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Published: September 23rd 2010
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David is due back tomorrow and, as we wanted the house spick and span for his return, the vacuum got a run out again, the loo was cleaned as was the shower. I was the only one to see Daphne’s method of cleaning out the shower cubicle thank goodness!! So with everything sparkling and more or less back in its rightful place we set off for town. We wanted to replace the major food items we had used as far as possible and stock up for the weekend. When we finally emerged from Woolworth’s (in Aus these are supermarkets) we were laden with bulging bags. Graham had promised to collect David’s van from the garage so we dropped him off and I drove the car back to the house. It was only the second time I had driven it but I managed fine and didn’t hit anything or get lost!
We were up and about early on Saturday, mainly because we weren’t sure what time David would be back. We had checked the internet for flight times but were at a slight disadvantage because we had forgotten to ask him a) who he was flying with and b) what time
the flight landed. This was mainly due to all the distractions we’d had with our car. We remembered he was spending a couple of nights in Dubai so guessed that would be at the end of the trip and that he was probably flying with Emirates. A flight was due to land in Brisbane at 6.30 am so we estimated that, with a swift exit and a couple of hours drive, he might appear at about 10 am. We were a bit out with our estimate as he arrived back at about 12 noon - they’d apparently stopped for breakfast!
It was great to see him safely returned and looking fit and well. Over lunch and throughout the rest of the day he told us about some of his many adventures and with the aid of modern technology we were soon looking at some amazing photos on his TV. David went to Tanzania as part of a group of volunteers to help at a very special school which is in the north of the country near Arusha. Since the school was first opened, only in 2002 with just 3 pupils, it has grown enormously and now has about 1300
pupils spread over two local campuses and employs 350 local staff. Each year new buildings are constructed to house the following year’s intake of students. This allows the oldest students to progress into the year above and will eventually see them through their secondary schooling. The various sponsorship and donation schemes which have been set up at the school have allowed the dream of educating underprivileged children become a reality. The sponsorship of buses has allowed children, who would normally start walking at 4am, get a ride to school, and the sponsorship of teachers has allowed students to be taught by the best local Tanzanian teachers, who are being assisted by highly-qualified Western teachers. For practical reasons many of the children board at the school - it is the ultimate blend of the positives of both cultures. Groups of volunteers often visit the school doing many different tasks which include building work, maintenance, decorating, covering books and much more. Many of the group David went with took lots of pairs of socks with them to help overcome a major shortage. While David was there he put his electrical skills to good use by installing some energy monitors. He also painted
some walls and did various odd jobs. David has been sponsoring a young orphan called Hurume James who is approximately six years old so he was delighted to be able to meet him and get to know him a little. Because he has no family Hurume lives at the school most of the time. David receives regular reports on his progress but now it will all become much more meaningful. Details of how to sponsor a child are on the website: http://www.schoolofstjude.co.tz
The School of St Jude is not far from the centre of Tanzania’s safari capital, Arusha, and it is making the most of this by helping volunteers to combine working at the school with having the opportunity to go on safaris to places like the Ngorongoro Crater, the plains of the Serengeti, Lake Manyara and Tarangire and Arusha National Parks. David, too, took advantage of this opportunity by going on safari for a few days. What a privilege it must have been to see lions, cheetahs, leopards, zebras, giraffes, herds of elephants and much more in their natural environment. He took some amazing photos and just a few are included here. David even managed to bring some
presents back - lovely aprons for myself and Daphne, a cap for Graham and two splendid wall fabric paintings for himself. He finished the trip with a couple of days relaxing in Dubai but he is already talking about going back.
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