Family Groups

We're trying something new at AOCSS.  The students have been divided into family groups (names after different cities in the New Testament, Corinthians, Galatians, Romans, etc., I suspect Lewis had a hand in that), each led by a different teacher.  The groups are each assigned a different part of campus to keep clean and things like that, but also they meet each week (usually on Friday) to be able to talk in a smaller group about things going on at the school, students who aren't getting along, etc.  Originally, I was going to lead a group, but in the final plan I'm not; with the Tanzanian teachers, they can take the opportunity to deal with issues in their own language.  My Swahili is improving, but I'm still not ready for that level of conversation.  

Another Day at School

Oscar took a selfie with my phone while I wasn't looking. 

Just another day in the life at Alpha Omega Christian Secondary School...  we teachers have been busy marking the regional exams from last week.  We're trying something new; we've swapped papers with another local school, Orkeeswa.  We're grading their students and they are grading ours; we'll see how it goes.  (Spoiler: NEVER. AGAIN. They made tons of mistakes in grading and marked our students unnecessarily harshly.  We had to regrade everything. And they have slightly more students than us, so we got the raw end of that deal, anyhow.  I'll stop now before I say things that are only speculations on my part.)

A bit of blue sky is nice to see as we near the end of the rainy season!

The new paved assembly area in front of the administration building is finally finished, and the students had their first assembly in the new space.  Definitely an improvement over having assemblies on the football field, which can get muddy.  The prefects (student leaders, mostly elected) stand in a row facing the other students, and take turns being in charge of running drills to begin assembly (at attention, at ease, about turn, etc. for a few minutes).  Today, Ibrahim, a form two student and our Spiritual Life Prefect, was in charge.  The role is really helping him build up his confidence, as he's naturally quite shy.  

Mr. Gerald, the academic master (in charge of academics at the school) and geography teacher, had announcements to make.

Birthday Parties and Errands

Another day in Arusha...we started out by running a lot of errands.  Michela and I went one way while Beth went another way to split up the list.  Michela and I went to the main market for vegetables and then went looking for a key fundi ('fundi' means handyman) to make copies of both my housekeys and the library keys.  The one we've been to before was closed, but a nice lady from the shop next door gave us directions to this one a couple of blocks down.  Unfortunately, he turned out not to be too great as the keys aren't terribly well made, but oh well. 

It was a beautiful sunny day, which was nice coming at the end of May, which is a gray, wet month here.  It was nice to be out and about without having to worry with umbrellas and jackets and such.  

After all of our errands and grocery shopping, we moved on to the fun part of the day: it's someone's sixth birthday!  We stopped at AIM mall, so the kids could go to the arcade for a while.  We stayed to eat dinner at the food court there so the birthday boy could have his chicken nuggets and fries.  He even got a special curly straw for his drink! 

Beth had brought along a small cake she bought at the bakery, and to make it special, had one very big candle instead of six little ones.  The candle turned out to be more of a Roman candle...the birthday boy jumped back in surprise first with quite a look on his face, but once he got past the shock he was impressed.  (It's a good thing the food court has outdoor seating). 

After we ate, we had time for presents.  He loves superheroes, so that was the main theme for the evening.  I found him a Spiderman color-your-own-posters kit and Avengers markers.  I think his favorite thing, though, was the Hulk mask his mom found!

My Road

Well, the rainy season still isn't my favorite.  I know, I know, I'm being whiny.  At least it's convenient to know almost all the rain will be confined to certain times of the year.   I've tried explaining how weather usually works in climates with four seasons to my students, and they are rather amazed by the fact that it could just...rain...any time at all.  It could be sunny today and rainy tomorrow, or the temperature could change drastically, or all sorts of things.  Here, weather reports aren't much of a thing because the weather is pretty predictable.  In the dry season it will be dry (it rains just a little maybe once a month or so, sometimes), and in the rainy season, it's going to rain hard at some point during the day. 

It really wouldn't be so bad except for how difficult it makes it to get around.  I have mud boots, but even so, the mud is like walking on ice. My road is one big mudhole, and there aren't any sidewalks to get around it.  Cars slide, too.  I have managed not to actually fall in the mud yet, but I know it'll happen eventually!  

We have a Pizza Hut!

Look what we have now! A Pizza Hut! We've been seeing the 'coming soon' billboards for months now, and they actually built it reasonably fast, in the corner of the parking lot of the big grocery store we usually go to (so it's even convenient!) As far as I know, it's the only American chain restaurant we have in Arusha; as unbelievable as it may seem, we don't even have a McDonald's or a KFC. 

