Updated 19th June 2024

Day 3

We played with the children on our worksites and brought bubbles and balloons for the local community. The boys bought footballs for the children at the site, after the one they had taken from Berea popped.

We moved so much sand and gravel in the heat, which was more difficult than we thought.

After a very well needed dinner we were able to sort through our donations into piles for the two families and a more general pile for the rest of the community.

 

Day 4

We moved 800 buckets full of sand with the help of the children on the site! They are so strong, it was a very tiring but productive day!

 

Day 5

Today we went to visit some of the houses from 2019, where Perth Grammar helped to build two houses for families. It was very emotional because we got to see the impact that these houses can make to these families.

The first family was based near Moshi and was only a short drive away, the Baraka Family. The second family was close to Arusha. 

It was hard to say goodbye to the families. The father was so so sweet and he was really grateful to all of us. He had even kept the card given to the family by the school back in 2019.

We stopped in the most beautiful spot for our lunch which had the most perfect view of Mount Kilimanjaro and ate our Tanzanian lunch together in the sun.

On the journey back we stopped at the Hai Vocational College. Within this college we saw the different areas that the students are trained in, including woodworking, music, metal work and sewing. This was a fantastic experience, as we saw what the other options are for young people looking for further education.

Lily had the chance to play a refurbished saxophone, Kaitlan and Emma even tried the organ!

To end a fantastic day, we stopped at a store called Iqurio and bought many beautiful souvenirs to take home.

 

Day 6

We woke up to an early breakfast which was yum! We left for the worksite at 9.30am, when we got there it was still very cloudy but the sun was just warming up. We started with the risk assessment where we looked at how to manage the many risks that we can find on our worksites.

We played with the kids on site before starting with the first activity, which was a sand chain to move what seemed like a mountain of sand! The kids love to help, it is so sweet. Under the heat of the Tanzanian sun we have to take many water breaks and take care of ourselves. After a while, and lots of help, we had finally moved all the sand.

After a well-deserved lunch in the bus we got back to working, with lots of breaks to play with all the children. Today we had brought them bubbles, balloons and sweets. We then finished up earlier than usual and headed back to Berea. As we headed back it finally cleared up and got nice and sunny.

The last treat for the day was a trip to Deli Chez, where we enjoyed delicious food such as peppered steak, burgers and chicken and used the Wi-Fi to contact home.

 

Day 7

Today was an early start! We woke around 7.45am to have breakfast at 8am. We had a day full of activities planned. We had homemade doughnuts that we sprinkled with sugar and served with fruit. It was very tasty. We then proceeded to get our things like our lunch and bags to get ready for the day. The first activity was our joint climate change activity with some Tanzanian university students. We were very lucky to have two students who came to tell us about the issues and causes of Tanzanian climate change and mitigation factors which the government are putting in place.

After this fantastic opportunity to hear first-hand about the challenges facing a country like Tanzania, we were delighted to get on the buses to a remote rural area of Tanzania to plant trees. It took about an hour and a half to get to our location which was at a primary school. Unfortunately, with the school summer holidays in full swing there wasn’t any children. We were then introduced to people that help out with the school and the surrounding area. We were then informed of the reasons for planting trees in this area, which is to create shade and create a nice calming atmosphere. Then we were off to work, as we were put into groups of duos or trios to dig holes to plant the baby trees in. It was very hard work as the ground was hard and full of stones, and under the mid-day heat it was much harder than we anticipated. We had to use pickaxes and spades to create holes in the ground. Using the chain method, we carried numerous buckets of water to saturate the ground and then plant the trees. After a long day and over 50 baby trees planted we headed back to Berea. Stopping of course at the supermarket for some well-deserved snacks. These were 10/10, especially our very sugary fizzy drinks!!

 

   

 

 

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Day 1

Our first full day in Tanzania had the best possible start - a long lie in. We managed to somewhat recover from the extremely long journey here and settle into the beds that although don’t exactly match the comfort of home, will have to do. For breakfast I had pancakes with fresh fruit and some toast paired with coffee that was delicious and very much needed due to the slight jetlag. Today was all about settling in and making ourselves feel at home which was made easy thanks to Katie and Elly as well as the friendly faces of Berea Bible college which made us feel more than welcomed. We went through our orientation led by Katie and Elly to inform us of what our time here will look like and what we can expect. Elly taught us our new favourite song in Swahili that has been sung many times today (and is stuck in everyone’s heads) and help to teach us some common phrases to help us better assimilate with the local Moshi people. Katie took us on a tour of the college and while although the squatting toilets were a culture shock the place is truly beautiful. During my free time we made use of the cold showers and freshened up before we embarked on our journey to the Moshi markets. The markets were unforgettable, filled with stalls of fresh foods and fruits, massive watermelons piled on top of one another, the most vibrant tomatoes and bananas grown on the plantations local to Moshi. Through the town we were greeted by the locals and were met ‘Jambo’ (hello!) everywhere we went. I have never met more friendly people who want nothing more than to greet you. On return, we were met with the greetings from the girls staying in our complex from another school. We then had lunch and downtime which I spent playing cards and taking a well-deserved nap. Dinner was a nice spread with banana fritters which were delicious. After a brief talk with Katie about what our first day on the building site tomorrow will be like we headed off to get ready to sleep. Although daunting, everyone is settling in like it is their second home. We will check in again soon but for now we are getting a good night sleep before we start on the building site tomorrow. 

