All of these videos were filmed and edited by our very own Kelsi Gunderson. The first video was used to help raise money for the Osiligi Orphanage. The second video is for an orphanage called Your Sisters. It is being used to help raise awareness and to help generate funds for the orphanage. The last video is our team end of summer video and it is the best team HELP International has ever seen :) Enjoy!
Saturday, August 24, 2013
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
The VERY Last Blog Post
One of my favorite parts of Tanzania was meeting the people, seeing how they lived, and being able to learn from them. They have such a different culture than we do but there was so much to be learned. Their pace of life is so great. It is slower than ours, but they take the time to say hello to each other and talk to each other and care about each other and I think that is something that we can learn a lot from. - Caroline Campbell
My time in Africa was not what I expected…but then again, I wasn't sure what to expect anyway. Originally, my plan was to do clinics teaching HIV awareness and prevention; however, after our initial search for partners and teaching opportunities, I decided that I'd adapt and focus on a project that I could delve into 100%. [So we started with the chicken coop.] My time in Tanzania was great. I learned how to work and network with local partners and organizations. More importantly, I learned to appreciate a new culture, people, and community challenges. I was amazed at how much I had to learn about communication, patience, diligence, and friendship. -Gregg Lines
My favorite thing about living in Tanzania this summer was seeing all
the children. Every day, wherever we went, children called out to us saying
things like “Mzungu! How are you?” “Hello! Good morning!” or even “Mambo!
Shikamo!” The parents trust us with their children, and the children are not
often shy. Goodbye children! Kwa heri Tanzania! - Bailey Howard
Coming to Tanzania has been life changing. I think the biggest thing
I’ve learned is to be happier with what I have and to be more willing to give.
I saw people all the time that didn’t have much. Some people didn’t have food,
some people didn’t have parents or a home, some people didn’t have money… but
they were truly happy and grateful for what they did have. And whenever somebody
was in need they were more than willing to give up whatever they had to make
sure they were okay. We are so lucky to have parents and a family to live with,
parents who have jobs and incomes, job opportunities for us, a solid education
system, a good house to live in, clothes to wear, a car to drive, food to eat,
money to spend… We are SO blessed! And coming to Tanzania has helped me
re-evaluate my life and see that. - Emilee Eddings
Goodbye Tanzania: The place that has shown and given me so much love
and care. I have never felt so welcome or loved in a place before. I’m so
thankful to my friends and family for making my dream a reality. Asante sana,
squash banana. - Kelsi Gunderson
Tanzania has been such an incredible experience for me! I will never
forget the view from the ledge about 40 feet in the air behind the waterfall in
the foothills of Mt. Meru. It was all so green, with banana trees growing along
the sides of the cliffs, and the water shooting over my head. It was one of the
most beautiful things I have ever seen. I can never forget the children
flocking to us wherever we go, or how beautiful Tarangire was in the evening of
the first day of our safari. All the colors of the arid vegetation bisected by
the sandy Tarargire merged with herds of elephants and wildebeests. It was one
of the moments of my life where I felt like everything was perfect, and I was
entirely at peace. - Aaron Coffey
Tanzania will forever have a special place in my heart. It is hard to
describe in words how I feel. I love this place; its friendly people, loving
children and beautiful nature. I will always be grateful for the love and
friendship the people of Tanzania have shown me. Kwa heri Tanzania! Asante
sana! Nakupenda! - Ellen Spångberg
The thing I’m going to miss most about Tanzania is the loving children!
I will miss them constantly calling to and approaching our group. Kwa heri
Arusha! - Melinda Martin
One of my favorite memories instilled in me from the people of Tanzania
is the humble manner in which they served us. Some people would pour water over
my hands so that I could wash them. Some would welcome me into their homes as
family, prepare a meal for me, and clean up after me. Some would travel long
distances by foot and work hard to see to my satisfaction and enjoyment. Some
would work for me so that I wouldn’t get dirty or tired. Everyone smiled at me
and greeted me as a hailed guest to their country, I felt as if I was being
served by Jesus Christ Himself many times. Thank you for allowing me to live
among you and observe a happy people. - Nathan Johnson
There are many things I love and will miss about Tanzania. I love the
adventures I have had, and how easy it is to have them; I love the freedom a
person has while living here; I love the children’s smiles, laughs, and excited
greetings; I love how everyone is seen as valuable regardless of what they look
like or if they have a degree; I love the beautiful surroundings in the Arusha
area; I love the simple lives that everyone lives; and I love the people and
will miss them greatly. - Shaylor Anderson
This is not a goodbye but a see you soon Tanzania! I came here to help
people in need, but I was helped way more than I helped. The kids taught me
some valuable lessons that I will take with me for the rest of my life. I love
the people here and I love the culture. Thank you for letting me be a part of
your lives these past few months. I love you all! See you all again! – Alysha Myrick
Turn Around... This is Namanga
Over all, we loved Namanga. It is a quaint little village that
welcomed us with open arms and smiles every day. We fell in love with the
scenery (which was near the area that, incidentally, inspired Disney’s The Lion
King) and the people. There was even one lady, whom we dubbed the Samosa Lady,
who sold us the BEST samosas in the whole world for only 200 TSH a piece. She
loved us, and told us that “every day you come, I be here.” :)
A funny part about Namanga is that, somehow, Bonnie Tyler’s
“Total Eclispe of the Heart” became our theme song. We even rewrote the chorus
to express how much sand we actually had to haul.
