The Day We Saw the President

Friday morning, our headmistress called to me as I stepped into the office at school.  It seems that the president of Tanzania would be coming to a nearby event Saturday, and that our headmistress would be able to attend and bring along about 15 people.  She asked if Mark and I would like to go.  Absolutely!

So, at 7:30 the next morning in a light drizzle, we presented ourselves at her office, along with a few other teachers and several students.  A nearby private school had received the same invitation, so we were able to ride to the event with them in their small bus.  The bus was allowed only to the entrance of the gravel road leading to where the event was to be held, so we went the rest of the way on foot.  As we walked, the rain began to come down harder.

Arriving at the spot, we saw that two tents for spectators and one for officials had been set up.  There were many other attendees, but our headmistress was able to snag seats at one side of a tent for me, Mark, and herself.  I handed my umbrella to another teacher, and sat down to wait.

The wind started blowing, so that we were getting wet even under the tent.  The organizers of the event were kept busy applying a squeegee to the red carpet and rearranging chairs in the officials' tent.  At one point, we were shooed out of our seats so that bomb-detection dogs could patrol the area, but we were allowed to resume our seats shortly.  We were surrounded by military troops, but there were no metal detectors or other searches for weapons.  

Finally, the rain was so persistent that we were told to take our chairs and move to the auditorium of a nearby building.  (And, why we weren't there from the beginning, I do NOT know!)  By then, the grounds were mucky and difficult to walk through.  One of our students took my chair and led me in the right direction.  I became separated from Mark and our headmistress, and soon the mud started sucking at my feet.  I was wearing flats, and my foot came out of one, which rapidly filled with muddy water.  I lost my balance, and put my hands on the ground to keep from toppling over completely.  I rescued my shoe, and ended up walking to a bit of pavement barefoot. I put my shoes back on for protection, but by now they both had more mud inside than out.  I found a gravel path to the building, and was met there by the student, who showed me to a chair and offered to get water to wash my hands.

Feeling a little better, I sat down to wait again.  I learned later that the rain began to let up at that point.  The president was due at 9:30, but did not arrive until over an hour later.  A group of Maasai women in elaborate jewelry greeted him with a song.  He gave a nice speech about education, health care, and roads, as far as I can tell--it was entirely in Swahili. 

Afterwards, we walked back to the paved road and the bus in the rain, which again was falling heavily. By now we were thoroughly drenched.  At home, I washed my feet and my shoes in a bucket of water.  I am still waiting for them to dry.  (The shoes, not my feet).  In spite of the chilly rain and mud, I would not have missed this experience.  Seize the day!