So today was such a special day to be at our school in Singida! It was 7th grade graduation ceremonies and the graduates will go to the equivalent of middle school next year. Gorgeously dressed parents and family walked miles from all over the area to help celebrate and decorated their graduates with the Tanzanian version of leis and gave gifts with beautifully wrapped shiny paper. The students put on performances where they imitated their teachers teaching (very comical from the translations we received), they danced, played musical chairs, had speeches, and laughed a lot. The festivities and family admiration is just like what we would expect from our 8th grade graduations. Some traditions clearly transcend cultures:)

At the end of our school day, our World Vision liaison, Charles, brought two special graduates into our classroom to share how they have both embraced the technologies they have used over the last three years since team4tech has been visiting. One boy received an award from his school titled, "most promising" and the other girl for "leadership". Both are whiz's at the Microsoft Word, Kiwix, and math programs we offer on the computers. They are the hope for the future of this village. Out of 140 graduates from this school,  they estimate only 20 will make it to high school and 2 will make it to college. It sounds bleak, but when I  see how eager these teachers are to make a difference and then these students who have real potential, I truly believe we are making a difference to bring the few up and out of this intense poverty.  By giving them the tools and sharing the possibilities, the numbers will go up.

A bit more about the commitment we see from the teachers and education community.....
While the school and surrounding area is obviously very limited on resources, their mission to help the children seems united. As part of a new program, they are working to identify in early child development those who my require glasses or have hearing issues. Yesterday, parents flooded the school to hear how their currently enrolled children (starting at 5yrs old) and their upcoming younger children would do in these exams. We met the district lead for this effort and he said they really want to identify these early on to help the children and believe it or not getting them glasses is an affordable and small expense.  So far we haven't met any children with glasses yet. They do have a dedicated teacher, Bernard, (who is in our class) whose main focus is on deaf children and others with disabilities. Some of the team met a few of his students and were so impressed with their clever questions and obvious intelligence. He is making a difference.

While we are served morning tea (food and tea), lunch, and then afternoon tea (popcorn, nuts, tea), the children only receive one meal from the school at 10am (typically grits type carb and beans- both cooked from an outside dilapidated brick structure. They don't bring lunch boxes. If children want another meal, they have to walk home during their breaks, which doesn't happen because of the length of the journey. Their next meal won't be until 6pm when they walk home. Despite this children seem happy and stay active at breaks with soccer and just normal kid silliness. Soccer balls are ripped of their outer leather shell and soft, but it doesn't stop them from kicking it around and having fun. Between that and the young boy who showed us his homemade wood guitar that he tunes by putting an empty water bottle under the strings, it made me realize how vastly different our first world children are being raised.

Many would say we are more fortunate. Of course I agree on many levels, but the happiness, joy and love these kids have in their lives from family and community is no different than what we give our children. The sad part is they may never know the difference in lifestyle ever - running water vs. the well, electricity vs relying only on the sun, cars vs walking for miles on a dirt road to school and work, flushing toilets vs a hole in the ground that once it fills up, a new hole in a structure is built, grocery store with all the food you could possibly want vs walking for miles for rice and maybe a few vegetables that last weeks, new clothes for each day of school vs wearing the same tattered hand me down outfit every day....and  the list can go on. So, yes, I feel incredibly fortunate and will no longer complain about the cold shower I have had most mornings since we arrived. At least I have a warm clean place to stay with running water. Life is good and we are bringing tools to them that give hope.