Looking back on our first full week, it was full. Early days were full of transitions of many types:
Monday, as the regular flow of Mwangaza business began, we moved our many books and notes from suitcases to the room converted into our office -- what a great gift of shelving and working space, plus a reasonably reliable source of electricity and internet connection, for mentoring and for preparing to facilitate the June seminars;
Tuesday, after the Swedish couple (pastors with Rotary) were able to get a week-delayed flight (they had also been victims of the volcanic ash) and left Mwangaza, we moved from the small apartment on campus to our just-down-the-road house, unpacked, and began changing house into home;
Monday - Friday, in daily meetings with John Kavishe and Salome Lally, 2 of Mwangaza's management team, we were updated from what we had learned in previous visits to the current circumstances of education in Lutheran secondary schools (now there are 63 of them in Tanzania);
Wednesday & Thursday, when we accompanied John & Salome to visit Kimandolu LSS and Arusha Teachers College, we were reminded again of the spirit within those who champion education and the shrinking of the world, as sat across the desk from a Mwangaza partner of the Miltons (1996j) and next to one of Mike's partners from the seminars in 2008;
Thursday we began our mentoring process with John and Salome with a focus on building a quartet of teammates to learn from each other as we prepare for the June seminars and interventions with a number of Lutheran Secondary Schools. Sharon chose the Lutheran potluck theme, with years of personal experience demonstrating that the gifts brought by a number of individuals provide healthy meal for all if tasted, chewed and digested;
and Friday included coaxing our iMac laptop to communicate with the desktop computers which had traveled in a container across many miles of ocean to arrive here several years ago. A comedian recently said that he took his 4-year old computer to the shop and was treated as if he were Amish. Our issues are mostly converting to files and formats which the older (did they have computers before wheels?) computers will read. Seriously, we are most grateful for the opportunity these options give us to share information with our seminar participants and, in fact, will be able to send them home with flash drives (remember 512 mb?) full of methodology, interactive web-sites and other information.
Saturday was filled getting settled in for the week(s) to come, beginning with a walk down Ilboru Road to the tarmac and into Arusha center for grocery shopping and a bit of catching up on where to locate certain items we might need here or want to take home. Down would usually be the preferred direction on Ilboru Rd, b/c of the steepness, but following a night of rain, even that direction brought challenges.
Any Wazungu (white people) on foot in Arusha are soon joined by 2-5 very helpful street folks -- more if you make the mistake of joining in a conversation, and the # will multiply rapidly if you come to a stop or actually purchase something from one of them. After a few Hapana, Asante (No, Thank you) responses and the explanation that this was the first day of our stay so we would not be buying anything but groceries, most left us alone. To Thomas, however, who scored very high in perseverance, Mike explained that he was a teacher and would now teach Thomas that, if he ever wanted a chance for any business with us, he would be wise to ask once and then leave us alone until the next time he saw us in town. Understand, Thomas will likely know each time we hit the bottom of Ilboru Rd and will appear beside us shortly thereafter, but at least he left us for that day and will likely remember, if not honor, the limits in the future.
Our road had dried somewhat, but seems to have steepened significantly since 2008. Cannot imagine riding a bike up this hill, let alone one with only one gear, yet people do exactly that. Or push their bikes b/c they are loaded with several heavy bags of rice or bundles of wood and/or banana tree stalks and leaves.
As we turned the corner and turned toward our house, what had been the irritating sound of a chain saw became the sight of an artist at work. A young man was busy turning a fallen tree into boards; we arrived just as he finished the top half and began the lower. He was actually cutting the last board from the upper half into two (approximately) 2x4s with the front tip of his chain saw -- straighter than I could have with a regular saw. The pictures show him at different stages on the second half of the tree.
For those of you who have heard the stories of Lamont, Jacob and I building/repairing classroom ceilings in 2005, these pix can help you appreciate what we were going through, sawing and nailing lumber that dripped sap when cut or pounded, as it had been growing only a day or two before.
On my way up the road to the office, he was already surrounded by 8-10 men negotiating for his boards. I gave him a bottle of water and he had me show several people the pictures I had taken. An artist selling his work and loving my appreciation of his skills.
Meanwhile, children were filling burlap bags with the wood chips and other adults were bargaining for the slag -- the outside pieces of wood with bark. Speaking of bikes, the artist had the stump of the tree, some 125-150 pounds, I'd guess, strapped onto his bike -- cooking firewood for days to come.
A little laundry was addressed, we relaxed and read, then Sharon fixed one of the old family favorites, breakfast for dinner -- eggs and fried potatoes with onions with a fresh tomato on the side.
Will finish this edition with a math problem: When women must wash, dry and replace the sheets for 40 seminar participants between Friday afternoon and Sunday evening, estimate the total areas needed for washing and drying during the rainy season?
The Answer is much better explained by the pictures below than by any diagrams and algebra equations that could be provided by this retired mathematician.
Hint: The total area for washing is 4 times the circular tubs and 2 times the bucket pictured below (tubs are approximately 2 feet in diameter at the top, bucket close to 14 inches -- all you math folks, Mike knows but chooses to ignore the volume issue this time) while the total drying area is a combination of both regular and irregular areas. Regular in that the existing clothes lines between trees and buildings are filled and irregular because neither of the 2 grassy areas have sides of equal length. Certainly are colorful patterns, though, especially with the hedge borders topped with pillow cases.
For this problem, we won't even have you figure in the factor of extra drying caused by sudden rains soaking the sheets before they could be taken in, so were set out again when the squall passed.
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