Christmas Time - Rhinos and Wine

We left organising what to do over Christmas a bit late - in the end we could either go on an animal safari and stay in tents or we could go to a national park (renown for it's beauty rather than its abundance of wildlife) and stay in luxury - we opted for the latter!

However - when we saw the price we were horrified - $195 dollars each per night!! There was no way we could afford that! The kind lady on the other end of the e-mail said that as we had been working in Tanzania she would give us resident fees - just $80 - much better, so we booked!

Christmas Eve arrived and we made our way with our millions of bags to the bus station. Sitting on the bus (waiting for it to leave!) we started to talk about the place we were going to and realised we didn't really know anything about it, we hadn't seen any pictures or heard any recommendations - fear started to set in!

After an hour of sitting on the bus in the bus station the bus finally began the one and a half our journey. We arrived almost five hours later!!! Thanks to blow outs, shoddy spare tyres, Adam changing the wheel and the bus driver running off because he was scared of the bus full of furious passengers! My favourite comment of the journey was when an African lady turned to Adam and said 'what are we to do. Mzungu - you drive!!!'

We eventually reached our destination and our car was waiting to pick us up. A car with just the two of us in is quite a novelty so we enjoyed the journey - that is until the driver said 'you can see the camps tents from here'. At the word tents Adam and I exchanged horrified glances - tents! we'd been promised luxury!! Tales of rip off scams and 'I'll give you special price' started running through our heads - Christmas in a standard three man tent - not my idea of luxury!!

However - we needn't have worried. As we pulled up at the camp 6 men rushed out to greet us - some carrying drinks, others cold towels, others to fetch our bags and some just to say welcome, welcome, welcome over and over again. We were shown to our tent which was in fact very luxurious with proper beds, running water and Adam's personal favourite - a writing table. The highlight though was the outdoor, hot, open air shower - truly fantastic. As we had arrived quite late we were asked to just wash and then come back to the dining tent for a late lunch. The dining tent consisted of a huge dining table, laid with china and silver ware, gorgeous cushions to relax on after dinner and an old working gramaphone to listen to. It really was like stepping back in time.

We soon realised that the other four tents were in fact empty and so we had the undivided attention of the eight staff who waited on us hand and foot. They literally did everything from fetching our drinks to doing our laundry and from accompanying us on walks in the surrounding wilderness to serenading us on local instruments while we sat around the campfire with pre dinner g & t's (one of the most bizarre experiences I've ever had!). Nothing was too much trouble.

I'm sure you'll all be pleased to find out that we awoke on Christmas morning to the worst rain we have ever heard! Luckily though by late morning the rain had stopped and we were able to go and see wild dog and rhino sancturies - with the accompanyment of our transportable bar! The picture shows Adam with his first beer of the day standing next to our rather mud splattered car! Boxing day was scorching though - HA HA!!






We had an absolutely fantastic (but very different!) Christmas which was made even better when we received calls and texts from friends and family back home! We replied to everyone but apparently lots of our texts get 'lost' somewhere on route, so sorry to those of you who didn't receive them!

After an amazing Christmas we were then subjected to an eight hour journey in a moving sauna - Tanzanian's call it a luxury bus! THE LOCALS WERE CONFUSED WHEN I WALKED AROUND IN JUST MY TOWEL, TRYING TO THROW WATER ON THE COALS (GUESS WHO'S WRITING IN CAPITALS??!!) We're now in Dar es Salaam waiting for my little sister to join us (can't wait to see her!) in the morning before we head over to Zanzibar for New Year.




Hope you all had a fantastic Christmas and we wish you all a very happy New Year! HOHOHO!!

Ellie and ADAM xxxx

Our last week in Moshi

After saying our goodbyes to both the secondary school and Sarah's school, as well as numerous goodbyes to mzungu friends who were going home for Christmas, it was finally our time to leave Moshi - the little town we had been calling home for the past eleven weeks.

This town is so amazing - you walk down the street and see such a huge array of bizarre sights- you'd stop and stare if you were anywhere else, but in Moshi it's just normal. Some of our favourites include men pushing enormous wooden wheelbarrows of fruit, brass bands playing whilst jammed into the back of trucks, people carrying absolutely anything on the back of their push bikes or on their heads, Maasai people walking through town carrying huge knives or spears or simply dancing and singing in the street and of course the infamous dalla dallas, rammed with so many people that all an outsider can see is various body parts squashed against windows.

