USM Tanzania

Dear Blog Readers, Today the Challenge 20/20 Group embarked on a monumental maritime exploration to the autonomous region of Zanzibar. After preparing our systems for the tumultuous sea roller coaster ride (which rivalled even Space Mountain), we landed at the golden (yellow, actually) gates of Zanzibar Immigration. Much to our surprise, we had to fill out immigration slips though, as Mr. Bruemmer pointed out, Zanizibar became a part of Tanzania in 1964. However, the customs agents did not meticulously inspect the information written on the cards, as certain individuals wrote aliases, which went undetected. Once past the the golden gates of the Customs, we were greeted by Haji and Sayid and Eddie, our fearless guides. Our three leaders led us on a tour of the Zanzibar markets, where our visual and olfactory senses were overwhelmed by ... read more

Sunday the 15th we left the Impala hotel in Arusha and drove to Moshi. When we arrived, we went to the Honey Badger Cultural Center. There, we took a guided walk around the village, and sampled some banana drank. Afterwards, the entire group participated in cooking a traditional Tanzanian lunch. This consisted of rice, ugahli, chipate, cooked bananas, wild spinach, okra, and sweet potato leaves (which were quite painful to peel). We ate an 'Africa Time' lunch, (~3 hours) and then watched and eventually participated in a traditional Tanzanian dance. The song was accompanied by drums, and the women sang lyrics, which, translated into English, mean "If you don't want AIDS, don't use prostitutes". It was a very valuable lesson. Most entertaining of the day, however, was Mr. Bruemmer's dance solo, which he announced by proclaiming ... read more

Today was an eye opening day for the group. We started off at St. Judes School, an institution which provides an extremely rigirous and well rounded education for impoverished children who pass a difficult entry exam. Only in its fifth year, Saint Judes has jumped from 3 to 800 students, many of whom are ranked as having the top test scores in the country. One can imagine what kind of effect an entire school of well educated, college bound, students can have on an emerging nation. After Saint Judes we all saw a less hopeful side of Tanzania. We returned to St. Lucias to acompany their medical workers on home visits. These home vistis were for those HIV patients who are unable to afford regular healthcare. These patients lived in the most destitute slums of Arusha, ... read more

Today we traveled two hours west of Moshi to Aursha. We first stopped at our next lodgings--L'Oasis. The road in was unlike any we had ever seen. They really could not be described as pot holes per se, rather HUGE craters, boulders and ditches made the treck with our 25-passenger bus most difficult. We also met Connie from Cincinnati, who is great supporter of St. Lucia, one of the only Aids clinics for children and orphans in the country of Tanzania. We had a great time playing the children, and learning about how to fund and support an non-governmental agency in Africa. In the afternoon we weeded their huge garden and made plans to help them dig a trench for their well later in the week. Seeing and playing with these children, all them HIV positive, ... read more

We have arrived at the Springlands hotel in Moshi! We had three smooth flights, no delays, and a short 1 hour ride from Kilimanjaro airport to our hotel. In our first check-in, everyone was feeling great and excited for the adventures that lay ahead! Hello to everyone in the US :) USM Tanzania group. ... read more

Hello Everyone, We had a great bon voyage dinner tonight at the Lucey's home. Thanks to the Lucey family! See the photo (missing Eli and Adam). We are off in two days and all very excited for the experience. We also learned a bit of Swahili tonight from Alex Tarimo--one local Tanzanian Connection. So now we can at least say "Hello" (jambo) and "How are you" (habari). Here is where we will be going: USM Tanzania 2008 07/6/2008 Visiting International School of Moshi. 08/6/2008: Service work in Arusha. Visit St. Lucia Aids Hospice and Orphange. www.stluciahospiceandorphanage.org, www.karamaconnection.org 09/6/2008: Visiting St. Judes in Arusha. Return to St. Lucia for service work. 10/6/2008: AIDS/HIV education day…. Hospital tour and visit Mt. Meru Hospital; OVERNIGHT HOME... read more