We call it, Turn Around. And this is the chorus. Feel free to
sing along with the melody. ;)
“And we need more sand right now!
And we need more sand than ever!
And if you hold the bucket too tight,
you’ll forget to look at the ground.
And we’ll trip on the vines on the way,
and we’ll probably want to cry.
Together we can take it to the end of the line!
The sand is like a mountain way up high in the sky!!!
The sand is getting used, and we’ll always in the sun!
But we’re here in Namanga and we’re still having fun!
(We need a shower tonight! We really need a shower tonight... a
really hot shower tonight!)
Once upon a time I was stuck in Namanga, with people that I don’t
even like. *
There’s nothing we can do, but get some more sand today.”
*That sentence was a funny quote from a volunteer, like I said,
we really do like the people. :)
Public Transportation
You are what you eat...
So I guess that makes us African! :)
Friday, August 9, 2013
Weekend Trips!!! Whoo hooo!
Aside from the movies we see, and the safari’s we’ve been on, there are
other cool things we’ve done, including a bigger trip to Zanzibar.
There are also a bunch of different churches here, since most of the
Tanzanian people are religious in some way. The LDS church is really cool, and
they even make an effort to do some classes in English so that we can
understand them. We also went to a Lutheran church with a partner, were blessed
(very interestingly) by another partner’s priestess mother, and went to a very
lavish first communion for another partner’s nephew. All in all, Tanzania is a
beautiful mosaic of different churches and different beliefs living together in
harmony.
The other things we choose to do on the weekends, aside from finding
new and exciting (and sometimes sketchy) places to eat, are pretty normal
things. We like to have bonfires in our front yard and make our makeshift s’mores
with shortbread cookies, galaxy chocolate bars, and strange textured marshmallows.
We like to go to Njiro, the mzungu place where we eat dinner and use the free
wifi. And we like to get our hair braided like Africans by our friend Elias.
All in all, as exciting as our weekdays are, the weekends are super fun too. The weekends are when we get to let our tourist side show, let loose, and pretend to not have a care in the world. Then reality comes back, Monday comes around, and we turn right back into the responsible hardworking adults that are trying to do their part to help the world.
Bringing Home the Bacon!
Whenever I hear the word pig, I immediately think BACON!
Well this blog post has nothing to do with bacon other than the fact that I
wished I had it right now.
Anyways, we have been working with a group called Albino
Peacemakers. This group works to make the lives of albinos better. Albinos have many health problems, they are often discriminated against.We asked them if there is anything we could do for them. The
director named Martha said that they have a pig pen, but it doesn't have a
roof. The pigs are being used to generate money for the group. So we wrote the
proposal, bought the materials, and helped put the roof on.
This project was one of the quickest ones yet.
It took us a day to buy all the wood, tin sheets and nails. It took us another
half a day to assemble the roof. As volunteers we were able to hammer, saw, and
carry the material to the builder. An electric saw was donated to us from Home
Depot in Toole, Utah. We were able to use this saw to help speed up the work of
the roof building. Emmanuel, the builder, loved it so much he went to work to
beautify the entire pig pen by sawing off extra pieces of wood. He had the biggest
grin the entire time. It was a lot of fun to help build the roof for the pigs
and we were able to make the builders day.
Aaron and Kelsi’s Center for Kids Who Can’t Talk Good and Want to Learn to do Other Stuff Good too
I remember I was more or less winging it the first day. We did not have access to the internet, so after a rather lengthy time showing them around Microsoft Word, I was at a loss of what else to teach them. I showed them how to use the calculator function and MS Paint. I made sure to have a better idea of what to teach them by the next class. I continued to teach them word processing skills, as well as simple skills such as how to start up, restart, and shut down the computer and how to save and open a file. Our primary focus however has been word processing and typing. In those early days, my biggest challenge was finding a partner to come with me to the class, as we are bound by a strict "buddy system" policy. Everybody already had their own projects that needed work, and I felt the vibe that going with me to teach computers was somewhat of a chore. It is understandable though. I teach the students the basic concepts, and they more or less help each other figure it out in Swahili. It is really effective, but it leaves my partner with very little to do. As the students became more and more proficient in word processing, my mind was racing for a way to get them connected to the internet so I could teach them how to use Email.
