a new home...moshono village, tanzania

The first time I was in Africa I traveled with a private school based in Toronto, Canada called Blyth Education. Our mission was build a school room for a small village in Tanzania. After the school was built we went on safari. I kept a journal on my computer and here is some of what I wrote.

07/03/07
My day started at 3 am with my first flight from Ironwood, MI to Milwaukee, WI and then on another flight to Toronto, Canada. I must have looked very lost because Alexander (from the view foundation) spotted me and asked if I was looking for the View Foundation. That is when I started to meet my group. 

Hailey, Me, Karsen, Monica, Ella, Kathy
Melissa, Michelle, Izzy

There are 8 volunteers and 1 leader. The leader of the group is named Melissa. There are 7 girls (including me) and 1 boy. The United Airlines plane took us from Toronto to Washington DC. In Washington we had about a 3 ½ hour lay over. I said my last good byes to my family and friends and packed me cell phone away for the rest of the month. We boarded the Ethiopian Airlines plane at about 7:45pm. The total flight from Washington DC to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia is 15hours.
 We stayed over night in Addis Ababa but left early the next morning for Kilimanjaro International Airport. Not enough time was spend in Ethiopia so I definitely want to go back.
07/04/07
From the Kilimanjaro International Airport we took a bus to our village that we will be staying in (Moshono). On the way I took a lot of pictures of people, houses and scenery. The ride to Moshono was when it hit me – I am in a third world country now. It was a big culture shock. There were children running around without supervision wearing no shoes. Women walking on the road with baskets on top of their head as full as they could possibly fill them. I saw two women who were carrying bundles of sticks on top of their heads that were bigger than they were! Yet everyone looked so welcoming and cheerful to have us there. A little girl came running down her driveway towards our buss waving both hands yelling “JAMBO!! JAMOBO!” (Jambo means “hello”). When we got to the house we were staying at, we were greeted by teachers of the school, Munka (our chief organizer/Melissa's "go-to guy"), and 10 amazing school children; one for each of the volunteers. They also had a flower for each of us. My girl was named Jessicar. She is 14 years old and speaks amazing English for her age. She told me that English is her favorite subject. 

Me & Jescar

Munka took the whole group on a walk around the village. We met tons of adorable little faces just waiting to get their picture taken. The children absolutely LOVE to see their picture after they take it. They get such a kick out of seeing themselves and their raffikies (friends). We saw many children playing soccer at a field right next to where we will be building the school. Before I knew it we had a train of children following us down the road.

One woman (pictured above with baby) invited us into her home. What I saw was totally unexpected and heartbreaking. The woman brought us inside to show us her sick and dying husband. He was lying helpless on a bed unable to move himself. He was dying of AIDS. All of us were shocked by her tragic tail; we gave our condolences and went home.
07/05/07
Today is the first day we start building the school. We left the house at 8:30am ready for a full day of work. I love how all of the children come to greet us at the end of their driveways when we are talking to the school were we are building. The school is called Moshono Primary School.  We got a tour and I saw Jescar and went into her class room. Jescar said, “The boys love to do hip-hop”. So Ella and I asked the boys to show us a thing or 2. A young boy named Dennis, who you could tell was the leader of the pack, had his friends crowd around him to decide on what song to do for us. One boy broke out into this beat he was making with his hands and a wood stick on a desk. Dennis and his friend Hassani stood up in the front of the room and started rapping!!! They had awesome dance moves. 

When they said that we were going to be building a school...they really meant it. We started from nothing. We have to dig the foundation for our new school and build up from there with cement blocks and everything was done by hand. Talk about hard work. They only supplied us with 4 shovels and only 1 had a handle. Jescar took me to her home. She lives there with only her Aunt who is a schoolteacher. She said, “My Aunty isn’t here right now. She is away with my Grandmother who is very sick. I live with only my Aunt because my mother died.” As she said that her eyes filled up with tears. My guess is AIDS. 
There was also a little boy named Samuel (pictured below) who attempted to help us on our job site all afternoon.