Whew!

The students have gone home for a three-week break -- it doesn't give us a break, but it does give us a bit of a breather.

I said goodbye to them last Saturday and immediately tested 16 candidates who want to join us for the second term (9 of them made it). I've also been working on some planning for next term, including trying to hire an agriculture teacher (part-time).

Today I toured the Jesuit residence with Sossy (I'm pushing for it to be named Fabre House, but we'll see what happens). It looks as if it will be completed in time to host our 12 guests from Chicago-Detroit Province Jesuit high schools and the 10 visitors from schools of the Eastern Africa Province. It will be tight, but we'll make it, I'm pretty sure.

As I said in the title: Whew!

Some More Wildlife

I let Chui out last night because he was restless -- unusual for him. In any case, he ran up to our roof as soon as I let him out, and I thought nothing more of it.

An hour or so later I was in bed and I heard a cat fight. I thought maybe he found his sister, who ran away as soon as she arrived 4 months ago (and whom we see from time to time). It wasn't a long fight. I then heard something hit a rail and then silence. I went back to bed.

This morning I went looking for Chui and found a dead genet just outside our house. Chui took care of us -- but got beaten up. All day long he's been listless.

Here's the dead genet.

Language School

We are running our own 3-week language school for students at SPCHS who are struggling with English. Our students are on break, but 7 of them (rather than the 15 expected) showed up this morning.

The morning is divided in thirds. The first third is grammar (taught by me); the second third is writing/speaking, and the last third of the day is reading. I taught all three parts today and most enjoyed the second part during which the students got into pairs and came up with 5 sentences to describe a photograph they were shown.

What struck me is how there is not a bit of a critical faculty that's been developed in these kids. Schooling here is all about memorizing things, about memorizing answers, etc. The idea of figuring out vocabulary from the context of reading -- and struggling to do that rather than simply being given a list to memorize -- is so foreign to these kids. I have to take deep breaths because I get so frustrated (not with them but with how they've been so poorly served).

I cannot wait for the teachers college to get up and running to start helping teachers to do something different in the classrooms.

Gotta Be Honest

There are few things I don't like about TZ. But here's one of them: Disregard for traffic safety. And tonight I witnessed the aftermath of a fatal accident for the second time in as many years. I won't go into the gory details of what I saw along 200 meters of roadway except to say that it was a motorcyclist who lost his life.

There is such disregard for life among drivers -- including traveling at 100 kph on city streets, daring to pass with on-coming traffic. I have had enough of it. Really.

A Marvelous Night for a Moon Dance

What a sight last night! The lunar eclipse. It took about an hour for the full moon to turn a dusty orange as the shadow swept across it. It was also interesting to see the stars come out as the moon got darker. Really, a beautiful sight to behold.

Obviously with the title you know I'm thinking of Van... (not the best version).

Wild Kingdom

I won't bore you with another Chui story except to tell you that I was narrating to Sr. Maria Chui's latest kill (a rat that it brought to me for my approval before the coup de grace), when she got excited. "Oh, Father! I forgot to tell you the news of Miyuji" (an area on the northern edge of Dodoma -- rather like a mini-Vatican given all the religious institutions. We're on the southeastern edge.) The news? They shot a leopard (chui) at the Ivreas' novitiate!

A leopard (or any other big cat -- or big wild game of any sort) is very rarely seen in these parts. Two years ago, according to Sr. Maria, five elephants were seen just a few kilometres farther north than Miyuji. Now that's exciting.

The other wildness was the phenomenon of a kimbunga, a whirlwind. I heard the rustling of leaves and looked out my window to see it start under a nearby tree. Within five seconds this mini-tornado gathered strength, shaking loose the dead leaves of the tree, gathering the litter on the ground and heading right toward our building. It passed us and then continued on the field on the other side, moving very slowly and filling the sky with leaves and litter (cement bags from the construction site). All I could think of was the sad death of a Standard 8 boy at the Lutheran Junior Seminary where I studied Kiswahili. His mother had witnessed a kimbunga pass him, and 2 weeks later he died in a horrible accident. She was certain the whirlwind was composed of evil spirts. Having witnessed it, I can see why.

July

It is closer than it appears on the calendar. Ours will be a full one.

First, we have visitors from the United States headed here to take part in a very interesting meeting. Teachers/administrators from various schools of the Chicago-Detroit Province of the Jesuits (12 of them) will join teachers from our school and other schools of the Eastern Africa Province of the SJ for a week to discuss what it means to teach at a Jesuit school. The goal is to give both a global perspective; a second goal is to help relatively young Jesuit schools hear from their "elders" about what it means to be a Jesuit school and then to figure out what that means in different situations.

Among the participants in this group are a number of friends. Its organizer is Fr. Martin Schreiber, SJ, who is pursuing is doctorate in education at Loyola U. Chicago. Fr. Michael Caruso, SJ, and I lived and worked together at Loyola Marymount U, Los Angeles. Mr. Kyle Chandler is the Dean of Students at U of Detroit Jesuit High School and Academy, where I was principal during his time there as a student. He's a good guy -- but I'm an even bigger fan of his mother, who went out of her way to support me and the school.

Our mornings will be filled with discussions about various aspects of Jesuit schooling; the afternoons will be an opportunity to do some service. The evenings will provide our visitors an opportunity to reflect on their experience.

We also have our friends from St. Ignatius College, Enfield, London, UK, headed this way. This is an annual trip of a group of students with 3-4 adults (including Fr. Tim Byron, SJ, school chaplain). This year they will be joined by Mr. J.P. Morris, the school's headmaster. These students spend their time at St. Ignatius Pre and Primary school, but we look forward to their coming to spend at least part of a day with our students. Just as with the program above, the older students from a long-established Jesuit school can provide the proverbial shoulders for our students to stand on.

There are many other "happenings" during that month, including an intensive English language course for our students who are struggling.

In the meantime, our students' noses are to the grindstone -- they're quite serious about preparing for their term examinations which begin next Monday.