Honestly, we do have good local pizza restaurants, so it's not really that life-changing, but it is convenient and fast.  Also, Beth and Michela will kill me if they ever see that I posted that picture of them, so don't tell them. ;) 

The veggie supreme pizza (my first pick is almost always veggie pizza) comes with corn on it, which is a weird thing that happens outside the US, but I got them to leave it off, thankfully.  I've eaten plenty of pizza with corn on it when I lived in China, and while it's not terrible, it adds a bit of a weird crunch that I can do without.  Also, here they often supply a couple of packets of ketchup with your pizza.  We have yet to figure out why.  I really hope we never find out why, actually.

Four Baptisms

The Patron (dorm father) takes Moses's confession

Today, we had four baptisms at the school.  While that's always a joyful thing, the events leading up to it were not.  

The first year of the school, there was a boy named Robin who was a student.  He ended up transferring to a different school across town in his second year, but the older students all knew him well.  Earlier this week, he was playing soccer after school and suddenly collapsed.  It turned out that he had had an undiagnosed heart issue, and had a sudden heart attack; he died before anyone could react.  His school and the community in general have been in shock, and some of the teachers took the older students aside to let them know.  

For a few of our boys, this was a wake-up call that no one is guaranteed tomorrow.  They realized that it was time to make some decisions about how they wanted their lives to be.  Please keep these four in your prayers: Gabriel, Moses, Clement and Laurence.  

Gabriel

Laurence

Clement

The school gathers around Gabriel, Laurence, Moses and Clement

The Beautiful Parts of Rainy Season

The view from behind my house

Rainy season has its pains, but it has its beauties, too.  Everything is green and growing, and I love to watch the clouds roll down over the mountain.  It's also nice to have a bit of long-sleeve weather as it is often in the 60s on rainy days, although I tend to disagree with the Tanzanian who make small talk about how cold it is (this is about as cold as it gets here). 

The corn is coming up in the field by my house.

Safe Travels to the Allisons!

Fielden and Janet Allison have been missionaries in Africa almost the entire time since their marriage, and they are celebrating fifty years this month.  They have been here in Monduli working for the school since it began; in fact, Janet was the first headmistress, serving until we could find a Tanzanian headmaster or mistress.  They still live right next to the campus, and Fielden teaches Bible and life skills while Janet teaches English.  This year, she taught forms 2 and 4 while Oscar and I taught forms 1 and 3 (with me doing grammar and him doing literature).  

However, they have been invited to be missionaries-in-residence at Crowley's Ridge Christian College in Paragould, Arkansas for the fall term, so they will be heading back to the US soon.  They plan to return to Monduli in January, but as they will be gone for six months and this is the last time they will be with the form four students, who will graduate before they return, we had a school assembly at the end of lunch for them to formally say goodbye to the students and for us to say a prayer for their travels.

Below, Meleji, our Head Prefect (student body president would be the closest thing in the American school system), speaks on behalf of the students, wishing the Allisons Safari Njema (safe travels) and goodbye until their return.  

Enchilada Night!

As I have mentioned several times before in this blog, I moved into a new apartment in the middle of March.  I gave myself a few weeks to settle in and decorate before celebrating by hosting the crowd of Americans/Canadians here in Monduli for dinner and a time of singing.  We had a pretty good crowd--the Shorts, including Lewis's parents who are visiting, Beth and her family, Fielden and Janet Allison (who work at the school with us), and Ralph and Twyla Williams who live up in Monduli Juu.

Both Lewis and Tammy and Tizo and Beth came with extra folding chairs and folding tables since I don't have any dining room chairs yet, but I do have plenty of couch space.  I made chicken enchiladas as well as had the ingredients out for chicken tacos if anyone preferred.  Chicken enchiladas are one of my favorite things to make for a party, especially outside the US where we don't get Mexican food as much as we'd like.  Everything went pretty well; the only major mishap was when a glass casserole dish broke in the oven and we lost a couple of enchiladas just in case they had glass in them.  Fortunately, I also have a metal pan and had borrowed a second from Michela, so I was still able to have plenty of enchiladas ready when everyone arrived.  

It was nice to spend some time together over a meal, and I also enjoyed singing together after.  I enjoy hosting dinner parties; I hope I get the chance again sometime soon. 

Of course, the youngest and cutest are always at the center of attention. :)

Clouds over Monduli Mountain

While in general I find rainy season rather annoying--I've walked through enough mud to last me for quite a while, and this has been a relatively light rainy season this year--it really does have its beautiful moments.  Everything is so green and growing, and I suppose beautiful blue skies day after day do get slightly boring after a while...maybe.  But the clouds can be beautiful.  This afternoon, clouds were hanging over Monduli Mountain, with the higher slopes fading in and out of view.  I had to stop and watch for a few minutes after class.  

