A Student’s Life at Sega Part B

 

I think that students in other countries (including ours) would be surprised by the life of these girls.  Apparently it’s considered to be a ‘privileged life’ compared to the workday at home.  See what you think.   A typical day is as follows:

0600 Rise, clean (dorm rooms, bathrooms, eating banda) and their bodies with water hauled from the central tap.  There is running water to the dorms but it is salty.  Each girl is assigned with duties regarding cleaning common areas, classrooms, staffroom, gardening, grass cutting (“slashing”) or taking care and collecting eggs from 2000 chickens.

 0700  they are called to breakfast by a metal object hit with a stick... amazing what you can hear when you are hungry or going to miss out on something.  Breakfast consists of watery porridge and tea.

0745  Morning assembly where they sing the national anthem, get told off for wrong-doings, and inspiringly volunteer to give short talks on any subject (to practise English and leadership skills).  The girls stand there sometimes up to 30 minutes and there is a fair amount of fainting amongst the group. 

 

0800-3:30  Classes of 35 or 70 min duration.  There is a 15 min Chai break where they get tea, bread and peanut butter and 45 min lunch which must include Ugali (cornmeal mush) or they don’t feel they’ve eaten.  They also have beans, occasional cooked greens or cabbage, or a tiny tiny serving of meat.

During the next brief 30 min break (most classes start and or stop late...Tanzanians do not use clocks and follow time commitments the way we do), the girls have free time.

From 4-5:00 they are expected to do chores, or go to clubs (there are a number of different clubs including Tembo, where they learn about Elephants and the Ivory trade issues, English club, sports, art, computer science), or attend remedial classes in different subjects.

From 5-6:30 they do more chores, often out in groups slashing or tending the vegetable gardens, or helping the cook.

Dinner is at 6:30 and is a repeat from lunch.  From 8-10:00 pm they are once again in their classrooms for evening study period (and this is 7 days a week).  WHEW!!

Finally, they get to rest and get ready for the next day.  Saturday classes are only ½ a day, but there are usually other activities in the afternoon (Community Outreach when a class might visit an orphanage or a centre for disabled people), parent visits monthly, parent meetings, or sports competitions.  Sundays are the one day when things are quieter.  The girls wash their clothes (one change of school uniform, a Kanga and tee shirt, and the occasional sweaters).  They wash everything by hand, lay them out on the ground (or occasional bush) to dry, and then iron with coal-filled irons (like my grandmother would have used on the farm).