Our students are back on the En Ged campus and have faced several trials already that they weren't prepared for: lack of water in their part of campus, power outages (again), difficulties making their money stretch far enough (which has led to a couple of extra meetings, one with Isack from Imara coming out to talk with them), and anxiety over their new schools in January (and a visit from one of their new headmasters). We mentors have become quite the group of problem solvers, especally in the absence of Joanna and Lynda, both of whom are home in New Zealand for a couple of months! We've had the students bring buckets and bottles to our house for water, loaned them money or given them their allowance early, and helped however we could. Last night at 10, my cell phone rang, and one of the young men said there was a big problem, and could they come see me. I said yes, and went out to our steps to wait for whoever it was. Joseph, Elijah, and Daniel came a few minutes later, and I asked them in. Turns out, Daniel had just gotten news that his mother "might be dead." (I know how bizarre that sounds, but what I found out later is that this is their way of subtly breaking tragic news to someone, not beng definite about it!) Daniel is the "first born," so he had a big responsibility to his family and needed to go, but he was worried about not finishing his exams. I had told Joelle about them coming, so we quickly said he neded to go, and we would sort out the exams later. I prayed for him, thanked his friends for being there for him, hugged him, asked if he had bus fare for this morning's bus, etc. (Oh, and I also said don't feel bad about calling me this late for something this important, as they kept apologizing for disturbing me, so...)
This morning my phone rang while it was still dark, and one of the students said, "Miriam, we have the same problem as yesterday; may we approach your house to discuss it?" (They can be very formal, at times.) I asked, "What time is it?" "5:30," I was told. I was barely conscious so I told him no one was awake in my house, and yes, they could come, but to be very quiet. Again, I went out on the steps to wait so I could catch them before they got close enough to wake everyone else up.
This part was like a scene from a movie. There is a hedge that blocks the road in the direction the students would be coming from, so I could hear them before I could see them. They turned in my driveway, and they just kept coming: Paul, Abraham, Haruni, Elizabeth, Lucy, Noel - all of them! It was before 5:30 in the morning, and they were all there for Daniel! I get tears n my eyes just writing about it. Paul, the oldest and a pastor, said, "Miriam, in our culture, it is not right for Daniel to go home alone." I asked who would go with him, and they said, "Elijah." They had shared a room in Karanse, have loaned each other money, prayed for each other, helped each other with studies, and now Elijah was the one going on an 8 hour bus ride so Daniel wouldn't be alone. I was so incredbly moved. I did have to be a mentor, too, though, so I reminded him he'd have to make up his exams, too, and he said, no problem.
The students had been up most of the night and since 4:30 ironing Daniel's clothes and getting him and Elijah ready, and they were up to see them off. They had arranged with the husband of one of the teachers at our primary school to drive them into town to catch the bus, but something was wrong with Enoch's car, so I volunteered to do that. Agaba and Noel rode with me so I wouldn't have to come back alone. They walked Daniel and Elijah to the bus to make sure everything went OK, then we headed back home. I told them I'd make tea and something for everyone to eat as it was hours till morning tea, and they had an 8:00 exam! However, when I got home, I found Sarah and Shelley up and they had already decided to postpone the first exam and give them all the morning off, hopefully, to get some sleep before their afternoon exam. I took them tea and corn muffins, anyway, as they deserved at least that!
These are the same students that we complain about, wonder if we're making a difference in their lives, wonder if anything is really sinking in, etc. So, even though there have been tragic moments in this, it has truly been gratifying to see them come together and support one of their own like this.
Me with my sponsored children
Me with my sponsored children
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Standard 7 Graduation
Last Thursday in Karanse was a very special day - the third graduation of our class
7. This marks the end of their primary education and the beginning of their secondary (our high school) education. This is a very big deal in a village that, before our school, had graduated something like 7 students EVER! This, our third class, makes about 80 from our school alone! These students took a national exam in August or September (I forget which), the results of which help determine where they will go to secondary school. There are far too many students for the available schools, and especially teachers, so there is a weeding out process with this exam. Our students took an entrance exam just recently at a secondary school in Moshi, a large town about an hour away, that we have heard good things about. It would be a boarding school, which is very customary here in TZ. Some of these students are the first in their families to graduate from primary school, so there were some very proud families there! Mostly, I wanted to put up pictures of this event. Some of them aren't very clear, but I wanted to give you the flavor of this whole thing.
