Discovery, Debate, & Dinner by Francisco Luzania

 Every trip has a moment. A moment where time no longer matters. Faces blur. Sounds are silent. A moment of fleeting solitude where it’s just you. Like all of us on this trip, I was lucky enough to have had a moment. The only difference for me was my moment happened to be standing on a stage in front of hundreds of people.

 

This study abroad program stretched us, exposed us, and taught us. We saw things we’d gone our entire lives never even contemplating. We heard things we’d never even considered. We went places most of us never thought we’d ever see. Orphanages, schools, jails, courts, safaris; all of these had become so commonplace during our trip that foreign seemed domestic. For American law students, going to visit a Tanzanian law school seemed like fitting a belt in a buckle. We spend hours at our school. Classrooms, libraries, common areas. This visit would pale in comparison to the foreign places we had seen the last few weeks. But in its usual TIA approach, this beautiful continent kept me and my classmates surprised and wanting more.

Now, I love me a good argument. I love a vivacious debate. And I surely love a competition. As a law student, I have a good sense that litigation is a road well worth traveling. When Professor Buske mentioned a joint international moot court debate with our school and the Tumaini University Makumira, I’m pretty sure I asked for a time and place before she finished her sentence. I knew, of all things, this was going to be something I wanted to participate in. Sure enough, me and one of my classmate and I, ended up volunteering for the debate.

Once we arrived, we were able to sit and watch a moot court competition between their students. But about 15 minutes in, Professor Buske ushered Allysa and I to the lobby, introduced us to our partners, and told us we were on stage in 30 minutes. What was gonna be a few hours of preparation for a debate on the implementation of The Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption of 1993 and possible amendments to Tanzania’s residency requirement for international adoption(I know, riveting topics for any audience), turned into a half hour. To be fair, during our class before traveling and throughout the trip I would read about The Hague and intercountry adoption in Tanzania, and the topic is going to be my ICR paper. Sometimes fate just does that.

What we were told was that there was expected to a little over a dozen people in attendance for our debate. Was there a dozen? Nope. Walking onto the stage, in advocate robes, we saw the expanse of the reality of there being closer to 500 students and faculty in the crowd. I’ve spoken to crowds before. Professionally and academically. I’ve never been that hesitant to public speak. But that was personally the single largest crowd I had ever spoken in front of, much less debate in front of. We all have elements. This was mine. That moment I mentioned where time, voices, faces, and places don’t really exist was happening for me. For 40 minutes we debated, listened, and I even spoke a little Swahili to the applause and enjoyment of the crowd.  The deliberations by panel of three judges, two Tanzanian students and one American, really took the longest for me. The eternal wait was worth it though when me and my Tanzanian partner were declared winners.

 

After the debate, I don’t think I’ve ever taken so many pictures with different people and shaken so many hands. Many Tanzanian law students came up to introduce themselves, compliment my ability, congratulate me and take a photo. I’d be lying if I didn’t say I find this a little exhilarating.  We were then paired to with Tanzanian students for discussions and a tour of the university. If you’ve ever wanted to attend college in what looks and feels like a jungle, then this was the place. But even for students studying the same topic, the difference was striking. Packed classrooms, no textbooks, shotty electricity, and no A/C. But at the same time, the similarities could not be more comforting. Friend groups, “gunners” in classes who answer every question, and a general sense of passion for the study of law. I grinned as much as a I questioned.

 

We ended with a group as we had every day of our trip. This time we had the pleasure having some Tanzanian law students and faculty join us. I sat solo from my classmates and ‘held court’, as the hilarious Professor Cook put it, with five of the students. That where the veil was fully removed. I got to know them not just as fellow law students, but as a former runway model, a practicing priest, a lifelong human rights volunteer, a farmer who had never been more than an hour outside of his hometown before coming to university. Stories so different from us, but journeys all the familiar. The exchange of stories was more like a exchange of kindred spirits. Looking around and seeing tables filled with reflections of the same people was what this trip showed me. People from different countries, cultures, and cities. But people with similar issues, concerns, and passions. This day was the high of my trip. It’s a mistake for us in the United States to think we are the only ones with solutions. There are people all over the world as well prepared to fight the battles and empty the worlds ocean of problems with teacups, just like us.

 

Tanzania kwanza, Tanzania milele

Tanzania today, Tanzania forever