Tanzania 7 — Ultimate Frisbee and more pictures

I finally managed to take some pictures of my „Sports & Games“ afternoon highlight, playing Ultimate Frisbee with a bunch of students and some teachers, with the disc I brought from India. I will try to find one to leave here, but I would very much dislike to part with this one. Also, some more commented pictures from the school and life in general.

So, to start somewhat chronologically, this is the panorama looking down from the school, situated on a slight hill, which draws a deep breath of relaxation from my lungs whenever I look at it, which is quite often.

These are the „down“ staff room, close to the class rooms, where we spend most of our time outside of the breakfast-tea-break and lunch, which we have in the smaller „up“ staff room in a separate building with the head office, and a closer look at that corner of the school complex.

And this is me with one of my favorite colleagues, who I give little psychology lectures based on his remote university study material in our breaks, in that other staff room. And the „sports corner“ there, where the school soccer team’s results against other secondary schools (quite successful) are displayed, and the flag is kept. The little note to the right is a random list on how to „be a leader, not a boss“.

This brings us to another perspective on the schoolyard, the soccer team practicing.

And, finally, an Ultimate Frisbee snapshot of the full commitment the students show, in their nice uniforms. And they still generally show good sprit in dealing with each other!

I also very much like how the game manages to integrate everybody, from the sporty guys to teachers to girls. The latter at first seemed quite strange to the teachers, but the students seemed very natural with it.

And, finally, a group picture with disc and flag (!). I think the fact that it was brought out is a sign of the endorsement by the staff.

On to another exciting event at the school: elections for a bunch of positions the students take on, called „prefects“. I think most of them involve work and/or unpopular positioning against the fellow students, but still a number students competed for most of them with energetic speeches. One of them promised that he would enforce the theoretical rule of speaking only English at school more drastically — in Kiswahili.

Here is the outside election assembly, and the counting of votes. The procedure was taken very seriously by the organizing teachers, with several people present at the counting, and the voting being secret, on paper made official with the school stamp. I think all this also expresses a wish that democracy were a little more serious in the realm of „real“ politics.

I took the opportunity of taking a picture of a classroom and inventory, too. And this is what the results of last year looked like.

The next pictures are some of the village that I pass on my way home — more or less the beginning of the „center“, the stretch of road where most of the shops are, and some children playing in front of the maize (corn) mill, with an improvised football-like object.

Also, finally, two aspects of practical home life, which also can serve to illustrate how human work is made more cumbersome by the lack of basic material investments, even in a relatively wealthy household. At the same time, of course, it also goes to show how it is possible to do with less…

And, before I go to bed, a picture of the „kwaya“ which I joined for the second time today, and am struggling in with all new songs in a foreign language, and no choir experience since my voice got deeper back in the teens… But it is an uplifting experience already!

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Datum: Samstag, 21. Mai 2011 21:26
Trackback: Trackback-URL Themengebiet: English, Weltreise 2011

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  1. 1

    oh christoph, that is so beautiful!