Day 4 in Mikumi – Jim makes accounting interesting!

The classes have really gone well this week and the instructors are very keen and interested. Today Jim gave an overview of accounting in 3 hours AND, he managed to make it interesting. We learned how to record expenses and profits, make balance sheet and income statements. Jim did a great job of making a 120 hour Intro to Accounting course a 3 hour class. Accounting isn’t taught at VETA Mikumi and it’s something that all of the instructors wanted to spend some time on. Accounting would be a great short course (a 3 month course) here.

We did a campus tour this afternoon so Jim could have a look at more of the classrooms and accommodations. Mikumi is built on a hill – much like Mount Saint Vincent University. The hike to the top is tough in the heat, but the view of the valley below and the Udzungwa Mountains in the distance is well worth it. We were shown an area that the tour guiding students are going to turn into a tenting site for visitors and got to see the tour guiding classrooms. Mikumi is the only VETA campus that offers tour-guiding as a course. Ludovic Saronga (a visitor to NSCC in summer) is the lead teacher in the course and even helped to write the curriculum. He was a guide in the Selous Game Reserve for many years.

I left out a very important improvement to the VETA Campus yesterday. The first bricks were laid last week for their trial Visitor Information Centre! This is a very exciting addition to VETA Mikumi’s services. Visitor Information Centres (VIC) are not common in Tanzania, but Tony Dorrian and Wendi Dewey (NSCC Tourism Faculty and our Academic Leads for the project) planted the seed last November when the three of us visited Mikumi for the first time for the project inception mission. After Ludovic, Linet, Kaini and Peter (all VETA Tourism instructors) spent time learning about tourism in Nova Scotia this summer and after VETA Mikumi’s Principal and Training Coordinator visited the Pictou VIC in September, the idea for a Visitor Information Centre has become a reality. The VETA Mikumi VIC will open in the New Year and they will see how it works out. It will be run by students and managed by Peter Maiwambe, Mikumi’s Front Office Operations Instructor.

This afternoon Jim and I were invited to Linet’s house for tea and it was a great visit. We met her sister and nephew and caught up on our news. Linet’s brother is applying to take the Health & Human Services program at the Truro Campus and they are waiting to hear on the status of the application. Gilbert would like to start in the ALP program in January 2011 and start the Health & Human Services program in September 2011. This is exciting news. It makes me happy that Linet had such a positive experience with us at NSCC that she has encouraged her brother to study with us. I already feel badly that he may come to Canada the first time in January! We’ll do our best to give him a warm welcome...and then ensure he has warm clothes!

It’s hard to believe that we’ll be leaving Mikumi tomorrow.