An Eventful Week--Graduation, The President, and a Tornado

Month two at site is fast approaching… Time seems to be moving fast despite my slower pace of life. As the world spins fast around me, I am slowly becoming enveloped in the tiny world of the village that I live in. Things, like my parents flying across the globe to see my brother in Thailand, are impressive feats.  I am beginning to see things from the point of view of my fellow teachers and villagers who may have never even left the region or village for that matter. It really makes me take a step back and realize how fortunate I am to have this humbling experience.

The school where I teach

This past weekend was filled with lots of excitement. Lets trail back to last Friday’s graduation ceremony for our Form 4 students (high school seniors) here at Philip Mangula Secondary School. The week prior to the ceremony was filled with many meetings concerning the ceremony. I didn’t fully understand exactly everything that was going on, but I was able to came out knowing that I was on the entertainment and itinerary committees. For the entertainment, I learned that during one of these meetings I was volunteered to sing a song and give a speech at the ceremony—in Kiswahili. Now, at first I was a little hesitant, but then I said what the heck. I had a teacher help me figure out a better translation of what I wanted to say, rather than sticking to what I was able to whip up. My Swahili is coming along, but still needs a lot of work. I told my students that I speak Kiswahili like a child and need them to help me. Hopefully they will answer my call. So, this little speech I gave congratulated the students on their accomplishments and wished them the best of luck in their future endeavors. I also said that I wanted to share a song that I wrote about where I come from in America. I whipped out the guitar and did my first solo performance. I had a pretty good draw of about 800 people. My solo career is blossoming—though, I don’t think I could do it without the backing of my brothers.

Giving my speech in front of the students and teachers.
"Kamwene--(traditional Bena greeting) Habari za asubuhi wanafunzi, wazazi, walimu wenzangu, na wengi wote waalikwa? Ninafurahi sana kupata nasafi ya kufundisha hapa Philip Mangula Secondari kwa miaka miwili ijayo. Leo napenda kuwa pongeza wanafunzi wetu wanaotuaga na nawatakia mafaniko mema. Pia, ningependa kushirikiana nanyi wimbo moja kuhusu mandhari ya nyumbani kwetu Marekani. Asante sana, nawatakia kazi njema."

Hello and good morning students, parents, fellow teachers and guests of honor. I am happy to have the opportunity to teach here at Philip Mangula Secondary School for the next two years. Today, I would like to congratulate our graduating students on their accomplishments and wish them the best of luck in their future endeavors. Also, I would like to share with everyone a song I wrote about the environment of my home back in America.

My first solo performance. Dual mic system going on here. 

The parents of the students at the school.

Students receiving their certificates of completion.

After I played my song, the students put on a number of skits, dances, and there was even a fashion show. The fashion show depicted different dress of professional occupations and traditional Tanzanian attire.

Fashion show. Traditional Masai clothing.

During one of the skits, the students created a satire of the classroom in Tanzania. The “teacher” was of course very authoritative with switch in hand and all. It’s a sad reality here, but it was nice to see the students get a chance to poke fun at it. The parents, students, and teachers were all entertained. The ceremony ended with lots of dancing. Everyone seemed supportive of my dance moves. I think they were just happy to see us joining in on the fun. It is easy to shed any shyness here. No matter what I am doing, there are always eyes on me. This is especially true when I am dancing though. The celebration ended with a feast and lots of pictures. I of course pulled out my camera for the first time and captured the day in its entirety. I was happy to capture these moments for the kids. These pictures will be wonderful memories for them and me in the years to come.

The students putting on a dance routine. They did some very acrobatic moves.

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures....