Michela's Birthday

On Sunday afternoon, we went to the Njiro complex (a shopping center on the other side of Arusha) for lunch to celebrate Michela's 16th birthday.  All four of her grandparents are still here visiting, so we had quite a crowd!  We ate lunch at the food court (yay for Chinese food!) and had cake and presents.  I hope 16 is a great year for her!

I got her real presents, too, but put a few new forks in as well.  We have been joking about the difficulty of finding a clean fork with so many people around!

Michela is cheered on by her grandmother, Sharon Short. 

Happy Birthday!

List of Shame

As I've mentioned before, a major part of my job at the school this year is running the library.  Part of the work of the library this year is keeping the textbooks.  Since the students have lost/destroyed them so badly the last couple of years, we are trying keeping them all in the library to be checked out on an as-needed basis instead of issuing them all at the beginning of the year and leaving them to be buried at the bottoms of lockers. 

On Friday nights, before the Friday night movie is played, the students have to return all the books borrowed during the week.  They can take them again if they still need them, but at least this means that books have to be located and seen in person by me or one of the library workers at least every week or so.  While they are in the movie, I make a list of people who are still missing books, and they receive a punishment for not returning books on time.  If the book is still missing at the end of the term, a note is sent home to their parents that they need to pay a fine to replace the book.  It started out a bit of a joke calling my list the "List of Shame", but it's stuck now as the students both think it's funny and also try to avoid being on it because this is a culture where shame and honor are important. 

The first time, the punishment is having to get a dictionary and write out twenty adjectives that start with the letter of the week and their definitions (they might as well learn something while being punished!).  However, some students either don't do the punishment, or they are missing books multiple weeks in a row.  In those cases, I turn in their names to the Discipline Master, Mr. Mbesere, for grass slashing.  Here in Tanzania, almost no one has a mower, so grass is cut by going out with a dull machete (called a slasher by the students) and hacking at it.  This is not a popular job to have to do.  Since the Tanzanian school system is trying to cut back on corporal punishment, Mbesere has now decided that those in trouble should be given a particular plot of ground and a slasher to work off their punishment.  Writing those definitions in a timely manner looks much better now, doesn't it? 

Also, you can definitely tell this isn't the US--can you imagine in the US if you gave teenagers in trouble a weapon?  

Interschool Debate

On Friday afternoon, Alpha Omega hosted a debate between our students and the students of a couple of other local secondary schools, on the topic of evolution.  Francis Kabata was the main speaker for Alpha Omega.  I wasn't involved in the preparations, but I think he was a good choice.  Goodness knows the boy could argue with a brick wall.  Probably has, for that matter.  And I've never seen him without something to say, and usually with a great many things to say.  He's a good kid, but he's a talker for sure! 

At least with school uniforms, it's easy to see the sides!

The visiting students, in front of our administration building.

Baptisms at Sunset

May 6th was an important day at Alpha Omega...we had three baptisms! Late in the afternoon, we gathered around the portable baptistry that Albert spent a good part of the afternoon filling (large amounts of water are usually rather difficult to come by around here).  

 The first baptism was Rebecca Short.  It was nice that she could be baptized while her grandparents, Edward and Sharon, were still here.  Talking to her grandmother earlier in the day about her baptism, she had said something about hoping for there to be a sunbeam on her; Sharon said something about it while we were waiting for everyone to gather.  Well, she got her wish!  Her baptism was just before the sun dipped behind Monduli Moutain, and my camera captured sunbeams shining right over us at that moment.

 Baraka, a form four student, was the second baptism.  While he had been baptized a few years ago when he was still quite young, he felt that he wasn't really ready back when he did it to make a commitment really understanding what he was committing to.  He had been thinking about his spiritual walk, and once he heard that Rebecca would be baptized and so the water would be ready, he decided it was a good time to be baptized again himself.

Edward Short prayed with Rebecca and Baraka after their baptisms.  I ask you also to pray for them as they begin this new commitment to God. 

After the other two baptisms, Stephanie, a form one student, came forward and said that she had been thinking about baptism and had decided that she was ready.  We stalled a bit while she called her parents, but with their permission, she was also baptized that evening. 

Edward had a prayer with Stephanie, with her friends gathered around, after her baptism. 

I've had a difficult time getting videos to load properly to the blog with my weak internet signal here.  Hopefully, you'll be able to watch this one.  We are singing the Swahili version of "I've Been Washed in the Blood."  The videos of the baptisms themselves were too long to load here, unfortunately.

Spectacular Sunset

One of the silver linings of rainy season is that clouds make for much more interesting sunsets.  Driving home from Arusha tonight, a huge storm cloud ahead of us looked like a towering mountain.  The pictures, taken through a dirty windshield while driving, but I wanted to share the moment of being astounded yet again by the beauty of the world.