My Dear Friends

I am well, and  hoping you are, too.

It was a great privilege again for me to be a part of the TABSA team in 2015. It was exciting to meet some of you who were returning, and Aviva and John who were new to the team this year.

The team did an excellent job  in Mpumalanga Province and in Swaziland. Our facilitators worked very well with teachers of different grades.

I was humbled that our TABSA people often skipped tea time and sometimes lunch in order to prepare for the next lesson. I enjoyed taking the Science group to work early in the morning and my director came later with the Math group. The advance preparation was necessary so that when classes started, everybody was ready to begin the day.

I had a chance to chat with department administrators and they were so pleased. Teachers even confessed that they were transformed. US teachers trained local teachers especially in hands on activities, conducting experiments and using teaching aids that do not need laboratories. Teaching aids included empty boxes, cans, bottles, foil for wiring, cards for money and units, fingers, games, all to make teaching and learning easy and interesting.

It came out many times that teachers who teach Science also teach Mathematics, I think next time we need to develop a strategy that will allow teachers to attend workshops for both subjects without missing any.

Sometimes when things wouldn’t go as planned our team was able to adapt. Flexibility and compromise was the name of the game. TABSA made sure that the objective and mission of the project was achieved.

Thank you and thumbs up for the TABSA team. I also learned a lot. Thanks for the cooperation of everyone. I want to assure you, teachers who attended the workshops, will not be the same.

Our visit to the orphanage was outstanding. We received so much love from the children, and the caregivers were very pleased that we visited. The caregivers do God’s work and they are blessed.

Thank you  so much to our Director, Yunus.  He is very good in planning and making sure that everyone is happy. He is approachable. We thank God for his leadership skills.

Aloha and mahalo.

Thokozani Mtehane

Asst. Director, TABSA