WHAT

Tire Tracks Team visits 4 schools in the UK

WHEN

Wednesday & Thursday (Sept 21-22)

WHY

We met students that will be using the program, showed them the car and talked about all the fun things you can find and do on the Kids website.

COOL NOTES

We also have some friends coming along:

• 2 British Members of Parliament (MPs)
• Naasu, our colleague, who is from Sierra Leone in west Africa
• Tricia, Emma and Chaavi from Freeplay Foundation (solar powered & wind-up radios)
• Sarah from Aduna (African drumming & dancing)

The Tire Tracks team had a great time visiting students in the UK!

On Wednesday, Sept 21, we started off at Langford Primary School in southwest London. Students from Key stage 1 (ages 5-7) and Key stage 2 (ages 7-11) joined us during our visit. Did you know that a many students that attend Langford are originally from a country in Africa?

We talked all about the Kids website, Freeplay's Lifeline radio, and the car! A few students even had a chance to talk to a reporter from the BBC World Service. You can also see here that some students from Year 6 (ages 10-11) are also taking part in a special class project. Can you see what they are doing here? They are taking measurements of the car. The class is going to give the team some ideas on how to build the back of the car so we are sure to have enough room for our repair tools, 2 desks, water, gas, and our clothes!

After Langford, the Tire Tracks team then headed to Caterham Prep School in Surrey, just outside of London. Here we met students in Year 5 (ages 9-10). We also had a special guest join us during our visit- Mr. Ainsworth, MP. He talked about why learning about Africa is important and also had some amazing Africa facts for the class.

Our colleague Naasu Fofanah also spoke to the class. As you can see, Naasu wore a beautiful traditional outfit that you would see in Sierra Leone, the place she was born. She also brought the striped jacket/top that her grandmother made.

After the students also heard about Freeplay, we headed outside to see the car. Here is a photo of Patrick showing Ms. Joshi's class the back cab of the car.

All the students at Caterham had prepared excellent questions for the team. We had a great time answering many of them! Keep them coming!

On Thursday, the Tire Tracks team was off to visit 2 more schools. The first stop was in Oxford at the Dragon School. We talked a lot about where Africa is, what route the team would take, and the immunizations they need. We also all thought about what you would pack if were going away for 2 years. Did you know you can read all about the team's prep on this website? And did you know there is also a car naming contest?

At Dragon we also heard from Sarah who lived in Mali for 18 years. She brought in a typical outfit of a cow herder (check out the photo). She also talked about how saying a typical 'Hello. How are you?' in Mali could take 5 minutes!

The last stop for the Tire Tracks team was at Heronsgate Middle School in Milton Keynes. Here the whole school came out to hear a special guest speaker: Mr. Lancaster, MP. He talked about his recent trip to Tanzania.

Both Corinne and Patrick had a great time talking to Year 5 and Year 3 about other students using the program. Did you know that students from places like Australia, Czech, Ghana, India, Nigeria, Poland, South Africa, Tanzania, UK and USA are also using the program?

We also heard some great questions about the UNIMOG. Did you know it used to be a radio car in the German army? And did you know that the car can drive in water (up to the driver's knees)? You can read more about the car and see the photos on this site.