graduation

September 26th (part two)

This past Friday was graduation at school. Lindsay and I were anticipating a huge production and were a bit disappointed in some ways. Throughout the last two weeks school has ended early for group practices. Various groups throughout the school performed songs and dances to prepare. On two of the days the student teachers organized auditions which we readily participated in watching. The performances were very entertaining. We had songs, dances, local drumming, gymnastics, comedy, a news report, and a skit about drunks. Unfortunately the student teachers picked only five of the performances and left out some of the best ones!

Lindsay and I were in charge of the decorations and arrived at school at 7 AM. We waited a while for the other teachers on our committee before we began. We decorated the main graduation venue with two students while a group of students decorated the “cafeteria” for after the graduation. By 10:30 AM the decorations were complete. The DJ arrived and we sat listening to music while various students got up and danced. The graduation was planned to begin at 10 AM. At 1:40 PM the guest speaker, a member of parliament (MP) from Isoko, finally arrived. He walked in hand in hand with the headmaster. Graduation lasted a total of four hours. I thought it would go well into the night. The Christian graduation was ten hours long so one would think the actual graduation would be just as long if not longer. I am not complaining though, I was happy that it was shorter. The MP’s speech lasted an hour. I could comprehend parts of what he was saying but I lost interest throughout the long speech. His main message was that it is not good to celebrate; the students must study for their examinations which are in a week. He also said that there should be no celebrations after examinations because they don’t know their results yet. The results do not get returned until January or February so there is a long period of waiting! After graduation was complete we were ushered into the “cafeteria.” I was unable to congratulate my students. I thought that after we ate I would be able, but no one was around. The graduation was not centered on the form 4 students so I wanted them to at least feel special by offering some sort of congratulations to them.

At 6:30 we finished eating the cow, chicken, rice, spiced rice, and vegetables and thought we could go home. Of course, we were wrong. The student teachers wanted us to join them in dancing and drinking in the cafeteria. On my third Coca-Cola of the day I danced with a few of the teachers while some of the old men of the village watched. Luckily, the DJ was ready to pull the plug and we did not stay for long. At 7 PM we finally began the short walk home. After fifteen minutes of resting Mr. Mbughi called and wanted us to go to his house. He was having a party for two form 4 students who live in his housing compound and had previously invited us. We had all intention of going but were looking for a rest first. He did not want us to rest. We arrived to a house full of kids of all ages. The only adults were Mr. Mbughi and his wife. After eating, Lindsay and I sat by the DJ for two hours watching various kids dancing. Most of the kids were not even in O-level! Most were much smaller village kids that came for the free dance. I was completely exhausted at the dance and barely kept my eyes open. Every time the dancers approached the stereo system Mr. Mbughi would jump up and chase them away with a stick. The entertainment of watching him chase them was the only thing that kept me awake. Around 10:30 we finally said we had enough and Mr. Mbughi escorted us home. The dancing continued throughout the night but I was too tired to have the music bother my sleep.

As I mentioned in part one, yesterday was a very exhausting day of traveling. Today I am waiting for Lindsay to wake up so that we can walk to the Iringa Info desk and ask about transportation to Ruaha National Park. Hopefully everything will work out and I will be viewing some animals today!

Love,

Gretchen