Home Again, Home Again

I arrived home last evening after the twelve hour bus ride from Moshi. The ride yesterday was difficult because the leg room was so little for my long legs. I manage to get my left leg out in the aisle for most of the trip, but my right knee suffered, jammed against the seat ahead of me as it was.

I did manage to finish two books. The first is an incredible history of the colonization of Congo by King Leopold II -- King Leopold's Ghost. I realize I am behind the times regarding this book -- it was written over a decade ago. To quote Joseph Conrad's account of this same time in his Heart of Darkness (which I must now reread after last reading it for a Conrad seminar as an undergraduate at Loyola University Chicago): "The horror! The horror!" I can't begin to describe just how horrible it was; however the horror is matched by incredible courage, too. This is a book worth reading -- an example of a wonderfully written history.

I also read cover-to-cover Teach Like a Champion, a book sent to me by my friend MB -- meant to assist me in assisting our teachers to improve their practice. And it comes with a DVD chock full of examples! I can't wait to present some of the skills/strategies when our teachers return after our annual break.

I returned to find that the rains continued during my absence -- our verdant campus was a welcome sight, believe me. And just to assure me that this was no mere vision it poured last night, POURED.

Speaking of....I don't know why the flood in Dar es Salaam did not get reported in the western press. It has devastated that city, especially the poor, and it will have affect the rest of the country adversely as well. Take a look at this blog to see the devastation.

Incidentally, though rain is a blessing in areas like ours, it can at the same time be incredibly destructive. Many, many people lose their homes because they are constructed of mud. The "foundation" "melts" after too much rain and the house comes tumbling down.
Many people are left homeless -- of course, here that does not mean "on the streets" or in a shelter because folks tend to look after one another.

My next days will be spent on reports and scheduling (which I've delayed but can no longer put off.)

Merry Christmas!

Update: Here is a story about loss of homes nearby. The official quoted is a friend of mine (the author must come from a people without the letter "r" because my friend's name is actually Buretta, not Buleta!)

5:14 AM

Am in Moshi, at the foot of Kilimanjaro, on my way to Nairobi.

Yesterday's trip from Dodoma was 11 hours; today's to Nairobi will be about 5.

The last days have been a bit difficult.

The cold I caught in Toledo remained for some time, sapping me of a lot of energy.

One wing of our dispensary was to have been completed during my time away, providing us a place to move the school's administrative offices. That was not done. We moved on Monday with so much still needing to be done -- and the work that was done is of poor quality (e.g., tiles not properly sloped, creating pools of water when it rains).

I have grade reports to complete and a school to schedule.

There are bright spots, thankfully. Like students thanking me for a great year as they went on their annual leave. And the rains have arrived. October's rain was a teaser; this is the real thing -- heavy rains almost every day.

Reading Suggestion

If you're looking for a good book about post-colonial Africa, I can suggest Africa: Altered States, Ordinary Miracles. I just finished it -- and wish I'd known about it two years ago.

Here's a review.

Chestnuts Roasting Over an Open Fire

One of the disconcerting things I face occurs at this time of the year. Folks love to play Christmas carols. Some are religious and others are the seasonal secular songs about sleigh rides, city sidewalks, jingling bells, white Christmases, etc.

It will be a busy time leading up to Christmas and the days following. In the next month, I have to organize the academic reports for this year, schedule the school for next year (a more difficult task than last because we have more streams to schedule), and the orientation of teachers and students to worry about.

In some ways, I shouldn't worry so much. I spend a lot of energy, for instance, going through the logistics of the arrival of our incoming students. Where will they first report? What business should happen where? All of these things are things I catch myself thinking about when I wake up at 2:00 a.m. in the morning. But I shouldn't worry so much because people are patient and are, frankly, accustomed to less than organized affairs like arrivals. I shouldn't worry so much, but I cannot help myself.

The scheduling as difficult as it is has always provided me some measure of enjoyment. I first did school scheduling at St. Ignatius High School in Cleveland, Ohio. I learned from Rich Clark, the principal who got me started in school administration. Scheduling is, in fact, a puzzle -- one that can be solved. And after the hair pulling and head banging are finished, the scheduler can take great comfort in seeing the beauty of solution.

There are those times when that beauty masks some difficulties. Like the time when a missing period in a program meant that a whole group of seniors weren't scheduled for a science lab period. That presents a puzzle within a puzzle -- How to correct their schedule without having to re-schedule the whole school? (Incidentally, the problem would be easily handled here -- you'd either just inform the students and the teacher that the lab will be held on Saturday or you'd do a simple switch with another class and be done with it.)

Back to the Christmas carols. Those secular ones are meant to tug on heart strings -- even if they're not meant to, they do. There is a tug on my heart strings right now, but it doesn't come from carols but from reviewing the year. I recently had occasion to review a video of our students from their first week here. How they have grown! But not only how they have grown, how we have all progressed along the road. It has been in many ways a difficult road filled with obstacles but none has been insurmountable. What we have all (students, faculty, staff) put up with! But nevertheless, we continued. And here we find ourselves at a signpost pointing the direction for the future.

So even as I wilt at all the tasks ahead of me, I couldn't be more satisfied with what we've been able to accomplish with our own hard work and with so many friends. And of course with the grace of God, always already there for us.

Here It Is Decmber.

So many connectivity problems -- that combined with a cold that has kept me down for weeks (until the wonders of z-pack!) and so many things at the end of the year and in preparation for next.

Many folks review their charitable giving as the year comes to a close. Please remember us as you do so! We're certainly appreciative of any assistance. (You'll find the link in the right side of this page.)

Prayers for Advent blessings.

The Music of the Wagogo

Among my small frustrations is that our students are not so interested in the traditions of their ancestors. You cannot make someone to be interested in such, but you can encourage (and be filled with disappointment knowing that in 20 years they'll wish they'd listened!).

Here you can see how beautiful the local music is. Only rarely do I have the chance to hear it -- and I must prefer the traditional music at Mass, too -- instead of blaring organ music.

Rose Muhando

From the moment the buildings first started rising from the ground, we have had a frequent visitor to the school concerned about securing a place for her child, who in fact did well on our entrance examination

Her name is Rose Muhando, which meant nothing to me. But to Tanzanians hers is a well-known name because Rose is the leading gospel singer. A brush with celebrity!