The School of St. Jude, Usa River Campus

I took the 9:00 bus from the Moshono Campus

to the Usa River Campus, about a 40 minute drive back along the road from the airport. I was met by Alex, who showed me this most wonderfully situated and well designed campus. With Mt. Meru on the eastern horizon, and Mt. Kilimanjaro above the clouds to the west, a more African setting can hardly be imagined. Starting with the dorms, we walked through the rooms, then followed on down to the two- and three-story classsroom buildings, the dining hall and on to the library/administrative building, which is the focus of the campus. Off to the side is the music room, from which the sounds of drumming stream out to the campus. There is a large soccer field along one side of the campus, and a open-twalled assembly hall along another side. I watched as The school motto, "Ending Poverty Through Education," was painted on the stage wall,. After our tour, I met Diane, a school principal back home in Canda and a Mentor Teacher here in Tanzania, and, lucky for me, my mentor at St. Jude's. She took me up the stairs to the library, and introduced me to the library staff. Margaret, aka Margie, is newly arrived and will be the librarian in charge. She is assisted by Charisma and Faith, the library teachers, and a young man, Forehead, who is, among other things, responsible for walking the classes to and from the library for their library visits. The library is well-designed, large and spacious, well-lit, and empty, except for several mats where the library classes are held. The empty shelves are just waiting for the books, which are now packed up in boxes. Margie will be responsible for getting the books cataloged and processed, and I can help her do this, so the books can get out to the students as quickly as possible. For now, she has put out boxes of books so the students can look through them, finding books to read before school and during recess. They are eager readers, coming to the library at morning tea recess and lunch recess. Between eighty and a hundred students come, and it is such a joy for me to read a bit to them! My favorite so far is a Kenyan picture book called "A Tasty Maandazi." (A maandazi is a doughnut-type snack, and it is what is sometimes served to the staff at tea time in the mornings.)

It is here at the Usa River campus that I will be

spending my time, and so every morning at 6:45 I hop on Emmanuel's red bus, and head eastward. The commute is not much longer than the one I drive at home, where I am spoiled as I drive along the coast. But this drive beats that, with the green fields of the foothills and the majestic Mt. Meru, clear in the mornings. We stop and pick up the younger students along the way, and employees, as we go along. All buses eventually end up at the Moshono campus, and so I have returned in the late afternoon via a variety of routes. On this, my first full week anniversary, I feel fourtunate, settled yet excited to see things through new eyes.