Moshi, TZ – Tupendane’s 2017 training sessions underway in Kahe – 24 Feb 2017

Tupendane is beginning its 2017 school garden club training by focusing on four phases of vegetable garden beds: Preparation, Planting, Growing, and Harvesting. School garden clubs have already started their first gardens so Tupendane is beginning the training schedule by teachings students how to tend gardens during the “Growing” phase.

All of Tupendane’s training sessions follow the Show, Assist, Mentor training process where the trainer first explains and shows the trainees a practice, then assists the trainee in carrying out the task, and finally steps back and provides mentoring while the trainee completes the task on their own.

Mwangaria Primary School held the first training session. Students enjoyed learning some of the science behind the work they have been doing during the “Show” portion of the lesson but it was the hands-on work that really made them come alive.

“The students really got excited every time they could try something themselves,” explained Tupendane manager Deogratius Matemu, “For example, when they learned about the ball test [which is used to measure soil moisture] everyone couldn’t wait to make their own ball.”

Teachers at Mwangaria supported the training by learning the material ahead of time so they could also work shoulder-to-shoulder with students during the Assist and Mentor phases. According to Matemu, this was critical to keeping the students’ energy and focus high.

Tupendane is planning to deliver the same training lesson at Oria an Maendeleo Primary Schools. Once each school has received “Growing” training they will start from the beginning with Prepartion, Planting, and then Harvesting.