Supposedly to start at 8:30, really began about 12, lasted almost three hours, followed by lunch! The other classes presented a traditional dance (those are the pictures with painted faces!)and songs; there were lots of speeches, a drama, several dignitaries introduced (including me, but I don't have a picture of that!) - a very full day!
7. This marks the end of their primary education and the beginning of their secondary (our high school) education. This is a very big deal in a village that, before our school, had graduated something like 7 students EVER! This, our third class, makes about 80 from our school alone! These students took a national exam in August or September (I forget which), the results of which help determine where they will go to secondary school. There are far too many students for the available schools, and especially teachers, so there is a weeding out process with this exam. Our students took an entrance exam just recently at a secondary school in Moshi, a large town about an hour away, that we have heard good things about. It would be a boarding school, which is very customary here in TZ. Some of these students are the first in their families to graduate from primary school, so there were some very proud families there! Mostly, I wanted to put up pictures of this event. Some of them aren't very clear, but I wanted to give you the flavor of this whole thing.
Supposedly to start at 8:30, really began about 12, lasted almost three hours, followed by lunch! The other classes presented a traditional dance (those are the pictures with painted faces!)and songs; there were lots of speeches, a drama, several dignitaries introduced (including me, but I don't have a picture of that!) - a very full day!
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Saying good-bye (temporarily) to Karanse
Yesterday, Friday, marked the end of our student teachers' time in Kranse (except for Abraham who is based there). It was a bittersweet time. Probably more bitter for me, sweet for the student teachers! I always HATE saying good-bye to Karanse and those precious teachers and children, but our students are SO excited to be coming back to En Gedi and getting together with their fellow students. So, that is understandable. We stayed pretty busy during the morning, gathering up materials, packing up some of their stuff in my car to bring back, as they will all take the bus, and that's hard to do with all their stuff! We also had had them plan a good-bye lunch for the teachers, and I went to the lower classes giving out stickers to say good-bye to them.
One of my sweet student teachers, Daniel, called me off to a private room so he could personally thank me, on behalf of both Joelle and me, for all the work we have done for him as his mentors. He even had gifts for both of us and letters telling exactly how we have enriched his life!
(I have to add that we have been studying Love Languages, and we have discussed both gifts and words of affirmation, and he used them both!)
Later in the day, after I was already back in Arusha, I got a text message from Abraham, thanking me for what I have done for him as his mentor. These are the things I wil treasure as we end this part of their training.
At the lunch, there were speeches by our students, then the Karanse teachers started in on their thank you's to us for all we had done to bless them. My nickname is Mama Karanse, and very sweet Issagya spoke about how true that is: that my heart really is full of Karanse! When I finally had to speak, I told them how very glad I was that this is only "baadaye" (later in Swahili), not "kwaherini" (good bye to you all) because I would be crying and crying! I won't be back properly till the beginning of February, though I may pop in before that. I will go back to check on Abraham's progress through the first three months of next year. It seems like a long time till then!
One of my sweet student teachers, Daniel, called me off to a private room so he could personally thank me, on behalf of both Joelle and me, for all the work we have done for him as his mentors. He even had gifts for both of us and letters telling exactly how we have enriched his life!
(I have to add that we have been studying Love Languages, and we have discussed both gifts and words of affirmation, and he used them both!)
Later in the day, after I was already back in Arusha, I got a text message from Abraham, thanking me for what I have done for him as his mentor. These are the things I wil treasure as we end this part of their training.
At the lunch, there were speeches by our students, then the Karanse teachers started in on their thank you's to us for all we had done to bless them. My nickname is Mama Karanse, and very sweet Issagya spoke about how true that is: that my heart really is full of Karanse! When I finally had to speak, I told them how very glad I was that this is only "baadaye" (later in Swahili), not "kwaherini" (good bye to you all) because I would be crying and crying! I won't be back properly till the beginning of February, though I may pop in before that. I will go back to check on Abraham's progress through the first three months of next year. It seems like a long time till then!
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Getting a TZ driver's license: an all day event!
