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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