http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/NSCDS08/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from NSCDS08 en-us Thu, 12 Nov 2009 04:02:57 +0000 Thu, 12 Nov 2009 04:02:57 +0000 Jambo I am in shock that our trip is coming to an end. I can remember counting down 48 hours until Africa and now we are 48 hours away from leaving. Although it seems like we haven't had enough time we have packed so much into these two weeks. It is impossible to understand how incredible these kids are without meeting them because we can only begin to describe their awesomeness. We have all t http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/North/Moshi/blog-281153.html Sooo anyone who would care to read this would probably know that last summer I spent a month in small village just outside of Arusha in Tanzania. I was about an hour and a half away from Moshi where we are staying now and I made several close friends one of whom I actually managed to maintain contact with through emails and an occasional phone call. Obviously coming back to Tanzania I wanted http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/North/Moshi/blog-281151.html We've been here in Tanzania for about ten days and it feels like we just got here. We're going to leave the day after tomorrow and fly back to Chicago and I am so not ready to go back home. Being here has opened my eyes to the outside world and I don't know if I am ready to go back to Wilmette. I love being at the school and being with the kids. Even when we come back to the hotel I miss and t http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/North/Moshi/blog-281150.html So this is my first blog. It's late in the trip so I have a lot to say. First off the kids are awesome. Everything that we do is entertaining for them. At the same time we can't seem to tire out their limitless energy supply. I often find myself sweating and panting before the five and six year olds. In these situations I will sit down with maybe a couple kids on my lap I hope they under http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/North/Moshi/blog-281148.html Alright. So this is going to be a sad and angry blog post because right now I am sad and angry.Today we were outside the hotel playing frisbee and a little girl came along walking by herself. We called her over. It was just starting to get darkshe grabbed onto Leah's arm and held it really hard and kept holding it. You could tell this wasn't massive affection or friendliness she did http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/North/Moshi/blog-280806.html Wow the first week seems to have gone by in such a breeze. It feels like just yesterday I was arriving at the old school and making the walk with the kids to the new one. Now a week later bonds have been made and things are starting to pick up the pace. The first week with the kids was extremely entertaining as well as confusing. I was shocked at the lack of shyness and abundance of joy that all http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/North/Moshi/blog-280803.html Being at the school today was an exciting one for me. Ms. Mills brought a wiffle bat and ball to the children. Considering baseball is my favorite game in the entire world I was so happy to have the opportunity to teach the children how to play when they were not in class. Until I saw the children grabbing the bat and ball it never really occurred to me that most of the world is unfamiliar with http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/blog-280801.html A few days ago we visited the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center and had a sitdown with the director of the hospital. After his lecture we had the opportunity to ask him questions. Shreve asked 'What is the single most dangerous threat to the health of Tanzania' And the director replied 'Financing.' The simplicity of solutions I guess are often marred by our indifference to many of the world http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/North/Moshi/blog-280800.html Hey friends and family Greetings from Tanzania To be cliche summing up the trip thus far would be impossible with the amount of space and time I have. It has been both amazing and eye opening. For now I'm going to skip the descriptions of what we have done and jump straight to my reactions. The first we all I think I can safely say had a blast. The kids were fantastic fun and energeti http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/North/Moshi/blog-280415.html Greetings from TanzaniaWe have just returned from the Safari that we took at NgorogoroCrater. My feelings are mixed about the whole thing. First off theSafari itself was amazing. We were able to see so many animals that Ihad seen previously only in zoos. We also got lucky and saw all of theBig Five animals lion buffalo leopard elephant and rhino.Although it was so amazing to see all of th http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/North/Lake-Manyara/blog-280413.html This weekend has been an eyeopening experience for me. We left the Spring Lands Hotel in Moshi to go on a safari. During the journey we made a stop at St. Jude School a new primary school catering to the very poorest of children. This was the first of three instances which really effected me this weekend. Seeing the kids at the St. Jude school and the children in the orphanages was the most inf http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/North/Moshi/blog-280412.html Today was a LONG day I had some really crazy dreams and I felt weird when I woke up so I didn't eat much for breakfast. We walked a short way down te road to Zainab's orphanage that she startd the Shalom Centerhome to about 40 kids almost all orphans and some with AIDS. I felt kind of awkward there at first because it isn't a school at least not formally so I didn't know if English was http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/North/Lake-Manyara/blog-280411.html Friday morning we went to St. Jude's School I can't remember theproper name for it most everyone just calls it St. Jude's I think inthe nearby town of Arusha. St. Jude's is a school for the poorest ofthe poor children and it is free for them to board and gain aneducation. They do background checks to make sure that the studentsthey enroll really are povertystricken and they have turned man http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/North/Arusha/blog-280410.html Prior to returning to Moshi from the safari on Sunday we had the opportunity to meet the kids at the Shalom Orphanage Centre which was just down the street from the hotel in which we were staying. Upon meeting the kids we got to play games sing songs and run around. When I walked into the orphanage one kid ran up to me and grabbed my hand. This was obviously normal. The young children we hav http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/North/Lake-Manyara/blog-280408.html HutujamboToday is day three in Africa. Beautiful. That is about all I can say for this country. The backdrop of the setting of our hotel is unimaginable. Unfortunately yesterday was the first day we were actually able to see the ice cap on top of Mt. Kilimanjaro but even the bottom of the mountain alongside the rice patties does enough justice. The children are also beautiful. The first day he http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/North/Moshi/blog-278988.html Sometimes it's the little things that really matter. We went to the kids' old school today and walked with them to the new one. The roads are incredibly mudy and slippery and of course by the time we arrived at the new school the majority of us were incredibly mudsplattered. My shoes were mudy of course but somehow my bag was muddy too but I was going to clean it off when we got back to the http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/North/Moshi/blog-277955.html JamboSo I don't have too much internet time but I'll try to make the best of it. We're here in Tanania. Tanzania dude Ahhh. We got in last night and the first thing that struck me as we were taking our wonderful smushed bus to the hotel was the dark and the quiet. They actually exist here. It's so simple but so profound and beautiful. It's simply a whole different perspective he http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/North/Moshi/blog-277954.html Dear RafikiToday was our first full day in Tanzania. It began with a wake up call to Muslim worship around 4 in the morning. It sound of the muezzin not sure how it is spelled seemed like it was coming from right out of my window. I fell back to sleep on and off throughout the early morning. When it was actually time to get up around seven forty surprisingly I jumped right out of bed. Cindy Ta http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/North/Moshi/blog-277953.html Two years ago our junior class at North Shore Country Day School read the book Three Cups of Tea the story of Greg Mortensonmdashan incredible man who has dedicated his life to the fight for the basic human right of education. It was the type of book that did not allow for an idle readingmdashafter hearing this manrsquos mission and accomplishments we were each irresistibly drawn to the http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/North/Moshi/blog-277932.html History of the Kilimanjaro Nursery SchoolThe Kilimanjaro English Nursery School is the brainchild of Edward Lazaro a ZARA Kilimanjaro guide who in the Moshi area is generally known as ldquoTeacherrdquo. In 1994 ldquoTeacherrdquo started using his leisure time to give free education to children aged three to eight preparing them for secondary school. The school also provides education t http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/North/Moshi/blog-275925.html