When I was here in '06-'07, I got a TZ driver's license, but had gone without one all last year. Finally, I decided a second year was pushing it, so Jenny, my Imara friend, and I decided to go get ours this week. When Bruce and Carly, 2 other Imara workers, heard about it, they wanted to come, too. This is such an ordeal that you really do want company for it! We decided on Thursday, in the event that if we had to come back for a second day, we could come back on Friday. (I had heard of people who took a second day, so I was preparing for the worst!)
After a fairly unnerving morning where my car refused to start(!, and the guys from the garage had to come over and clean off terminals, etc.,I got an emergency phone call from Jenny saying she had gotten application forms the day before to speed up the process (Right!), and she wanted to let me know I needed a TIN - Tanzania identification number. I didn't know what that was and thought it might be on my registration card, which was in our accountant's office, as they were using it to go get my road license, which had expired a week ago. I rushed down there, and it wasn't on there. Happy, our fill-in accountant said this was a "must." I gave up on it, and went to town, anyway. I met everyone at the Imara office and sat down to fill out the application. Jenny showed me where her number was, so I called back to my house and got Sarah to look for a similar piece of paper, number, etc. She found a number, and gave it to me, but we weren't convinced it was the right number.
Carly is a preschool teacher who's only been here about a month, and Bruce had wanted me to unofficially interview her, talk about school expectations as she works with Imara, fill her in on background here, etc., so we planned to do that while we stood in lines. She had to go meet her mechanic to get her TIN, and he called to say he had heard that TRA, the place we had to go to for our licenses, was closing at 11! This is not unusual, so we believed it! Jenny and Bruce were just going in to a meeting, so Carly and I decided to go ahead and at least be standing in line. We got there a little after 10, and Eliasante, the mechanic, said no, TRA wasn't closing at 11, just the guy Carly needed to see for her TIN. So, he arranged all of that, and he took us in to shepherd us through the beginning of the process.
First, we went upstairs for photos and fingerprints. When the photo man looked at the TIN I had written down, and checked it in his sysytem, he said it didn't exist. I had been a little afraid of that, so I went back downstairs and asked Eliasante if I should get a new number. He said, no, I should wait and check through my paperwork at home for it. Carly and I went ahead and stood in the first line, or what we hoped was the right first line, as any signs there were were, of course, mostly in Swahili, so we were playing it by ear, looking at other people's paperwork, etc. We probably stood in line for close to an hour before Jenny and Bruce got there, and they found another office we had to go to first for an official stamp. Since I didn't think it would matter to me, I kept holding our place in line while they took turns going and standing in THAT line! Finally, Jenny said, "Why don't you just go in and ask him if you need a TIN? Bruce didn't have one, and he said that was fine." So, I went, and he said my passport number would do just as well. THAT I had! So, he stamped my paperwork, and I got back in line. About another hour later, Carly and I got in to the office where you turn in your paperwork, and they took my photo and fingerprints there, so that worked out fine. Jenny and Bruce were a few people back in line, so we went outside to wait for them. After standing for so long, our legs and backs were killing us, so we slid down to the floor and leaned against the wall. Very shortly, a security guard came and asked us to come inside and sit on chairs: we decided we must have been loitering! Probably, having 2 white women sitting on the floor is very culturally unapproved of!
The NEXT thing we were supposed to do was go down the street to the polce dept. for another signature or something, but we took a lunch break, figuring they would, too. We went to the Maasai Italian restaurant just around the corner and had pizza and calzones and a Diet Coke (me) and coffees (everyone else) to fortify ourselves for the afternoon!
Then, off to the police station, and seeing 2 police officials who pulled up our registrations and approved of them, or entered them into their records; I'm truthfully not sure what they did, but we answered their questions, and were allowed to go back to the place we'd started this all. Then we had to go the bank, right next door, and pay for our licenses! It was about 3:30 by then, and that was all we could do that day. Once the TRA gets notice that our cash deposit was in their account, we can go back, stand in another line, and be given our licenses! I'll be gone next week, but Jenny said she'd pick mine up, if they let her!
When we finally left, I said to Carly, "I feel like we should have our picture taken here as we spent so much time here!"
