Mad and Dom here, lemme give you
the 411 on whats going on in swigidy Africa . Just kidding, life in Africa is
going great, Dominic and I experienced our first boda-boda(taxi motorcycle) today.
But, lets start from the beginning…
Woke up,
took the typical cold morning shower-nothing like freezing cold water to wake
you up for the day- ate breakfast and headed off to St. Louis Primary School.
There we helped students with English reading and taught some American games to
the school children. After the morning porridge, Mr. McMorrow asked us to visit
an all girl’s secondary school with him. We then met with Mr. McMorrow’s friend
Juliana who was in charge of evaluating and organizing donations for Elimu
Africa, a non-profit in East Africa. We convinced Mr. McMorrow to let us
experience the one and only boda-bodas. We road these into town where we met
another friend of his Sr. Scholastica. Then took a taxi to St.Marie Eugenie
Secondary School. St. Marie Eugenie started when the Religious order of the
Assumption collected money world wide and gave Pope Benedict a school. Pope
Benedict wanted the school built in Africa; the school was then built just
outside of Moshi.
While at
the school we visited with the headmistress. The reason why we were there was
to discuss the needs of the school and means of meeting those needs. The
boarding school was in desperate want of desks and especially books. While we
would be more than happy to hold fundraisers to collect books, a common problem
we were running into was the transportation of getting the books from Minnesota
to Dar Es Salam, then from Dar to Moshi. Ideas are still being worked out, but
hopefully we will be able to supply what they are asking for.
Part of the mini trip was to understand that
the book drives and other fundraisers are actually making a difference in lives
of countless people we will never meet. Realizing and understanding the work
that goes into helping a school get textbooks also makes you realize how
valuable education is to the development of a person and to the community.
This
experience made us realize how much education is taken for granted in the
United States. Students in America are given the opportunity to go to school,
but sadly most students don’t see the value of the education they receive.
These students see the sacrifices that their parents and family members make in
order for them to attend school. Back in Minnesota going to a private school is
a sacrifice for the parents but in Africa sending your kids even to secondary
school is a life-changing event for everyone involved.
Another
aspect that we experienced on this trip was poor infrastructure. On our way to
St. Marie Eugenie’s we rode a taxi with four people in the back. Most of the
time we were on dirt roads, which resulted in us hitting our heads against the
window every now and then. At one point, when we were in the left lane our car
was level with the right lane. The road got to the point where we couldn’t tell
if we were hitting speed bumps or more potholes. Although this felt foreign
compared to our paved roads, this is a reality that people face everyday. The
simple unkept dirt road made us realize the behind the scenes role government
plays in our life.
When we
eventually made it back to the lodge, we were a little late for lunch so had to
improvise. We made an American Classic, Mac and Cheese and shared some of it
with our cook who seemed to be experiencing it for the first time.
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