Community

Tanzania is the furthest from 'home' that we have ever lived. IST is a close community, and that has been an important asset to our lives here. I'm always looking for ways to continue fostering that sense of community, and have organized book clubs, a baking club, southern-style barbecue deliveries, movie nights in the library, random acts of kindness, and fabric shopping for new staff. I've tried to make the library more of a community space as well, especially as there aren't many book shops or libraries in Dar. We extended the hours each day and added weekend hours, and we now offer library accounts to parents so they can checkout magazines or books. The library is used for parent meetings, Board meetings, after school activities, and special events - everyone is always wanting to use this community space.

Here are some of my favorite community events that I've helped organized:

AISA-GISS 2017

The Global Issues Service Summit was held at IST in February of 2016 and it was a massive undertaking! I co-lead the conference with our CAS leader, although from the beginning we knew it should be student-led. I learned that it's much easier to do something myself than to try to empower and train students to lead! But they pulled it all together in the end and created a powerful experience for hundreds of students from all over Africa. It was also a great time for the IST community, and everyone was so proud of this great conference!

Arts Out Loud

Every year the Creative Arts department hosts a great community event called Arts Out Loud. It is a great celebration of music, drama, craft, dance, and creativity. I usually help organize one of the stations. One year it was funky origami cards, another cookie decorating, and two years of bookmark making. It's a blast!

Graduation

Graduation is a highlight of each year, celebrating the completion of a challenging IB Diploma programme. I've enjoyed being a part of the dinner for graduates and their parents - and making a fool of myself along the way! We've done skits, dances, performance poetry, mock videos - all in good fun for some laughs. This year I was honored to be asked to help with the handing-out of diplomas, as someone who knows all the students. It was nerve wracking being on stage, but cool to be a part of it.

Thanksgiving

After the school had to cancel the all-staff Christmas party (government and permit issues have lead to lower enrollment and tighter budgets), the local staff were incredibly disappointed. So I worked with the Drama teacher to organize a new annual tradition - Thanksgiving dinner! Sometime between Canadian and American Thanksgivings, the teaching staff bring food and drink and serve the support staff to show our gratitude for all of their hard work and support. It is quite the event - full of speeches and toasts and dancing and lots and lots of food.