Headmistress

So far, I like and respect our school's headmistress.  She speaks slowly and clearly (a big help to us, when she is speaking Swahili!) and with authority.  She is tactful, but she is firm about the proper way to run the school and relate to the community. She moves with dignified decision, but has a good-natured twinkle in her eyes. 

Our headmistress is in her early 50s, tall, and solidly built. She usually dresses as a conservative high school principal in the States would--suits or jacket dresses.  But at the graduation ceremony this weekend, she dressed in an African style, and she looked spectacular!  

Tanzanian dresses are usually closely-fitted to the body down to the knee, and then they flare out.  Her dress at graduation was more of a caftan or tunic worn over a full-length sheath.  It was patterned in black and gold, and had piping around a long, square yoke.  She wore a matching turban-like headscarf, wrapped elaborately.  With my limited vocabulary, all I could think to say when I saw her was "Umependeza sana!"  (You are very pretty!)