Note: I really wanted to title this one “Pomp and Circumference” because it’s mostly about graduation, and it seemed clever, but it was pretty irrelevant, so I abstained.
The week that past was filled with work! This is not the type of statement that usually warrants an exclamation, but for me it is still a very exciting concept. In addition to classes, there was a lot of work to be done to prepare for graduation this weekend (St. B on Saturday and Seminary on Sunday). Speaking of work- you know how “budget meetings” are the typical symbol for undesirable work responsibilities? Well, I sat through one…for an hour and a half…and it was in Swahili! Awesome.
This weekend was seriously packed, so I’ll get right into it. On Saturday, St. B graduation started with Mass in the Abbey at 9:30. In addition to the swaying, clapping, and loud cheering within the Mass, we also experienced one of the coolest liturgical things I’ve seen. Some graduates grabbed a decorated basket and placed an infant inside. The infant was then handed a Bible. This is how the Bible was processed to the altar! It was just really cool. After Mass we processed through the village behind a brass band all the way to the school. We then saw some student presentations. Finally, we sat at the head table (obligatory for any mzungu) and witnessed about 3 hours of Celebration. There were student songs, dances, and comedies, as well as a handful of speeches. I couldn’t catch much of the speeches, but I’m pretty confident that the general theme was something to the effect of “don’t fegit cha keys” (see St. John’s graduation). Then, it was time for us to eat lunch at the head table of the food room (as with all celebrations, every other guest watches the head table as they eat slightly better food).
Following lunch, Mike, Teresa, and I dipped out early to catch the all important soccer match between Hanga VTC (Trade School) and Songea Boys (think Mighty Ducks vs. Hawks in The Mighty Ducks). VTC clearly had less money and discipline but also a lot more fun and fun to watch. The goalie is our friend Robert, and he is incredibly entertaining (and good). We were up 1-0 in the first half due to a sweet header, but in the last 20 minutes of the second half Songea Boys scored twice on some pretty nice shots, resulting in some great flips and a victory for Songea. It was a blast anyway, and it was actually really powerful to see the emotion displayed. VTC played with such joy and passion, and that turned to such disappointment at the end.
We headed back to St. B at night for the dance, but there were only students and we felt out of place. What did we do? Found a dance in the village of course! We mostly just danced with a bunch of kids, but they started calling all their friends over to laugh and watch as we tried to dance like them and it just got uncomfortable, so we got out of there and hung out with our favorite nun, Sr. Anna.
Sunday was the proverbial top piece of bread on this graduation-soccer-graduation sandwich of a weekend. It started with Mass at the Seminary. The Mass, scheduled for 9:00, started at 10:00. Once Mass was done at 12 we went and rested with the guest speaker. The speaker was really cool, and I got to talk to him a lot about education, the progress of Tanzania, and a little about Africa’s history in general. Then came the real show. I spent all day Friday helping the Seminarians prepare the grounds for graduation (you know, like hand picking the dead leaves off the ground and bringing them to the fire pit), and they really did some great work. They built three large, beautiful huts in less than two days! Of course, I sat at the head hut, which, while always awkward, is also always awesome because you get a great view of the performances. The show lasted 4 hours, and there were some great comedies and songs. Also, a group of students did some sort of mock-traditional African performance that was both impressive and comical. My favorite was the last performance: hip hop dance! 6 guys performed a dance to “Wall to Wall” and “Waka Waka (This is Africa)”. This marked the first time I heard “Waka Waka” in Africa, and let’s just say I was pumped! I really wanted to jump up and teach them the official dance…but we’ll get back to that.
After the performance and dinner, we headed back to the Seminary for the dance (we found out that teachers, especially ones that enjoy hanging out with their students) are more than welcome. Plus, we’ve gotten to know a few Form 4’s pretty well, and we wanted to say a proper goodbye. Unfortunately, we got caught in an impromptu staff meeting on the way (most teachers did not want to hang with the young folk). Everyone had to stand and say something about the school, and some spoke for over 20 minutes. Finally, I heard “Waka Waka” playing at the dance and pretended to get a phone call so I could leave (on second thought, this wasn’t that clever, as most would just answer the phone and talk mid-meeting). Anyway, I talked to a bunch of the Form 4’s, and then I headed in to watch the dance contest. “Waka Waka” came on again, and I had to represent what I learned from “BSP’s Best Dance Crew”, so I did it- I busted out Shakira’s official dance! This was validated when the school’s best dancer came over to learn it from me! (This was a relief as a lot of them were making fun of me because her dance is the girls’ part, and there’s actually an African male dance that goes with the song as well). Throughout the next two hours of the dance I learned a few of their dances, but I also taught/showed off the following: *heel-toe*c-walk*lean wit it rock wit it*the arm wavy thing (fahja molding). This was my attempt at my own “Great American Influence”.
Finally, I should explain the title a bit. It is part of a lyric from a song written by a good friend of mine, and it seemed fitting. I’ve experienced an incredible rollercoaster of emotions in the time I’ve been here (it seems the ZPD is a good place for that). However, I haven’t witnessed a ton of emotions from those around me. It just doesn’t seem to be very blatant in the culture here if that makes sense. However, the graduations and soccer game were packed with emotion. People were jubilant to have gotten through a very difficult part of their educational lives. People were happy for their graduating classmates. People were expressing sadness in their leaving. The soccer team went from joy to disappointment. I was sad to see people like Mozart, Benja, Berno, Edward, Freddy, and Justin go. I even got emotional seeing people going home and thinking about how long it will be until that is me. The moral of the story, however, is that this emotion-filled weekend, was fantastic. Indeed, all the emotions stirred up seemed to form the gateway to something good for all involved.
No comments:
Post a Comment