Happy Belated 4th!

Happy 4^th of July from Tanzania! On Friday we first went to the F.A.M.E. Medical Clinic, a clinic founded by an American family to bring medical care to Karatu. At the clinic we learned the story of Dr. Frank and how he came to leave his high-class life in California to bring help to Tanzania. After the clinic we met up with the Banjika Secondary School students and teachers to begin our long bumpy journey to a coffee plantation. At the coffee plantation we all sat around as one to enjoy coffee and chai tea. To celebrate the 4^th of July, the leaders then took us on a surprise trip to a small restaurant down the road from the hotel where we enjoyed a buffet of American food. As the day winded down, we sat around a campfire and enjoyed the peacefulness of Africa.   

-Preston

Final Work Day.

Final Work Day - Nash & Oliver

Greetings from Tanzania! On Wednesday we finally completed the brick making process at the Banjika Secondary School. After chai time we held a discussion regarding gender roles in Tanzania and America. The Tanzanian boys were blunt with their idea that boys are better than girls. But after splitting up into boys and girls, we all came to the conclusion that both genders are equal. The girls group discussed the importance of supporting one another as women and taking risks to achieve greatness. The day was finished with a soccer game with Tanzanian students and Ensworth students. Ensworth scored in the final seconds giving us a victory against the Tanzanian students. That night was the final night at Doffa campsite. We celebrated by having s’mores around the campfire. The majority of us fell asleep early outside under the stars because of the early wake up call for the safari the next day.

Happy 4th of July from Tanzania!

Hi Ensworth parents, we received the following message from Susan Lambert, the WLS instructor, via text. If you want to check out FAME clinic, mentioned below, see the video on www.fameafrica.org. We consider Dr. Frank and Susan to be great leader role models for the students to study. Have a wonderful 4th -- Ross Wehner, WLS

 "Jambo from Karatu! Safari yesterday was amazing! One of the vehicles even saw "the big 5" (lion, elephant, rhino, leopard, Cape buffalo). We are having a wonderful adventure. This morning we visited the inspiring and beautiful FAME clinic and this evening there is a special 4th of July celebration planned. Our connection to the Internet isn't great, so we'll post more when we can! Happy 4th!"

Hey Fellow Americans!

Hey Fellow Americans!

Today we switched it up a little bit and decided to cut the workday short and came back to camp before lunch. At Banjika, we played fun games in the morning with the kids and then made more bricks. As usual, we had our chai time :-) and continued our collaboration with the students from Banjika. We taught them the Harkness method and used it to converse about success and leadership in both America and Tanzania. It was cool to hear about various personal models of leadership as well as discuss what success means and how to achieve it. Many students from Banjika and Ensworth shared their ideas and we were surprised at how similar they were. One boy from Banjika, Zachariah, was talking about achieving success and said, “When someone tells you that you cannot do it, put your fingers in your ears and say ‘I can do it, I can do it.’ Everyone was really touched by his statement. It was awesome to see how open the Banjika students were when talking about something that seemed so different in two different cultures. After the discussion we walked back to camp, ate lunch, and everyone crashed. This trip has been a very eye opening experience for everyone. The home stays really touched Carly and I because we never truly realized how fortunate we are for the way we live. We’re so thankful we had the opportunity to come on this trip with this great group of people. We have all learned a lot about each other and ourselves, and shout out to our leader Suz for being awesome and opening our eyes to new experiences. We love you guys and can’t wait to see you at BNA in a couple of days. Stay classy fam.

Carly and Caroline :o

More photos!

Here are a few photos from the collaborative brick-making and yoga session!

Howdy.

Hunter Renken: Day 6

Day 6 of the Ensworth Tanzania trip was homestay day. The day started off with all of the Banjika students meeting us by the entrance of our camp and us going our separate ways to the houses of the students. The houses of the students varied from basic square brick houses to nicer and painted houses with marble floors. William and I stayed with Moses whose house was one of the nicer houses in the community. The house was painted a light gray with two different wings, marble floors, toilets in the house, and a TV. William and I had the opportunity to walk through the Rift Valley and see a wide arrange of plants and also a pretty good view of the mountains. We were also able to watch Tanzanian TV, listen to Tanzanian music, and also watch some world cup soccer. Also the food that William and I ate while staying at Moses’s house, in my opinion, was really good. We ate rice with some sort of this beef pot roast, fried bananas for breakfast, and we also got to cut down and eat sugar cane. After coming back to camp and talking with the rest of the group, I got to hear some very interesting stories about what everyone else got to experience at their homestay. Some people got the opportunity to watch the mother of the homestay cut the head of a chicken off, pluck all of the feathers, and butcher the meat. Some people got to attend Tanzanian church. At the church that William and I went to it was comparable to a gospel church with a lot of singing and dancing. It was cool to see everyone get so into the prayers and the songs. Multiple times during the service people broke down into tears and were screaming, “glory to God!” or, “Thank you God, thank you!” Overall my homestay experience was great and was a fantastic opportunity to be immersed in the Tanzanian culture.