With the end of the second wave, Lex and Mary, who were in charge of teaching English, went home. I volunteered to take over English classes in their place. Coinciding with Lex and Mary's departure was Kelsi's arrival, the final addition to our help team. Kelsi agreed to join me in teaching both English and computers on a regular basis with these kids, which means I no longer have to scramble to find somebody to reluctantly agree to go with me each day. Having one consistent partner allows us to bounce ideas off of each other, and merging the English class with the computer class allows for continuity between the students' assignments. We often assign them to practice typing concepts that we taught them in English class. One interesting way in which we were able to blend the computer class with the English class was our use of pen pals. After we introduced the kids to the internet, I recruited a number of my friends in the English speaking world who were interested in being pen pals for these kids. This way, they could practice conversing with people in English while practicing their typing skills. On top of that, it is sustainable! They can continue to practice English even after we leave!
The kids seem to really enjoy it, but they appear to be dis-enthralled with how long the process takes. We usually only have one internet stick, and the internet is notoriously slow at the school, so it is a very long process. If nothing else, I hope these kids will frequent internet cafes after we leave to visit with their friends in America. It would be an experience that not many Tanzanian youths get to take advantage of. The difficulty is making this project sustainable and able to perpetuate after we go back to the Sates. Ultimately it will be up to the students to go to an internet cafe to practice typing and communicating with their American pen pals. I already can tell that many of the students don't have the drive or interest to do this, but it is a principle across the world that success comes to those who are most ambitious and hardworking. We are giving these students a great opportunity. From here on out it will be entirely up to them whether they will take advantage of it.
"Tis a Woman"
Our goal with them was to help them touch and impact more
lives by helping them become more well known. We went to the location weekly
and gathered pictures and videos of the girls at the orphanage to put into a
video and share it in the social media world. We wanted to show why they are
unique and why they matter. We put all of the footage we got into one video and
will upload it to YouTube! We will make a separate blog post with the link to
this video when it is complete.
In the Jungle.....oooooooooooWEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!
2. Later that night, in our campground, one of the
volunteers went to the bathroom and a warthog was right there and it scared
him!
3.We saw a rock at Ngorogoro that looked like
pride rock from the Lion King! And, what do you know, a lion was on top! It was
incredible!
4. At dinner, there was a jumping spider and one of
the volunteers was poking at it with a napkin and it kept jumping up and biting
it! There was also a rat crawling into the food area and tons of flying insects
everywhere. So not only were we introduced to the African wildlife, we got a
bug/rodent show as well.
5. At Lake Mnyara, we saw around 50 monkeys! They
were attacking each other, picking bugs off of each other, and one even crawled
on our safari car!!
A
definite benefit of coming to help in Africa is the opportunity to go on a
safari like this, and I recommend it to everyone who hasn’t had the chance to
do so yet. You never know what you might see.
Thursday, August 8, 2013
The Gift of Light
Being from the United States I have been blessed to have
light as my constant helper in life. If it is a cloudy day and dark outside, I
just flip a switch and I have light to read, work, study, or eat a meal. If it is 10:30 at night and the moon is barely
showing a sliver of light I touch a lamp with my finger and… Wazaam!!!!! Let there be light! In case
of a power outage, although this is rare, have no fear batteries are near. During these short terms of darkness, Americans
have easy access to flash lights, cell lights, and all sorts of gadgets that
light up. If all else fails there are generators to back everything up. Although this system gives us constant light
whenever we wish, it is an expensive and complex system.
A Short Excerpt on Showers
Although we already briefly mentioned the cold, sometimes
water-pressure-less showers, we didn’t feel like we put as much of an emphasis
on this topic as it deserves. And trust us, it deserves it. :)
Now, it’s not like we are complaining or anything…. But our
showers are very, very cold. We have a bathtub with a hose attached, and when
the water pressure is good, you can take a very quick shower. When the water
pressure ceases to exist, the so called “shower” is a long and painful journey
of clenched teeth and muscles (unless you are Lex and you just say things like
“Crap! Crap! This is cold!” the whole time you shower). We all quickly learned and unanimously agreed
that showering every day, or even every other, is simply not reasonable. Thus,
we all made a promise not to judge each other.
Since then we are proud to say that we have successfully broken
some not-showering records (that our Mothers may or may not be ashamed of). The
current record for number of days without a shower is 9 going on 10. And we
w
on’t tell you who. We don’t judge remember? ;)
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