We all celebrated by going to a cafe for cheesecake, then I went home and fixed dinner! My entire day, and what I accomplished was to apply for a driver's license, do a tiny bit of grocery shopping, and fix dinner - and I was completely exhausted! But, I can almost stop praying for invisibility from all the police doing license and registration checks everywhere I go!
After a fairly unnerving morning where my car refused to start(!, and the guys from the garage had to come over and clean off terminals, etc.,I got an emergency phone call from Jenny saying she had gotten application forms the day before to speed up the process (Right!), and she wanted to let me know I needed a TIN - Tanzania identification number. I didn't know what that was and thought it might be on my registration card, which was in our accountant's office, as they were using it to go get my road license, which had expired a week ago. I rushed down there, and it wasn't on there. Happy, our fill-in accountant said this was a "must." I gave up on it, and went to town, anyway. I met everyone at the Imara office and sat down to fill out the application. Jenny showed me where her number was, so I called back to my house and got Sarah to look for a similar piece of paper, number, etc. She found a number, and gave it to me, but we weren't convinced it was the right number.
Carly is a preschool teacher who's only been here about a month, and Bruce had wanted me to unofficially interview her, talk about school expectations as she works with Imara, fill her in on background here, etc., so we planned to do that while we stood in lines. She had to go meet her mechanic to get her TIN, and he called to say he had heard that TRA, the place we had to go to for our licenses, was closing at 11! This is not unusual, so we believed it! Jenny and Bruce were just going in to a meeting, so Carly and I decided to go ahead and at least be standing in line. We got there a little after 10, and Eliasante, the mechanic, said no, TRA wasn't closing at 11, just the guy Carly needed to see for her TIN. So, he arranged all of that, and he took us in to shepherd us through the beginning of the process.
First, we went upstairs for photos and fingerprints. When the photo man looked at the TIN I had written down, and checked it in his sysytem, he said it didn't exist. I had been a little afraid of that, so I went back downstairs and asked Eliasante if I should get a new number. He said, no, I should wait and check through my paperwork at home for it. Carly and I went ahead and stood in the first line, or what we hoped was the right first line, as any signs there were were, of course, mostly in Swahili, so we were playing it by ear, looking at other people's paperwork, etc. We probably stood in line for close to an hour before Jenny and Bruce got there, and they found another office we had to go to first for an official stamp. Since I didn't think it would matter to me, I kept holding our place in line while they took turns going and standing in THAT line! Finally, Jenny said, "Why don't you just go in and ask him if you need a TIN? Bruce didn't have one, and he said that was fine." So, I went, and he said my passport number would do just as well. THAT I had! So, he stamped my paperwork, and I got back in line. About another hour later, Carly and I got in to the office where you turn in your paperwork, and they took my photo and fingerprints there, so that worked out fine. Jenny and Bruce were a few people back in line, so we went outside to wait for them. After standing for so long, our legs and backs were killing us, so we slid down to the floor and leaned against the wall. Very shortly, a security guard came and asked us to come inside and sit on chairs: we decided we must have been loitering! Probably, having 2 white women sitting on the floor is very culturally unapproved of!
The NEXT thing we were supposed to do was go down the street to the polce dept. for another signature or something, but we took a lunch break, figuring they would, too. We went to the Maasai Italian restaurant just around the corner and had pizza and calzones and a Diet Coke (me) and coffees (everyone else) to fortify ourselves for the afternoon!
Then, off to the police station, and seeing 2 police officials who pulled up our registrations and approved of them, or entered them into their records; I'm truthfully not sure what they did, but we answered their questions, and were allowed to go back to the place we'd started this all. Then we had to go the bank, right next door, and pay for our licenses! It was about 3:30 by then, and that was all we could do that day. Once the TRA gets notice that our cash deposit was in their account, we can go back, stand in another line, and be given our licenses! I'll be gone next week, but Jenny said she'd pick mine up, if they let her!
When we finally left, I said to Carly, "I feel like we should have our picture taken here as we spent so much time here!"
We all celebrated by going to a cafe for cheesecake, then I went home and fixed dinner! My entire day, and what I accomplished was to apply for a driver's license, do a tiny bit of grocery shopping, and fix dinner - and I was completely exhausted! But, I can almost stop praying for invisibility from all the police doing license and registration checks everywhere I go!
Monday, October 24, 2011
Wedding, Tanzania-Style!
