Monday, May 23, 2005
Saturday.
A cool day, relaxed and pleasant. Kara, Ryan and I played Scrabble last night, and Kara stayed over again to do some errands in town this morning before going back to Sumve. I wrote some emails to family and started reading Isabel Allende’s book Paula on the patio with a puppy in my lap. Tough life.
But at 2:10 Adam came by, wondering why nobody was around for the 2:30 meeting.
2:30 MEETING?
Holy shit! How could I have been so oblivious, after all the effort I’d put into getting speakers from the Rotary Club to come out to talk to us about entrepreneurship, coordinating schedules, getting the school to set up chairs in the Dining Hall, arranging for the girls taking the course at Nganza to join us...
Sometimes I think my brain just slips a gear now and then.
Well, time enough to recover. I checked the Dining Hall. Yes, the chairs were set up and it was ready for us. Mrs. Kasura assured me that our students would be there at 2:30, as soon as they finished eating. Called the Rotarians. Yes, they were on the way but the road had been blocked for construction so they would be late. Called John to see that the girls were on the way – it is about a one-mile hike for them. NO. Seems they were having some kind of school meeting. I just about went off the deep end. He assured me that they would be there – probably his way of getting me off the phone.
The meeting got underway at 3:10. Not bad actually, for a Tanzanian meeting. Dilip gave a powerful off-the-cuff presentation on how he started his business when he just couldn’t stand working for somebody else any longer. He stressed the importance of having a reputation for honesty and hard work – other people will help you when you need it if they trust you and have faith in your plans. And he said you WILL need help along the line, because starting a business is really hard.
The students ate it up, and asked very good questions afterwards. It really is good to have outside speakers like this. It puts some reality onto what they are reading and hearing from their instructors.
The girls arrived about 4:15, so they missed the really important presentation of Dilip’s. I gave both John and Adam a tongue-lashing afterwards for not giving the course a high enough priority at Nganza, and for not protecting the course from all the other unscheduled events that come along.
Maybe the girls can come to Mwanza Secondary School next Saturday, when the Rotary will talk to the other two schools presenting the course.
A cool day, relaxed and pleasant. Kara, Ryan and I played Scrabble last night, and Kara stayed over again to do some errands in town this morning before going back to Sumve. I wrote some emails to family and started reading Isabel Allende’s book Paula on the patio with a puppy in my lap. Tough life.
But at 2:10 Adam came by, wondering why nobody was around for the 2:30 meeting.
2:30 MEETING?
Holy shit! How could I have been so oblivious, after all the effort I’d put into getting speakers from the Rotary Club to come out to talk to us about entrepreneurship, coordinating schedules, getting the school to set up chairs in the Dining Hall, arranging for the girls taking the course at Nganza to join us...
Sometimes I think my brain just slips a gear now and then.
Well, time enough to recover. I checked the Dining Hall. Yes, the chairs were set up and it was ready for us. Mrs. Kasura assured me that our students would be there at 2:30, as soon as they finished eating. Called the Rotarians. Yes, they were on the way but the road had been blocked for construction so they would be late. Called John to see that the girls were on the way – it is about a one-mile hike for them. NO. Seems they were having some kind of school meeting. I just about went off the deep end. He assured me that they would be there – probably his way of getting me off the phone.
The meeting got underway at 3:10. Not bad actually, for a Tanzanian meeting. Dilip gave a powerful off-the-cuff presentation on how he started his business when he just couldn’t stand working for somebody else any longer. He stressed the importance of having a reputation for honesty and hard work – other people will help you when you need it if they trust you and have faith in your plans. And he said you WILL need help along the line, because starting a business is really hard.
The students ate it up, and asked very good questions afterwards. It really is good to have outside speakers like this. It puts some reality onto what they are reading and hearing from their instructors.
The girls arrived about 4:15, so they missed the really important presentation of Dilip’s. I gave both John and Adam a tongue-lashing afterwards for not giving the course a high enough priority at Nganza, and for not protecting the course from all the other unscheduled events that come along.
Maybe the girls can come to Mwanza Secondary School next Saturday, when the Rotary will talk to the other two schools presenting the course.
