Even Here

Tomorrow I visit our school attorney, to whom we submitted our employment contract for review some time ago. I'm hoping he gives the thumbs up because I'm ready with job offers for an English teacher, Kiswahili teacher, Biology/Agriculture, and History/Geography. Four down, three more faculty hires to go.
With one week before the deadline for submission, folks are beginning to flood our office with applications. We're entering the information into a spread sheet in order to handle the rest of the admissions process smoothly.
That's the news that's fit to print.

A Quick Update

Here is a quick update of our progress on the buildings. Notice the dormitory rooms have a base coat. Any suggestions for interior colours?

Below is the courtyard of the classroom block, where we'll have parading and morning assembly. Located under the curved section with the crenelation on the second floor (or first, depending on who is reading this!) will be speakers, leaders, etc. at assemblies.

The contractor for the multi-purpose hall is slooooow. It will be an impressive building when it is completed, though.

Finally, the cement for the chapel is being poured (sorry all those people who have tried to help me with the difference between concrete and cement -- one of those things is being poured). Hard to call this a chapel when it will accommodate over 1,000 people! I'm very pleased with the floor design -- it will be very nice.

I had a visitor from Entebbe, Uganda, last week. Patrick Loti is a sculptor of religious art. A very kind friend of mine in Santa Barbara donated funds for a statue of Our Lady Queen of Peace for our entrance way. In fact the generous gift will allow us to have other religious statuary as well. Patrick's work is lovely, and we're excited to see what he does for us.

Here is an example of his work done for our community in Karen, Nairobi.

Nimechoka sana!

I am very tired.
This morning I arrived at our primary school (actually the Tanzanian word for this level of education is better, I think -- shule ya msingi, foundation school) at 10:15 a.m. for the school's graduation. I arrived late (the festivities were scheduled to begin at 9:00 a.m.) because I have so many things in the air right now and had to get some work done.
The ceremony ended -- get this! -- at a little after 5:00 p.m. It was a long day -- frankly, too long. Too many folks spoke too many words. It was unfortunate because what should have been the highlight -- the awarding of the "leaving certificate" -- was done without solemnity, in a very rushed manner.
Things were so long that there was a break for a meal in the middle of the ceremony (the meal was meant to conclude the ceremony).
Despite all the problems with the graduation ceremony, it was wonderful to be part of it. It is the first graduation of the primary school, and the pioneers were proud to be the first. But now I am content to pour a cold one and rest a bit before I receive a guest from Morogoro, Mchungaji Joshua Magyar, a Lutheran pastor who was at language school with me. It will be good to catch up with him (he's from the US, having been most recently pastoring in Montana).

And Again, Thanks

Fundraising for books for our library through Books for Africa has been so successful, that we're already starting on our second round! Take a peek.

I was in Dar es Salaam these past days, and I'm so thankful for the help especially of Steve Meyo, SJ, a scholastic who serves as the academic dean at Loyola High School. He's been supportive since day one, and his help has been invaluable. I had the opportunity to meet with our book dealer, who has a great name, David Chacha. While in Dar es Salaam I also worked on our salary scale, and called back candidates for various teaching positions. Still working on hiring.

Also, while I was in Dar es Salaam, Sr. Eugenie, a sister from the DRC, asked to meet with me. She was concerned because one of the best students in the graduating class of Gonzaga (the Jesuit primary school in Mabibo, the poor neighborhood where Loyola High School is also located) who is interested in studying with us here at St. Peter's, is also one of the poorest. She wanted to know what resources we have available to help the young man, should he be accepted. Fortunately, many friends, family, and folks I've met along the way during the last year have helped us to be able to help some such students. If you'd like to help in this regard, feel free to go to the link to the Chicago Province Jesuit's development office website to the right of this entry.

There are a lot of other things we could use your assistance with, too. Feel free to contact me if you'd like to provide such assistance -- there are "niches" for every interest and for every pocketbook!

Thanks again!

So Much to Learn

It has taken me almost a year to get learn about textbooks. Who would have thought that this would be an area of confusion.

Each time I asked someone about textbooks, the answer was just a little different -- or at least seemed so to me. Today, finally, I've figured it out: There is no such thing as a standard issued textbook. They are all based on the national syllabus, but the teacher might be using one and the students using textbooks from four different publishers. I've asked faculty members at Loyola High School, Dar es Salaam, to help me identify what are the best textbooks. I'm going to purchase enough of these for each student to have his/her own.

While in D'Salaam, I also enlisted the help of two faculty members from the science department to list the needs for our first year in the labs.
Finally, today I juggled the finalists for our teaching positions with our schedule. If -- and it's a big IF -- everyone to whom I offer a job accepts, we'll be able to make it with 7 teachers. Details as they unfold!

Friday Funnies

I received an application today addressed as follows:

Headmaster
St. Peter's Clever Secondary School
PO Box 2175
Dodoma

I'm happy to know that St. Peter Claver is already considered a clever school!

Asanteni Sana!

Thank you very much to all the folks in Toledo who participated in Sunday's fund-raiser for books for us. I really do appreciate it.