Building and Teaching

 

Tanzania is a joy-filled country that proves to be just as cultural and vibrant as you might expect. As we arrived in the country, we were greeted with smiling faces from our bus drivers, and it didn’t even matter that it was 12:00 a.m. when we landed. Our first experience in this new place was getting to see the nightlife of the city. The streets were quiet and dimly lit as we drove from the airport to our hostel just outside the downtown area. When we arrived to our first hostel, we were already drenched from the humidity. Each of us had a quick shower and tried to adjust to the heat as we had our first night’s sleep. The second day was mostly spent planning out the logistics of our trip; gathering food, supplies and budgeting both our time and money towards the next five days we were to spend camping in Wangama Village. We were able to walk through the downtown area towards the water where we took photos, walked through a local fish market, visited the national museum and talked to people selling paintings and other items.

We were travelling with the company World Challenge, and part of their program is putting the students as leaders of the trip. This meant that each day a new person was planning the day, getting our tasks in order and reflecting on the day when it was finished. This was definitely new to most of us considering we were in a completely unfamiliar place and we had to put ourselves in charge of our peers and also our own money for the trip. In honesty, this was both a great learning experience and challenge as it taught us to take initiative in order to be in control of our own success.

 

Our second day started with a small hiccup as we had an early start to set off on our 10-hour journey to Wangama. About two hours into our drive we realized that we had left all of the food and supplies we had bought the day before, in the hostel. This turned what was a 10-hour journey into about 14 hours, but it was a great way to catch up on sleep! It is definitely something that we laugh about now though we may not have at the time.

 

The days we spent in Wangama were both challenging and uplifting. We had planned to stay at a campsite called River Valley, however because it was rainy season, there were some issues with flooding and the coordinator of the campsite was generous enough to offer her house to our group! Amanda is definitely someone that we owe our gratitude to. In days where we felt that the pain of lifting cement and bricks were too much, she was always there to help us cook a homemade meal out of what little resources we had budgeted. She was enthusiastic about teaching us the history of the area on a day cooking and dancing with locals as well as making sure that we were well looked after. Sleeping in tents was well worth it when you could see the mountains, bright stars and green fauna straight from where we had set up in her backyard.

 

Most of our days in Wanagama started with an early awakening and heading straight to the local school. For many of us this was the highlight of the trip. We would have to walk up a long, stretched out hill made up of red sand and rocks for about half an hour. It was amazing to see the scenery of the mist covered mountains surrounding us, and breathing in the fresh air of the morning. When we arrived at the school we alternated between helping to build a house for one of the teachers – carrying bags of cement, mixing cement, moving bricks, moving sand and more – and to the classrooms where we taught the kids math, English and multiple games and songs. Their favourites were songs with hand actions such as “baby shark,” “the princess pat” and “the banana song.” Some of our favourite memories from our time there were all the kids greeting us with songs on the first day, dancing with them in their courtyard and playing a netball tournament where they proved their skills to be strong. Their girls team beat us fairly the first day but the next day we were able to redeem ourselves with the help of some of their teachers and easing up on some calls. Needless to say, we were all exhausted by the end of the day from all the hard work and heat. We had a couple of days where it was pouring rain in the morning but it made for a refreshing break from all the sun. One of the days we worked in the morning and went to the city of Iringa where we indulged in some pizza and got to see what life in a Tanzanian suburb was like.

 

We spent our last few days relaxing – one of the days was spent at a safari in Mikumi National Park. This was a once in a lifetime experience for many of us; seeing a breadth of unfamiliar animals such as elephants, giraffes, hippos, crocodiles, warthogs, wildebeests and too many impala to count! We even came within ten feet of a pride of female lions. We spent the entire day there and the next day had our long drive back to Dar es Salaam to head back home.

 

Everyone on the trip was sad to part ways with the magnificent country and to say goodbye to the experiences that we had along the way. Undoubtedly the hardest goodbye was to the children and teachers at the school. It is a remarkable experience to see the difference you can make in simply offering your kindness to others that are less fortunate. However, saying that, we also noticed how much appreciation each person we met had for life and the smaller things. Each person we met greeted us with the most genuine smile and were honestly content with their life. It was an amazing adventure that each of us will take with us to look back on for the years to come.

 

A huge thank you goes out to our trip leader Jill, who helped us through some difficult times and always kept us in line. Another thank you is to our teachers Mr. Wilson and Ms. St. John who lead us with enthusiasm and were amazing company and amazing role models for each of us. Most of all, thank you to Amanda and the rest of the locals that made our stay as enjoyable as it was. We will definitely never forget this trip.