Tanzania Service Learning Project
Tuesday, September 2, 2014
Thursday, August 28, 2014
Community Presentation: September 3rd 6:30pm (Teton County Library)
Photos: Laying the initial bricks for the library, the group on first day of construction, Maasai Shukas and sneakers, new friends, and the famous baobab tree!
Friday, August 15, 2014
Returning Home
Hi All!
Evan called today from the Kilimanjaro airport to say that the group was about to board a plane to head home and that they were all well and had a very special experience in Tanzania.
If we don't have further news in the next 24 hours, they should be landing in Jackson at 9:07 PM tomorrow on Delta flight #1243.
Look forward to seeing you at the airport and hope you'll stop by our Farmers Market booth tomorrow AM between 8-and noon for some coffee and fun and games. IC 21 is the non-profit of the week!
Have a great weekend and all the best,
Susie and Lina
Evan called today from the Kilimanjaro airport to say that the group was about to board a plane to head home and that they were all well and had a very special experience in Tanzania.
If we don't have further news in the next 24 hours, they should be landing in Jackson at 9:07 PM tomorrow on Delta flight #1243.
Look forward to seeing you at the airport and hope you'll stop by our Farmers Market booth tomorrow AM between 8-and noon for some coffee and fun and games. IC 21 is the non-profit of the week!
Have a great weekend and all the best,
Susie and Lina
Wednesday, August 13, 2014
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
Monday, August 11, 2014
Familia
I remember at the beginning of the trip, as we all gathered
around a table of our hotel cafe, the first conversation our group shared was
about Disney movies. While I never mentioned it, my favorite Disney movie quote
was, “Ohana means family, and family means no one gets left behind.”(Lilo and
Stitch). We have not only become family within our group, but we have become
family within the village. Charlotte has adopted one of her fine students, and
always awaits to see her “baby” as we drive towards the school. Avery has been
adopted by one of the village mamas, and I have been called a daughter by one
of the builders at the library site. During our visit at a Maasai boma (aka
homestead), the giant family of over 100 welcomed us as brothers and sisters.
Blessings and pictures emerged with the exchange of cultures, and by the end of
our visit, no one wanted to leave. Over the short time in this new world, we
have become ohana, familia, family.
-Sammy Douville :)
Saturday, August 9, 2014
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