Asante Sana!

In many ways, it is rather unfathomable that we are (attempting) to write our final blog post from the Noloholo environmental center. Our time here is winding down and before we embark upon our safari, there is much to tell in order for you all to get a glimpse of what we have been up to. First, a comment on the blog posts. We apologize that we have not posted more; however, the internet here, deep within the bush of Africa has proven to be incredibly scarce. While this is actually a very welcome change to our often fast-paced, “connected” lives in the States, the only drawback has been an inability to get posts to you in a regular fashion. Just this morning, for example, I have woken up an hour and a half prior to the morning wake-up call in order to post this blog entry, only to sit in front of the blog page that took nearly 45 minutes simply to load. For this, we apologize. However, please understand our situation and you can be rest assured that our disconnection from the cyber-world has facilitated a much deep connection in the Tanzanian world. 

A recap: As previously mentioned, we have finished the service component of our project. The library in the small, neighboring village of Loibor Siret is as completed as one would hope to expect in 10 days of intensive work. The brick walls have been completed, plastered with many, many wheelbarrows full of hand-mixed mortar and the roof (including skylights) is finished as well thanks to some hand sawing and hammering. Pictures to follow. Additionally, we have completed our teaching component in the Loibor Siret Primary School with every one of our students having an opportunity to take on the roll of a teacher. Meaningful and often powerful lessons were shared with a lot of oversight and guidance, especially from our group leader Yara Abad – our teacher in residence. Finally, we’ve completed creating an entire organizational system for the library and the 15 boxes of books we brought with us. We devised a simple, yet effective system to mark each and every book as fiction, non-fiction, environmental education, or reference and also included a color coded reading difficulty level on each spine in order to align with a student’s reading level. As well, each book has been individually stamped, numbered, and cataloged in a computer system by our students. We have hand painted signage for the library indicating where each book can be found, how to determine difficulty level, and also hand built two book shelves (creatively conceptualized by our own Zeke Nelson) to serve as prototypes of what the remainder of the bookshelves can look like in the library.  The students have also chipped away on their independent projects, including (as an example), obtaining two Hydraid bio-sand water filters to serve the children of the Loibor Siret schools with clean water. Conner Seeton and Molly Pickerill, the two students spearheading this particular independent project, have run water workshops for children highlighting how to keep water from being contaminated, explained what contaminated water can do to a person, and then created a “water advisory team” made up of individual students from the Wildlife Club to continue monitoring the development of the water filter project going forward after we depart. This is just one example of the 15 independent projects being completed by our students. 

For those parents out there with students on this trip: nice work. Each student has been wonderful, productive, inquisitive, reflective, and without complaint the entire trip. Their work has changed a community. Their smiles have bridged language and cultural barriers. Their participation has made this trip very rewarding as the leaders of this trip. For this we thank the parents of our students - asante!

These are just a few brief highlights of our work and efforts. It is impossible to highlight everything. All of these efforts were rewarded yesterday when a formal ceremony was staged at the primary school dedicating the soft-opening of the library. This was “a big deal.” The ceremony lasted the entirety of the afternoon, was covered by the national press, a national television news station, and included representatives from the national congress and regional leaders. It was a testament to not only our efforts, but the many years of work and support that our friends here at the African People and Wildlife Fund have put into this particular community. The community’s appreciation was overwhelming. Songs, dances, and speeches ensued. Each student was gifted beautiful, handmade traditional Maasai garb for their efforts.  As the representative for the national congress mentioned, we have built the first library of its kind in the entire region, and more than likely most of the regions of Tanzania. He went on to say that it not only serves a community, but it also serves as inspiration for the Tanzanian government as a vision of what is possible for their remote, pastoral communities and their schools. Without a doubt, we have been welcomed back to Tanzania with open arms. In addition, as previously mentioned, we were able to gain insight into the scope of what the African People and Wildlife Fund is doing for the Maasai people (and wildlife) in this wonderful part of the world. This library was their idea and as significant and intensive as the work was, it is but a fraction of what the organization is accomplishing every day. There are many non-governmental organizations across Tanzania, but APWF, lead by Dr. Laly Litchenfeld and her husband Charles Trout, stands out as an organization of the highest integrity, effectiveness, and vision. 

Finally, our day ended yesterday with a great feast and celebration back at APWF’s Noloholo Center. We participated in traditional Maasai dances and enjoyed our last evening prior to departing today for our two and a half day safari. It is with incredible sadness that we depart our new friends and new family. It is with incredible joy that we celebrate our accomplishments and future together. We will update again after the safari has been completed – until then, we thank everyone at APWF and the village of Loibor Siret with the highest respect and gratitude possible. We humbly leave this chapter of our project changed and inspired. We will continue to post, so stay tuned!

Asante Sana,

Mark