On our last day we went to say good-bye to Sara, Malchiory and Armstrong. We knew saying good bye to them was going to be difficult as we'd become such good friends over the last few months. When we arrived Sara had prepared some traditional Tanzanian snacks for us as a way of saying thank you. It was great to sit in their newly decorated front room chatting and laughing about all the things we had done together. The time came for us to leave but before we went on our way Malchiory asked us to join hands so that he could say a prayer for us. His words were so genuine and from the heart, they were really moving. He thanked God for sending him us as friends and for blessing us with such supportive friends and family. He then thanked us and the other volunteers for all the help and hard work we had put into their home and school. He promised that he would never let what we had started die and that he would do his best to help it to grow and grow. He explained that lots of people come through Tanzania help and then leave, but the work we have all done together is everlasting. By the end of the prayer three of us (Adam doesn't cry!) were in tears.

Hearing Malchiory's words and seeing the completed schoolroom has made us realise just how much support and effort has been given by so many people. Without this help none of this would have been possible so could we just take this time to say a huge thank you to all of you!

After this emotional goodbye we walked back to our old house to say bye to our Mafrican friends who had been living with us. We'd bought Tanzanian football shirts for our gardner and Maasai watchmen which they loved. For our cook and cleaner we'd bought material which they had had made into skirts and tops to wear on Christmas day. They all proudly showed off their new attire and posed for photos. Just as we were about to leave Eliza (the little girl who's mother has died) came home from visiting her Grandmother. We'd bought her a little outfit which she ran and put on, strutting up and down as if she was a model. It was so good to see her again before we left but resulted in another tearful goodbye with lots of promises of letters.

We have had an amazing time in Moshi. We've met people and experienced things that will remain with us for ever. If the next part of our journey is half as good we're going to have a fantastic year!

Adam's intellectual thoughts and observations

As the time is getting near to leave Tanzania I thought that I would share some of my thoughs and observations with you about this place and the affect that it has had on me. (This is Adam writing so if you're expecting something deep and meannigful I'm sorry)

Bus and taxi rides: Forget health and safety! The more that you can get in the better. The record set by us and the rest of the volunteers over the past few months is 9, yes 9, in a normal family car size taxi. Well i say record we started to move and had to stop after a few feet because several of the occupants started to become clostraphobic. (if you were wondering 3 on the front seat and 6 in the back, almost a daily occurance to have 7 in a taxi though!)
Although this seems dangerous i think that in an accident no one would get hurt as there would be no room to be thrown around. Would be a little messy if there were a fire though!!

Safari: Why do people go on Safari wearing there Safari outfits? Safari style khaki hat, khaki shirt with khaki waist coat(must have at least 200 pockets in) khaki trousers with a 2 zip off leg options and khakii walking boots (and probably some Khaki underwear of some sort). YOU ARE GOING TO SIT IN A CAR FOR 12 HOURS A DAY YOU IDIOTS!!! What did they think they would do on Safari? Wrestle loins!! And where the hell do they buy it from? Is there a Safari shop somewhere? FOOLS!!

Local dress and hair: The local dress is as you can imagine typical african style Kangas and brightly coloured material. Why do some Mzungus(white people) decide that becuase they have spent more that 1 day in Africa that they can wear such clothes and then after 2 days get there hair braided or put into dreadlocks. They might aswell put a sign on their heads saying "I WILL BUY ANYTHING, PLEASE HASSLE ME AS I WALK DOWN THE STREET!!!" Why oh why?? AND AGAIN FOOLS!!

Maasai: We had a Maasai watchman at our house and there are loads of Maasai wearing only their Massai blankets (which is actually just their ordinary clothes) with knives and spears etc as you walk around Moshi. I had become totally desenseatised to them until i left Moshi and suddenly i have really started to miss them. I managed to pick up a little Maasai from our watchman and loved seeing the shock on the faces of Maasai in the street when i asked how they were and tell that i would see them later. The Maaai people are one of the things that i will miss most about Moshi and Tanzania. I would like to say that i have not seen any Mzungu dressed as Maasai, I think that is more to with the fact that the Maasai would KILL them if they did and not for the want of trying!!

