Mt Meru Lodge

On Sunday July 3rd I got my first glimpse of African animals outside of a zoo.

Helen and I went to the Mt Meru Game Lodge which is about a 90 minute walk from Usa campus (yes we walked).

There is a small lodge not far from the road which backs onto a much larger reserve. The water hole is only a few metres away however so we were able to enjoy lunch while watching a great variety of birds (including an ostrich which seems so huge in relation to all the other birds) and my very favourite - zebras. What an amazing sight! Now I know I am really in Africa.

There is also a small sanctuary area where they care for injured or endangered animals. This is where I took the photo of the rather unusual African porcupine.

Numero Uno

Contract staff at the school all have a photo ID that they wear on a lanyard. Visitors and short term volunteers are allocated one of the visitor or volunteer cards.

This fellow Jeremi (yes with an i) by sheer chance was issued with Number 1. He is so impressed that he says he is going to pay the 5,000 shilling fine for loosing your card just so he can take it home!

P.S I am number 03.

Goat Curry

To show their gratitude for all that the School has done for the local community, once a year a local family donates enough goats to provide all the staff with a portion.

Meat is a real luxury here.

The cooks slaughter and butcher the goats and divide up the meat into equal portions. On the appointed day we all lined up to receive our meat wrapped in a black plastic bag. The potion was a good handful.

Helen, Bernice and I pooled our meat and Helen made a wonderful curry in the slow cooker. Ian and Mary provided the rice and we had  cucumber and yoghurt and peanuts as side dishes. It was all delicious.

As it was a special occasion, we even lit a candle in an old gin bottle!

Sundays

I have had two Sundays where I woke up in Tanzania so far.



The first Sunday Laura and I took a duladula ride to the Arusha  Christ Church Anglican Cathedral. It is a splendid church with even a pipe organ!

The service we attended at 11am was mainly in English. There was lots of hymn singing (although I suspect my father would have preferred the organist to go a little more quickly!)

Pipe organ at front left

Painting of the cathedral inside the church itself

The second Sunday I was staying at Usa River so I went with Helen, Mary and Ian to a Lutheran church in Usa River township.They have 5 services on a Sunday morning. The English speaking service is at 7am. There is no generator so the church was lit by candles. (Electricity supply is a worsening problem in Tanzania). There were no instruments, so singing was started by the "choir" (Helen and Ian) singing the first line of the hymn.

That Sunday was Youth Sunday so a choir from a local school sang Lord I Lift Your Name on High. The preacher was a young teacher from St Jude's (Nicholas) who is Tanzanian by birth but was raised in Australia. He did very well especially as he was able to translate some of the more difficult concepts like "covenant" into Kiswahili.

This church I attended is one of the five Lutheran churches in Usa River

The kids from the local school who sang on the morning

After the service, we were treated to breakfast by one of the local church elders at a nearby cafe. We ate what looked and tasted exactly like potato soup (served with a chapati)  but was in fact made from green bananas. I was told there was a "surprise" at the bottom of the bowl which turned out to be a knuckle with a little bit of meat on it. I tried to look surprised and pleased!

Mountains

As I said in an earlier post, on a good day you can see Mt Kilimanjaro from the Usa campus.

This is the closest I have got so far to "Killi".

I have however seen Mt Meru, which is the second highest mountain and is, (I am told), a more difficult climb.

                        

Cultural Day 2011

July 2nd was Cultural Day at the School of St Jude. This is an annual event in the secondary school. The students and teachers work hard to prepare items for a four hour program.

This year I was able to help decorate the stage on the Friday night (and repair the decorations which had suffered over night on the Saturday morning) and then sit back and enjoy the show.The children had coloured and cut and pasted lots of fun decorations and the walls were covered with long pieces of brightly covered fabric.

There was lots of traditional dancing and singing as well as skits, a fashion show, a cultural quiz , information sessions, traditional foods, break dancing, the old staple the eating and drinking competition (i.e who can eat the bowl of food without using their hands most quickly) and an archery competition (men and boys only).

It was a great day and there were certificates and awards made in a range of categories. There were also 1st, 2nd and 3rd place awarded to individuals. These students won book vouchers from a local store.

School Assembly

School assembly is held every week at Usa River Secondary on Thursdays at 1.30pm.

The staff and students sit on benches in a large covered area that doubles as basketball courts. There is a stage at one end. The student presidents run the assembly.

After an opening prayer, the assembled school sings the national anthem and the Secondary School Song.

At this stage there are only two words I know in the national anthem - Africa and Tanzania.

I am much better at the school song as it is sung in English with actions. The chorus is:
From primary to secondary
Is a long journey
But working as a team
Leads us to greater success

As there is no musical accompaniment, someone on the stage sings the first line and then we begin. The singing is sensational.The final chorus is sung more slowly to indicate that it is the last.

People who are called up onto the stage are accompanied by traditional drumming.

There is generally a skit put on by one of the classes (always with a strong moral point), a time for awards and announcements.

When there are visitors, they are asked to introduce themselves and are often invited to hand out the awards. Children who receive an award get a certificate and a few pencils and perhaps a paper whistle or a rubber.

Teachers are called either Mr or Miss and then their first name. So I am Miss Jill. Even though I am married because my husband is not known to the others, I still keep my name. If Steven were here I would be Mrs Steven.