"I believe there is no sickness of the heart too great it cannot be cured by a dose of Africa. Families must go there to learn why they belong together on this earth, adolescents to discover humility, lovers to plumb old but untried wells of passion, honeymooners to seal marriages with a shared sense of bafflement, those shopworn with life to find a tonic for futility, the aged to recognize a symmetry to twilight."

The last week here?

I cannot believe that I have just started my last week at Kisampa. Time has FLOWN by and I don't know where the last 1o months went. I feel like I should have at least another month here!

The seedlings have been planted, slowly but surely. They have planted several hundred so far, and I am looking forward to seeing more this week. I will post pictures soon. Everyone seems really pleased with the project, and it is definitely starting to rain A LOT, so the seeds should do well!

A few days ago, I shot a gun for the first time. Well, several guns. Rob, Jackie, and I took the guns out to a clearing and practiced shooting them. I shot a revolver, a double barreled shotgun, and a 458, that is so powerful it could kill an elephant. Very intense. It was a great experience.

We have a school group coming tomorrow for the next five days, which will make for a very busy final week! On April 10th, I am flying out of Kisampa, up to Nairobi, Kenya. I plan on traveling around the north of Tanzania for awhile to see the Great Migration of wildebeest (among other animals.) Then I will be heading back to Dar Es Salaam, possibly to Mafia Island to go swimming with the whale sharks, then off to Europe on May 1st! I feel very lucky and on the precipice of very exciting travels, so leaving Kisampa is bittersweet. I will miss Sarah and James so much, and have been spending as much time with them as possible. Sarah has actually slept over in my banda with me the past three nights, and will sleep again in my banda tonight! She sleeps on a sleeping bag on the floor next to my bed and is so cute. All she wants to do is play Rummy and listen to Taylor Swift and she is happy as can be. She always asks me when I am going to get a boyfriend, fall in love and get married so I can wear a pretty white dress.

It has been interesting to have my best friend the past three months be an 8 year old girl, and really inspired me to write children's stories as well as appreciate the little things that only kids notice. It will be very sad to leave both her and James and I have vowed to come back as soon as I possibly can.

The seedlings have arrived

Me and the PRESIDENT

Mr. Kikwete

The whole group of us

A funny picture of me next to the President of Tanzania

Today, I met the President of Tanzania. Mr. Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, also known as Mr. Kikwete. It was around 9:30, and Sarah and I were struggling to get school started efficiently. We are reviewing multiplication, as she has a test coming up in the next few days. I had just given her another review sheet when JeanAnne came running up to the house yelling, “The President is coming to Matipwili!” We were all confused, but when JeanAnn asked if we were coming, we didn’t even hesitate. Sarah, James, Jackie, Richard, JeanAnn, Bori (the headman of Kisampa) and I all jumped in the Land Rover and zoomed to Matipwili. In hindsight, it was definitely not necessary to speed there.

We arrived at the village by 10 AM, and it was pretty clear he wouldn’t be arriving for quite some time. We found shady spots where we sat and chatted, and waited. After about 3 hours, around 1 pm, we heard sirens. Then, a police car, followed by 9 other cars, pulled into the secondary school! It was all very exciting, and I felt like I was in a movie. One car had an open top, with tons of soldiers and their guns popping out. All around the president were secret service guards (complete with earpieces.) Then, we were invited into the meeting that Kikwete was having with the village committee!

I forgot to mention, that for this occasion, I quickly got changed before I left into my African skirt, and put on some Maasai jewelry. This was definitely a good idea. After his speech, Kikwete came straight toward me! He said, Hello, how are you? I replied, “Shikamoo” which is the respectful greeting to an elder in Swahili. He said Marahaba, and I replied, “I’m fine, how are you?” It was very bizarre. So, we shook hands and then he moved on.

However, only ten minutes later, Richard and him shook hands, then JeanAnn and Jackie. I was busy taking pictures of all of this when the official Presidential photographer asked if I would like a picture of myself. So, the presidential photographer took pictures of us with the President! It was a great day, and we didn’t get back to Kisampa until around 3:45. I had English class at 4 pm, so I got my computer and camera cord and went to the staff banda. All of the staff of Kisampa leaves work at 4 pm, so soon I had all 30 members of staff huddled around my computer looking at pictures of Kikwete! They wanted to hear about everything, so I told them all about the morning, while one of my students translated. We went through all the pictures (I ended up taking about 200) at least 3 times. Everyone was very excited.

So, that was the big news of the day. English class went well, and my Dad has been able to wire the tree money over to Tanzania to pay for the seedlings. One of my English students, Ibra, is going with a truck to Morogoro to collect the seedlings. I am so happy its worked out so well this far, and pray that it continues to run smoothly.

March?

