The worksite project is making great progress! The walls are up on the school kitchen at the secondary school. From laying the foundation early last week to having a full structure now, the building is beginning to take shape. This week the group will be working on laying the interior brick for the cooking portals of the kitchen. The students have also been attending some of the classes at the secondary school where the project site is, to observe and partake in some English classes and Physics classes. One of the host father’s for our group is the school’s physics teacher, so this has been a great bridge for helping our students meet more local students.
The group enjoyed a hike yesterday outside of the dusty plains of Selela, on a trek known as the Elephant Corridor, because in April and May when the harvest is in season, the elephants walk down from higher ground to the plains to eat all that is ripe. Many large dried elephant dung patties were spotted along the trail. It was a 2 hour walk to the top where they enjoyed a good view and then an 1.5 hr. hike back down. A group game was enjoyed by all last night which allowed everyone to share more deeply about this past week’s experiences in their homestays in Selela and on the work site. A world map is in the works for our group – they plan to paint a large world map on a wall at the secondary school and hope to involve some local students in this project next week.
To finish up a fun weekend the group had a cooking party with all of the mother’s in the village – banana bread and apple pie were on the menu! The group had an insightful experience of discussing gender roles in the U.S. versus in Tanzania. The Tanzanian mothers were all surprised and excited when all of the boys in our group equally participated in the cooking this afternoon. The afternoon rolled into an evening dance party with all of the families. It was a stellar way to end a great weekend!
