Tanzania - Week One

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Hello everyone 😊
I've decided to do this as a day by day thing, little tedious but deal with it.

Day One/Two
I arrived at Heathrow and met my fellow leapers Jennie and Priyanka +parents and wasted no time and went straight through security. The plane journey was slightly horrendous - it was an overnight jobby (leaving at 8pm our time, arrived at 6am Africa time ) could not sleep a wink and was sat in between two random people who fell asleep, so I couldn't even get up to walk around. Bright side = I finally got to see Never Let Me Go.
We arrived at Nairobi at 6.30am and then Mt Kilimanjaro at 8.30am and there met our driver, Jimmy, and our guide Mbasa. We drove to our first accomodation stop, Arusha. Here we live next door to our organiser and his family, Mathias. Had a very warm welcome! Also met our chef, Fidel, who is awesome and I am definitely trying to figure out how to take him home! It is raining season here so there is not much chance of a sun tan, but the rain is warmly welcomed by me because it is really humid!
We went into Arusha town and it felt really weird - we were being stared at by everyone, people are excited to see white people (Nzongo's) and don't feel embarrassed about staring at you. Although, a lot of people think I'm Swedish (think it may be the blonde).
In the evening we went to Mathias' daughter's (Jojo) school to watch her in a play, there was a lot of foreign children there and the play was spoken in English - all the children (around age 4) are really good at English already!

Day Three:
We had an introduction of Tanzania from Mathias in the morning which was good, he let us know what we could expect and how to behave (i.e. don't wear revealing clothes and be on our best behaviour!) We then went to the Arusha Snake Park with Mbasa and Jimmy and saw lots of snakes and reptiles - also got to hold a little snake! They have really oily skin which was weird. We then went to a Maasai museum and learnt about their lives and cultures, including the fact that boys around age 14 are circumcised without any form of painkillers - and if they don't cry they have become a man and get to wear the iconic red shawls. Girls also have a similar ritual but this has been banned, however it sometimes is done in secret. Their huts are made from ash and water, and they move around a lot so they will build their huts and leave them for the next tribe to use. They also create a fence wall around them to stop outside infiltration. We then had a camel ride which was really uncomfortable! The Maasai women then dressed us up as Nzongo Maasai's (white Maasai's) which was... different! Their jewellery is really heavy but their robes are quite light so I can see why they'd wear them in the heat.
That night we went to a Maasai night club which was good, very similar to English night clubs and had pretty much the same music. We had to be careful though as Maasai men are polygomous (sp?) and so I'm sure they would just love to have a white wife added to their lists! Drinks are so cheap here too - about 1 pound for a beer!

Day Four:
We just chilled today, went around Arusha town and chilled out in the sun!

Day Five:
Today was our first day of working - we decided to do a round trip of all the projects so we could have an idea of what we would like to do there.
The first stop was Camp Moses; this is a place for disadvantaged children (those with disabilities or poverty stricken or no family at all) and it is created by Lohada which is a company that does several projects like this. This school is for younger children and they live there. The class rooms are tiny. However, I do not think that we will get a chance to help out there.
The second stop is Moshono Primary School, for children up until 14 years. Primary schools in general are for children aged 7 until 14, and this is free but not compulsary. Secondary school is from 14 until 18 and costs about 250 pounds a year, then they would go to high school from 18 until 20 and then if they want to go to university (there are only a few in Tanzania) then it will cost about 1000 pounds per year, which is a lot here. At Moshono, we will be painting classrooms and helping out in lessons. Whilst we were there, we were helping the English teacher with her marking - we were marking the test papers of children aged 12-14 and they were really good at English. One of the questions asked for the plural of the word 'Bacillus' which I wasn't even sure of! (it is Bacilli!) but quite a few were still getting it right!
The third stop (which I am currently working at) is Camp Joshua - this is another Lohada project but for older children (from age 7 - 14). Here we are constructing the foundation of a fence wall as the school is open and is surrounded by houses full of other children and they would like some privacy. We are also helping cook and serve meals as well as teach and draw teaching aids (posters for the classrooms).

Day Six:
We went to Camp Joshua armed with pick axes and shovels (scary thought, me holding a pick axe, I know!) We began TRYING to dig. Because it is raining season, the soil is wet and really hard to shift. We soon attracted a crowd of children (it is school holidays for those with homes so there are plenty about) who continued to laugh at our efforts, and soon felt sorry for us and showed us how it was done. Feeling pretty rubbish that a 10 year old child is stronger than you, the school decided to hire some men to dig for us, and we'd then lay the bricks etc. (so my childhood dream of becoming a builder is not yet over).
The children are really sweet and love attention. Although we have no idea what they are saying, and vice versa, they are easy to play with and to amuse. They also were loving our cameras - I now have a load of random pictures taken by these children, but we had to be careful that we got them back! I made a friend called Abraham who we made a secret handshake with, I also taught him to knuckle touch and say 'safe'. I have decided that I don't altogether dislike children - I like African children because they don't ask you for much and they have simpler minds - they aren't as selfish and greedy.

Day Seven:
We went back to Camp Joshua and met the guys who were digging for us. Bearing in mind that this was at 9am, some were clearly drunk and definitely on something. We stuck around for a bit to help out with the digging, but they were very weird (even Mbasa said not to trust them) so we made an exit for the school and helped dish out breakfast and lunch and drew a (not very accurate) map of the world for geography lessons.
After, once again, playing with the same kids (my arms are getting tired from picking them up all the time) we went back to our place where we met up with Priyanka's relative who lives in Arusha. She took us out for dinner (very kindly) at a food court where about 5 restaurants have people hanging around outside trying to sell you their restaurant as you are eating from another, which was weird. We then watched a film and went back to hers for the night and had a hot shower which was AWESOME.

That's all that's happened so far, today has been another day at Camp Joshua, we were laying stones down etc. but TOMORROW MORNING I depart for the Serengeti and Ngorongoro for 3 days and 2 nights (these are the famous national parks in Tanzania) courtesy of my LOVELY father (best birthday present ever!) and I cannot wait! I will upload pictures onto facebook when I get back on Monday (or sometime after that, uploading pictures here is difficult because the internet is so slow!).
Speak soon everyone!
Peace out

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