Our Joshua accountant, Magreth, got married this past Saturday. Invitations were word-of-mouth, and all of the mentors wanted to go (we love weddings and dressing up!). However, up until Saturday morning, we had no idea what time the wedding was! One of her friends sent a text that it was at 12, but her boss on the base sent an email that it was 1! We went with 1, knowing how un-promptly these things happen here. I took the other 4 mentors, and we got to the church (a large "city" church) at 1:15, as the first car there! That told us it wouldn't be any time soon, so we went to a nearby cafe and had cake while we waited! We weren't invited to the sit-down dinner reception, so we thought we'd have our cake BEFORE the wedding! We dilly-dallied till about 2, then tried again. We drove up just as the bride's car pulled up, so we felt good about that. We went into the church, where the singers were warming up, and about 10 people were there! The pastor, a few minutes later, announced that even though the groom wasn't here, yet, we'd go ahead and start! He must have been there, though, because he and the best man came out a few minutes later. Then there was the usual processional, Magreth looked beautiful, and the wedding started. There was a time of praise of worship, then a full sermon by the pastor, then a second sermon by the pastor's wife, then the children's choir sang, then everyone in both families joined the couple on stage and prayed for them, then an offering was taken up! People had drifted in as the service went on and there ended being a nice crowd of 100 or so people there. Altogether, about 2 and 1/2 hours later, it was over! Then, the couple went out front for pictures with families AND the 5 wazungu (white people) - us mentors! We left after that, but managed to be in the bridal convoy for a little while, where we honked our horn and waved!
The funniest anti-climax was that we had to run into the local market for a few groceries, and there we were, in our wedding finery! Not so surprising, really, as weddings are a big weekend entertainment here.
The funniest anti-climax was that we had to run into the local market for a few groceries, and there we were, in our wedding finery! Not so surprising, really, as weddings are a big weekend entertainment here.
Friday, October 21, 2011
Quite an exciting week in Karanse!
Though it wasn't all the good kind of exciting!
The first part was: our student teachers' last teaching week before they go into their "real" schools in January. We were expecting big things from them, and told them so, as this was their 6th teaching week in over a year. Overall, we were very pleased. We saw computers being used in ICT (Information, Communication, and Technology), one of the students cooked pillau with his class (his first time ever, so he had one of the lady teachers help him!), we saw some good (and improving) devotions lessons, civics, geography, English, math, personality and sports with lots more assessments (things to grade, basically), better conclusions to lessons, rules posted of expected student behavior - all things we'd told them we were looking for. So that was all good.
However, on Wednesday, right after lunch, I looked out the window to see a small boy on the ground with teachers around him and lots of blood. When I saw someone arrive with a bike, I knew that was to take him to the clinic, so I volunteered my car and was quickly accepted. Issagya, the pre-one teacher, went with me so he could explain to the nurses at the clinic what had happened. There was so much blood that it was hard to tell at frst, but I suspected a broken nose because that's what appeared to be doing the bleeding. At the clinic, there was a line of people waiting, but bleeding boys must get priority because we walked right into an exam room. After lots of swabbing (and spitting up even more blood) it was determined that he might have broken blood vessels in the inside of his nose. However, about that time, Kellie (Kelvin, but that's what Issagya kept calling him) also started complaining of the back of his head hurting. He and another boy had been playing on the hill, and the other boy's knee had smashed into Kellie's nose, and Kellie fell back on the ground. The sister/nurse gave him a pain pill, put ice on his head, then he fell asleep. I was thinking concussion at this point, and we kept waking him up, asking him who we were, etc. Godfrey arrived, and after a consultation, he took Kellie home. Amazingly, he was back at school the next day!
That was certainly more important than the last of the exciting things to happen, which involves mice in our guest house at Angaza! Wednesday night, I was standing in the kitchen, getting veggies ready for the soup we would cook in our crock pot that night (whle we had power), and a mouse ran into the kitchen! I don't know who was more surprised, but Joelle said I was louder! He ran and hid, and we left the kitchen as soon as we could! When I got in bed, I noticed this odor in my room, so I sprayed something and just went to sleep, knowing I couldn't deal with it at night. My bed is next to a wardrobe/cupboard, and I had a feeling something dead was in there. The next morning I looked , and nothing. So, I pulled my bed away from the wall, and saw a tail! I went and got Joelle and asked her to look and see if it was, indeed, a dead mouse. Since I knew I had slept over it all night, I just couldn't bear to see it! It was, and she disposed of it!
