Wednesday, August 22, 2012

August 15: Shoping, touring and working alongside great company


Instead of taking the weekend off, we worked through it so today is a break day. Most of the gang has headed for a day adventure to a historic town, Bagamoyo for some shopping and touring. Tracey and I have stayed back for some peace and quiet and relaxation. The project is progressing well, with the wooden tables and benches are now coming together. We did some sanding and Corie, being the trooper was nailing the screen frames into the windows while we burst into a round of “I am woman, hear me roar”. She keeps the camp staff, locals, children and all of us laughing. We had a relaxing evening at the camp and walked Corie through “The Passion Test” to get clear on her top 5 passions – a fun process. Lauren is next! Yesterday, we walked to a beautiful spot on the river – a shallow area where we are less likely to encounter crocodiles. Having said that, it is the same river we toured closer to the opening to the Indian Ocean and saw a rather large crock enter the water. We enjoyed beverages with other guests that visited Kisampa. They are working on a solar power project, so we met Fabio, the master mind and Peter, the head of Tanzania energy as well as a potential investor from New York. We then enjoyed appetizers, a fabulous lasagna dinner followed by mud pie – wonderful! We will have two more days in the village before a brief holiday in Zanzibar during their Ramadan. Many of the Muslim staff have been fasting from sunrise to sunset for a month ending on the 20th. We also had a special invitation to the home of a beautiful Masai Justine and her wonderful mother and family to celebrate a special holiday with them. The local people have been so wonderful and friendly and very gracious hosts.

Tomorrow we will bring our gifts to the school for the children. Bev gave Jeanann and Richard (DWC's host partner contacts) 300 eyeglasses which they found a wonderful home for in Dar es Salam. We have also been able to make some fabulous purchases in the village. Bev had a dress made and a mat of straw. There is also a lot of beautiful jewellery and I purchased a dress with an African bead necklace sewn into the neckline. We walk to lunch daily, often with several children at had – sometime one per finger. They serenaded us with some of their songs including their National anthem for Tanzania. The government has been particularly successful in uniting the country of many tribes and faiths. Making English the official language has been part of that success. Borie explained that they have very little crime in the village because everyone knows each other – so this transparency keeps problems to a minimum.

It has been a precious time and experience to be here….more to come…

Edye St.Hill
DWC Team Leader
Tanzania, August 2012

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