TANZANIA – Heart and Soul of Africa – July 14

July 16, 2017

Good Morning! Today, we started our 2^nd day in Tanzania. The day started with breakfast at 8 AM and Agape (member of GLA) taught us the basic Swahili. This concluded greetings and basic manners. The tailor came and took our measurements to make the African clothing for all of us. We had an educational speaker come and talk about the education system, history of Tanzania, and discussed the differences between Tanzania and America. Now, its lunch time and everyone met their host families from the Village. They came to the home base to have lunch with us and after we stayed 3 hours with them. They showed us around the village, their houses, and met the other family members. Along the way of everything we saw some beautiful sites, including bridges and rivers. At the end of the visit with our host families, we all came together to sing and dance as one in a dance party. At the end, we walked back to the home base to have dinner and we split up in out mentor groups. Everyone has having a great time in Tanzania!!

-Jada and Natalie

July 17, 2018

This morning after our amazing breakfast cooked by Mama D, we packed up our WITS and headed off to the schools for our first day of playing with the kids and doing service which included planting trees outside and working to refurbish the student’s classrooms. Around noon we had to say goodbye to our new friends and they chased our buses as we left.

Once we got back to our home base we enjoyed our delicious lunch and quickly got ready to break into two groups and head to the Saki Studio or Batik. At both locations, we learned how to create African art which was very fun filled and a great new learning opportunity. Later on, we headed back to home base where we had some down time before dinner. Finally, we separated into small groups where we prepared our lesson for teaching the next day.

Goodnight!

Etienne Waroquet, Hanna Uselding, Brady Buchwald

July 19th, 2017

Today we had a late breakfast at 8:15. We headed to the school at 9:00 to plant trees and help rebuild a classroom floor. Since we had pre-dug holes from yesterday, we started our service by filling them with manure and fertilizer. Then we put baby Neem trees in the holes and filled it back up with soil. We finished by filling each hole with two buckets of water so that the trees were hydrated under the hot sun. Other people who worked on rebuilding a floor spent their time laying cement. We returned to home base for lunch at 1:00 then headed out to town. We stopped by a souvenir shop then headed to the internet cafes. The food there was extremely tasty and it was nice to relax after a morning of hard work. At 4:30 we drove to a field near home base to watch the Kili Wizard dance group. Their dancing was insane, and it was fun to get taught their moves. After that some of us walked to home base and some rode the bus. We had dinner at 6:30 and then we had an evening discussion about single stories stereotypes. This was another fun filled day in Tanzania, we are all excited about the days ahead of us.

P.S.: Mom I broke my glasses sorry, love you mommy –Declan

Mina

Bella

Declan

July 19, 2017

Hi! Today was jam-packed. We started the morning off with our usual delicious breakfast. We then headed off to the school for our first day of teaching! We broke into groups to teach grades 3, 5, and 6. Overall it went really well and the kids and us had a ton of fun. After the hard work was done, we got to play with the kids at recess. Then we changed into our work clothes and headed off to our work. The majority of us dug holes for trees while some worked on renovating a classroom.

Next we had lunch and got ready for our trips to a batik or seki art lessons. They all came out so great! We came to a well deserved dinner and played some fun group games. We’re exhausted from our busy day, but it was sure one to remember!

-Grace Reynolds, Natalie Kim, and Lydia Bruni

July 20, 2017

Lauryn, Cameron, and Kaitlynn here! Today we had a late breakfast because unfortunately we could not teach, due to testing in the schools. We all worked really hard and were ahead of schedule for our service projects, so we played games for the last 15 minutes. Afterwards, we had yet another amazing lunch. Then, some women came to talk to us about FGM, which is a big problem in Tanzania. They shared stories about FGM from women who have experienced FGM. Unfortunately, FGM is still an extremely large problem in Tanzania, but these women have been working towards bringing awareness and stopping FGM. After, they talked we had an opportunity to buy souvenirs to support their cause. On a happier note, we went to a coffee plantation. There they showed us all of the steps that goes towards farming and creating the coffee. The process includes songs of encouragement through each step. We also had an opportunity to buy coffee grounds from them, and taste their coffee firsthand. Then we headed back to home base to round up the day.

July 21, 2017

Mambo! It’s Keiara and Whitley reporting to you from home base!

Back to our normal routines we had breakfast at 7:30 and prepared for an eventful day.

Today was a very interesting day as we once again taught in our classrooms with our respective classes and got to see the growth of our students from the last time we had taught them. The kids were enthusiastic, as always to see us teach them in the classrooms in have a little fun. After teaching the kids, we enjoyed playing games like “seven up” and “Stop and Go”. Their joyous laughs and personalities always bring the best in us at GLA. After having a little fun, we did our daily service with planting/digging trees. We also finished laying down the concrete in the classroom. It truly feels great to see the progress day by day as it solidifies and people are able to walk on it once again. With a few hours going by, we headed back to homebase where we enjoyed rice, veggies, and fruit salad, cooked by the infamous Mama D of course!

