Robbery

Just when I thought it couldn't get worse, it did. Our office was robbed last weekend of our 3 office computers, printer, copy machine and scanner. Daaaa! It was like a nightmare discovering all these items missing last Sunday. It was so strange and unexpected that I actually texted our Director to ensure the computers weren't checked out for maintenance! Ah, naive Tait. That...or we were robbed. Sadly, it was the latter and clearly an inside job as the door was opened and then closed with a key. This ugly mess was masterminded by someone I've been drinking chai with every day, someone I've sat next to in staff meetings, someone with whom I've shared morning and evening greetings...

It could also explain why my keys went missing a couple weeks back on our Open House celebration day (pics coming soon) - a hectic day which kept me completely occupied and my bag unattended. We (Senior staff and police) assume my keys were stolen off my bag that day so as to facilitate this coup. Ouch, this hurt. It still stings.

The worst part is what an incident like this does to the culture of a workplace, especially within a school, and particularly one in which trust is already a struggle amongst staff. For the last week, everyone seemed to be looking around, asking themselves, could it be _____? Yuck.

What we need desperately is: UNITY. Cooperation. Trust. Humility. Servant hearts. And just when I felt like we were rounding a corner, another blow comes. The Peace House - also known as the nyumba ya amani - when will it live up to its name?

I feel like more than any other year I've spent in TZ, I'm privvy to so much ugliness (as exists everywhere, in all cultures) - almost more than I can swallow. Is it that I'm seeped in deeper than I was before, living and working on a school campus? Is it because I've never been involved with such a well-funded institution and been around so much money, the root of evil? Is it because we're on a precipice in our development as a school - about to experience a major breakthrough?

Lord, let it be the latter!

"Educate - Nurture - Innovate." Sometimes I wonder if I'm meant to nurture the staff or the students? For now, it seems my efforts are being pulled in the direction of the staff so that the students can be better cared for, so that we reflect health and wholeness to them. Afterall, they - the students - are the reason this school is here in the first place. Funny how teachers in this country can forget that. Does a school exist for teachers or for students? It's easy for us Westerners to say. Therein lies the tension I've been feeling since January.

Thank you to Judy for your prayers for authority, for the gift that is words of wisdom and for a garden(s) to grow my own soul's refreshment.