 

Day 2

Today was our first day on site. Everyone was up bright and early after our lie in yesterday ready to have the tasty breakfast waiting for us. Today’s spread included French toast, omelette, these doughnuts that tasted heavenly, toast and smoky kind of sausage as well as fresh fruit like every morning but today's included watermelon and papaya. Quickly made our packed lunches for the day: carrot bun, crisps, fruit and a tropical juice box. We had a little bit of time to get organised for our first day on site and once everyone was ready we headed down to the classroom to go through the safety briefing and head onto the buses where we were headed for town to visit TAWREF. This is one of the organisations that Vine Trust works with, so we had a short presentation from them about their work and how it has an impact etc. They had a cute little gift shop with all kinds of hand crafted figures, cutlery, jewellery and traditional items of clothing. It seems that the Tanzanian football tops were especially popular. We then went separate ways as two groups to the two different building sites.

 

Group 1

Our very long and bumpy journey through the rural lands of Tanzania where we passed rivers, small villages, large corn plantations, banana trees –a very pretty and eventful journey that is for sure. Once at the site we were introduced to the family and told their story and the Fundi (builders) we would be working with. Half of us tried not to cry when the grandma hugged and thanked Mr Walker. The site was pretty fresh and we were starting from scratch so out came the pick axes and the shovels and we got to work with digging out the foundation's lines which is what the whole ½ day consisted of. There were a couple of kids there but more and more joined as they told more and more of their friends, all of them were so friendly and intrigued in us. Some of us divided some sweets out to them which they took gratefully and happily. You really see how much these kids look out and care for each other, as they all split and shared their sweets with each other, even though they had been given an equal amount each. All in all, it was a pretty successful first day and ready for our full day back tomorrow. Highlight for our group though has to be all the goats, cows and chickens we saw on our drives.

 

Group 2

The journey there was fascinating. Between the winding, muddy roads and the tall banana trees that created shadows across the road. Once we got to the site, emotions began to flow and people began to cry. The shelter that the family are living in cannot be described as an adequate shelter as it does not prevent the rain or dangerous animals from coming in. The house was made of metal sheets balanced carefully on an uneven and wonky structure. The house consisted of two rooms, one which was used as the bedroom for the Mum and two daughters. Within the room there was a bed which consisted of old clothes as a mattress which was placed on top of a pallet. The other room was only used as a kitchen unless the son was home for the night which meant it was transformed into a bedroom (clothes laid on the floor which was to be used as a bed). After we arrived we entered the house in groups of 4 where ‘Mama Angel’ told her family's story which was extremely hard to hear and emotional. After the introduction and meeting that was held, the work began. We got given shovels and pickaxes. The foundations began to be dug and the house building began!!

While we were there we met the neighbours, as we were having to use their house for the bathroom. The neighbours were explained to us as a large part of the family we were helping lives', due to their kindness.

While we were working some of the local children began to visit us, to which we supplied them with sweets and bubbles. It was lovely to see their excitement to see us and the enjoyment they got out of our gifts. 

This trip is already showing all of us the extremely impressive work of TAWREF and Vine Trust as they are able to improve people’s lives by giving them a building they can make a home.

We, as a group, are so lucky to be able to have this fantastic experience in helping to improve lives.

Once we were all back we were excited to tell each other about our different days at the two different sites and all the locals we had met. After being settled after coming back and the majority of us having showers due to all the sweat and dust produced. Although there was some kafuffle with the showers running out of water which was both funny and painful to watch. Anyway, our freshly cooked dinner now awaited us and we had a lovely soup as a starter before our main meal, which hasn’t happened in any of our meals before. After the soup there was vegetable pizza, breaded fish, spiced rice and assortment of stewed vegetables. Mr Walker has been so happy with his little camera and taking pictures of everything and everyone. Post dinner we had our second Swahili lesson in which we learned some more words/phrases and learnt another song which could be called the ‘Love Song To Tanzania’ I guess. Now it is free time and chill, and half of us are exhausted so early sleep tonight.