Thursday, September 01, 2005
Wednesday, Aug 31
It is a continuation of yesterday. A few students coming in, by ones and twos. Those who have come back have nothing to do. I joined a small group of students sitting under a tree to talk about what is going on. They are very discouraged. These are the students who DID come back, and who want to study and to prepare for the National Examination, and now they cannot even do that.
I’d thought that by today there would at least be a big staff meeting to collectively wring our hands or something, but there doesn’t seem to be any sign of even anything like that. A few teachers continue to sit with their files waiting, forlorn, for students to appear.
The count at the end of Day 3: A total of 44 students have registered by now, out of a student body of a little over 600. Most of the registrees are day students who do not have to pay the damage assessment or identify the “leaders.”
Meanwhile, back at the ranch... Yesterday I returned to Starehe Children’s Home, the orphanage near here that my family visited during their visit to Mwanza, and talked with Loudell. Loudell Posein is the wife and co-founder with the Pentacostal minister who took over support of the Home some years ago. She is an older woman (Did I really say that? Me, with my bald head and white beard?) with a very friendly demeanor, who seems to be constantly distracted by the list of things she wants to do in too little time. I found her bustling a pile of clean clothes from the storage room, but she took time to talk with me for awhile. We talked about the problems and rewards of running an institution that depends on donations for its existence – how the direction of projects often is determined, and changes, in response to the source and reliability of donations.
She was flabbergasted when I gave her the $200 Diane asked me to give Starehe, on behalf of Katherine Boucher’s largess. It will be spent for shoes for the children. She says that just the cost of shoes is one of their major expenses. I also picked up a number of brochures to send to my family, along with the photos from the Safari that I’ve burned onto CDs.
I’m also juggling the planning on how to end the business course. The timing of the graduation for the entrepreneurial program is becoming something of a nightmare. Originally scheduled for October 29, that date became untenable when we realized that the presidential election will be on the 30th. So I’ve been canvassing our guest speakers to see if their schedules would allow rescheduling for a week later, November 5. I’m still in the middle of that, but it has been pointed out now that November 3 or 4, depending on which night the Imam sees the moon, will be the Islam celebration of Idd-El-Fitr which is a national holiday. That will put the 5th in the middle of a long weekend holiday – hence another untenable date.
It is a continuation of yesterday. A few students coming in, by ones and twos. Those who have come back have nothing to do. I joined a small group of students sitting under a tree to talk about what is going on. They are very discouraged. These are the students who DID come back, and who want to study and to prepare for the National Examination, and now they cannot even do that.
I’d thought that by today there would at least be a big staff meeting to collectively wring our hands or something, but there doesn’t seem to be any sign of even anything like that. A few teachers continue to sit with their files waiting, forlorn, for students to appear.
The count at the end of Day 3: A total of 44 students have registered by now, out of a student body of a little over 600. Most of the registrees are day students who do not have to pay the damage assessment or identify the “leaders.”
Meanwhile, back at the ranch... Yesterday I returned to Starehe Children’s Home, the orphanage near here that my family visited during their visit to Mwanza, and talked with Loudell. Loudell Posein is the wife and co-founder with the Pentacostal minister who took over support of the Home some years ago. She is an older woman (Did I really say that? Me, with my bald head and white beard?) with a very friendly demeanor, who seems to be constantly distracted by the list of things she wants to do in too little time. I found her bustling a pile of clean clothes from the storage room, but she took time to talk with me for awhile. We talked about the problems and rewards of running an institution that depends on donations for its existence – how the direction of projects often is determined, and changes, in response to the source and reliability of donations.
She was flabbergasted when I gave her the $200 Diane asked me to give Starehe, on behalf of Katherine Boucher’s largess. It will be spent for shoes for the children. She says that just the cost of shoes is one of their major expenses. I also picked up a number of brochures to send to my family, along with the photos from the Safari that I’ve burned onto CDs.
I’m also juggling the planning on how to end the business course. The timing of the graduation for the entrepreneurial program is becoming something of a nightmare. Originally scheduled for October 29, that date became untenable when we realized that the presidential election will be on the 30th. So I’ve been canvassing our guest speakers to see if their schedules would allow rescheduling for a week later, November 5. I’m still in the middle of that, but it has been pointed out now that November 3 or 4, depending on which night the Imam sees the moon, will be the Islam celebration of Idd-El-Fitr which is a national holiday. That will put the 5th in the middle of a long weekend holiday – hence another untenable date.
