Laura Marshall's Trip to Africa
The following post is written by Laura Marshall who travelled to Tanzania last summer after working for a part of the summer at CIC. Laura will return to CIC this summer as the Lead Challenge Course Instructor.
I spent three weeks in the village of Rau outside of Moshi in Tanzania. I could see Mt. Kilimanjaro from my porch when the winter clouds didn't cover it. I went with an organization called Cross Cultural Solutions based out of NYC. When we first arrived at the home base we went through a fully day of orientation. We learned about our placements and safety and about town life. We had to go out into the city and find a point of interest like the bread shop, gas station, the ymca and the hindu temple. We had to make basic conversation in kiswahili to get information. Everyone was extremely friendly and open to help with our language deficits. The children were so adorable and love a camera.
During our orientation we learned about the word "Mzungu". This is basically a word to say "smart white colonizers" from the time Tanzania was colonized. The measure of wisdom is shown through how you dress and your age. If you are dressed "smart" in Tanzanian culture you will recieve the word mzungu as a compliment.
When we went to a local artists house for a visit to see his shop the children outside were saying.. the Mzungu's are here! the Mzungu's are here! It was an odd feeling but a joyous one. The city itself had a mix of concrete medians and mostly dirt roads. There were some roundabouts (clearly British influence) in which cars from every direction drove like a bat out of hell. The public transportation system revolves around these cars called DALA DALA's. These van's fit about 10 people comfortably. In the streets these cars will be zooming by with men hanging out the door, off the sides and on the back. I had the joy of riding in one of these vans (a very short distance) and a nice woman sitting next to me just handed me her baby to hold. The sheer anxiety and muted cultural collision I felt was evident. I luckily didn't have to remain in the position for very long but I will always remember that in depth look at life in Tanzania.
I worked with preschool age kids in a one room school house attached to a mosque. Two years ago to leader of the mosque let the local volunteers use the room. Six months ago they just got desks and uniforms. These kids are so adorable and are so happy with very little. They often break pencils to share them and most of them are ecstatic when they have two shoes to wear one day. The culture is such that sharing is almost mandatory. These kids will willingly take off their shoes and share with everyone else. Anyway, I digress. Before I spent enough time in Africa I had this preconceived notion that all the continent's people must be unhappy because of their poverty. Through the course of spending time in homes, orphanages, local hangouts and at the home base I came away with a deep understanding of the life East Africans lead. Life is simple but hard. Throughout my experiences I became illuminated to the idea of simplicity equaling more happiness. I saw in every situation that there was not a lot of material things, not too many choices to be made in a day. Tanzanians' value relationships just as some in more affluent cultures value independence and material possessions. This simplicity I found to be gold. I saw how genuinely connected and happy the people were to each other, strangers and relatives alike.
As I was spending my final day in Tanzania, I made my way to an orphanage up the road from the home base. I fell head over heals for these kids. I spent a majority of my afternoons there informally teaching some of the kids art. The girls loved playing "Little sally walker". they couldn't get enough of it. I'd walk in the gate and they'd start chanting the song. we played jump rope and made paper airplanes. I remember sitting at my mom's computer after I had returned home and uploading all my photos when I looked at my pictures from my final day and I was still in the same clothes. I felt a wave of accomplishment, joy, sadness and connectedness to a land so far from me. Tanzania is an entirely different world and I find it to be one of the greatest corners of the globe.
Baadaye! (see you later)
I spent three weeks in the village of Rau outside of Moshi in Tanzania. I could see Mt. Kilimanjaro from my porch when the winter clouds didn't cover it. I went with an organization called Cross Cultural Solutions based out of NYC. When we first arrived at the home base we went through a fully day of orientation. We learned about our placements and safety and about town life. We had to go out into the city and find a point of interest like the bread shop, gas station, the ymca and the hindu temple. We had to make basic conversation in kiswahili to get information. Everyone was extremely friendly and open to help with our language deficits. The children were so adorable and love a camera.
During our orientation we learned about the word "Mzungu". This is basically a word to say "smart white colonizers" from the time Tanzania was colonized. The measure of wisdom is shown through how you dress and your age. If you are dressed "smart" in Tanzanian culture you will recieve the word mzungu as a compliment.
When we went to a local artists house for a visit to see his shop the children outside were saying.. the Mzungu's are here! the Mzungu's are here! It was an odd feeling but a joyous one. The city itself had a mix of concrete medians and mostly dirt roads. There were some roundabouts (clearly British influence) in which cars from every direction drove like a bat out of hell. The public transportation system revolves around these cars called DALA DALA's. These van's fit about 10 people comfortably. In the streets these cars will be zooming by with men hanging out the door, off the sides and on the back. I had the joy of riding in one of these vans (a very short distance) and a nice woman sitting next to me just handed me her baby to hold. The sheer anxiety and muted cultural collision I felt was evident. I luckily didn't have to remain in the position for very long but I will always remember that in depth look at life in Tanzania.
I worked with preschool age kids in a one room school house attached to a mosque. Two years ago to leader of the mosque let the local volunteers use the room. Six months ago they just got desks and uniforms. These kids are so adorable and are so happy with very little. They often break pencils to share them and most of them are ecstatic when they have two shoes to wear one day. The culture is such that sharing is almost mandatory. These kids will willingly take off their shoes and share with everyone else. Anyway, I digress. Before I spent enough time in Africa I had this preconceived notion that all the continent's people must be unhappy because of their poverty. Through the course of spending time in homes, orphanages, local hangouts and at the home base I came away with a deep understanding of the life East Africans lead. Life is simple but hard. Throughout my experiences I became illuminated to the idea of simplicity equaling more happiness. I saw in every situation that there was not a lot of material things, not too many choices to be made in a day. Tanzanians' value relationships just as some in more affluent cultures value independence and material possessions. This simplicity I found to be gold. I saw how genuinely connected and happy the people were to each other, strangers and relatives alike.
As I was spending my final day in Tanzania, I made my way to an orphanage up the road from the home base. I fell head over heals for these kids. I spent a majority of my afternoons there informally teaching some of the kids art. The girls loved playing "Little sally walker". they couldn't get enough of it. I'd walk in the gate and they'd start chanting the song. we played jump rope and made paper airplanes. I remember sitting at my mom's computer after I had returned home and uploading all my photos when I looked at my pictures from my final day and I was still in the same clothes. I felt a wave of accomplishment, joy, sadness and connectedness to a land so far from me. Tanzania is an entirely different world and I find it to be one of the greatest corners of the globe.
Baadaye! (see you later)
Labels: Camp Staff, Catalina, Challenge, Summer Camp, Travel
posted by Tom Horner at
8:41 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home