Welcome to St Mary’s International School in Mwanza

We had a pleasant surprise yesterday morning. The manager of a local boarding school here in Mwanza heard our broadcast from Judith’s house on Wednesday, liked it and called Kiss FM to see if they could host the show. Yes was the short answer. You can see lots of snaps of life at the school here. The kids are very keen to speak to you later. Here’s more about St. Mary’s…

To reach its grounds, you take a long straight drive out of Mwanza, past rice traders drying their produce on the side of the road (see Flickr) and out into the dry scrub land that emerges from the gentle hills and granite boulders that are the mark of Mwanza. It’s hot and flat out there, with few trees and no nearby lake breeze to take the sting out of the sun.
And there, as you rise over the brow of a hill is first the school walls painted with slogans such as ‘quality is our motto’ and ‘education is power’ and then the gates, behind which the school grounds stretch for a kilometre of so. There are low slung dormitories and classroom, a dusty football pitch, several courtyards, a rank of school buses and, crucially for us, a massive dining hall from where we’re going to host WHYS.
They have been very generous to us already. One our visit yesterday afternoon, to our slight embarrassment, class after class was stopped so that I could say a few words and invite the children along. And it really was very strange, and I suppose incredible, when the headmaster kept asking each group, ‘what is the BBC?’ and they’d all say back ‘British Broadcasting Corporation’. There are plenty of schools in Britain where that wouldn’t happen.
The headmaster is assuring me that for today’s show most of the school is going to come. There are, er, 700 pupils. I’m not sure Michael and I have the means to keep them entertained but we’ll see. (Maybe I’ll do a few Justin Timberlake covers between callers.) I’m not quite sure what they’re expecting, but they are extremely excited about it all, especially the idea of you all listening them around the world.
First impressions suggest the school’s claim that it is ‘the choice of tomorrow’s nation’ is not far-fetched. They are bright, funny and well-armed with enough ideas, opinions and dreams to make the show their own. So please tune in, join the class, hear what they have to say and make their day by sending your thoughts on what you hear. If you’re really keen, you’re very welcome to send them questions about their life and their ambitions now, and we’ll get you some answers.