LeahFen

Another volunteer, Helen and I set up a great “explore the forest” lesson with students from one of the villages in Pawaga region who can’t afford to go to school. I came up with the idea because Helen and I went to a section of the forested area on our own that had not been totally cleared (it’s disappearing fast) to find some tree seeds for the nursery that may be set up here. Our trip, and us discovering this forest, inspired me to take these students/peers (they are between 18-20) out to this forest to have an active environmental education lesson on forest ecology. We wanted to teach and demonstrate the importance of forests and the problems that result from deforestation (locally and globally). This particular forest was really good to demonstrate with because it ... read more

Hello everyone. I a so sorry that I have virtualy neglected facebook and the blog this time around. I am much busier than lat time and not only that, the project is much different than last time as well. Unfortunately, since I have been so busy, I have not sat down and journaled very day like I wanted to. The handy journal I brought along with me has turned into: Swahili/English dictionary, a book of random to do lists/notes and a book of schedules.This makes me sad because I already can not remember the details of everyday. It has been such a blur. Life is such I guess. So to bring everyone up to speed: This project stated out as an elephant study. We were tracking them, taking data on elephant raids, movements, etc. It evolved ... read more

I put in the so many bana trees quote because that is what Nesta always says when the two two of us walk into Masele's farm. There really is...so many banan trees. bUt i just love how she says it with her African accent. I spent the last week at Pawaga camp (sadly it was my last...but more on that later). On our way up to Pawaga camp from Iringa, we passed through Ilolo Mpya village, where apparently they were having their monthly 'free market' . Which means anyone can sell anything there. It was huge!! We stopped and took a look around. You could find ANYTHING there, but what stood out most in my mind were the Obama shirts. We saw a couple of kids wearing them. I have been meaning to write about the ... read more

I have spent many facebook and blog posts describing the beauty that I am seeing all around me. However, I don't want to ignore the fact that TZ has its poverty problems as well. And I want to try to paint an accurate portrait of the area I am in. The media in America makes Africa out to be this wasteland of starving children and unsafe environments. It's really not. Once you get the hang of swahili, and accepting that kids will stare at you for being a mzungu sometimes (haha) its really not that different from home. I do not know enough about this region to know who is 'poor' and who is not. I see many kids without shoes on, but at the same time, I see many kids with shoes on. All the ... read more

Oh my, I realized I forgot to write about alot. Although that is good because I just finished eating, (this internet cafe is actually a cafe too...i'll explain more in a sec.) Kylie has more work to do for her project so I will just hang out in here until she is done. I am at a place called Neema Crafts in Iringa. It's a community project, started by a mzungo who runs it. THe computers in here are all state of the art and completely virus free. THe food is fantastic. I had fruit juice, 2 vegetable samosas (which are MUCH better here than in the states...) a dish I have not tried before called ugali (basically just grits..) with beans and cabbage. IT was a nice change from the bland diet we have at ... read more