Monday, April 04, 2005
I got back from my visit to VEMA without incident, although we were concerned when we reached the lake in the road that had stopped the bus on the way there. But we had one of Sr. Peg's workers with us who rolled up his pantlegs and waded into the lake to find the most shallow course through the water. It was tricky, but with the motor revved up and depending on 4-wheel drive, Peg pulled it through. Otherwise it was just 4 hours of bouncing and lurching along washed out roads.
After one day to repack my backpack, I stayed downtown in a Guesti for the night and headed out for Ngoma in the Ngara region at 5:00a the following day. Ngara is as far as you can go and still be in Tanzania - 400km west, most of it along dirt roads. One of my best friends, Morrison Gunje, was transferred there from Nsumba to be the Headmaster of a new school, just being formed.
Gunje lives within walking distance of Burundi, on the bald top of the highest hill in the region. From his home the horizon is very low - it feels like the top of the world. It is very mountainous, and cold. Almost on the equator, but cold! It is an isolated area, no electricity, and although there is a village nearby, it is 16km from the nearest town, Ngara. But even here, the cellphone network works - globalization survives!
Gunje does have a difficult task. 200 students with only 6 teachers - and more coming next year. He has some nice shells of buildings, but only about half of them have windows and floors as yet. But he is clearly accepted by the community as one of the important town leaders, and the home they have provided him is much nicer than the one he left behind at Nsumba.
His school was still in session, so he was quite busy. Still, we made an expedition to the place where Tanzania, Burundi and Rwanda meet. We took his car until the road changed to a path and then got even smaller than that. So we hiked the last 4 miles or so until even that ended at a sharp cliff. I'd hoped to pee into 3 countries at the same time but at the bottom of the cliff the border is the Kigali River, meandering through a swamp. Our companions said that during the Rwanda war there was a stream of bodies floating down the river. Macabre thought, unsettling. Rather like visiting the Holocaust Museum. Vicious, willful evil unleashed in the world.
The influx of refugees from the war does degrade the security of the area. There are occasional reports of attacks on buses using the area, so there was an armed guard on our bus, both ways. I doubt that his automatic rifle had ammunition. The way he handled the rifle, I HOPE it lacked ammunition.
I arrived home at about 6:00p on Friday, with lots of things to catch up on. But my neighbor came over to inform me that there was a staff party at 7:00 to celebrate the good results our students achieved last year. At least, Hodie growled at him and made him uncomfortale. GOOD DOG! The party was even more gruesome than most. The school board was there as honored guests, and every one of them made a speech. I think there was a contest to see who could make the longest speech. In Kiswahli, of course. I finally bolted at about 11:00p, in a foul mood.
But there was a meeting of my Bizcourse instructors on Saturday, to share experiences of the first few courses. They were all so bouyed up and enthusiastic about the classes and the response of the students that I came away from the meeting with a warm glow that still feels good even now.
This morning, Sunday, the Chairman of the Rotary Club talked to me at the Sikh temple that the Club will provide 3 or 4 businessmen to talk to the classes this coming weekend about starting successful businesses. This feels like things are snowballing, and it really feels great. Now if I can set up this programto continue after I leave in December....
After one day to repack my backpack, I stayed downtown in a Guesti for the night and headed out for Ngoma in the Ngara region at 5:00a the following day. Ngara is as far as you can go and still be in Tanzania - 400km west, most of it along dirt roads. One of my best friends, Morrison Gunje, was transferred there from Nsumba to be the Headmaster of a new school, just being formed.
Gunje lives within walking distance of Burundi, on the bald top of the highest hill in the region. From his home the horizon is very low - it feels like the top of the world. It is very mountainous, and cold. Almost on the equator, but cold! It is an isolated area, no electricity, and although there is a village nearby, it is 16km from the nearest town, Ngara. But even here, the cellphone network works - globalization survives!
Gunje does have a difficult task. 200 students with only 6 teachers - and more coming next year. He has some nice shells of buildings, but only about half of them have windows and floors as yet. But he is clearly accepted by the community as one of the important town leaders, and the home they have provided him is much nicer than the one he left behind at Nsumba.
His school was still in session, so he was quite busy. Still, we made an expedition to the place where Tanzania, Burundi and Rwanda meet. We took his car until the road changed to a path and then got even smaller than that. So we hiked the last 4 miles or so until even that ended at a sharp cliff. I'd hoped to pee into 3 countries at the same time but at the bottom of the cliff the border is the Kigali River, meandering through a swamp. Our companions said that during the Rwanda war there was a stream of bodies floating down the river. Macabre thought, unsettling. Rather like visiting the Holocaust Museum. Vicious, willful evil unleashed in the world.
The influx of refugees from the war does degrade the security of the area. There are occasional reports of attacks on buses using the area, so there was an armed guard on our bus, both ways. I doubt that his automatic rifle had ammunition. The way he handled the rifle, I HOPE it lacked ammunition.
I arrived home at about 6:00p on Friday, with lots of things to catch up on. But my neighbor came over to inform me that there was a staff party at 7:00 to celebrate the good results our students achieved last year. At least, Hodie growled at him and made him uncomfortale. GOOD DOG! The party was even more gruesome than most. The school board was there as honored guests, and every one of them made a speech. I think there was a contest to see who could make the longest speech. In Kiswahli, of course. I finally bolted at about 11:00p, in a foul mood.
But there was a meeting of my Bizcourse instructors on Saturday, to share experiences of the first few courses. They were all so bouyed up and enthusiastic about the classes and the response of the students that I came away from the meeting with a warm glow that still feels good even now.
This morning, Sunday, the Chairman of the Rotary Club talked to me at the Sikh temple that the Club will provide 3 or 4 businessmen to talk to the classes this coming weekend about starting successful businesses. This feels like things are snowballing, and it really feels great. Now if I can set up this programto continue after I leave in December....
