Sunday, June 30th

Yo yo yo wazzuppp—Ashley here… in a bit of a goofy mood so bear with me as I attempt to tell you about my unbelievable day. 

This morning I woke up at 6:30 with a blue mosquito net in my face—a lovely mosquito net, which I am very thankful for. Grace and I quickly got dressed in our Sunday best (aka dirty skirts and white v-neck tees) and walked with our Banjika friends, Shawatu and Elionora, to the Catholic church in the area. Wow..what an unbelievable experience. The service was beautiful—even though I had absolutely no idea what was going on. I don't quite consider myself an expert in Swahili yet, but give me a few more days and maybe I'll get there. We sat in a room filled to the max with people, singing and dancing, praying and listening. Sally and Madison walked back home with us, and joined us for our first breakfast of the day. And then we went to their house and had breakfast number two (For those of you who don't know, breakfast really isn't my thing..but I LOVE potatoes. And let me tell you, they eat a lot of potatoes for breakfast here. BOOYAHHH… yes, I said booyah). After a beautiful walk home, Grace and I got out the gifts we brought for our home-stay family. We took all of the kids into a dark room and brought our some glow-in-the-dark bracelets and that was the coolest thing ever for them. They were so genuinely happy. But then we brought out the soccer ball, and oh my goodness that was the jackpot. They ran around playing with it like I had just given them a million dollars. To me, it was just a soccer ball. But to them, it was everything. I am so blessed to have seen those sweet children's smiles—nothing will ever compare. Unfortunately, then the time came to say goodbye and it was one of the most difficult moments of my life. The family was so welcoming, and I will never be able to fully explain what I experienced those two days in their home. Our Banjika friends joined us at the campsite for lunch, and then headed home as the rest of us were given the luxury of taking showers. I went on a long walk with Ms. Morgan and Casey around sunset and it was so beautiful. I am so thankful for that time to just talk about life and our experiences here. Now, I am sitting here eating a wonderful dinner at the table surrounded by some pretty unbelievable people, laughing at Greg (a daily occurrence). On a more serious note, I have no words to explain how proud I am of this group for the work we have done here.I know we will all forever be changed by the people with have met here. 

Ok, that is all I have for you. I hope you have a good night..or wait, I actually have no idea what time it is in Nashville so it could very well be morning. Have a good, uh, time :) Thank you for this indescribable opportunity.

~Ash

Hello all! Sally here. Ashley and I thought it would be easier to write individual entries because we both had such different, incredible experiences with our home stay families. On Friday, I woke up with excitement for the following two days but I was a bit nervous and questionable of what to expect of the families. Madison, Naomi, Deborah and I walked along the main road about an hour to Naomi's house where we were kindly greeted by her family. Immediately, we were offered coffee and politely accepted. I rarely have coffee and when I do it's in a mocha or sweet drink from Starbucks; so, while Naomi and her family looked away, I poured half of my cup with Tanzanian sugar cane (Best coffee I've ever had). When Naomi's mom got back from her shop in Karatu, we greeted her by saying, "Shikamoo Mama" and she then welcomed us with loving hugs. This interaction is now so normal because everyone we have met here has greeted us with so much love and compassion as if we are part of their family. The rest of the night, we played with Naomi's younger brothers and danced to Justin Bieber and Nellie. Funny story… Naomi's brother, Hezekiah, peed on me by accident out of excitement from me tickling and playing with him. That was quite the welcome. After dinner, Madison and I immediately got ready for bed and slept well after our busy day. When we woke, we were served fried bananas and nuts then walked across the road to Deborah's house. Again, we were welcomed with adoring hugs and coffee with chips (fries). The rest of the day, we helped cook (we were given meticulous, easy task like shaking the rice and cutting the green beans), visited Deborah's neighbor's animals and played soccer with her family. By the time we left, we had both fallen in love with Deborah's family and sadly walked back to Naomi's house with full stomachs. It is hard to write about the incredible experiences we had at both the homes in just one email but it was after these two days that I really began to understand the community and their immense love for everyone they know. I am sorry my writing quality has dwindled, I am now writing by the fire, listening to stories and I have lost much interest in my part of the email. (All scholars- I have not proofread my writing and I am way too tired to… please do not judge my Ensworth education) Goodnight! 

Daddyo- Thank you for letting your baby girl leave the country for the first time and let me have this incredible experience. I have fallen in love with another world. I love you and miss you .

