Mambo everyone!

Time flies, we can’t believe it’s already been a year since our time together in Moshi. I can still smell Mama D’s cooking and hear the roosters waking us up in the morning (or 1am, 3am & 5am, roosters crowing at dawn really is a myth)! It seems like just yesterday that we were walking through the streets of Rau greeting all of the green, purple and blue babies with hugs and high fives. You are all probably off in different corners in of the country, back in school and carrying on with your adventurous lives, but we hope that Tanzania still holds a space in your heart. I hope that you have all stayed in touch and some of you have had a chance to meet up again. Here in Rau your visit continues to have a lasting impact on the community and the school.

As one of the first GLA groups to ever work with Rau Primary School, you have opened the door for a lasting partnership. The Head Teacher and staff at the school were truly grateful for all of the hard work that you put in to teaching English and refurbishing classrooms by painting and cementing a new floor. The projects will stay with the school for years to come as a reminder of our contribution and time together. We know that, while you spent many hours volunteering your time with students, even more valuable were the lessons and growth that you each made individually.

From seeing lions on safari, to swimming in freezing cold waterfalls at the base of Mt. Kilimanjaro, laughing holding hands & dancing with students at Rau Primary and hearing from leaders in the local community on topics such as education, FGM and HIV/AIDS we truly did share the trip of a life time together. We were so impressed by how all of you stepped up and really embodied what it means to be a leader, whether it was taking the lead in conflict resolution or staying up late planning lessons for your students. You took ownership over this program, and really made it yours. Thanks for all the laughter and smiles that you brought to our small family over the two weeks that we shared together. We hope that these memories will stay with you forever and inspire you to continue your world travels as the conscientious world citizens that you all are!

Some special moments from our trip:

-Being swarmed by all of the excited children on the first day of school.

-Getting shown up by the students and their amazing dance moves any time we had a dance party.

-Learning about the circle of life while watching ostriches on safari and seeing all of the amazing animals up close.

-Mama D’s cooking!

-Getting our hair braided, especially you Carl, and the resulting afros when we took them out.

-The feeling of accomplishment after completing the classroom floor and painting the walls.

-Teaching English in the classrooms.

-Connecting with each other and local staff.

-Crashing the wifi any time we all tried to get on at the same time at a cafe.

-Agape’s laughter =)

-Hearing Mama Uweza’s inspirational life story.

Kwaheri for now!

-Ellen and the Moshi Team

P.S. If we haven’t heard from you, drop us a line and let us know what you are up to!

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Hello GLA students of Moshi Session 2,

We had a great time and were very pleased with all the things we accomplished together. We had great times, and challenging times and what we hope for most of all is that we all grew from the experience. In two weeks you have impacted the lives of staff, the communities you have lived and worked in, and each other. Thank you for choosing to spend two weeks of your summer with us and choosing this particular service learning program in Tanzania.

This time capsule letter is an opportunity to reflect on the time we shared in beautiful Moshi. One of my fondest memories we shared was celebrating a birthday and the impromptu dance party that followed. It was great to see everyone have so much fun together and bonding in your home away from home. Another of my favorite memories was the Fourth of July celebration organized by our leaders of the day and local staff. Our leaders of the day showed true initiative and students and staff were very appreciate of it.

As far as challenges were concerned it was inspiring to watch all of you working with your students despite the language barriers and class sizes. Thank you for putting in so much effort and having empathy for your students. These two weeks will have a much deeper impact on the community than you can observe. I cannot end this letter without mentioning the Ukulele jam sessions that added so much warmth and love to the program. It brought us so much joy to see everyone together and joining in the sing-a-longs. Lots of love from Tanzania and Karibu Tena!! or Welcome back again!!

-Aseem Kever

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Mambo, friends!

By the time you read this, you will probably be home with your family or in a college dorm
room or coming back from an after-school activity, somewhere on the other end of the
world. Right now, I am sitting on the couch on home base, smelling spices wafting in from
the kitchen, listening to Peter and Lodrick speaking in fast-paced Swahili and folks singing
(well, more like shouting) along to some Katy Perry song outside of the boys’ bedrooms,
and reflecting on the past three weeks and all the triumphs and struggles we shared as,
together, we navigated a culture completely different than our own.

We danced to drum
music with Mount Meru towering over us in the distance. We felt the cool air against us as
we descended into the Ngorongoro Crator. We dove into fresh, icy waters at the base of
Mount Kilimanjaro, or watched our friends do so and shivered vicariously. We said the
words “Asante” and “Karibu” until the words became stuck in our heads. Some of us taught
in front of a group of students for the first time and experienced the challenges of trying to
convey messages across a language barrier.

We delved into complex topics in mentor
groups, pushed through discomfort, and grew deeper our capacities to listen and
understand. We laughed together, sometimes cried together, and made friends who might
stay with us for the rest of our lives. Most importantly, we learned a great deal about
ourselves: who we are, how we handle conflict, what it means to step up to lead, and the
ways in which our own identities and home contexts inform how we relate to the world
beyond ourselves.

As I sit here, I am wondering where you will be in six months, how you will have processed
these experiences when you read this letter, and how you will continue to be compelled to
enact change in your own communities. On our last day in Arusha, a few members of the
group collected memories from the trip and responded to the questions: “what is one thing
you could say to yourself, as you were a month ago” and “what is one lesson you have
learned over the past three weeks.”

I have compiled some of these messages on the next age. I hope that, wherever you are, you can take a moment to sit with them, reflect on our
journey together, and remember all that we shared.

Asante sana!
-Sarah

Feeling nostalgic? You can experience that same sense of friendship and adventure abroad again! Check out all our new destinations for Summer 2018, or enroll now.