Mzungu and teacher: It has become natural to walk around with people shouting MZUNGU, HEYMZUNGU (all one word) TEACHER and HOWAREYOU HOWAREYOU at you in the street. This especially common from the small children in the streets where we live. I will really miss this when we move on to another country. It's been great having the time to talk to people in the streets and get to know the people that we meet every day on our walk to school. I don't think that i will miss "GIVE ME MY MONEY" half as much though!

Sports hooligans: Every country has its fair share of hooligans that attach themselves to a sport as an excuse to fight. However here it is the school girls that are hooligans and not the boys. I have never been scared of a girl in my life before (apart from some of the Ukranian gymnasts!) but these girls really were scary. If the football grounds of England were full with these girls the police would have there work cut out. The chanting would be more entertaining too as they sing their insults to each other beautifully!

Weddings: Not mine of course. When someones got married there is a long procession through the streets that includes at least one truck that has a whole brass band stuffed into it. No matter what kind of day you are having the sound as one of these processions going past can cheer you up (and make your ears bleed!)

Cheap beer: Over the last few months i have been treated to a wide aray of beer that costs 40p a bottle. I was horrified yesterday when in Dar Es Salam i had to pay 80p! What will i do when i get back home?

These are some of my thoughts, not all of them of course but i hope that you have enjoyed them!!

Saying bye

Our last day at Sarah's school came round far too quickly. We organised a party for the children and loads of volunteers came to help us. We all had a fantastic time playing games, dancing to Christmas music and eating party food. Adam and the other male volunteer Owen did their usual tricks of throwing children over their heads - the children thought it was great!

All too soon it was time for the children to leave. I was in tears again (I'm not great at good-byes) and so were some of the children. It was really sad saying bye but at least we know that they now have a fantastic new school room to work in.

Final update on Sarah's School

We are pleased to be able to tell you that at last Sarah's school and her new home are finished. Sarah and her family are so excited about spening Christmas in their new home. Thank you so much for making this happen.

Here is a picture of the new classroom. We came back from safari last week to find this huge blackboard had been fitted - isn't it fab! The benches and desks are also now completed and the floor has been painted a dark green colour. It looks amazing - pictures really don't do it justice. All of the children love their new room and are looking forwards to school starting properly in January.


As all of the work that we could actually help with is now finished we have spent a couple of afternoons working with the children to make displays for the walls. It's been great spending time with the children again and they've had so much fun cutting, sticking and painting!

Other work that has been completed includes the rest of the rooms in the house being painted and wire meshing put over all of the windows to increase security. A tap has been fitted and connected to the side of the house which means Malchiory no longer has to carry 40litres of water on the back of his bike each day. Sarah thinks she's in heaven. Even better than that, the water supply has also been connected to the toilet so that it now flushes - fantastic!

It has been fantastic to be part of this project over the last few weeks. Sarah and Melchiory are so proud of their new home and school. They have promised to keep us up to date with what is happening. It feels really good to know that our time here has been productive and we've actually been able to change someones life. Thanks again guys, without your support none of this would have been possible.

Musical chairs

Our last day at school finally arrived. Our time here as gone so quickly we really can't believe that it's nearly over. Teaching in a secondary school where children walk for an hour and a half just to get to school and then get sent home because they can't afford to pay for their education has been a real eye opener. Children out here really value their education and they realise what a crucial part learning English will play in their future. It's been fantastic to be able to help these children and to see their confidence and ability grow day by day.

On our last day we decided to have a couple of fun lessons followed by a party. We prepared some traditional party games (musical chairs and pass the parcel) but weren't sure how they would go down. The pupils loved them. They thought musical chairs was the best game ever and couldn't believe that every time you took a layer off in pass the parcel you got a prize. We finished off with a game of musical statues which even our teacher joined in because she wanted to win the prize!!

We ended our party with party food and chocolate cake - I think the staff enjoyed it even more than the pupils. We were just about to leave when four girls from our classes told us that they had written a song and a short speech that they would like to perform for us. I had been on the verge of tears all morning and this was the last straw! These girls had taken the time to write and practice their song and speech for us in their own time. It was really touching and the English they used was brilliant. It made us both feel so proud and lucky to have been able to work with such amazing children.

Sarah's School - Part II

It has been all systems go with the work on Sarah's school. I really don't know where to start as so much has happened! Thanks again to all of you who have supported Sarah and Malchiory to fulfil their dreams (open a school of their own and live in a house that isn't shared - not unrealistic in our society).

This is a picture of the school just after we had started work on it. Most of these low branches have been cut off now to allow more light into the building. The door you can see leads into the classroom.









