Pahi Graduation

Yesterday we visited Pahi, the village where Peter did his TIMO team back in 1998 among the Rangi. We were theree to attend the Tanner Girl's School's graduation. It was pretty neat because this is an all girls christian school that was started out of that original TIMO team. We even had Paul Tanner, who led the team and the school is named for, arrive with us as we hosted him and his family the night before. It was also nice to just to get out. There was another TIMO team attending also. It was great to talk with them and learn more about their experiences and gain insights and tips for living in the bush.

The graduation ceremony was really long and entirely in Swahili! We literally sat there for five hours, from 11am-4pm. And that does not include the two hours we sat around before it started! The girls did amazing! There was a little fussing but nothing compared to what it could have been! They sat with us, played with the dirt in between the rows of seats, they snacked on pancakes and peanuts that I had packed knowing we would probably not eat lunch, Nia took a two hour nap on me and we also got to know a family from the other team as we sat by them. Thai played with the girls from the Alagwa TIMO team filling a water bottle with dirt while I got to chat with their mother about what foods she makes, how she finds time to learn the language, challenges they have faced as a family... It was so nice to be able to connect with another Mom!

(Below our Team leader Peter addresses the audience and a group of the graduating class performing a song.)

The actual graduation ceremony consists of elaborate decorations (picture lots of silver christmas garland and big pink and blue Hawaiian type fake flowers everywhere), songs and dancing by various groups of girls from the school, speeches from just about every important person present, there is also an elaborate offering which serves as a type of fundraiser for the school and finally the girls walk, shaking hands with the heads of the school while they receive their certificates. It is a very different experience than we we would expect in the States! After the ceremony everyone (finally) eats together. It was a great meal! We ate rice, beef, fried bananas, regular bananas, watermelon, oranges, soda, and a few other things. We don't get a lot of fruit so that was a nice treat and the beef also, is pretty hard to come by. We ate very well which seemed to make all the sitting worth it.