Hello friends, families, strangers who are interested in what we’re doing. We have had another adventurous week in Dar es Salaam. This city is so full of interesting experiences, people, sights, sounds, etc. On Monday the students attended a lecture at the University of Dar es Salaam on the culture…
Forgive the multitude of photos in this post, but we saw so much this past weekend. We visited a town called Bagamoyo (originally Buagamoyo, which means “lay down your heart”). For the history of Bagamoyo, click here. While in Bagamoyo, we stayed at the Livingstone Beach Resort. Although we…
This afternoon the students visited the National Museum of Tanzania (forgive the Wikipedia link; they don’t have their own website). We casually roamed the exhibits to learn about the history of Tanzania, along with other details regarding archaeological findings related to the evolution of humans and animals. There were…
Today we had a much-needed day of play and fellowship. We met up at a nearby beach with some of the local youths from a few Mennonite congregations. Along with normal beach activities, such as swimming, looking for seashells, and building sandcastles, we had some friendly competition with football/soka (soccer),…
Today the students were able to go on their first afternoon field trip to the Makumbusho Village Museum (click here for more information about the museum). It was fascinating to learn about the different types of materials different tribes use to build structure, what kinds of tools in the…
One of the most important components of SST is living with a host family. This helps the students with language acquisition, better understanding of the culture, and providing them with the kind of support only a family can give. Last evening we had a reception for the students and…
Our day began with breakfast and a short orientation about some of the expectations for the next several weeks. The students were very sleepy, but managed to stay engaged in the conversation. After taking a brief walking tour and exchanging some cash at the bank,…
After a long journey, the students have finally arrived safely in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. Now begins the long process of jet-lag recovery, acclimating to the heat and humidity, and adapting to all of the sounds, smells, tastes, and feels of a brand-new (to them) culture. For now, they…
It can’t really be their last day in Tanzania?! Students visited family or did some last minute shopping. Then we had a final chicken choma supper in the old town of Dar, and left for the airport. Except for 4 who are travelling to Kenya before returning to the US,…
In 1964 the island of Zanzibar, which had just experienced a revolution, and the recently independent mainland country of Tanganyika united to form Tanzania. We spent a few nights on Zanzibar reflecting on our time in Tanzania, hearing project presentations, relaxing, and experiencing the coastal, Arab-influenced culture here. In the…