This picture shows the walls after they have been undercoated - they still look revolting. Everything out here gets dirty so quickly and isn't helped by us not having a supply of running water to wash things down with. After we'd undercoated the walls we started cleaned the ceiling only to discover that lots of the boards were rotten and needed replacing.

Do you like Adam's traditional African dress?! We don't have any 'painting' clothes with us!



We painted the new ceiling boards before they went up - much easier than using our rollers attached to sticks! The ceiling fitters then came and took the old ones down ready to fit the new boards. However, as the boards came down so did ten years worth of bat droppings - the smell was awful! After Malchiory had cleaned them up the ceiling fitters nailed the new boards up for us - they didn't have any ladders and instead balanced on a piece of wood which was placed precariously on two huge barrels! You can also see the new doors and shutters in this picture - don't they look fab?!

After we had undercoated the walls of all of the rooms we began to apply the colour. Sarah has chosen a pale green for the school room, a disgusting bright yellow colour for her bedroom and a nice cream for their living room. After she saw the yellow on the walls of her bedroom she wanted to exchange the cream - it took about 5 of us to talk her out of it! The classroom is now finished and looks amazing!

The school has been named 'Shining Star' as Sarah used to live in the old Marangu Shining Star restuarant. One of the volunteers designed a sign (sorry about the sideways view!) to go up outside the school and we have made leaflets to distribute around the local area.

I'll update again soon!

The big move!

The day finally arrived when the new house was secure enough for Sarah, Malchiory and Armstrong to move in. As there is no way Malchiory could afford transport to move his furniture Adam, I and a couple of the other volunteers offered to help him. We turned up at his house mid afternoon one Saturday to find him still packing. We waited, and waited and waited. Finally as dusk was beginning to fall Malchiory said 'now it is time'. It turns out that if you are moving house in Tanzania you do it in the dark so that no one can see what you have! As we thought we were moving during the daytime we only had one head torch between us and there is a good mile inbetween the two houses - part of which is over a field! The furniture out here is so bulky that we decided the only way to carry was in traditional African style - on our heads! Not an experience we want to repeat in a hurry!

Scary safari!

Last weekend we set off on safari with 3 other volunteers. We all arrived together and have got to know each other really well over the past few months so were looking forwards to spending some time together before going our seperate ways.

Finally it was time for us and our many bags to be loaded into our battered car and begin the painfully long and dusty journey to the first of three game reserves we would be visiting. We had a brilliant game drive and stayed in quite a luxurious camp site that even had warm showers (quite a novelty for us!).
The the next morning we set off for the Serengeti. Unfortunately our car had a bit of a suspension problem - not great when you're travelling along miles of dirt raods - to compensate for the problem we drove even slower than normal so our journey seemed to take for ever! We finally got to the Serengeti and went for a game drive where we saw loads of lions before we arrived at our campsite. I'm not really sure if you can call it a campsite - it was literally a toilet and a lockable hut to eat in in the middle of the serengeti - no fence! We were quite nervous going to bed - especially as a few weeks ago some of our friends stayed at the same campsite and their tents got attacked by bushpigs! We heard loads of animal noises during the night but luckily all survived to tell the tale the next day!

After an early morning game drive we packed our tents up once more and headed to Ngorongoro Crater. We were camping at the Crater rim and so had amazing views across to the other side - some 20km away! We went to bed quite early as we had arranged another early morning game drive. We hadn't been in bed long when we heard a munching sound outside our tents. We carefully unzipped our tents only to see an enourmous buffalo literally feet from where we were camping. He didn't seem to like us all looking at him and stopped eating and just stood really still, staring right back at us! One of the girls we were with reminded us that we didn't have to worry as there was an armed ranger on the campsite and he would surely appear soon to chase the buffalo away. As the minutes ticked by we realised he wasn't coming and then Adam kindly reminded us that earlier our guide had told us that buffalos were most prone to attack when they are on their own and they feel threatened - great! We needn't have worried though - the buffalo wasn't interested in us and after a while carried on eating before slowly moving away!

We had a fabulous, if sometimes slightly scary, few days!

Armbands at the ready!

To raise the profile of Sarah's school a bit (and also because we enjoy it!) we decided to take all of the children swimming last week. Sarah normally has about 15 children at school however on swimming day there were 28! Armed with loads of armbands and lots of other volunteers we set off to the local pool.

