Why We Sometimes Need Weekends Away

It was one of those crazy days at school. That statement is deceiving as crazy is actually the normal mode at school. When things are calm and run on schedule as they should – those are the special days, the rare days when I go home not feeling like a mad woman. Is this what teaching is all about? Do all teachers feel constantly pulled in a hundred different directions?

Here’s a very small dose of what’s been going on at or around school this week –

- Three students were diagnosed with malaria in one day (malaria is quite common among the students and the local teachers, but three in one day is not normal). On top of this, with the weather change, up to ten students a day will come up to me saying they’re sick with headaches, chest pains, stomachaches, and a variety of other symptoms that I’m mostly clueless about.

- There was a parents’ meeting at the school today so all the students wanted to introduce their mother or father to the teachers and staff. I shook many hands today and said ‘shikamoo’ (polite Swahili greeting to those who are older) countless times.

- Scott became extremely sick on Monday afternoon during our staff meeting and had to go to the hospital in Arusha that evening with a 103-degree fever (thank you CVS digital thermometer). His white cell blood count was through the roof at 1400, which (I guess) showed that his blood was infected with something. He took Tuesday off from work, recovered in bed, and was back to work today. He went to the local clinic and discovered that he has hookworms in his system. It happens to the best of us, doesn’t it?

- Two students were caught stealing brand new cleats that were just donated to the school from PlayAfrica, a non-profit based in Spain. They sold them to a shop in Monduli. The headmaster and the second head were able to save the cleats before they were further sold. All the teachers and staff are beside themselves with shock and disappointment. Orkeeswa students are better than that, period. But I know nothing of hunger or having to support your family, so really I know nothing about what was going through their heads when they stole the cleats. The headmaster still hasn’t taken full action on it as far as punishing the two boys, and the rest of the student body is thinking that he’s become soft and lax.

- Two of the volunteers that I live with are moving into another staff house, one that’s newer and much nicer. While I’m relieved about the present house being less full, I am green with envy that these two will get to enjoy sitting on a toilet.

- Monthly tests are being given in all ten subjects in preparation for next month’s finals, which means lots of test making, lots of make-ups, and lots of grading.

- The school almost lost two Form 2 girls to other pressures going on in their lives that I know so little about. Luckily, each of them was either convinced or made the choice to come back to school. Hopefully they’ll stay for good.

… and so many other little events and details that seem so insignificant when I even think about writing them, but that somehow managed to be a source of stress and confusion.

When I am feeling more than stressed, I just think back to the weekend Scott and I just spent at the Ngorongoro Farm House near Karatu. We had two days and nights of eating organically grown vegetables and other delicious food, lounging about playing cards on our deck overlooking beautiful flowers and acres of green land, enjoying running water and warm showers, sitting around a fire at night with new faces and stories, drinking wine and other cocktails, and generally not exerting ourselves at all or thinking too hard about anything. It was lovely. Here are a few photos from our luxury weekend that we paid low-season, resident rates on:


The view from our deck. It was the perfect setting for games of cribbage.


This gardener gave us a tour. Look at all the carrots in the bed between them!


We didn't bring a cork screw with us, so guess how Scott managed to get the wine open.