Shortly after our great meal, Aseem rushed everyone out of their rooms and onto the bus saying “there was a special surprise”. Everyone was immensely confused by what was happening, but we hurried to put on our shoes and appropriate clothing and headed to the local YMCA. There, we got to hear a speech from Jane Goodall, one of the worlds most renowned conservationists and primatologists. She spoke about her research on Chimpanzee’s and their behaviors along with her love for animals in general. Sadly, we missed our visit to the orphanage, but we’ll be visiting later on this week, so we’re all excited. We although we were at homebase for the remainder of the day, the activities didn’t stop there. We were excited to hear from someone from the company in which we’ll be going on the safari with. He told us everything we needed to know about what we needed to bring and the different animals we have a chance to see. We’re all excited to go on our excursion for the next two days!

Safari Day 1 (7/22/17)

After waking up at 5:30am to yet another amazing meal made by Mama D, we all prepared for the long safari day ahead. With our bags packed, we joined our awesome tour guides waiting for us in the safari cars. Five hours later, we arrived at the Tarangire National Park to embark on our journey. After eating our lunch with the nearby monkeys (aka having our lunch stolen by nearby monkeys), we ventured deeper into the park. Here, we saw some incredible wildlife, including elephants, zebras, wildebeests, warthogs, giraffes, and even a sleeping lion. Even better, Tarangire’s landscape was absolutely breathtaking, as if it were a scene straight out of the Lion King. We all had an unbelievable time and looked forward to day two of the safari.

At 7:00pm we arrived at our cozy hotel for the night. Exhausted from our long day, we all fell asleep quickly after dinner in anticipation of our 4:30am wake up the next morning. Everyone was excited to see the Ngorongoro crater the next morning.

Safari Day 2 (7/23/17)

Waking up at 4:30am was definitely worth the amazing day we had at the Ngrongoro crater. After a quick breakfast at the lodge and an hour long drive, we began safari day 2. The breathtaking views only just started at the first lookout point, which overlooked the crater. From there we descended into the crater where we were greeted by baboons, buffalo, zebras, and wildebeasts at their watering hole. As we explored the crater we were amazed by the wildlife and natural beauty that surrounded us. To our surprise, we spotted two male lions laying five feet away in the grass; little did we know that this was just the first of twelve lions we would stumble upon. After a quick lunch break amongst the beautiful scenery (and hippos!) we continued our journey through the safari. By mid-afternoon we began ascending out of the crater for our long trip back to home base. Around six hours later we were welcomed home with a delicious dinner prepared by Mama D and Wisdom, consisting of our favorite soup, pasta, and rice. We are all exhausted, but also overwhelmed with happiness since we got to experience something so amazing.

TO OUR PARENTS, IF YOU’RE READING THIS WE LOVE AND MISS YOU, but also never want to leave this place.

– Grace DiGioia, Lauren Fent, and Katie Michel

July 24th:
Today we started off the day like many others, teaching English in the classrooms of Himo and Korona. After our lessons concluded, we went to recess to play, dance, and sing! Afterward we got our elbows dirty planting and watering trees while other people worked on cement in the classroom. When we finished working, we loaded onto on the buses and watched as a bunch of smiling kids chased after us and waved goodbye. After a delicious lunch, we listened to the heartbreaking stories of 4 local women living with HIV/AIDS. We gained interesting insight into the lives of these brave women struggling with the stigma that follows this disease. We had the daunting task of saying farewell to our host families and thanked them for allowing us to experience their daily lives. We came home to another delicious meal from Mama D and were pleasantly surprised by a beautiful cake made especially for Hazel for her 15^th birthday! There was lots of music, dancing, and singing. We finished with a motivational talk from Mama Simba about overcoming her struggles in life. We ended the night feeling exhausted from the long and exciting day.From your smiling children,Chloe, Taylor & Julia

July 25, 2017

Today we woke up to the bittersweet realization that it was our last morning at the Himo and Korona primary schools. After teaching our last English lesson, we said our goodbyes to the students and finished our service projects. We planted a total of 112 neem trees and finished cementing the floor of a classroom. After eating a delicious lunch prepared by Mama D, we met once again with the tailor to receive our customized clothing and bags. We also had the opportunity to get our hair braided. Next came our highly anticipated trip to the Tuleeni and Akili Orphanages where we spoke with the founder, Mama Faraji, and spent time with the energetic children. We then went back to the home base and enjoyed dinner with each other. Dinner tonight happened to be spaghetti, one of our favorite meals. For the evening activity, we were surprised with a guest speaker who has received his Ph.D and is a member of the Maasai tribe. He told us about the Maasai culture and was open to our questions about his life and experiences. We are sad to say that tomorrow will be our last full day in Tanzania and we will miss our new home immensely.

Sincerely,

Hazel and Emily 🙂

TANZANIA – Heart and Soul of Africa – July 14 – July 27, 2017

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