The school year in Tanzania begins in January. Every year Project Zawadi and Zinduka host a big party – Distribution Day! The students get their school supplies, including uniforms, shoes, books and so on… and they and their families participate in a kick-off rally and a feast.
One sidelight has developed into something of an event itself. Donors often become quite attached to the students they sponsor. The kids write notes to their sponsors a couple of times a year and the photos showing them growing up make the relationship even more personal. Sponsors asked if there was a way to send gifts to “their kids.”
Brian typically has plenty of things to carry… supplies and equipment for operations in the village and in Arusha… but he decided to offer sponsors an opportunity. If they choose, sponsors can put whatever they want that will fit in a quart-size plastic bag and Brian will deliver it to Nyamuswa. This has caught on in a big way. The gifts typically include a note from the donor and small books, toys, pens and pencils, candy, and personal hygiene items like toothpaste and brushes.
Michelle and the Idiots volunteered to videotape and photograph the presentations of the gifts to the kids. The two counselors, Adam and Nerea, sat with the kids and explained the gifts. Some of the items that would seem so common to American children, like bubble soap and coloring books, can be bewildering to kids in the village.
Kids lined up to get their presents – and then were told not to look at or open the bags until they were on camera. They tried to be good – but it was like asking kids not to shake the presents under the Christmas tree. There was a great deal of anticipation and speculation among those in line!
The intrepid film crew worked in two different locations over two days of filming. One day they had to compete with music and lots of activity at the VTC welding shop. The second day they set up behind the Zinduka office with a nice green background and away from any traffic – but an unexpected challenge developed. The feast was being prepared on the adjoining lot, and preparations included the butchering of a goat off-camera, but in full line of sight of the photographers. None of the locals gave it a second thought, but the American city folk had some adjusting to do…
Distribution of the school materials to the students is simplified by putting all the stuff together into backpacks. PZ also assists a non-profit operating in Mugumu, so the group got to see some of the backpacks for that location being assembled.
There are plans to build a training kitchen at the VTC and introduce commercial cooking as a career track. In the meantime, cooking for several hundred people involves big pots and hot outdoor fires…
The VTC welding shop was still empty of equipment and provided a handy area to assemble the students and their families for the rally. The Idiots had hoped to hang around in the back and take photos, but that was a non-starter. The PZ folks were guests-of-honor with an obligatory seat at the front table with Zinduka and community leaders.
The ceremony reminded the Idiots of their childhood in a small rural Minnesota town. There were inspirational speeches and exhortations that elicited enthusiastic responses from the students and parents. There were compliments and there were stern dictates about missing schol and studying hard. A play involving two adults and many students drove home the positive results of sobriety and study and the inevitable doom resulting from laziness, dropping out of school, and drug use.
The Idiots speak no Swahili… but they think they got the gist of it. Nyamuswa or Nisswa, Minnesota – small towns have a style and pace and values that translate without language.
Tanzanian teachers work with huge class sizes… and they tend toward stern and formal demeanor. The PZ guardian teachers were invited and recognized at the rally. Seated with the students, they had their game-faces on. Idiot He was reminded of his 35 years of supervising school assemblies and wondered if how often he’d used the same look!
Muse’ is the Chair of the Zinduka Board of Directors. She worked the crowd, getting the parents to applaud and the students to lift up their new backpacks to show them off. The Idiots were surprised at how long she left the kids holding those bags over their heads before she told they could put them down. It looked like some of them were starting to wilt!
The Idiots might as well get this out of the way before going on. Astute readers will pick up on it anyway, so here’s the story. Zinduka got a very good deal on a bunch of matching backpacks. The black backpacks with the traditional bright African primary colors are attractive and do the job. They celebrate a famous spokesperson for African culture – the world-famous reggae musician and Rastafarian, Bob Marley. Slightly unfortunate is the connection of the Rastafarian religion with the use of marijuana. So the strong anti-drug message of the rally may have been tempered a bit by the large marijuana leaf on every student backpack!
Ah, well… TIA!
The students had already received their backpacks, but several students were selected to be recognized for their excellence in school work and they symbolically represented the rest of the students in accepting their school materials. Poor kids got loaded up pretty good!
The skit… with two adults and kids working from scripts and passing microphones back and forth. It was refreshingly unprofessional!
As the gathering went on, more and more villagers filled the street-side opening to the building. Being seated at the front table limited Idiot photo opportunities… pics were often taken through openings in the metalwork of the shop. Still – they were entranced by the faces…
Would it stretch the visual metaphor to breaking point to observe that the entire continent of Africa has stood outside looking in on the developing countries for centuries… used for resources of all types, including metals, woods, gems, and human slaves… with never an invite to join the party? Africa still watches and waits…
More faces…
The Idiots are old enough to remember a youth when a new ruler was still cause for excitement!
And still more faces...
The proceedings were punctuated with singing and dancing by a local performance group, costumed in real lion manes, leathe, whistlesr, and elephant tail swithches. As the end approached, the dancing became less a formal presentation and more open to community participation. Idiot She took a chance and was welcomed to the dance. She felt that being a Wazunga was less important to them than that she was a woman joining women in celebration in a manner relatively unchanged for millennia. Lots of smiles!
Idiot He was reminded of the lyrics of a Lee Ann Womack tune…
I hope you never fear those mountains in the distance,
Never settle for the path of least resistance
Livin' might mean takin' chances but they're worth takin',
Lovin' might be a mistake but it's worth makin',
Don't let some hell bent heart leave you bitter,
When you come close to sellin' out reconsider,
Give the heavens above more than just a passing glance,
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance.
I hope you dance!
The Idiots had to move on… lots more to accomplish that day… but as they left, the festive atmosphere continued. Women of all ages were enjoying dancing. The Idiots were reminded wedding dances in their childhood, when skill and grace were not required to just get up and have a good time!
As the group loaded up, dozens of local kids came for one more look at the very odd visitors to their town. Michelle entertained many with her bubble blowing.
Idiot She continued in her campaign to teach Nyamuswa youth about goofy faces… with mixed results…
Idiot He is a pretty practical guy… but he is haunted by the memories of a few individuals that just don’t seem to fade from memory. One is a little boy… maybe 5 years-old… in an orphanage in Seoul, Korea who latched onto He and almost immediately figured out how the giant VHS video camera worked. Idiot He is “a man rich in daughters” but if he was every going to have a son, this kid was him.
As Idiot He set up the camera to video the sponsor gifts, a young man stopped and watched. Through the morning of filming, the dirty boy with the handmade bucket-lid toy watched as child after child got interesting gifts from their sponsors. This boy was obviously not a Project Zawadi kid. He wasn’t sponsored and he wasn’t getting any gifts or school materials. But he stood off to the side and watched… and watched… and watched.
Later Idiot He spotted the same kid… in the street, observing the distribution celebration. His image still haunts Idiot He. How many kids are there in Africa like this? Curious… disenfranchised.. one opportunity away from a chance at education and expanded horizons… standing on the fringes, watching and dreaming…
One last shot for the day… a fuzzy view through a dusty safari vehicle window… a group of kids who aren’t sponsored by PZ and who didn’t get toys and candy from foreign sponsors… maybe a potential UN Secretary-General or the researcher who could find the cure for cancer… limited by circumstances… kids who are wishing and waiting for a chance… just one little chance…
To a heart breaking, but lovely story of what a young man have started. A very needed school and even a practical college. I am so flattered to have the possibility to read and look at all your exclusive pictures.