Travelling by plane from Kilimanjaro Airport to Dar-es-Salaam, those on board have the privilege of flying over the highest mountain in Africa (5,985 metres). When the pilot points this out, there is often a gasp of breath from many passengers as they attempt to move to the best available seat to catch a glimpse of the majestic landscape below.
I was constantly enthralled by this experience – even though I had the privilege of knowing that I could see Kilimanjaro every single day from my own back garden. The mountain and the surrounding environment provided a wonderful backdrop for my work as leader of an international school in one of the most interesting and exciting countries in the world: Tanzania.
My five years, 2012-2017, as director of the International School Moshi (ISM), a boarding/day school of 550 students set on two campuses, two hours apart by road, was an enormously rewarding experience and a period of my life filled with joys, trials, and tribulations.
The joys were countless. A breath-takingly beautiful campus, students who were anxious to learn through the three International Baccalaureate programmes, and teachers who were constantly prepared to go the extra mile to ensure that the school provided a quality learning environment.
Their task was by no means easy, of course, as my colleagues had to face numerous frustrations throughout each week. We were not a rich school in terms of finances, and our facilities were not all “state of the art”. However, the school provided a myriad of amazing learning opportunities both within and beyond the classroom in one of the most vibrant and stimulating countries in the world.
“There was a breath-takingly beautiful campus, students who were anxious to learn and teachers who were constantly prepared to go the extra mile.”
Our students had the opportunity to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, to explore local game parks, and engage in authentic service-learning programmes, often situated just outside the school gates. Our boarders also learned the enormous value of living and working with both adults and young people whose culture and background were different from their own.
The school’s finances and student roll occupied much of my time and, when I arrived, were a major focus. Working with the marketing officer to create eye-catching advertisements for billboards in big cities was always interesting, and constantly focused the mind on the school’s unique selling points, as did attending marketing events in Arusha, Dar-es-Salaam and other cities.
One of the major challenges was the fact that our two campuses, at the time one day-only, and the other both day and boarding, were 80 km apart. Our day-only campus in Arusha supported the needs of a greater number of international students while the campus in Moshi served a larger population of Tanzanian students. Balancing the needs of both communities kept myself and other senior leaders very busy.
“I loved the somewhat monastic daily routine of leading a boarding school from breakfast to dinner and beyond.”
When I started at the school, the Arusha Campus only accepted students aged 3-16; we decided then to implement the IB Diploma Programme in order to provide a K-12 experience for families who felt their children would benefit. As might be expected, this took time to thrive and there were occasions when I truly wondered whether we would succeed. However, the programme is now very successful and developing rapidly.
Leading a boarding school brings another set of issues to one’s daily life. It is a 24 hour a day, 7 day a week experience – but I loved the somewhat monastic daily routine from breakfast to dinner and beyond.
Some local issues made this aspect of the job particularly demanding. For example, we regularly lost electricity – and occasionally the support of the school’s generator too. We also experienced some frustrating health issues, heavy monsoon rains, and periods of complex political activity.
“Work permits were a constant frustration and involved many hours of discussion both inside and outside the school.”
Living and working in a boarding school, however, brings you even closer to the students due to the social interactions experienced seven days a week. Students and teachers really get to know each other well as the school community feels like a household/home. Helping to support young people both during the week and at weekends required a lot of thought, and providing meaningful activities for boarders of all ages kept us all extremely busy, including our student leadership groups.
Looking back on my five years in this demanding role, I think my greatest challenges involved supporting and guiding our teachers who worked so hard, often in very difficult circumstances, to provide the highest quality of teaching and learning. Living conditions were sometimes by no means easy and internet provision intermittent.
Work permits were a constant frustration and involved many hours of discussion both inside and outside the school. As the school’s leader, I felt very much responsible for the lives of the teachers and their families, and managing this area of my work was like walking a tight rope, often wondering when I would fall. I was always grateful for the patience and enthusiasm so regularly displayed by many of my colleagues.
Recruiting teachers was a year-long task, and involved me travelling extensively across the world but also within Africa: video recruitment was only in its infancy at the time. Selling the Tanzanian dream without a huge salary and benefits package was certainly a challenge, but I was proud of so many of the amazing educators I managed to hire, some of whom are still working in and leading the school today.
“Selling the Tanzanian dream without a huge salary and benefits package was certainly a challenge.”
Teachers were not the only adults who played a major part in my professional life at this time. Our school community was supported by numerous local staff and many of those on our Moshi campus lived in their own village on the school site. Looking back on my time in Tanzania, it was my daily interactions with this group that form some of my greatest memories.
I shall never forget my driver who regularly drove me from one campus to the other, the gardeners, cooks, cleaners, and those who often interfaced with the local government on my behalf. Many couldn’t speak English, but it amazed me how we could connect through a shake of the hand or even just a smile. I am hoping that this very important group of people felt that I touched their lives positively as they certainly touched mine.
One of the most demanding tasks I helped to lead forward during my tenure as director was a quest to be accepted into the United World Colleges movement (UWC, 2022). From my very first day in the school, I felt that there was a close match between the mission statements of the two organisations, and following many site visits/inspections, meetings in London and many school and community meetings across both campuses, the dream gradually looked as if it might become reality.
I certainly cannot claim all the credit as the journey was supported by so many, and I moved on from the school before a final decision was made. However, the International School Moshi, wonderful as it was, is now in the past, and the school is currently flourishing under a new name: The United World College of East Africa (UWCEA, 2022). Now, many more young people from a wide variety of cultures are learning on the slopes of Kilimanjaro on two day/boarding campuses – and I, for one, am absolutely delighted.
This article first appeared in the latest edition of International School magazine, out now.