~Sal

Saturday June 29 Home stay recap

Coach Leah here! Wow--- what an AMAZING day. What could be better then a rooster being your alarm clock?   Along with the girls, I ventured out to spend the night with a Banjika family last evening.  After talking and visiting the girls today, our accounts seem to be quite similar.  Upon arrival at the houses last night, we were greeted with warm hugs, big smiles, and a "Kanga" which is a piece of beautiful cloth that is tied around your waist.  Shortly after we were offered a cup of hot tea or coffee. After a delicious cup of  "chai" (tea in Swahili) , we starting prepping for dinner.  The kitchen is typically a separate hut that has a cement mound with two holes in the top. Sticks are usually placed beneath where the fire is lit on a dirt surface.  From this spot on tiny stools rice is fried, veggies are chopped and sauteed, meat is trimmed and cooked,  and potatoes are skinned and boiled.  In the corners you often see Hens sitting on their eggs.  I was stirring up lamb and onions when 3 chicks crossed over my feet. Most kitchens are  8' by 10' with a 5' tall doorway. Perfect for me :)  (not for Greg)  Preparation and cooking for a meal usually takes over an hour.

While dinner was cooking we were offered a place to shower. The shower was under the stars, in a tin or wooden stall separate from the house, with a bucket of hot water, cup, and a bar of soup.  Simple, but absolutely perfect.  I have never seen stars SO CLOSE!  After washing up, dinner is ready to be served.  With no electricity, the families gather inside their home (4 small rooms) with lanterns  or candles lit.  Last nights menu was cooked rice, cooked spinach and carrots, lamb potato stew, and fresh bananas from the tree out back. YUM! It is common for Tanzanian families to eat in silence so that was something to get used to :)  Taking seconds is HIGHLY recommended and is a true compliment to this culture.  After dinner we exchanged photos of our families and shared common similarities and differences of our cultures over a cup of tea or coffee. We all felt like princesses with our Mosquito nets hanging above our beds.  Sleep came easy with the deep darkness of the night.  

After a restful night of sleep, the rooster was right on point with waking us as the sun was slowly rising.  As soon as we said our good mornings, we sat down for breakfast of tea/coffee, slices of bread, and hardboiled eggs from the hens in the kitchen.  The morning is also a time for chores.  It is common to see big bins filled with soap and water sitting outside by the kitchen where dishes are scrubbed and rinsed and also bins for hand washing the families clothes.  Floors are hand scrubbed and the dirt in the kitchen is swept.  A few of us also were able to get our hair braided Tanzanian style by the mothers and or daughters.  Sitting still for that was tough!  We all brought gifts to our homestay families to thank them for their wonderful hospitality.  Common gifts were multi-purpose tools, colorful fabric, playing cards, puzzles, and pictures. 

I was picked up by the rest of the leaders in the early afternoon to visit the rest of the home stay sights.  There we saw lunch being prepared by the girls, a cow manure powered gas stove, tons of Kangas, babies being held, hair being braided, games being played, and a lot of smiles. The girls have one more evening with their families.  They will return to the campground in the afternoon.  We are looking forward to hearing more about their adventure! Here is a hug for everyone back home!

-Kari

PS: Picture is of the beautiful Grace Chang holding her home stay families youngest baby girl. 

Homestays

Caroline and Sarah with their home stay family in front of their house.

EnsBan in concrete

The new name of our partnership is a combination of each school's name:  EnsBan.  The students carved it into the concrete.

EnsBan in concrete

The new name of our partnership is a combination of each school's name:  EnsBan.  The students carved it into the concrete.

Work day 3 progress

There is now a 6" thick concrete support beam around the outer walls.

Friday, June 28 2013

Our third day of work at the school began at 8:30 am again this morning.  We were greeted by the workers and began mixing cement.  Cement is mixed by hand with sand, dry cement mix, rocks and water.  We formed many assembly lines to transfer buckets of sand and water.  Shovels are used to mix the ingredients together and we take turn mixing because it is very tiring.  We are all impressed by the work ethic of the men of the village who we are working with on the site.  The students of Banjika take care of the grounds of their school so the girls working on the classrooms is not unusual for them.  Our students continue to work hard and have very good attitudes.  They are working well together and all are taking on part of the work load.  By the end of the day a 6" cement support beam sat on top of the outside walls.

During the time before lunch both sets of students participated in a "Building Utopia" exercise.  Since so many of our students have participated in WLS programs before our students totally took the lead.  They conducted the exercise themselves and engaged in meaningful conversation.  Our students continue to show tremendous leadership abilities each in their own styles.  

Lunch consisted of rice, beef, greens, green beans, carrots, beans, fruit, and mashed potatoes.  Normal days of lunch for the Banjika students is corn, beans and beef.  On Wednesday's they have rice, beans and beef.  

