How Big Is That Cockroach?!

We have had a minor influx of these critters inside the house. At about one and a half inches long this one is typical. You should hear the crunching sounds when I step on them. -Earl

Straight Lines, Square Corners

When I was in middle school the boys were introduced to mechanical drawing using rulers, t-squares, triangles, and pencils. Later as a senior in high school I opted for a shop class in mechanical drawing. We were required to draw in units as small as 1/16 of an inch. Considering that all of the work in those days was done by hand, a lot of precision was expected and taken for granted.

In my computer studies classes here I have been teaching something called a "block diagram", an example of which is pictured. On the blackboard I just quickly sketch the diagram by hand. But our Tanzanian students invariably pull out their rulers and carefully draw boxes with straight lines and squared corners in order to make a copy in their notebooks. I would think, "why bother, all you need is a sketch to record the idea."

Maybe the answer is that in this part of the world people do not "naturally" think in terms of straight lines and ninety-degree angles. After all, how often do you see those in the natural environment?

However, thanks to the genius of the ancient Greek mathematicians we are thoroughly familiar with both the concepts of a (perfectly) straight line and a (perfectly) perpendicular angle as well as their (imperfect) manifestations. I am composing these words by writing on a table that has a rectangular top and is otherwise built entirely of rectangular pieces of wood. In the U.S. there is a strong preference for city streets to be arranged in a very regular grid pattern (with perturbations to allow for features such as steep hills -- how inelegant of nature). Later I will be typing these words into a computer which will display the text on a screen consisting of, say, a 1024 x 768 rectangular array of pixels.

So I suppose our Tanzanian students are being trained to think in a like manner. Why does this matter? Because straight lines, right angles, rectangles, and other geometric objects are abstractions that serve as very useful mental tools for building models. They are tools that enable us both to more readily create artifacts such as wooden tables and computer screens and also to impose structure, order, and manageability on the natural environment, such as in the form of streets, political boundaries, and coordinate location systems. They provide powerful leverage for spatial thinking.

Thanks to Euclid, to Mrs Hillebrand who was my tenth grade plane geometry teacher, and to the milieu and the intellectual legacy in which I grew up, when I use a rough piece of chalk to sketch a bunch of boxes I automatically, habitually "see" perfect rectangles. -Earl

Form 4 Graduation Photos, Aquinas Secondary School, October 2010

Above left, our parish pastor Fr Patrick Mwaya at the lectern. Above right, Rev Fr Gallus Chilamula, Vicar General of Mtwara Diocese.


Above left, Sr Raphaela Haendler, O.S.B., Manager of school. Above right, Mama Opportuna Komba, class teacher for Form 4.


Above left, Diane with graduated student Reinfrida.


Above right, Sr Maureen Cariaga, O.S.B., Headmistress of school.

[ Photos by Roger Angst and myself. -Earl ]

AHAAAAA!

Diane is the moderator of the student art club and is also the school librarian. Consequently, she has put up a lot of student art work on the walls of the little library.

I just love this whimsical drawing of Diane in one of her Tanzanian-made dresses. It was done by Irene, a form two student (like a high school sophomore) who is also pictured here.

Irene is smart and sassy and, I think, a bit of an underachiever. But the reality is that we don't know much about the lives of our students, although we do get snippets of personal information from time to time.

The "AHAAAAA!" refers to Diane's version of "uh-huh" which she says emphatically and with a rising intonation. She uses this constantly, so much so that if I mimic it, students just crack up. -Earl

[Student photo by Roger Angst]

maliza, maziwa, zaliwa

At this time I have acquired enough Swahili vocabulary that some words blur together in my mind. For instance, the words in the title of this posting sound alike enough that I have to concentrate in order to use the correct one: maliza, maziwa, zaliwa respectively mean to finish, milk, and to be born.

Lately, I have also noticed having to pay particular attention to nguvu, ngumu, nguru which mean strength, hard, and kingfish.

It is as though I am in a kind of vocabulary soup that is thick enough that I am no longer just a beginner, but still too rich for me to handle with ease.

Turning the situation around, though, Tanzanians struggling to learn English have it worse. I recall one of the workers at our school trying to hear the difference between wet and wait. Kiingereza ni ngumu sana (English is very hard). -Earl

What I Do, What I Am

"It is so easy to come to believe that what we do is so much more important than what we are", from Wisdom Distilled from the Daily, Joan Chittister

There are different kinds of difficulties, doubts, and frustrations in coming to a place like Tanzania to be of service. One of those is that despite the best of intentions, effort, and training, you may not really know much about the effect that you are having, the consequences of your being here. You may not be able to see whether you really are creating any positive results (or negative ones either, for that matter).

I think this is particularly true for those of us who are doing something such as teaching, in which we are attempting to touch and to influence the minds of other human beings. That's a hard enough task on your own home turf. But try doing that in a setting where you struggle to understand the native language, relationships and social expectations are murkily understood, and organizational behavior can be baffling.

From time to time I step back from the business of everyday work and life and routine -- as with most Americans, to me being constantly busy is what feels "normal" -- and loosen my grip on whatever it is I'm trying to accomplish. I remind myself that what I am matters as much as what I do, if not more so. It matters because it is my values, attitudes, and character that impel how I speak and act in the world, that determine what I care about and how I treat people. It matters because it is one of the few important things that I can actually be certain about and change (if I am honest with myself). And in the end it may very well be that it is not the activities I carry out that count the most but the presence that I bear as I share life with these Tanzanians. -Earl

Netball Games

A competitive team sport called "netball" is commonly played by female students in Tanzania. It's very similar to basketball, but one difference is that there is no dribbling! The player who has the ball can only take a step and a half. She then has to either pass the ball or take a shot. It seems that opposing players can block the ball but do not try to steal it. Overall, the game is a lot less aggressive than basketball and looks fun.

I had never heard of this game before coming here. However, according to an article in Wikipedia, netball "is the most popular team sport for women in Australia and New Zealand and remains a popular women's sport throughout the Commonwealth of Nations", of which Tanzania is a member. - Earl





Above, the winners celebrate with candy.

[Photos by Roger Angst]