After a long day and lots of eating, my site mate in the neighboring village and I hit the hay for some zzzzz’s. The next day’s events were going to be just as exciting. We woke up at around 6am and caught the bus that drives from my village to town. After this 45-minute ride down the bumpy dirt road, we hopped onto another bus that took us to Kipengere. This village is about two hours from town and was where the president of Tanzania would be giving a speech later that morning. We were not about to pass up the chance to see the President, no matter how tired we were. The road on the way to the village was lined with banners of Tanzania’s blue, black, yellow, and green colors. As I looked down on the expanse of land where the President would be speaking, I was in aw at the remoteness and was equally impressed by the land that had been carved by hand in every direction I looked. 

Kipengere--site of Presidential Address. 

Students excited for the President's arrival.

We arrived about an hour and a half before the President arrived. Many of the surrounding school’s students were in attendance, as well as a steady stream of villagers from the surrounding areas. Many of the Tanzanians were excited that we were there. Knowing just a little bit of Swahili earns you so much respect as a foreigner. We mingled with some of the elders and students for a while until one of the event coordinators waved us over to him. At first I did not think that he was signaling at us but then he shimmied his way through the crowd and asked us what villages we were from. We told him our respective sites and that we were teachers with the Peace Corps. He took my hand and led us to the front where he sat us next to the stage as guests of the President. This was super exciting and our view of the event was prime. The soccer field filled up rapidly and local music groups were entertaining the masses with traditional Bena music (drums, whistles, bells). The excitement for President Kikwete’s arrival was building.

Presidential escorts

Along the horizon, I saw caravan of cars that was escorting the President. Before entering the village soccer field, a truck full of men in swat uniforms scattered and surrounded the vehicles entering the field. This was kind of scary at first, but I just reminded myself that this was the President they were escorting. President Kikwete arrived and greeted the excited crowd. I was not in hands reach of the President, but he gave me a friendly smile and wave as I diligently snapped photos of him and his counterparts. The President’s cabinet members and first lady gave speeches prior to the Pres. Kikwete’s address. The President came to Njombe to tour the region, several development projects and to officially open it as a new region in Tanzania. This particular rally seemed to focus primarily on improving the schools and to empower TZ’s students to work hard to become professionals in the sciences, which Tanzania is in great need of. 

The President's arrival.

During the presidents address.

President Jakaya Kikwete

The ceremony wrapped up and we departed the event with the Headmaster of my fellow volunteers school.

At School:

My homemade periodic table

During this week at school, I began teaching the Periodic table to students in my Form 1 classes. I drew up this periodic table and did my village lamination with some clear tape I bought in town. Visual aids like this are lacking in most every subject. There has been so many times that I wish I could just pull up a Google search on the projector and show the students what I am talking about. It’s hard to believe that almost every school/classroom in America is equipped with these learning tools, which we now deem almost essential. Hopefully by the time I am done at my school, I will have a pile of chemistry resources for the school to use. My students will be having their first exam that I made this week as well. I am sure they will all do great!

The little tornado that happened after the
presidential visit.

In the weather:
During the President’s visit to Kipengere, this interesting dust storm came out of nowhere. This little tornado ripped the roofs off a couple houses before it slowly dissipated into the empty cornfield.


In addition to the tornado,  I was impressed by this cloud formation that was blowing over my village. The students laughed at me as I pointed out the cloud formation and tried to explain how cool and interesting its juxtaposition was to the beautiful blue sky that surrounded the mass.  I received a text message from my friend Nikki in the village an hour south of me asking if I was getting the nickel sized hail at my site. No hail at my site though—just a blue sky and this gnarly cloud in the distance. Nikki’s house flooded from the torrential rains that came along with it. All her things were fine and the students were more than willing to help her get her house back into shape. So it goes…

What a crazy cloud formation this was. Notice the blue skies on the right side of the picture.

That’s all for now.

Next post will feature my experience at a Tanzanian wedding that I attended yesterday.

Thanks for reading and check back for more! Keep the letters coming my way!


Philip Mangula S.S.
Attn: Darryl Glotfelty
P.O. Box 699
Njombe
Tanzania

ps. Shout out to my mom and sister for the awesome packages of goodies I received today!