Kelson Gray: Day 8

On Day 8, instead of going straight to Banjika, we first went to a private school called Tumaini roughly 10 to 15 minutes away by car. While I was there, I made a lot of observations about what was different and similar at the two schools, and it made me appreciate what I have because something that was considered a very nice school was not as nice as Ensworth. After our trip to the school we went to Banjika and all worked hard on making enough bricks to create a designated goal. In the afternoon, we had a great group discussion about the purpose of education and what makes a school successful. It has been great watching these schools interact with one another and how their culture works differently from ours. But a surprise that night was getting to get to go watch the French and Nigerian soccer game at a local restaurant. It was another unique, fun and interesting day in Africa.

Photos!

First Days In Banjika!!

Hello from beautiful Tanzania! The past couple of days have been absolutely amazing. Two days ago, we arrived at the Banjika School where we were introduced to the students and were assigned our local student partners. To get there, we ate red bananas in the village of Mto Wa Mbu (Mosquito Creek) and spent upwards of four hours on the bus. We continued on to our campsite, which is roughly ten minutes from the Banjika school, where our excellent chef, Wilson, prepared a fantastic meal for us. We then carried our full stomachs from the dining hut to a bonfire where we discussed our feelings, hopes and fears. The bonfire lasted deep into the night, which resulted in a lot of tired faces the next day.

Yesterday marked the beginning of our service project. We mixed sand and cement to make bricks, which we followed up with chai time (tea time) and an amazing discussion regarding social issues in both Tanzania and the United States. We found that many of the issues in Tanzania also exist in the states, which led to further discussion of potential solutions. We communicated in English while also learning bits of Swahili, and it was truly amazing to interact with the students in such a way. Afterwards, all of the boys from both Ensworth and Banjika played a game of football (soccer). Man, you should have seen the football game! The field was right next to the village and surrounded by corn fields with beautiful mountains in every direction. After we said goodbye to the students, we returned to our camp for another fantastic dinner and bonfire.

Jack & Michael

p.s. we are having internet connection difficulties but will post as often as possible...thanks for your patience! 

Jambo!

Day 1, June 25:

Jambo!  Day 1 was spectacular! We started off the morning by eating a breakfast of fresh fruit, eggs, crepe-ish pancakes (?), toast, and fresh juice. After some games, we headed off to hike Mt. Kilimanjaro. Though we were intending to make it to the summit, after 45 minutes we stopped for lunch at a beautiful gorge and then turned back to the trailhead. As the clouds cleared off the mountain and its surroundings, we all were able to fully appreciate the beauty of Tanzania. Next we made the long bus journey back to the lodge, bouncing along the dirt roads and experiencing the harsh jetlag. At the end of the journey, we passed some Tanzanians playing soccer in an open field with Mt. Kili positioned perfectly as a backdrop. With ruts and ditches everywhere and two giant sticks marking the goals, the field was very unlike the well-maintained fields at Ensworth. Naturally, we had to challenge them to a game. While we were outmatched in athleticism and skill, a strong American defense proved to hold its own.

Final score: 0-0.

We ended the night by being served endless amounts of food by the kindhearted, hospitable Mt. Kili Lodge staff. The food was so fresh, coming from local farmers. It was a perfect ending to a great first day.

Lala salama (Sleep Well),

            Tim and Ashley

Group photo in front of Mount Kilimanjaro!!

Arrived in Tanzania!

Hello friends and family of the Ensworth Tanzania program! 

We just got word from our instructor in Tanzania and the students and faculty have arrived!  They will begin updating the blog once they are settled in, but their WLS adventure is off to a great start!  Feel free to call 303-679-3412 with any questions! 

All the best,

Maria Selde

Program Coordinator