Seven
months since my last post, where do I begin?
…
Yesterday
I walked into the classroom for the first time after three weeks of June
holiday and I was shocked to see how much the students have grown. They usually look different after coming back
from any break, having taken full advantage of their suspension from the school’s
strict diet, but the growth I discovered yesterday was the type of growth
teachers dream of: a growth in confidence.
I’m teaching Bible Knowledge this year and I’m with the same students I
taught Information and Computer Studies to last year. I had divided the students into groups and
instructed them to read a chapter in the Bible and teach it to the rest of the
class, answering the questions assigned to them. Last year when I gave them a presentation
assignment it took four class periods for the students to complete it, the
delay coming from prolonged hesitation and fear of speaking in English in front
of the others. English is their second
(for some third) language and expressing one’s self in front of a group using
something other than one’s native language is not an easy task. Yesterday I was more than impressed by the
student’s increased confidence in speaking which persisted even through their
classmates' chorus of laughter when they erred in their English grammar. Stumbling through this task is expected, but it
is in this stumbling that we can find growth.
Needless
to say there have many stumbles so far in my second year JV experience. At the
start of the year I was given my new teaching assignment and charged with a
mission to establish and develop a new co-curricular activities department at
SPCHS. This department involves
coordinating all sports, clubs and entertainment activities for our 700+ students. In previous years this was the work of an
all-encompassing Campus Ministry department, but as our school grows so do its
departments and staff, adapting and changing in whichever ways necessary. Having just one year to work in this
department and fulfill my mission I decided my primary task would be to form a
small team of teachers to lead the department with me and then continue the
work after my term with JVC has finished.
I set the deadline for May, by which when I hoped to have formed a team ready
to enhance the Jesuit mission at SPCHS through the work of the new department.
I
stumbled through these first months in my new role, learning through trial and
error how to organize meetings, delegate tasks and communicate information in a
culturally appropriate way. In this
stumbling I have come to realize the task I set for myself focused so much on what
I deemed necessary to accomplish that it ignored the importance of
relationships that were forming along the way. I have since learned that the most appropriate way of handling work affairs, and affairs of any kind, is in fact the dignified way of having holistic care and concern for people- their
weaknesses as well as their strengths- and not subjecting their value to a
standard of workplace productivity that I or anyone else measures people by.
Outside of work I stumbled again as my actions shifted away from what I desire most. An
hour extra was added to the workday this year, requiring that the staff school
bus leave at 5:00 pm, and as a result the time I’m available for choir practice was reduced to
thirty minutes. Instead of prioritizing the relationships and joy I got from choir, I decided
those thirty minutes could be spent doing other things and so I completely stopped
going to practices and singing at Sunday Mass. Every Sunday I would stare
longingly across the church at my friends who throw their whole hearts and
souls into singing. The choir is known for being among the best throughout Tanzania and the choir members are very serious
about keeping this status. Their sense of community is strong and their
commitment is great. They practice for
two and half hours, four days a week, doing physical exercise for thirty
minutes two of these days to strengthen the lungs and vocal chords. There are monthly fees and fines for being
tardy or absent to practices and performances. When one voice falters during
practice, they repeat the measure over and over until it matches again. Last year I grew to love my fellow choir
members and their dedication to the group effort. I more than stumbled when I cut these events and
relationships out of my life.
During
our June holiday my community mates and I spent a week traveling around Rwanda
and I used the time we spent in transit on buses and boat to more deeply
reflect on these recent months and discern my needs for the five
remaining. In reflection I found myself
thinking mostly about the relationships I have formed in the various communities I’m a part of and I contemplated their capacity for growth. On the
wall in my bedroom is posted a quote by Henri Nouwen. It’s been there since I came across it on retreat eight
months ago and my eyes pass over it daily hoping the words will become enmeshed
in my attitudes and expressed in my actions.
Nouwen says:
More and more, the desire grows
in me simply to walk around, greet people, enter their homes, sit on their
doorsteps, play ball, throw water, and be
known as someone who wants to live with them. It is a privilege to have the
time to practice this simple ministry of presence. Still, it is not as simple as it seems. My own desire to be useful, to do something
significant, or to be a part of some impressive project is so strong that soon
my time is taken up by meetings, conferences, study groups, and workshops that
prevent me from walking the streets. It
is difficult not to have plans, not to organize people around an urgent
cause, and not to feel that you are working directly for social progress. But I wonder more and more if the first thing shouldn’t be to know people by name, to eat and drink
with them, to listen to their stories and tell your own, and to let them know
with words, handshakes, and hugs that you do not simply like them, but truly love them.
(Emphasis in bold is my own)
These
words remind me of one truth I have found: humanity’s gift is the sharing of
one’s joys and struggles with another. The
desire Nouwen speaks of is growing stronger in me now that only a few months
remain to cherish the people I have grown to love. Since returning from holiday travels I have
started going to choir practice again, and just in time to prepare for their
annual audio recording! Now as I plan my
days I plan for opportunities to see people and talk with them, whether it is
the guards at the parish or the women in the market whom I buy produce from. I’m looking forward to spending more time in
conversation with the new co-curricular activities team when school starts in
full swing again. I want to hear the
stories of these friends and be brave enough to share with them my own, and I’m
grateful for the five remaining months to try and express this desire through
action. I know I will keep stumbling on
this journey, it is expected after all, but it is in this stumbling that I can
find growth.
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| With my mother at Ngorongoro Crater |
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| With my parents on Simba Rock, the highest point in Dodoma town! |
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| Visiting the family of the former head cook from SPCHS. He and his family have taught me many things including Kiswahili, how to cut jackfruit, how to sing during church service, and how to properly cook samaki (fish). |
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| Celebrating Easter at the Jesuit Novitiate in Arusha, picture here with volunteers from the Dar es Salaam and Dodoma communities and with the Novitiate House Minister. |
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| Hiking with Jesuit novices and JVs in Arusha. |
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| St. Peter Claver Students celebrating Union Day during Peace and Justice Week. |
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| Giving Sports and Talent Show awards with members of the Co-Curricular Activities Team. |
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| Form V students bring their sports awards: goats! |
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| The SPCHS choir singing at Br. Edema's Vows. |
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| Bikira Maria Teresa Ledochowska choir (the choir I'm in!) singing at the wedding of a close JV friend. |
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| Attending a church service with Ryan's new host family. |
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| Form I students enacting the lives of the saints during Camp Magis. |
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| Don't confuse this with a masterpiece; it's just our kitchen counter on a regular day. (No shame in boasting about this luxury!) |
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| Sports at SPCHS. |
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| Girls playing netball during sports day. |
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| Teachers vs. Teachers volleyball match |
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| Post-dinner pic in the JV house with two SPCHS teachers and a niece. |
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| Celebrating Isaac's Birthday with teachers from St. Ignatius (the Jesuit primary school) and his family at the JV house. |
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| The Jesuit Volunteers of Dodoma. |
