campus. We attended the weekly primary and secondary school
assemblies, each of which included the singing of the TZ national
anthem, a student performance, and awards for student achievement.
During each, there was a group of boys on stage with various sized
drums, playing vigorously during performances and between speakers.
We also enjoyed spending time with our sponsored student Anna and her
friend Dorcus over the standard school lunch of rice and beans (they
get meat once every two weeks). We were delighted when Anna
approached Monica and the two of them immediately recognized each
other from pictures - an impressive feat for Monica in a crowd of
hundreds of students all wearing the same uniform and with the same
haircut. Anna was shy at lunch but having a friend there seemed to
help the conversation.
In the afternoon we attended a PE class, sat in on a secondary form 2
(9th grade) debate class and helped in the library. In PE we played
games of 'flinch' and 'catch or push'. Ben and Heidi really enjoyed
playing these games, which incited frequent laughter from the St.
Jude's students.
The special moment of the day happened when Heidi was surrounded by a
group of girls who were waiting for their turn on the bus (it being
Friday, they were headed home for the weekend). They all sat together
on a bench while the other girls braided Heidi's hair and asked her a
thousand questions about her school and life. When Monica sat down
with a photo album, they enjoyed seeing pictures of our friends,
family, and home life. Monica and Heidi gave them each a Criteser
family picture and they ran to their buses.
No comments:
Post a Comment