Wednesday, October 4, 2017
We woke up at 3:30 this morning to catch a 7:00 am flight Iringa. Deb1 had ordered us breakfasts to go last night from the hotel. We got all packed up and loaded into two taxis. Lots of traffic this morning-people going to work. Lots of buses. We stopped at the bus station to drop off Steve and the 2 cargo bags of quilts. He will take the bus with them and meet us in Iringa.
Our airplane was very small! 12 people and we were full. It was a 1 1/2 hour flight. The landscape was interesting, changing from urban sprawl to lush green to red clay to very dry and then mountains. The Iringa airport was very small. We were greeted by Augustine Mahiga, the Tanzanian Minister of Foreign Affairs. He was at the airport to fly to Dar. He heard about our group coming to the school and heard about the school. He praised us for all we'd done and said keep doing it. Our work with the school was needed and very much appreciated.
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| Our small plane for the flight to Iringa |
Our taxis were not there yet. Edward called them and found out they thought we were coming tomorrow. We waited about an hour. The first one was very small and we wondered how all our luggage would fit. He tied the cargo bags on top. Then the second rover came and it was much larger. They put all the rest of the luggage in the back seat of that one. We all fit in both vehicles surprisingly. We drove to our hotel, Sai Villa. We noticed the beautiful purple trees in this area and were told there were jacaranda trees. We checked into our rooms. Deb and I have a big room but it's not by the other rooms so we thought we might switch. There were no other rooms available that day. We met a couple of the teachers who rode with us back to the school. One of them presented a list of science equipment they needed for the girls to take their national exams. Deb1 saw the total needed and immediately said we didn't have that kind of money and we would need to look at the list more carefully.
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| Purple jacaranda tree |
After quickly freshening up, we drove to the Namnyaki Secondary School for Girls. It was an hour and a half drive. The first half was an interesting drive through the town and the countryside. There were many speed bumps along the way, their method of dealing with speeders rather than having police everywhere. The last half of the drive was on very bumpy roads. We thought we were going to tip over a couple of times. We went higher and higher into the mountains and finally we were there. The school is in a beautiful setting underneath the gorgeous Mt. Selebus. Deb1 told us that when she first saw this location, it was like the hand of God was reaching down from the mountain. She just had to build a school here. The Maasai girls were lined up on both sides of the road. They sang and clapped as we walked up the road. It moved me to tears to be so honored. We met the head mistress, Rose, and had a short talk in her office. Then we went on a tour of the classroom buildings and the science lab. It's amazing how they can do so much with so little.
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| Lined up on the road to welcome us. |
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| Mt. Selebus overlooks the school grounds. |
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| Classroom buildings |
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| In the science lab. |
We were then invited to "Deb Hall", a little outdoor area for large groups. They had tables set up at the front for us to sit at. They introduced all the staff to us. Then we each had to introduce ourselves and say a few things while Edward translated. The girls had many songs and dances they performed for us. The girls had written many of the songs themselves. They have no music teacher or formal music education but were amazing in their harmonies and choreography. After the program, the bursar, Samaka, had made a meal for us - rice, cabbage, potatoes and a meat stew. I didn't eat the meat but put the broth on my potatoes.
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| Performance of song and dance by the girls |
The highlight of our day came after the meal when we went to see the dormitories. They had them all neat and cleaned up for us. Each girl had a locked trunk for any valuables and one suitcase for their things. A sheet, a pillow, and one blanket made up their bedding. When we came outside, Deb1 asked if we could do the "marching" dance with them. That led to about an hour of dancing, singing and drumming. Mary2 did a drum off with a Maasai girl. It was so much fun even though we were so bad at the dancing. It was a good bonding time with the girls.
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| The dormitoties |
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| Drum off |
We loaded up in the vans, tired but hearts filled from the day. It was even scarier riding back on those bumpy roads in the dark. When we got back to the hotel, I fell getting out of the Rover. Scraped up my knee, but nothing was broken. Everybody acted like I was dying and so considerate. I just felt like a clumsy old lady. We all had dinner together at the hotel. I had pizza again but it was very big. I shared with Eric, the second head master, who came in later. He had never had pizza before. Mary1 bought me a small bottle of wine because she felt so sorry for me falling. I felt better!
When Deb1 joined us, she told us the science teacher had been fired today. We hadn't thought much of him when we met him. Thought he was kind of arrogant. There were some other troubles that Deb1 didn't want to tell us about. Went to bed tired after sending Bob an email We had wifi at this hotel, too.
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| Dinner at Sai Villa with Edward, Deb1, Eric, and Russ |
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