Tuesday, November 16, 2004
Monday, November 15
I got up early this morning, as I am still composing the Chem III Final Examination, and I will need to get it printed before test week begins next Monday, on Nov 22. (I am amazed to think that I have taught a complete school year. I am a bona-fide, experienced TEACHER now!)
I had expected to face anxious students today, who want to review the material we’ve covered and who will try to find out what is on the test. They want true-false, multiple choice and matching questions. They will be disappointed.
But when I got to school, it was all unnaturally quiet. No morning parade, no students, no teachers. I knew that the Muslims are celebrating the end of Ramadan and that Eads is yesterday and today, but never gave it a thought that today would be a National Holiday. So I have a free day. I am sitting on my front porch in the cool of the morning with the dew still on the grass, enjoying the sounds of birds and bees. I will have to go downtown later today and find a restaurant serving the special End-of-Ramadan foods and see what celebrations may be happening.
Good stuff has been happening this week:
First, I gave my computer to Taha Versi to recover my lost files. He is the IT Tech Manager for an Australian Communications Company that has a branch office here in Mwanza, of all places. He travels a lot, as they provide internet and microwave service to quite a few African countries. Sharp guy, and recovering data is routine for him. It sure is pricy though – Lesson #1 on DOING REGULAR BACKUPS! Also, while he can recover the files, the file names and folder structures are lost so I have to sort through every file to find the important ones, and for the others, decide if I still want to keep them or not, and in what kind of new folder structure. He got back 9,947 images! Not only my photos, but every graphic header, advertisement, and news photo along with lots of unrecognizeable stuff. All scrambled together – no order or chronology to it at all. Unfortunately, lots of my photos are pretty badly degraded. And he hasn’t yet recovered my critical personal address files yet, but says he can do that for me, too.
Then, Atiba, with the NGO TechnoServe in Dar es Salaam, sent me five workbooks for the economic empowerment project I hope to initiate in 2005. So now I can talk to the headmasters of Nsumba and other schools to solicit their cooperation and identification of teachers for the program. My goal is 5 groups of 30 students – teach business principles to 150 students plus the 10 teachers who will be presenting the program. Learning from past mistakes, I want to have a Tanzanian with me for all of those meetings.
And for the really heartwarming stuff, Allegra and Glenn said they would support Samwel Mnanka with the money he needs to get a Primary School Teaching Certificate. They said I could choose to do the Democratic thing of just giving him the money, or the Republican thing of giving it to him as a loan as he had requested. (I didn’t think Republicans gave loans, I thought they gave tax credits or rebates.) But in the spirit of bipartisanship, I suggested we make 1/3 a gift (or grant, stipend, whatever) and the other 2/3 an interest-free student loan.
I picked up Paul on the way to Samwel’s house yesterday evening, and we went over to give Samwel and his wife the news. First I told him that my family did not want to loan him the full amount, and he looked all confused and concerned. Then I said that the rest would be a gift. As that slowly sank in, he erupted into the biggest, brightest grin in the world. This really will change his life, and his family’s life. I had brought along a bottle of Chilean Sauvignon Blanc. It sold for $5.50 downtown, but that is more than three day’s pay for him. He brought out a table and some stools from his house and we found a rock to put under one leg, his wife went to the neighbors to borrow some glasses, and we stood to toast his good fortune. After we finished off the bottle, I gave him a candle and told him that in America sometimes when we have drunk a bottle of wine to celebrate an important occasion, we save the bottle.and use it as a candleholder. It is a safe bet that that bottle will have a long lifetime.
Shari has proposed that a club in Yorktown, the Young African-American Achievers, might want to sponsor an essay contest for needy Nsumba students, with the winners to have school fees paid for a year. This is a fabulous idea and my Headmaster, JFK Msasa, is fully behind it. I will be working with the head of the English Department and another teacher to coordinate with Shari and the club on details and things.
I wish I could say that the plans for Myrna’s arrival were developing as well. But we are still bickering over the plans, and she still wants me to come all the way to Guatemala for her. Which I just won’t do. So I don’t know what will happen. We are locked into flight dates for any kind of reasonable airline tickets, and if arrangements fall through again, there is no additional opportunity – that would be the last chance until 2006, after I finish my obligation with the Peace Corps and Africa unless she just came for a short visit. 2006 is a very long time to be apart.