The story doesn't end there! I said, "mice," in our house! Thursday late afternoon, Joelle decided to take a shower, and I heard an, "Eeeek," sound from the shower room! I was so hoping it was just cold water, as the water heater hadn't been on very long, but, no. She came and said, "The mouse ran across my foot! And now he's just sitting there looking at me!" I told her I'd go get James, the young man who does everything at Angaza, but she said, no, she'd take care of it. I gave her a blanket, she wrapped it up and took it outside. We both saw it run off, terrified, I'm sure! I so missed Moses at that point!!!!
The first part was: our student teachers' last teaching week before they go into their "real" schools in January. We were expecting big things from them, and told them so, as this was their 6th teaching week in over a year. Overall, we were very pleased. We saw computers being used in ICT (Information, Communication, and Technology), one of the students cooked pillau with his class (his first time ever, so he had one of the lady teachers help him!), we saw some good (and improving) devotions lessons, civics, geography, English, math, personality and sports with lots more assessments (things to grade, basically), better conclusions to lessons, rules posted of expected student behavior - all things we'd told them we were looking for. So that was all good.
However, on Wednesday, right after lunch, I looked out the window to see a small boy on the ground with teachers around him and lots of blood. When I saw someone arrive with a bike, I knew that was to take him to the clinic, so I volunteered my car and was quickly accepted. Issagya, the pre-one teacher, went with me so he could explain to the nurses at the clinic what had happened. There was so much blood that it was hard to tell at frst, but I suspected a broken nose because that's what appeared to be doing the bleeding. At the clinic, there was a line of people waiting, but bleeding boys must get priority because we walked right into an exam room. After lots of swabbing (and spitting up even more blood) it was determined that he might have broken blood vessels in the inside of his nose. However, about that time, Kellie (Kelvin, but that's what Issagya kept calling him) also started complaining of the back of his head hurting. He and another boy had been playing on the hill, and the other boy's knee had smashed into Kellie's nose, and Kellie fell back on the ground. The sister/nurse gave him a pain pill, put ice on his head, then he fell asleep. I was thinking concussion at this point, and we kept waking him up, asking him who we were, etc. Godfrey arrived, and after a consultation, he took Kellie home. Amazingly, he was back at school the next day!
That was certainly more important than the last of the exciting things to happen, which involves mice in our guest house at Angaza! Wednesday night, I was standing in the kitchen, getting veggies ready for the soup we would cook in our crock pot that night (whle we had power), and a mouse ran into the kitchen! I don't know who was more surprised, but Joelle said I was louder! He ran and hid, and we left the kitchen as soon as we could! When I got in bed, I noticed this odor in my room, so I sprayed something and just went to sleep, knowing I couldn't deal with it at night. My bed is next to a wardrobe/cupboard, and I had a feeling something dead was in there. The next morning I looked , and nothing. So, I pulled my bed away from the wall, and saw a tail! I went and got Joelle and asked her to look and see if it was, indeed, a dead mouse. Since I knew I had slept over it all night, I just couldn't bear to see it! It was, and she disposed of it!
The story doesn't end there! I said, "mice," in our house! Thursday late afternoon, Joelle decided to take a shower, and I heard an, "Eeeek," sound from the shower room! I was so hoping it was just cold water, as the water heater hadn't been on very long, but, no. She came and said, "The mouse ran across my foot! And now he's just sitting there looking at me!" I told her I'd go get James, the young man who does everything at Angaza, but she said, no, she'd take care of it. I gave her a blanket, she wrapped it up and took it outside. We both saw it run off, terrified, I'm sure! I so missed Moses at that point!!!!
Friday, October 7, 2011
Daddy's t-shirts in Tanzania!
When was home, Mama had quite an assortment of Daddy's old track and meet t-shirts. They wouldn't fit n my suitcase, so she sent them with a recent Perimeter team. I gave them to my student teachers, who were beyond thrilled. I told them if they wore them this week, I'd take ther picture, so here are 2 of them, for Mama to see!
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