ABOUT THE REUNION
Memories
The Iringa Aga Khan School Organizing Committee is pleased to announce and welcome all alumni and their spouses/partners to an exciting and fun-filled event to celebrate our common heritage… being an IRINGAN!. Following up on the successes of several Iringa school reunions held over the years, the organizing committee has received tremendous encouragement and support from many Iringans for a long overdue reunion. Reunions are about remembering our common heritage, meeting old friends and renewing friendships. They are a great opportunity to rekindle memories and friendships of an important era in one’s lifetime. For us Iringans, this reunion will be a unique experience because of the close affinity, fondness and relationships we have historically enjoyed with each other across all ethnic Iringans.
We have designed this website not only to inform you about the details of the reunion event but also to ignite your yearning to relive your memories of the wonderful period in your life. We hope all of you will enjoy the content of this website, and we welcome you to send relevant photos and comments/memories to enhance the experience. We will look forward to all of you attending the reunion. While our intention is to hold the reunion in August of 2022, this date is contingent upon a satisfactory and safe resolution to the current
COVID-19 pandemic.
We strongly request all those planning to attend the reunion to register at the earliest. Details of the registration process are contained on this website. You may also contact your regional coordinator for more details.
Remembering Iringa ...
To arouse you nostalgia, here is a description some history of Iringa extracted from one of the travel industry brochures:
Iringa is a charming, if somewhat down-at-heel town which lies at the heart of Tanzania’s tea industry. Market days bring forth an eclectic mix of expatriate wives dressed in pastel frocks shopping with their baskets and mingling with raw tribes people from the bush for their monthly trading spree. If you go shopping here, don’t forget to stock up on Dabaga Chilli Sauce, an East African legend. Set on the slopes of a cliff above the Little Ruaha River, this is the main centre for travel to the Ruaha National Park. A mix of faded Bavarian and vibrant African architecture distinguish Iringa from most Tanzanian towns, and the place has a rich history. It was near here that in 1894, Hehe Chief Mkwawa built a 13km long and four metre high stockade in an attempt to fight off the advance of German colonization. In 1898, after nine years of harassing the Germans in a series of guerrilla skirmishes, Mkwawa was cornered, and committed suicide by shooting himself through the head. His skull was sent to Germany, and repatriated in 1954, and now forms one of the main (somewhat grisly) exhibits in the Mkwawa Memorial Museum at nearby Kalenga. Recommended lodgings in Iringa include the Isimilia, the Sunset Motel, the Railway Hotel (80km from the nearest station) and Ruaha International Guest House. For archaeology buffs, a trip to Isimilia, 15km west of Iringa, is mandatory. Besides the astonishing free-standing natural rock pillars formed by millions of years of weathering, this is one of Africa’s most important sites for exploring the relics of the Acheulean Age (about 60 000 years ago) and the site is littered with hand axes, hammers, cleavers and stone picks.