Monday, April 11, 2005
Last week was the school’s midterm break. Students were home or wherever students go on a free week. I’d taken those trips to Kalebezo and Ngara that I already wrote about. Joel laughs at me and says I’ve seen more of Tanzania than most Tanzanians.
None of the school administration had said anything, but I figured that at a midterm break we should have a midterm test. I hadn’t gotten around to putting one together, so had told my classes it would come in the 2nd week after they return.
Well, the school DOES want to have FORMAL midterm tests, and they make a big deal out of it. A week devoted only to exams, carefully scheduled and proctored (“invigilated”), and suddenly scheduled for the FIRST week after students returned. So I told my classes “Sorry I lied to you, but your test is not next week, it is THIS THURSDAY, get ready for it.”
But then somebody remembered that Thursday was a Tanzanian holiday, the birthday of the 1st President of Zanzibar, and so the Chemistry midterm was rescheduled for the following Monday after all. Except for the minor detail that the official schedule still had it listed as Thursday despite my repeated suggestions that the schedule be corrected. (I didn’t want to do it myself because schedules are in such flux, they could have decided at any time to give the test on Friday or something, instead of next week.
Anyway, I took this turn of events as an opportunity for a quick flight to Dar es Salaam. I didn’t want to spend either the time or money for it, but I did have to get some forms notarized, and the ONLY place I found to get that done was at the US Embassy in Dar.
So, off to Dar on Thursday morning. I hadn’t thought that the Embassy would be closed on a Tanzanian holiday. But it was, so Thursday was a wasted day. Still, I was able to check my email, and so learned from the bank that I could have used a photocopy of my passport as proof of identity and signature. Obviously that information came just a day too late. So it goes.
All this did give me a chance to talk with some new and old volunteers at the Peace Corps Lounge, eat at Summy’s Street Chicken, and talk with Atiba about what’s next in the Bizcourse. With his help, TechnoServe will send a representative to meet with our course instructors for a refresher session next month. As it turns out, I may also be able to help Atiba a bit. His top brass will be coming in to review the whole bizcourse program. Most of it is operating in southern Tanzania, my part up in the Lake Region is just the newest extension. The brass will be trying to assess the value of the program and to try to figure out how to establish its value and set criteria for success.
Man, I have become so passionate about the need to provide PRACTICAL KNOWLEDGE and to encourage SELF RELIANCE to Tanzanian students, I would JUMP at a chance to support and expand this program. And not incidentally, it would give me a chance to meet the TechnoServe top brass and that could be very valuable as I begin to look at what is next after the Peace Corps. Funny how stuff might work out.
None of the school administration had said anything, but I figured that at a midterm break we should have a midterm test. I hadn’t gotten around to putting one together, so had told my classes it would come in the 2nd week after they return.
Well, the school DOES want to have FORMAL midterm tests, and they make a big deal out of it. A week devoted only to exams, carefully scheduled and proctored (“invigilated”), and suddenly scheduled for the FIRST week after students returned. So I told my classes “Sorry I lied to you, but your test is not next week, it is THIS THURSDAY, get ready for it.”
But then somebody remembered that Thursday was a Tanzanian holiday, the birthday of the 1st President of Zanzibar, and so the Chemistry midterm was rescheduled for the following Monday after all. Except for the minor detail that the official schedule still had it listed as Thursday despite my repeated suggestions that the schedule be corrected. (I didn’t want to do it myself because schedules are in such flux, they could have decided at any time to give the test on Friday or something, instead of next week.
Anyway, I took this turn of events as an opportunity for a quick flight to Dar es Salaam. I didn’t want to spend either the time or money for it, but I did have to get some forms notarized, and the ONLY place I found to get that done was at the US Embassy in Dar.
So, off to Dar on Thursday morning. I hadn’t thought that the Embassy would be closed on a Tanzanian holiday. But it was, so Thursday was a wasted day. Still, I was able to check my email, and so learned from the bank that I could have used a photocopy of my passport as proof of identity and signature. Obviously that information came just a day too late. So it goes.
All this did give me a chance to talk with some new and old volunteers at the Peace Corps Lounge, eat at Summy’s Street Chicken, and talk with Atiba about what’s next in the Bizcourse. With his help, TechnoServe will send a representative to meet with our course instructors for a refresher session next month. As it turns out, I may also be able to help Atiba a bit. His top brass will be coming in to review the whole bizcourse program. Most of it is operating in southern Tanzania, my part up in the Lake Region is just the newest extension. The brass will be trying to assess the value of the program and to try to figure out how to establish its value and set criteria for success.
Man, I have become so passionate about the need to provide PRACTICAL KNOWLEDGE and to encourage SELF RELIANCE to Tanzanian students, I would JUMP at a chance to support and expand this program. And not incidentally, it would give me a chance to meet the TechnoServe top brass and that could be very valuable as I begin to look at what is next after the Peace Corps. Funny how stuff might work out.
