That was the title of an opinion piece published last Sunday. The article's thesis is that it is a crisis of leadership. A former student of mine who has expertise in these things notes that are other factors that must be kept in mind as well: "poorly-developed infrastructure (as the column says), bad deals with foreign powers; underdeveloped human capital."
The issue of infrastructure is being dealt with in very noticeable ways, especially regarding the development and improvement of roads. To think that just a few years ago the road between Dodoma and Dar es Salaam was not paved!
There is a real desire to capitalize on the riches of the country -- the flag of Tanzania is meant to reflect these riches: yellow representing gold and minerals; blue, the sea; green, agriculture. I am excited about our doing something regarding the "green" (though I'd like even more if we found a little something represented by yellow!). With the help of the many folks with whom I had a chance to share the story of St. Peter Claver High School and Our Lady Queen of Peace Educational Centre, we'll be starting our agricultural project shortly (we already have a crop of sunflowers doing well -- and our student agricultural club has planted mchicha --spinach -- and Chinese cabbage [in fact, they've sold their first harvest of mchicha to our kitchen].
We'd love to get a state-of-the-art vineyard started -- and in that regard we're right in line with the hopes for the Dodoma Region of people like the country's prime minister.
It is all very exciting.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Monday, April 18, 2011
Catching Up.
I'm not quite sure where to begin, for it's been so long since I have written anything at CHoP.
Maybe it is best to work my way backwards over several posts.
Today was a busy, fruitful day. I met with Sossy about a number of things (including issues regarding the first steps for our agriculture project [exciting] and some issues regarding construction [a bit of frustration on this front these days]); I managed to confirm the plans of our students' Easter-break travel; I talked with our acting librarian about a recent exchange of books with our friends at the Poverty Eradication Network; and did some planning for a workshop I'll be presenting in a few weeks.
Our students enjoyed our Palm Sunday a lot -- we processed around the entire campus, waving our palms and singing songs. It was a great change to the regular order for them. Saturday morning was spent practicing.
The weekend was not all sweetness and light mind you. On Sunday about twenty students were late for lunch. I'm beginning to lose patience with the constant lateness for everything -- and they know it. I've told them that they will suffer natural consequences: Being late for a meal means simply missing the meal. Well, they missed one of the great meals (pilau [a special rice dish], meat, and salad. I made a stupid mistake regarding this punishment, though: I told the students who were on time that they could divide among themselves the food meant for the students who were now missing the meal. I have never seen such gluttony as I did among the boys. It was embarrassing and I'm glad we had no visitors to witness it.
I ended up racing around trying to save at least some of the rice because I decided to temper justice with mercy and allow the late students to eat a simple meal after the others were dismissed and then to clean the dining area and the outdoor dish-washing area.
Oh the glowers cast in my direction! I told them that except for the most serious offenses, my own approach was to move on from such unpleasantness ASAP and that I would encourage them to do the same. And we have.
On Saturday evening we watched Shrek, which gave me an opportunity to talk on Sunday about Prince Farquad and his search for riches, power, and glory as opposed to another sort of leadership marked by self-offering for the life of others. They really enjoyed the movie -- especially the slapstick parts of it. (I realized during the movie just how many allusions to popular American culture were not accessible to them -- and even so they enjoyed it.)
Last week was one of tightening screws. On the Friday our students' mid-term break, I met with the faculty to review the first quarter. There was general dissatisfaction among us with the behaviour of our students, especially respect and timeliness. It was an excellent meeting which bore many fruits. I had already determined upon my return here from my month away in the United States and Canada that there were issues in these areas, so I was glad that the teachers and I were of one mind.
We also talked about empowering student leadership. I have made some critical mistakes in this regard, and I was very happy to have the faculty suggest ways in which we could do better. We've elected a head boy and a head girl and will have elections for the other offices, too. I will meet with these officials more regularly than I have their appointed counterparts and will give them job descriptions to help.
I mentioned the mid-term break. Of course as with any school break it was a break for the students and in part for some of the faculty, but it was work for the office. It was rather productive given the fewer distractions.
More later -- and now with Internet limping back I might even manage a few photos, including photos of our students looking smart in their new school sweaters.
Maybe it is best to work my way backwards over several posts.
Today was a busy, fruitful day. I met with Sossy about a number of things (including issues regarding the first steps for our agriculture project [exciting] and some issues regarding construction [a bit of frustration on this front these days]); I managed to confirm the plans of our students' Easter-break travel; I talked with our acting librarian about a recent exchange of books with our friends at the Poverty Eradication Network; and did some planning for a workshop I'll be presenting in a few weeks.
Our students enjoyed our Palm Sunday a lot -- we processed around the entire campus, waving our palms and singing songs. It was a great change to the regular order for them. Saturday morning was spent practicing.
The weekend was not all sweetness and light mind you. On Sunday about twenty students were late for lunch. I'm beginning to lose patience with the constant lateness for everything -- and they know it. I've told them that they will suffer natural consequences: Being late for a meal means simply missing the meal. Well, they missed one of the great meals (pilau [a special rice dish], meat, and salad. I made a stupid mistake regarding this punishment, though: I told the students who were on time that they could divide among themselves the food meant for the students who were now missing the meal. I have never seen such gluttony as I did among the boys. It was embarrassing and I'm glad we had no visitors to witness it.
I ended up racing around trying to save at least some of the rice because I decided to temper justice with mercy and allow the late students to eat a simple meal after the others were dismissed and then to clean the dining area and the outdoor dish-washing area.
Oh the glowers cast in my direction! I told them that except for the most serious offenses, my own approach was to move on from such unpleasantness ASAP and that I would encourage them to do the same. And we have.
On Saturday evening we watched Shrek, which gave me an opportunity to talk on Sunday about Prince Farquad and his search for riches, power, and glory as opposed to another sort of leadership marked by self-offering for the life of others. They really enjoyed the movie -- especially the slapstick parts of it. (I realized during the movie just how many allusions to popular American culture were not accessible to them -- and even so they enjoyed it.)
Last week was one of tightening screws. On the Friday our students' mid-term break, I met with the faculty to review the first quarter. There was general dissatisfaction among us with the behaviour of our students, especially respect and timeliness. It was an excellent meeting which bore many fruits. I had already determined upon my return here from my month away in the United States and Canada that there were issues in these areas, so I was glad that the teachers and I were of one mind.
We also talked about empowering student leadership. I have made some critical mistakes in this regard, and I was very happy to have the faculty suggest ways in which we could do better. We've elected a head boy and a head girl and will have elections for the other offices, too. I will meet with these officials more regularly than I have their appointed counterparts and will give them job descriptions to help.
I mentioned the mid-term break. Of course as with any school break it was a break for the students and in part for some of the faculty, but it was work for the office. It was rather productive given the fewer distractions.
More later -- and now with Internet limping back I might even manage a few photos, including photos of our students looking smart in their new school sweaters.
Monday, April 11, 2011
Apologies
A lot to share but no Internet for two weeks, so I depend on trips to town, which are infrequent because of the cost of petrol and my time.
Sorry, but more when things are working properly.
Sorry, but more when things are working properly.
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