Today we visited the Makumbusho Vijijini (Village Museum) and toured various houses constructed according to various tribal traditions. Tanzania has 121 tribal groups, we were able to get a taste 10 or so traditional dwellings. The highlight of the visit was a pre-arranged meeting with RESEWO: Regent Estate…
We are getting into our routine! The last three days students have arrived at the church for Swahili class without a hitch. Yesterday afternoon the students walked to Unit House for our weekly discussion and time of sharing and processing. Of course these events are always filled with…
A lighter moment in Swahili class Today marked an important milestone. Students traveled to the church on their own this morning, using daladalas to navigate the various roads to the right bus stops. Remarkably everyone arrived on time! (However today is Maulid Day – so the traffic…
This morning the students were picked up by daladala at the YMCA and we spent the morning at the unit house doing orientation activities. Since we checked out of the YMCA we hauled all our bags to the unit house and this enabled the students to unload the…
Group at Upanga Mennonite Church The 2014 Tanzania SST group arrived safely at the airport this morning and all were in good spirits! We dropped them at the YMCA for a brief rest (they arrived at 4:00 a.m.) after which we met for breakfast and orientation. After a…
Dar es Salaam skyline from the harbor Welcome to the 2014 Tanzania SST blog! We are eagerly anticipating the arrival of 23 Goshen students on Friday January 10th, 2014. If they can escape the bitter winter blizzard pounding the Midwest, they should arrive here in Dar es…
After a flurry of meetings, celebrations, and project presentations in Dar es Salaam, we left on the ferry Friday morning to head to Zanzibar for a few final days of processing, catching up, and preparing to return home. The ferry ride from Dar es Salaam is about…
We just returned from the airport after dropping off 18 of the 22 students for their journey home. We stayed in the airport until we heard that they were boarding. Then we waited outside hoping to get a glimpse of the airplane. Indeed, just 6 minutes after their scheduled departure…
This morning (after a very short night!) we gathered at the unit house for a morning of student presentations (and mandazis, fruit, fresh bread, and cheese). Each student has been working on an interdisciplinary project of his/her own choosing during the entire semester in Tanzania. The goal of the project…
We left Musoma bright and early on Wednesday at 5:00 a.m. without a problem and spent the next 21 hours traveling together by bus to Dar. Wow! It was indeed a long trip, but one filled with good conversation, journal writing (and grading!), and a few (many) naps. We arrived…
