Graduation festivities

The school year here in Tanzania starts in January and the graduation ceremony for our school's fourth year students was held this weekend.  It was an interesting, and in some ways impressive, event.

Planning did not start until a week before it took place.  The teachers were assigned to committees, and Mark and I were put on the Decoration Committee.  Our committee  decided that the school should rent tents to shield students and guests from the sun, as the event was held outdoors. 

Well, we didn't learn until the day before graduation that the supplier did not have any tents available.  All of them had been previously reserved. So, we obtained several very large tarps, and advanced level students were sent to cut down small trees on campus to serve as tent poles.   I know not to air my opinions about such activities, but they were echoed by a chemistry teacher who grumbled to me about it.  In any event, the advanced level students made the poles, attached the tarps to each other with twine, and erected the tents.  Meanwhile, the first year students brought hundreds of chairs out of classrooms and set them up in the quad under our direction.  Finally, students sprinkled water on the ground to dampen down the dust.  (It's the dry season here, and dust swirls with every breeze).

Graduation was scheduled to start at 11:00 am, according to the official schedule.  Mark and I had not really experienced "Tanzanian time" yet, but we certainly did that day.  At 11:00, decorations were finished, the sound system was set up, and we were ready to go---except no parents were there yet, and students were still milling around.  We finally started about 12:30.  Spectators continued to drift in for another 2 hours.

Tanzanian graduations are very similar to those in the States, but they differ in that they include student-generated entertainment.  Ours had a hip-hop performance, Boy Scouts doing a marching routine,  two contemporary dance groups, a group of Maasai students performing a traditional dance, and a half-hour long drama about a good student who was led astray by wild friends and ended up pregnant.   

The Maasai performance impressed me the most.  The Maasai slowly proceeded to the front of the audience, uttering a few high-pitched cries that at first sounded to me like flutes or whistles.  They were wearing traditional robes in red and blue, and all of them were covered in beaded necklaces, bracelets, anklets, and multiple earrings.  The girls additionally wore stiff, platter-sized necklaces that flapped fetchingly when they shrugged their shoulders, and the boys carried long sticks. The performers made a circle and started bouncing on their toes and heels.  The boys (young men, really) began a low, guttural chant.  The young women moved alternately to approach various of the young men, who were then stimulated to execute high vertical jumps and piercing yells.  After a couple of rounds of this, they proceeded off the way they had come.  Altogether impressive.  I'm sad to say that the other students seemed bored, and chatted to their friends during this performance.   I suppose there was no novelty in it for them.  

After speeches and awards, the graduation certificates were efficiently given to each graduate, and the ceremony broke up without ado.  It was 4:00 pm, and the teachers and invited guests adjourned to our long-awaited luncheon.   The feast was laid out with multiple dishes:  chicken, beef in a flavorful sauce, rice, pilau (a seasoned rice with chunks of beef), cabbage salad, roasted bananas, potatoes, fresh bananas, and watermelon.  There were no utensils provided, and everyone ate with their fingers, in the traditional way.  Water is provided for hand washing beforehand--and afterwards, if needed.

We helped supervise cleanup, too.  It went faster than set up, but it was still nearly 6:00 when we finished.  All in all, it was a long, exhausting, but fascinating day, and we are glad to have experienced it.