I got up early this morning, as I am still composing the Chem III Final Examination, and I will need to get it printed before test week begins next Monday, on Nov 22. (I am amazed to think that I have taught a complete school year. I am a bona-fide, experienced TEACHER now!)
I had expected to face anxious students today, who want to review the material we’ve covered and who will try to find out what is on the test. They want true-false, multiple choice and matching questions. They will be disappointed.
But when I got to school, it was all unnaturally quiet. No morning parade, no students, no teachers. I knew that the Muslims are celebrating the end of Ramadan and that Eads is yesterday and today, but never gave it a thought that today would be a National Holiday. So I have a free day. I am sitting on my front porch in the cool of the morning with the dew still on the grass, enjoying the sounds of birds and bees. I will have to go downtown later today and find a restaurant serving the special End-of-Ramadan foods and see what celebrations may be happening.
Good stuff has been happening this week:
First, I gave my computer to Taha Versi to recover my lost files. He is the IT Tech Manager for an Australian Communications Company that has a branch office here in Mwanza, of all places. He travels a lot, as they provide internet and microwave service to quite a few African countries. Sharp guy, and recovering data is routine for him. It sure is pricy though – Lesson #1 on DOING REGULAR BACKUPS! Also, while he can recover the files, the file names and folder structures are lost so I have to sort through every file to find the important ones, and for the others, decide if I still want to keep them or not, and in what kind of new folder structure. He got back 9,947 images! Not only my photos, but every graphic header, advertisement, and news photo along with lots of unrecognizeable stuff. All scrambled together – no order or chronology to it at all. Unfortunately, lots of my photos are pretty badly degraded. And he hasn’t yet recovered my critical personal address files yet, but says he can do that for me, too.
Then, Atiba, with the NGO TechnoServe in Dar es Salaam, sent me five workbooks for the economic empowerment project I hope to initiate in 2005. So now I can talk to the headmasters of Nsumba and other schools to solicit their cooperation and identification of teachers for the program. My goal is 5 groups of 30 students – teach business principles to 150 students plus the 10 teachers who will be presenting the program. Learning from past mistakes, I want to have a Tanzanian with me for all of those meetings.
And for the really heartwarming stuff, Allegra and Glenn said they would support Samwel Mnanka with the money he needs to get a Primary School Teaching Certificate. They said I could choose to do the Democratic thing of just giving him the money, or the Republican thing of giving it to him as a loan as he had requested. (I didn’t think Republicans gave loans, I thought they gave tax credits or rebates.) But in the spirit of bipartisanship, I suggested we make 1/3 a gift (or grant, stipend, whatever) and the other 2/3 an interest-free student loan.
I picked up Paul on the way to Samwel’s house yesterday evening, and we went over to give Samwel and his wife the news. First I told him that my family did not want to loan him the full amount, and he looked all confused and concerned. Then I said that the rest would be a gift. As that slowly sank in, he erupted into the biggest, brightest grin in the world. This really will change his life, and his family’s life. I had brought along a bottle of Chilean Sauvignon Blanc. It sold for $5.50 downtown, but that is more than three day’s pay for him. He brought out a table and some stools from his house and we found a rock to put under one leg, his wife went to the neighbors to borrow some glasses, and we stood to toast his good fortune. After we finished off the bottle, I gave him a candle and told him that in America sometimes when we have drunk a bottle of wine to celebrate an important occasion, we save the bottle.and use it as a candleholder. It is a safe bet that that bottle will have a long lifetime.
Shari has proposed that a club in Yorktown, the Young African-American Achievers, might want to sponsor an essay contest for needy Nsumba students, with the winners to have school fees paid for a year. This is a fabulous idea and my Headmaster, JFK Msasa, is fully behind it. I will be working with the head of the English Department and another teacher to coordinate with Shari and the club on details and things.
I wish I could say that the plans for Myrna’s arrival were developing as well. But we are still bickering over the plans, and she still wants me to come all the way to Guatemala for her. Which I just won’t do. So I don’t know what will happen. We are locked into flight dates for any kind of reasonable airline tickets, and if arrangements fall through again, there is no additional opportunity – that would be the last chance until 2006, after I finish my obligation with the Peace Corps and Africa unless she just came for a short visit. 2006 is a very long time to be apart.
