My 23 year old son (future owner of Shag) and his girlfriend are spending the summer in Tanzania as volunteers for the following association. They've been gone for 3 weeks now out of an 11 week mission. Though initially we all tried to talk them out of doing this crazy idea, I am so proud of them both now. They're in a part of Eastern Africa in a small village called Tabora which is out in the middle of no where, working at a school.
http://www.volunteerafrica.org/
Here's some of the email I just received:
Hey everyone. Life is going really well. The kids are really getting used to having us around and are calling us Brother Chris and Sister Lauren...so cute. Their English is progressing so quickly that it's making some of the past volunteer jealous, and leaves them scratching their heads as to how we can be so successful yet they couldn't do it nearly as well.
We already have favorite kids here, which is really bad but it's so hard not to have favorites. My favorite is a little boy named Hamisi Christopher, he's 10 years old, and has the cutest optimism and bright smiles I've ever seen. The ages of these kids range from 8-17, most however are in the 10-13 age range. It's so cute when the little boys/girls will grab our hands when we walk them home. They are so different from the little kids in the US as they are so grateful for what we provide for them. Our money goes to their meals, clothes, schooling, boarding school living expenses, etc. I've told Lauren that I'm checking her suitcase before we go so she doesn't have the temptation of stealing any of the children. I'm getting more and more interested in sponsoring a child...specifically Hamisi...if not maybe this other one mohammed. That means every year I'd wire the sponsorship program $1000-$2000 US dollars and this would pay for Hamisi's education and allow him to get a proper education at a boarding/private school...either Rockin Hill or St. Francis. It's an incredible opportunity for these children to go to either of these two schools and I'll definately think about it more and more, but I've developed a real attachment with a couple of these (children)...in swahili (watoto). The boys especially have taken a real liking to me. The fact that I'm athletic enough to play football/soccer with them, and be that goofy older volunteer who is kind of like an older brother/father figure to them, they really latch on to that sort of friendship...even the ones who are a little behind in english still make the attempts to speak swahili to me.
On the Swahili subject, mine has developed really well. Simple phrases and gestures have become so easy to me...ordering food from the market and bardering with taxi drivers has gotten easier as well. Lauren and I have taken Piki Piki's...which are taxi's except of motorcycles...don't worry there from really short distances and the only reason why we occasionally take them is because they're much cheaper than splitting a real taxi. Lauren doesn't like the motorcycle concept so don't worry...it's definately not a habit for either of us.
The town of tabora is pretty hectic at times. The mentality in this country is that cars don't look out for pedestrians, pedestrians look out for cars...cars will not stop for you if you're in the middle of an intersection...so crazy. Most of the cars here are Toyota's, I haven't seen a single American Car, and only about a half dozen European cars...mainly old Land Rovers and BMW's. No one is getting sick or ill. I've found a place nearby that sells instant coffee...thank god. I was going through caffeine withdrawals like crazy. The currency exchange is awesome here. 1300 Tanzanian Schillings equals $1 US Dollar. We pay our nanny/housekeeper (Adella) $5000 schillings each per week and that takes care of our lunches and dinners from monday-saturday...sunday we're on our own. My cooking skills have gotten a little better in the process...nothing worthy of bragging about...but better
Other than that, the other house mates aren't too bad...there's definitely some strong personalities and a lot of ego battles, but nothing too extreme for either of us to handle. We'll try to check our emails about once a week. It's not too bad, $1500 schillings gets you one hour of internet access...roughly $1.25 US dollars. It's about a 25-30 minute walk away from the house and it's kind of in a inconvinent direction unless we walk a certain group of kids home. Half live in Kanyenye about a 30 minute walk away from HAPO...the other half live in Kiloleni...about a 45-50 minute walk. We try to walk the kids home everyday...alternating between the two cities...to be fair and everything.
Otherwise love you guys. Lauren says hi to everybody...we miss home but we're having so much fun out here that we occasionally forget that we still have home to go back to. Miss you all.
Chris
http://www.volunteerafrica.org/
Here's some of the email I just received:
Hey everyone. Life is going really well. The kids are really getting used to having us around and are calling us Brother Chris and Sister Lauren...so cute. Their English is progressing so quickly that it's making some of the past volunteer jealous, and leaves them scratching their heads as to how we can be so successful yet they couldn't do it nearly as well.
We already have favorite kids here, which is really bad but it's so hard not to have favorites. My favorite is a little boy named Hamisi Christopher, he's 10 years old, and has the cutest optimism and bright smiles I've ever seen. The ages of these kids range from 8-17, most however are in the 10-13 age range. It's so cute when the little boys/girls will grab our hands when we walk them home. They are so different from the little kids in the US as they are so grateful for what we provide for them. Our money goes to their meals, clothes, schooling, boarding school living expenses, etc. I've told Lauren that I'm checking her suitcase before we go so she doesn't have the temptation of stealing any of the children. I'm getting more and more interested in sponsoring a child...specifically Hamisi...if not maybe this other one mohammed. That means every year I'd wire the sponsorship program $1000-$2000 US dollars and this would pay for Hamisi's education and allow him to get a proper education at a boarding/private school...either Rockin Hill or St. Francis. It's an incredible opportunity for these children to go to either of these two schools and I'll definately think about it more and more, but I've developed a real attachment with a couple of these (children)...in swahili (watoto). The boys especially have taken a real liking to me. The fact that I'm athletic enough to play football/soccer with them, and be that goofy older volunteer who is kind of like an older brother/father figure to them, they really latch on to that sort of friendship...even the ones who are a little behind in english still make the attempts to speak swahili to me.On the Swahili subject, mine has developed really well. Simple phrases and gestures have become so easy to me...ordering food from the market and bardering with taxi drivers has gotten easier as well. Lauren and I have taken Piki Piki's...which are taxi's except of motorcycles...don't worry there from really short distances and the only reason why we occasionally take them is because they're much cheaper than splitting a real taxi. Lauren doesn't like the motorcycle concept so don't worry...it's definately not a habit for either of us.
The town of tabora is pretty hectic at times. The mentality in this country is that cars don't look out for pedestrians, pedestrians look out for cars...cars will not stop for you if you're in the middle of an intersection...so crazy. Most of the cars here are Toyota's, I haven't seen a single American Car, and only about a half dozen European cars...mainly old Land Rovers and BMW's. No one is getting sick or ill. I've found a place nearby that sells instant coffee...thank god. I was going through caffeine withdrawals like crazy. The currency exchange is awesome here. 1300 Tanzanian Schillings equals $1 US Dollar. We pay our nanny/housekeeper (Adella) $5000 schillings each per week and that takes care of our lunches and dinners from monday-saturday...sunday we're on our own. My cooking skills have gotten a little better in the process...nothing worthy of bragging about...but better
Other than that, the other house mates aren't too bad...there's definitely some strong personalities and a lot of ego battles, but nothing too extreme for either of us to handle. We'll try to check our emails about once a week. It's not too bad, $1500 schillings gets you one hour of internet access...roughly $1.25 US dollars. It's about a 25-30 minute walk away from the house and it's kind of in a inconvinent direction unless we walk a certain group of kids home. Half live in Kanyenye about a 30 minute walk away from HAPO...the other half live in Kiloleni...about a 45-50 minute walk. We try to walk the kids home everyday...alternating between the two cities...to be fair and everything.
Otherwise love you guys. Lauren says hi to everybody...we miss home but we're having so much fun out here that we occasionally forget that we still have home to go back to. Miss you all.
Chris
