So I have officially been here in Tanzania for a week and I LOVE it! It wasn't as much of a culture shock coming here as I thought it would be...but there have been a few things I definitely need to get used to. I think my biggest road block at the moment is overcoming the jet lag and getting used to the 9 hour time difference between here and Utah. Here are some pictures from chapter one of Mi Manifesto (a.k.a. week 1)...
This is the little puddle jumper that took me from the Nairobi International airport to the Kilimanjaro airport in Tanzania.
 |
| This is the lovely bed, complete with bed net that I will be living in for the next 10 weeks. |
 |
| The market in Boma N'Gombe outside the Vocational Training Center. This is only the backsides, but on the front there are beautiful displays of fruits and vegetables that all look delicious! |
 |
| The group of girls I help teach empowerment and English classes to. The girls at the Boma Vocational Training Center are learning how to be tailors in order to earn money to provide for themselves and their families. Many of the girls here want to be teachers, particularly of English in the future and are SO excited to learn everything we have to teach. I LOVE these girls! |
|
 |
| Happy (L) and Janet (R): two of the most enthusiastic girls in our empowerment and English classes. |
 |
| Tyler teaching the women in Boma N'Gombe about rocket stoves--a new method of cooking that reduces the amount of smoke produced in order to reduce the amounts of respiratory and vision problems the women and children in the village have. |
 |
| The front side of a market stand--doesn't it all look delicious?! |
 |
| Neema (Ne-ey-ma), one of the cutest girls I have ever met. She's like a walking dictionary...you can point to anything and say "Neema, sema _________(insert word here)" and she'll tell you the Swahili word for it. I have learned so much in just a couple days! |
 |
| The start of the chicken coop we are building at the HEM Orphanage in Sanya Juu, in order to provide eggs to supplement the childrens' diets and provide them with a money making opportunity in order to sustain the orphanage, which is currently being run on community donations. |
 |
| The HEM Orphanage: home to 29 children, you can see a few of them in the background. |
 |
| The place where the children at the orphanage bathe. |
 |
| The benches where the children sit during school. |
 |
| The foundation for an additional dormitory at HEM Orphanage which will be built in hopes of expanding the orphanage to house more children. |
 |
| The most delightful meal in the world= wali maharague. Translation= beans and rice. I have eaten this at least once a day, sometimes twice since I have been here and I could easily eat it every day for ever...I LOVE IT! |
 |
| A bunch of my team members on a walk to the gas station to get ice cream. There is a big field at the bottom of the road to our house and there were a bunch of children playing soccer that day, so naturally we stopped to play with them for a while. They didn't really enjoy playing with the "wazungu" (translation=white people) as much as they thought they would so our enjoyment was short-lived. |
 |
| We had team "Magical Fun Time" day where we went on a picture scavenger hunt. The caption of this picture was "Taming the Wild Beast." It took me about 15 minutes to figure out how to get on that dinosaur and right before the picture was taken, this random man decided he wanted to be in it too and he jumped right up in about 5 seconds...jealous! I love his blue wellies though :) |
 |
| Austin and Milla Boles (a husband and wife that are on my team) participating in the "Building a Bridge" photo |
 |
| Austin "Swimming in the Ocean." We are inland, so we couldn't find a real ocean, therefore we chose to swim in an ocean of shoes at the Central Market. |
 |
| "Paying the Bride Price" a.k.a. reinacting the Johnny Lingo story. If you were to zoom in on this photo, you would see that Elizabeth and I are giving the camera a serious stink eye. We were not thrilled at the idea of being sold for a mere 5 cows for the pair of us! |
As you can see, I am having the time of my life here. My team is involved in some really awesome projects that I am really excited to get involved in. Tune in for chapter 2 of my adventures next week.
