from the outside.

Pictured above are, from left to right, Hassan, Diyar, Al, Franck, Nibia, Vasty, Ali and Jamshed. 

The second boarding house nearing completion

Whilst Arusha Campus is a rather quiet place these days, the same cannot be said for our building sites. Construction is proceeding at a terrific rate, and this week I have some pictures of one of the two new boarding houses. The building is almost complete with work on interior finishing starting in the next week or so.

Staff housing is also being built and the picture below shows the two bedroom duplexes which will be ready for many of the new teachers in August.

The social area within one of the new boarding houses

One of the new two bedroom staff duplexes