HIGHLAND HIGHLIGHTS - IRINGA
“Run, jump, play but do not sin.” Don Bosco
In our world today, some people are born great, some achieve greatness whereas some have greatness thrust upon them. Such was the reflection from the fun filled experience here in Don Bosco Iringa some weeks ago. Here at Don Bosco, we do integrate technical skills with cultural development as well as enhancing the talents of the students. The climax of this was our annual cultural- cum sports week. It involved a few months of long and tiring preparation. For this year we did have a colorful and well-attended week.
To begin with, we did have our usual parade. When our students march, you would mistake them to be police academy cadets owing to the fact that the students march perfectly and show a great sense of military prowess. This was done in their four respective groups. They performed this guard of honour for about half an hour. With all the enthusiasm, everyone seemed fit to join the JKT (Jeshi la Kujenga Taifa) if called upon. Afterwards there was the judging of the four traditional huts meant for each group’s shelter for the whole of the sports day. Here they showed great creativity with the decoration and great design. Simply made and beautifully decorated. Then the real day, the long awaited time for sports finals clocked in, were it not for the dust and uneven grounds, you would have thought it was some kind of Olympic games venue. This was well seen by the way that the Olympic torch was lit. From each of the seven trades, was chosen the best pupil and the eighth was the overall best student, all of whom ran simultaneously with the torch which was later used to light the Olympic torch.
Miss Judith officially pronounced the games on. Various events took place among them being, finals for 100m, 200m, 400m, and long distance with marathon being the longest run, and field events were held for both boys and girls. The staff were not left out for they also had their share of fun and competition trade-wise wiith there-legged race, ball-on-forehead run and spoon and marble run. You couldn’t help but cheer the never-say-die staff who eagerly anticipated the first prize.
When you hear the Swahili people saying, ‘mwenye nguvu mpishe’ what we would translate it here is that there are really the weak and the strong, but then how to know who is who? We did manage, at least here in Don Bosco Iringa, to point out the strongest. This was as a result of the new game of the Strongman. With five events with only four contestants strongest from each of the four groups, we did identify the strongest. The first event being rolling a tractor’s tire five feet high across a distance, there was also pulling a stationary van over a distance and here we saw what brawn combined with brain could bear. But then came the time to carry ten blocks over and bringing them back with the trolley, for real ability also goes with speed and balance. The day was crowned with prize giving to all the contestants. But then came the day for creativity and innovation. This was the final day of the whole week of events, and it was the time for our annual Exhibition. Mr. Mushi, the regional director of VETA, inaugurated the exhibitions and in his speech he praised Don Bosco in the work they are doing in offering technical training in Tanzania in particular in Dodoma, Oysterbay and here in Iringa. All the trades really showed how technical subject can be adored by the so-called ordinary subjects. With many visitors flocking to view the exhibits, from all walks of life, and the day was blessed with a lot of secondary schools participating in the event, a thing which is to build the link of promoting technical line after ‘O’ level. With God’s blessings we ended the long awaited annual event with no casualties but with only smiling faces. Most were tired but relaxed in body and mind.
