Last Sunday night we arrived at Mt. Kilimanjaro airport safe and sound. Sudoch, our contact from Foot2Afrika, picked us up in his van and drove us to the hostel.
Monday morning they fed us a fantastic breakfast before meeting Elli, the director of Foot2Afrika. Elli introduced himself and the Foot2Afrika program. He was kind enough to show us around all day. We walked to downtown Moshi and Elli pointed out what everything was. He showed us the restaurants to go to, the places to exchange money and the supermarket. Instead of walking home, we took a daladala. A daladala is a small van that is used as a means of public transportation. Somehow they were able to fit 26 people into the daladala. It was quite the experience. Elli is also the head of a soccer team in the area. That night he let us come join their practice. We all had a great time and the view of Mt. Kilimanjaro from the field was amazing.
Tuesday morning we started off with another great breakfast. Elli, Sudoch, and the rest of the Foot2Afrika board members came over to introduce a project they are currently working on. They are building a school in a rural village. It is not just your average school though. At this school they want the children to learn in the classroom but also have plenty of hands on learning. They are planning to have farm fields, a place to work on cars, and soccer field for the children to improve their skills in these categories. It will also be tuition free so money won't hinder children from going to school. Instead of just focusing on the children, the staff hopes to somehow incorporate the whole family in the education process, so the whole family understands the importance of a good education. After showing us the plans for the project, the staff members brought us to the project site to plant trees around the border for security purposes. The land the school is going to be on is beautiful. It has a small river flowing behind it with enormous jungle like trees with Mt. Kilimanjaro in the background.
On Wednesday we started the day off as usual. Elli came to pick us up and take us to the village by the project site. At the village we interviewed families to see if the new school would benefit their families and what they would like to see at the new school. We were split into three groups and each had a translator with us. The families were so hospitable. They would bring stools outside for us to sit on during the interviews and were so polite. Many of the families hardly had anything. It was an amazing experience to hear about these people's and the impact this new school would have on them.
Tomorrow we are planning to compile the data collected and think of ideas on how to improve the plans for the school according to the answers we found today.
I was trying to upload pictures with this, but our internet connection is not strong enough. We are having trouble finding wifi. We will update as much as possible, but it probably won't be much. A very popular Tanzanian saying is "Pole Pole" which means slowly, slowly. We have started to get used to this way of life and the actual meaning of this saying.
Asante.
Posted by: Taylor Wiegand
Monday morning they fed us a fantastic breakfast before meeting Elli, the director of Foot2Afrika. Elli introduced himself and the Foot2Afrika program. He was kind enough to show us around all day. We walked to downtown Moshi and Elli pointed out what everything was. He showed us the restaurants to go to, the places to exchange money and the supermarket. Instead of walking home, we took a daladala. A daladala is a small van that is used as a means of public transportation. Somehow they were able to fit 26 people into the daladala. It was quite the experience. Elli is also the head of a soccer team in the area. That night he let us come join their practice. We all had a great time and the view of Mt. Kilimanjaro from the field was amazing.
Tuesday morning we started off with another great breakfast. Elli, Sudoch, and the rest of the Foot2Afrika board members came over to introduce a project they are currently working on. They are building a school in a rural village. It is not just your average school though. At this school they want the children to learn in the classroom but also have plenty of hands on learning. They are planning to have farm fields, a place to work on cars, and soccer field for the children to improve their skills in these categories. It will also be tuition free so money won't hinder children from going to school. Instead of just focusing on the children, the staff hopes to somehow incorporate the whole family in the education process, so the whole family understands the importance of a good education. After showing us the plans for the project, the staff members brought us to the project site to plant trees around the border for security purposes. The land the school is going to be on is beautiful. It has a small river flowing behind it with enormous jungle like trees with Mt. Kilimanjaro in the background.
On Wednesday we started the day off as usual. Elli came to pick us up and take us to the village by the project site. At the village we interviewed families to see if the new school would benefit their families and what they would like to see at the new school. We were split into three groups and each had a translator with us. The families were so hospitable. They would bring stools outside for us to sit on during the interviews and were so polite. Many of the families hardly had anything. It was an amazing experience to hear about these people's and the impact this new school would have on them.
Tomorrow we are planning to compile the data collected and think of ideas on how to improve the plans for the school according to the answers we found today.
I was trying to upload pictures with this, but our internet connection is not strong enough. We are having trouble finding wifi. We will update as much as possible, but it probably won't be much. A very popular Tanzanian saying is "Pole Pole" which means slowly, slowly. We have started to get used to this way of life and the actual meaning of this saying.
Asante.
Posted by: Taylor Wiegand