Work ended at 3:00 pm today and each student walked home with their Banjika friend.  They will spend the night at their house tonight and tomorrow night to truly experience village life.

Greg Eubanks

Devo talking to Banjika student

Devo and a Banjika Secondary School student discussing educational issues

Worksite after 2 days

A picture of the work site after 2 days work.  All walls done up to the window level.  Building 2 class rooms.

Work site before

Attached is a picture of the work site from Wednesday morning (day 1).  I'll attempt to send you a picture of the work site after Thursday afternoon.  

Greg Eubanks

Service-Learning Coordinator

Ensworth School

P: 615.301.5407

E: eubanksg@ensworth.com

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Visit us online: ensworth.com

Thursday update

Hey everyone,

Today was our second workday, and we made major progress on putting up the brick walls! Well… let's be honest, the fundi (workers) did most of the work, considering they had to constantly follow us around and make up for our amateur masonry. After a short break of tea, bread, and cookies, a District Education Officer, Mr. Mnyenyerwa (…say that five times fast), talked to us about the political side of education in Tanzania. At the end of his visit, he told us that he had been working on a name for Ensworth and Banjika combined….wait for it…… EnsBa. J

While he was with us, the Banjika students were given an opportunity to voice their opinions on how their school lives could be improved. We split into smaller groups, and had a lot of good discussions—harkness style. After a wonderful lunch made by our cooks, Betha and Leopold (Chuy), everyone went outside for a fast-paced name game and the girls laughed continuously. After all of the laughs, we headed back to work. Some of the Banjika girls decided to strut their stuff and model-walk in one of the classrooms, inviting each of the Ensworth students to come join. Alexandra even taught them some classic dance moves, like the "Charleston," and then went more modern and did the "Cupid Shuffle." After work, our Banjika friends took us into a classroom and taught us some Swahili to use in our homestays! We then went back to our campsite, with our friends, and danced with the elders of the Iraq tribe and it was unbelievably exhausting. And amazing. These elders were jumping up and down nonstop for at least an hour! How is that possible? We all got tired after only about five minutes. We then walked our friends to the street, where they all headed in their different directions home. After some wonderful, refreshing showers, we sat down to dinner, talked about our day, and are now off to our tents to collapse. Goodnight—we love you all J

 

~Madison and Ashley (Leaders of the Day)

Wednesday June 26, 2013: Third Day

 Today was our first workday. We got up at our usual time of 6:30 and had breakfast at the campsite by 7. We then got to the school by 8:30 and began working on the classrooms along side villagers from the Banjika community. We were split in to groups: a group to bring water, a group to bring bricks, a group to mix sand and cement, and a group who laid cement and bricks. We worked for about two hours and stopped for Chai, which is teatime every day in Tanzania. After tea we got with our Banjika students and they took us on a walking tour of their village. Our main focus in the conversation was to ask questions about their lives and find similarities instead of looking at our differences. Lunch was buffet style with all of our students and it is not customary for them to talk and eat, so we tried to continue conversation during the meal. Work continued after lunch for another two hours. At the end of the day before the students had to go home they taught us how to play Net Ball (still confused). Instead of taking the bus home we walked back to our campsite with all of our students and continued to learn about their lives. When we got back to the campsite every showered and Susan did yoga with some of us and Mrs. Morgan went on a walk with other students. Dinner was spaghetti and mashed potatoes, which made some of us VERY happy. We finished the night with a campfire and discussions about our day and the similarities we found with our students.

Love,

Grace and Sarah 

Day #3 in Tanzania

Hello parents:
I hope you are doing well.  We are doing great.  I am trying to upload pictures and text to the blog but am having internet problems.  I'm sitting outside in the grass behind Bajinka School right now because the internet connection seems to be a little better here. This group of students has been amazing.  They have totally embraced the whole experience.  They are completely bought in and have taken ownership of their trip. They have done so many little things that are significant. They always thank the cooking staff for meals.  This morning after the School District Superintendent visited they each went up to him to thank him for coming by looking him in the eye, introducing themselves, and shaking his hand.  They have taken the girls they are partners with in Banjika and taught them songs, totally embracing them. They also are so hungry to learn the language.  They have done all this without any direct prompting from any of the adults.  Several said last night that one of their fears was they would not remember everything from the trip and wanted more journal time.  There has been absolutely no complaining or whining.  They have accepted each other and really want to know more about each other.  This is a special group.

Monday we hiked part of Mt. Kilimanjaro and met with a woman who is empowering other women in her community.  She and the other ladies have done remarkable things in business and showed us an example of sharing ones' possessions with each other.  They started a "bank" to help women who want to join their group because a normal bank won't loan them money without collateral.

