Tanzanian Visitor Meets Bedford Hills Students

Third graders at Bedford hills Elementary School (BHES) recently hosted a visitor from Tanzania. Nunu Mollel of Tanzania visited the school to speak with the third grades taught by Kathleen Crohn and Annrose Fluskey. The students greeted her with a counting song in Swahili that they learned with BHES music teacher Ava Mazzella, Mrs. Crohn said.

Mama Nunu--mama is a polite term of address for a woman in Tanzania, according to Mrs. Crohn--spoke with the children and discussed her country. The BHES students are currently studying the cultures of the world.

The visit is a result of a trip to Tanzania by BHES teacher Kathleen Crohn three years ago, and of friendships made by her son Nolan when he went to Tanzania just after he graduated from Fox Lane High School in 2007. Crohn's trip was made during an educational development leave that was partly funded by BHES, she said. Mama Nunu is in charge of the a portion of the program that sent Nolan Crohn to Tanzania.

Mrs. Crohn's third graders were writing to pen pals in Bangata, Tanzania, when she learned that Mama Nunu was coming to the United States for a few weeks to attend a wedding and to sightsee. The Crohn family invited her to visit them and Mrs. Crohn also asked her to visit BHES.

During her visit at the school, Mama Nunu spoke with the BHES students about many aspects of Tanzania and the people who live there. She lives near Bangata, according to Mrs. Crohn. As she was leaving, the students presented her with a bag with the school logo on it that they had all signed.

When she traveled to Tanzania three years ago, Mrs. Crohn had a chance to teach in local schools.

"I stayed in Tanzania for five weeks and taught in a kindergarten and a sixth-grade class in two different schools," she said.

The East African country is stable politically, but is very poor, she noted. Despite that, she was impressed by the professionalism of the teachers and the enthusiasm of the children for learning, she said. "The teachers there are what made the schools. They were phenomenal."

Mama Nunu will be returning to Tanzania carrying the pen pal letters, photos, and hand drawn pictures from BHES children to children in Bangata with her.