Hmm, I thought... the school would be ready for me? I thought this was just going to be a small group of girls?
As he continued to speak to Cleng’a (in Swahili) I kept hearing him say ‘hundred’ (that’s a word I know in Swahili!) and Cleng’a kept looking over at me. Cleng’a and I had discussed the day before that the group should be about 30 girls so that it would be more like a conversation as opposed to a lecture. He somewhat hesitantly revealed to me then that the administration was probably going to want to have about 50 girls, so I agreed. But now, sitting in the headmaster’s office, it seemed that he had invited many more than 50 girls to this talk...
"So," I asked "exactly... how many girls are you expecting to come?"
He responded, "We just learned that you are leaving Tanzania next week, and we don’t know when the girls would have another opportunity to hear from someone like you, so... we just invited the whole school."
"So... umm, how big is the school?" I ask.
"Well," he responds, "some of the girls will be working on a project, so... you’ll probably only have about 400 of them".
WOW, 400! This was MUCH larger than I anticipated or was prepared for! I think I had a mini-panic attack in my mind as I sat there and he continued to talk while I thought about what the heck I would talk to 400 girls about?! Now, I’m perfectly fine with public speaking as long as I have time to mentally prepare myself for it, but this talk with 400 high school girls was about to happen in like 5 minutes! There was no way I could do what I had planned for 30 girls with an auditorium full of 400!
Ok, I thought to myself... you can do this. Don’t freak out... you talk in front of people ALL the time.
Cleng’a went first and taught the girls a song and told some jokes. The room roared with laughter as he got them all excited and introduced me. I looked out at the crowd of girls all looking up and staring at me and they were perfectly silent and waited for me to speak. I took a deep breath (which lasted probably a few seconds longer than it should have, LOL) and began to speak. As I began to talk my nervousness went away. I told the girls I was very happy to see so many girls at the school and to my surprise they responded, and said “thank you” almost in unison. I asked if anyone had questions, but only one hand went up. Oh no, I thought... they’re bored...
It didn’t seem like it was going that well, cause only a few of the girls seemed responsive. But then I decided to get down off the stage and walk around the auditorium. Maybe they would talk back more if I was a little closer to them?
As soon as I got into the audience, the girls swarmed me! They were all smiling and excited and full of energy and asking tons of questions.
Madam! Madam? Can I ask you a question? Sister Aisha, come to this side please! Madam, this way! Come over here!
I walked around the auditorium and sat with groups of about 40-50 girls at a time, while Cleng’a taught dances and songs to the rest. As soon as I would sit down in a new spot, a new group of girls would gather around... one would adjust my chair while a few others would make sure I had enough “breathing” room by telling the other girls not to crowd me. I could hear some of them saying "let her breathe, let her breathe!" At one point I heard one of the girls tell her friend "please don't hurt our sister, she looks squished!"
"Why weren’t you guys asking me all these questions when I was on stage?" I asked them. "Sister Aisha, we couldn’t hear anything you were saying, plus you were talking too fast!" They all laughed. Although secondary school is taught in English and the girls understand and speak English extremely well, I guess my American accent coupled with the size of the room just made it very difficult to hear.
The day turned out to be really good. Again, these girls were obviously very bright and asked almost identical questions as the girls from the Bagamoyo Secondary School talk. I talked to the girls for over an hour. Many of them had tons of questions about going to college, financing their education, and what they should study. One said she loved to take pictures but needed to practice, so I gave her my camera to use for the rest of the day. It didn't even dawn on me until after I had gotten back to the home-base that I blindly handed my camera into a crowd of 400 girls... I wasn't worried at all about not getting it back.
When it was finally time to leave, Cleng’a had to literally take my hand, pack up my bag for me, and lead me out of the auditorium. The girls trailed closely behind and were hugging me and waving as I left. I wish I had thought to visit girls in high school before now... not that I now consider myself an inspirational speaker (still far from it!) but many of the girls just really need to be encouraged. I think that's something anyone can do...