Tuesday we ate lunch at a remarkable restaurant that was in a jungle setting and we watched men make artwork from wood.  We also made it to Banjika in the afternoon.  We were greeting by students, parents, the village chairman, the village administrator and 4 village council members.  The students were literally hugging your kids before they could even get off the bus.  We had a bon fire last night and spent significant time talking.  The weather is cloudy today.  High of about 65 degrees.  The low last night was in the 40's.  It was comfortable in our tents though. The girls are staying two to a tent and there is a bathroom facility and hot showers.  We are being well fed and well taken care of by our hosts.  We have all embraced Susan and Tim.  Susan is the teacher from Denver who is our curriculum leader and Tim is the in-country coordinator.  The girls have really enjoyed getting to know them and Susan and Tim have led us well.

This morning they have worked very diligently.  All 10 of them are active and willing to do whatever.  The assistant principal has this whole project very well organized and they have it set up where the students are necessary to the success of the building.  They have been mixing cement, laying brick, spreading cement, and moving bricks.  They have made significant progress on the two class rooms.  And the best part is they are working side by side with the Bajinka students and the men Bajinka hired to help build.  We are all learning about construction today.  Thank you for your financial help in making that possible.
If possible I'll update the blog and include pictures but my connection is very slow.
Here is what the students wrote about the first two days:
Mambo Jambo! (Hello, how are you)
            Sally and Caroline here, traveling was excruciating but we are finally here in Tanzania, as we are reminded by the constant clucking of the chickens.  Today we hiked all of Mt. Kilimanjaro in only 12 hours and 59 minutes, beating the fastest time known to man.  Just kidding, but we did hike about 3 and half miles into Mt. Kili before we turned around.  Sally got a nosebleed, but not to worry we fixed her up “She’s the Man” style, for those of you who know what that means.  Our guide, Benjamin, told us that the view we had from our hike was one the best he had seen in his three years of working, because the sky was crystal clear.  We had the most amazing box lunches including: vegetable pizza, a sandwich, a tangerine, a banana (Casey’s had a slug on it), a muffin, and to finish it off a Cadbury chocolate bar!!!!!!!!! (Caroline was rather pleased).
            We then traveled another hour and a half to the wondrous house of Mama Erik, who prefers to be called by her real name Miriam. She and other women of her community told their inspiring stories of entrepreneurship and leadership in their world where women are constantly restricted by the power of their husband. Ms. Morgan abandoned us to reunite with her cousins who have lived in Tanzania for 33 years! Oh how it tugs at the heart! We saw a real bathroom and we were happy. We got back at the late hour of 8 o’clock and because we were so tired, Tim and Susan are graciously letting us go to bed without doing the planned activities. Goodnight. Sleep tight. The mosquitos surely will bite. We miss you all.            Love,                Sally and Caroline

Day #2 in Tanzania!

Habari!
We absolutely love Tanzania. Our stay at the West Kili Lodge was amazing thanks to Agnes, Father Abraham, and Miriam. I think that we might have been spoiled a little, but everywhere we have been thus far has been beautiful. This morning, we left the lodge and set off to the Banjika School in Karatu. We drove through Arusha and picked up Brooke from her 2nd cousins’ house who are missionaries that travel around teaching in Tanzania. An hour outside of Arusha, we stopped and had a real Tanzanian lunch at Mto Wa Mbu, otherwise known as banana town. While there, we visited the Makonde people who moved from Mozambique during the civil war. They are masters in the art of woodcarving and have grown to love their new peaceful home in Tanzania. After that, we got back on the bus and eventually arrived in Karatu. We were greeted with hugs and bright, smiling faces when we got off the bus at Banjika. All of our partner students welcomed us with open arms (literally) and surprisingly great English! They taught us a Swahili song and we taught them the “boom chicka boom” chant. We then went to the camp groups and moved into our tents.  Dinner was curry chicken, rice, beef stew, green beans, carrots, cucumber salad, and bananas.  Overall, it was an amazing day!!
Abbye Mudter and Casey Close

In Karatu

Hello family and friends of Ensworth School. The students weren't able to get their blog loaded but they will try again tomorrow. They have had a great start to the program. They transferred to the tent camp near Banjika Secondary School today and will start the project tomorrow. All of the students are happy and healthy! More to come tomorrow...

Erin Lasky
Director of Operations

Students are in Arusha

Hello friends and families of the Ensworth Tanzania trip! The students have safely arrived in Arusha and will be heading to the hotel for dinner and a good night o sleep. They are all on great spirits. They will start updating the blog tomorrow. Please call with any questions - 303-679-3412. 

Erin Lasky

Director of Operations