More ordinary school days... the headmaster brought a couple of newspapers over to the library. The students really enjoy reading newspapers and don't get new ones very often. However, they usually destroy them in short order. All the pages get separated as different people take them apart to read them, and some get lost, or someone takes them out of the library, etc. Baraka, the head student librarian, decided Not This Time. He ran tape down the spine and taped one to my work table (I've got plenty of room, so it's not in my way) and the other to one of the study tables. He taped them in a way that the pages can still be turned, but they can't be taken apart.
He's optimistic. I doubt it'll last long. Anyhow, he then wandered off, and I spent the rest of the afternoon watching people walk into the library:
"Ooh, a newspaper!" Grab it to pick it up and take it off to a chair... "What?? It's taped to the table!" (edit: there were no newspapers taped to table by the next day).
Two teachers, Mr Mbesere (one of the only teachers everyone calls by his last name; most are called by their first name here) and Mr David came in while students were in their afternoon exam and started a project at one of the study tables: making several pyramids out of cardboard and tape. Mbesere is a math teacher, so I assume they are props for some sort of geometry lesson. I provided tape and left them to it.
I spent the quiet time while students were taking their tests getting some grading done. We talked about giving directions or instructions in form one last week, so they had an assignment to write two sets of instructions. I gave them several options: how to get to Dar es Salaam (the largest city in Tanzania), how to cook chips (french fries), how to wash clothes, how to plant a tree (Teacher Mbesere had several of them helping plant some on campus last weekend), etc.
One of the form 2 students, Theresia, has been out of school already for about three weeks. She has some sort of bad eye infection, and she's been at home in Moshi trying different medications. They are planning to do a biopsy of a welt on her eyelid next week if she isn't much improved by then. Tammy is planning to go to Moshi tomorrow for other things and said she would stop by and visit her, so I stayed at school late to have the form 2 students write some notes to her during their evening study time. I provided colorful paper and crayons, and they had fun with it. They took longer than I meant for them to take, though; some of them are such perfectionists. I kept repeating that this is meant to be a note, not a masterpiece artistic creation.
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