When we arrived we asked if anoyone could swim and were surprised when quite a few children put their hands up. After a couple of children had jumped in and been caught by volunteers we realised that being able to swim just meant jumping into the water (preferably in the deep end!).

A brilliant time was had by all and the day ended with 28 very tired, happy children walking back to school (and 7 shattered volunteers heading for the nearest bar!).

Pitch invasions and penalties!

After 8 weeks of training two different schools football teams myself (Adam for those of you who think it's always Ellie who writes the blog!) and the only other male volunteer decided it wasd time that they had a game against each other.

The date was set for a Friday afternoon after school. We couldn't believe it when the other team turned up - they had brought along the whole of their school for support! Luckily our pupils decided to hang around and watch too so that we wouldn't be out numbered!

The match began with 10 African children and one adult mzungu (me and Owen!) on each side - we decided this was definately an opportunity not to be missed and wanted to play!


After a close first half which ended 1:0 to us the second half became far more one sided. My team scored a further 2 goals and managed to score off a penalty so it was 4:0. Every time a goal was scored all of the supporters invaded the pitch, mobbed the players and then began taunting the other side shouting "you are fat" and "your father is a theif"!! It was approaching the final minutes and the match looked as if it was over when a player on the other team was 'accidentally' hacked down in our box and was awarded a penalty in extra time! It was a nerve racking couple of minutes with both sets of supporters shouting abuse at each other - suddenly the crowd went silent as the player began to run up to take the penalty - our goalie managed to get a hand to the ball which sent it crashing into the bar and then bouncing off the line before ending up on the pitch! The game ended 4:0 and as you can see from the picture, another pitch invasion!!

Rotten bananas and removable fingers!

Last weekend Malchiory asked us to visit his village with him. We were intrigued to find out what kind of background he came from so we went along. We took a dalla dala to his village and then began walking through beautiful banana plantations. We were treated as a bit of a feak show though as mzungus never visit the village. Children would spot us walking up the road and would run to fetch their friends and parents who would all come out and say hi. Sarah wanted to know if she came to England if she would be treated in the same way - she thought people would shout 'African' and point at her.
Before Malchiory took us to his mothers house we stopped off to visit his aunt. Malchiory was disappointed that she wasn't there as if she was she could have shown us his uncle's skull!! Apparently a local belief is that after 12 years of being buried the wife traditionally digs up the husband then reburies all of the bones but the skull. She cleans this and keeps it in the house as she feels safer having a mans presence about!

Malchiory then took us to his mother's house (picture above) where he and his 10 brothers and sisters were born. Imagine twelve people living there?! All of his brothers and sisters are really close in age - sometimes only 8 months between them! His family were all very welcoming and insisted that we try some of their home brew which is warm, lumpy and made from rotten bananas - nice! Adam kept Malchiory's many nieces and nephews entertained (and quite scared) with his 'removable magic finger!' - a trick which he learnt from his uncle many years ago (which he now recalls absolutely terrified him as a child!).

It was really inspiring to see the background that Malchiory comes from and how hard he has worked to achieve everything he now has.

If Adam was Tanzanian he'd be a Chagga!

The English teacher at our school, Beatrice, comes from a local village that is about an hour and a half away. A couple of weeks ago she asked us to go with her to see her family in their home village. We arranged to meet at 8:00 am (on a Saturday!) in town where we would then catch a dalla dala up to her village. We had been out the night before as some of our friends were leaving and it was also another volunteers Birthday so when the 7:00 alarm began to ring we weren't in the best of moods! We made our way into town and she took us to the dalla dala stand where we were rammed onto the busiest dalla dala I have ever seen. Seriously, it should have heldabout 16 people and instead there must have been 30 on it! We arrived in Uru about 45 minutes later where Beatrice pointed to a really steep hill and said this way!! About an hour later we finally reached her village and were welcomed by her Grandmother and her father. Her Grandmother was amazing, she is in her 80's and still farms the land by hand - picking and sorting the coffee beans. Her father welcomed us in what is apparently a traditional chagga manner - he gave us each a bottle of beer and said 'karibu!' (welcome) - it was only about 10.00am and we were still feeling the effects of the night before!

We spent the day looking round her village, meeting other members of her family who were all extremely friendly and drinking beer (it's the Chagga way!). We decided that if Adam was Tanzanian he'd definately be a Chagga!