The past weeks have FLOWN by. A few highlights, so sorry I have been so terrible about updating!

My trip to Dar Es Salaam, a few weekends ago. To get there, I took a car to the river, crossed the river in a canoe, where Muharami, an African, was waiting for me with a motorcycle. I rode on the back of his motorcycle, clutching onto him for dear life, for about an hour through the African countryside. We passed several people’s huts, where the children ran outside yelling, “MUZUNGU!” Muharami took me to Kiwangwa, where I got on a daladala. This one was very crowded, and there were 2 roosters riding as well! People bring everything on these buses- chickens, roosters, food, baskets. I had to switch buses at Bagamoyo, which was confusing, but luckily I asked several people in Swahili where the bus to Mwenge, Dar Es Salaam was. I got on just as it was about to depart, and was therefore stuck with a middle seat in the back. Very smelly and stuffy. Finally, I made it to Mwenge, hailed a cab, and took it to my destination. I repeated this whole journey on Sunday, except I got a ride to Bagamoyo, so I avoided the cab/first bus. Needless to say, I was VERY happy to be back at Kisampa. I don’t want to leave again.

This week we have been FULL of guests. Literally, every single banda has been occupied, and as soon as one group left, another came in! It has been a fun week, and I have really enjoyed meeting everyone that has come through camp. We had 6 Dutch guests, one of whom brought an accordian, which we all enjoyed. We also had 2 tour operators from England, 5 people from Jerusalem, a family of 3 from England, and another man from England who stayed a week.

Yesterday, Ray and I went into the village, to pay the first half of the allowance to the villagers. They wanted something to motivate themselves, as well as a reward for all of the labor they have done thus far. We had an informative meeting, where we discussed the trees that should be coming this week, as well as paying them the money. Afterwards, we heard drumming, and it turns out a traveling dance troupe from Bagamoyo was performing in Matipwili! There were 3 drummers, 2 female dancers, 1 male dancer (in a skirt) and 2 acrobats. They were so talented! They sang, played the drums, and danced. I can’t wait until I have better internet and can post videos!

All of our guests left Sunday evening, so the past 2 nights we have eaten dinner with all of the night staff, and watched movies with them. There are about 5 kitchen guys on duty, plus 2 nightwatchmen. The 7 staff, Ray, Jackie, the children, and I all crowd around my computer and watch movies after dinner. Sunday night we watched Mulan, and last night we watched The Gods Must Be Crazy, which I enjoyed immensely and would recommend to anyone who wants to laugh. Very funny. Tonight, we are going to watch the second one.

This morning I have school, then this afternoon I am working on the trees, planning my trip in April (where has time gone?) and then teaching English. Think Ray and I might run today as well. It poured last night around 3 AM, very calming and wonderful to wake up to the sound of rain. I really like it.

I will try to write more tomorrow or the next day! Sorry I am so bad about updating.

Pictures!

Update, Pictures Soon!

Wonderful News!

Ray and I have made immense progress with the tree project in the last day. Yesterday, we went into the village right after lunch to meet with the committee who was interested in helping us. There were 34 people there- but apparently 53 people had signed up! An amazing level of interest, which was so great to see. I explained the project as Ray translated. They said it was a great idea, but immediately wanted to know if they were going to get paid for clearing the land and preparing everything for the seedlings. Ray and I had decided that we would set aside 500,000 Tanzania shillings, about 400 USD for this first year to go to labor costs. They seemed satisfied with that incentive. Instead of paying them, we are giving the money to the groups to decide what they want to do with it, and no money is going to be paid until the land is cleared.

From there, the 34 people divided themselves into 2 groups of 17. Each group elected a director, secretary, and treasurer. 4 out of these 6 leadership positions were taken on by women. I was really happy with that! Each of the leaders stood up and shook our hands, and we congratulated them. Then, in one of the more magical moments I have ever had in Africa, we all walked through the village together to see the land they had set aside. The are is beautiful. Its elevated, next to the river, and has no trees on it. There is green grass everywhere, and the soil is clearly fertile. I am really excited about it, and think the trees will thrive there.

We took a group picture, which I will upload tomorrow morning, and then walked back where we had a meeting with the leaders, Ray, and I. We explained that they were free to call us at any time about the project, and they were in charge of the trees more than anyone else.

We have placed an order for 2,000 Teak seedlings, 500 Eucalyptus seedlings, and 250 Pod Mahogany seedlings. The remaining 250 we are hoping to buy from the local villagers, as many mentioned they had seedlings to sell.

So, all that’s left now is making sure we have funds! Unfortunately, I am still pretty short of my fundraising goal, and might be ending up having to use more of my own money than expected. Any help from people would be immensely appreciated!

Treesfortanzania@gmail.com