2011: What a great year!!

A special thanks to all 

2011 Supporters of Journeys of Solutions’

Child Sponsorship Program!

Through your partnership and generosity, we had a FANTASTIC year!

Join us in celebrating some of the highlights: 

• ONE JOS board member visited Tumaini and Shalom in February. Small gifts were presented to our sponsored children and food was purchased for Shalom;

• On TWO separate occasions, a generous JOS donor visited Tumaini—donated jerseys from two Australian soccer clubs were presented to the Tumaini boys’ soccer team and our sixteen children were treated to a safari adventure; 
  

• Tumaini celebrated its first STANDARD SEVEN class graduation in September. Also, the top 5 highest scorers in the Karatu District for the National Standard VII Exam came from Tumaini;

• Our TWO STANDARD IV STUDENTS, Rose and Charles, sat for the National Standard IV Exam;

• THREE YEARS IN A ROW, the children have enjoyed a visit from JOS volunteer, Barbara. During Barbara’s October 2011 visit, our sixteen children received donated school supplies from NY and worked on letter-writing;

• LIVONIA, NY MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS created educational posters for Tumaini classrooms;

• Over EIGHT THOUSAND DOLLARS was raised at our Photographic Celebration event in November. The monies will go towards various JOS-sponsored projects. For more information, or to purchase a photo book, please visit our website;

• In light of the East Africa drought, its worst in nearly 60 years, JOS committed to helping Tumaini build a water well. This project will help to ensure that the 10,000L water/day needed to serve the 500+ students will be a available! Stay tuned for more news in 2012 as we continue working to complete this project;

• NINE of our students completed their first year at Tumaini and have all shown remarkable progress;

• Tumaini Junior School has been ranked No.1 out of 90 schools in the Karatu District, No.13 out of 528 schools in the seven districts of Arusha region, & No.69 out of 15,051 schools in the entire nation!

THANK YOU SO MUCH!

Teacher Dismas, our sixteen sponsored children, and my delicate self.

An Additional and Equally Fabulous Announcement: 

Journeys of Solutions now offers donor subscriptions so you can donate  monthly! Of course, we also accept biweekly, weekly, daily donations…hey, a girl can dream!

ALSO! Hurry and donate before Dec. 31 so that your contribution can be credited to the 2011 year!!

Students helping students!

I am always so inspired by students helping other students.

Over the course of my two years expanding the Child Sponsorship Program (CSP), I have come across quite a few students who have shown great interest and enthusiasm in joining us!

Here are three incredible stories:

1. Livonia Middle School students created beautiful posters for the Tumaini classrooms. From animal and plant cells to the human body, numbers and colors (to name but a few!), the posters were amazing. And, mind you, quite a few were in English, Kiswahili and French–the three languages the children learn at Tumaini! Here is a photo of some posters and Head Teacher Allan quizzing some of the younger children!

2. Several months ago I was asked to speak to a youth group near to my hometown. The teens were thrilled to learn more about our work being done in Tanzania. They were motivated to become involved. I’m so excited to see how they decide to partner with us! Here’s a photo of my delicate self with the student liaison, Kelsey.

3. Last year, I was contacted by a high school Key Club group near my hometown with the exciting news they wished to sponsor a child’s education! Since that day last December, the students’ commitment and energy has blown me away! Through several Spaghetti Dinners among other smaller fundraising initiatives, the students have raised more than $3,000.00! Additionally, many of them wrote wonderful notes to the child they support–which I delivered during my November visit to Tanzania. Glory was all smiles and more than ecstatic to respond to several of the students’ questions!

Earlier this week I had the privilege to return to MAST and hand deliver Glory’s responses to the students. As I thanked the students for their inspiring commitment, I reminded them that I too had been a Key Club member and president during my time high school. Dream big, kids!! Also, Key Club President Elizabeth and a Keyport Kiwanis member presented me with a check from their latest fundraiser!

Stay tuned for 2011 Highlights coming in the next few days!!

Happy Graduation!

Last Friday, two celebrations were held: one for the Standard IV graduates and another for the pre-primary level students.

Two of our children, Charles and Rose, completed Standard IV, having sat for the national examination earlier this year. Both were quite excited and were congratulated by their fellow graduates and pupils.

See below for photos of the graduates, along with one of the teachers Madam Christine, and well as Mr. Bayo welcoming the parents to the Standard IV event. Note: initially the festivities were to be held outside but due to the heavy rains(which were still pouring at 9am), the certificate ceremonies were held separately.

I was asked to be a special guest at the Pre-Primary graduation so was lucky enough to hand the little peanuts their completion certificates and shake their hands. It was adorable.

School is out!!

Yesterday was the last official day of school for the 2011 school term.

The children were ecstatic for a holiday and brief break at Shalom. We walked there this morning, lost in conversation and sharing laughs. The children will have just about a day at Shalom before returning to Tumaini for two weeks of extra tutoring. Then back to Shalom for Christmas.

The children took turns with the camera, snapping photos along the way!

Driving adventures

Over the past several days, Karatu and other neighboring areas received much rain. Unfortunately there were several fatalities due to the heavy rains.

Some vehicles, one of which was a large truck, was swept away by the flash floods, which picked up as the truck attempted crossing. Crews have been hard at work to fix the bridge which was destroyed by the rains.

As we head to Arusha for the night, Caroline and I passed several of the badly hot areas, some of which still carried remnants of the copious amount of water. Likewise, we drove through mid-covered Tarmac where the water had carried the ground.

In addition to the waters, we had some visits from roadside companions!

Never a dull moment!!

Baby Got Back

I learned last year that to be told you look “strong” is really just a euphemism for “Baby got back”, “Home girl, you like your food, don’t you?!” or perhaps you’ll even be told you look fat. Forget euphemistic!

Contrary to the NYC life to which I’ve grown accustomed [though haven't quite embraced, thank you hips] one that is obsessed with thin, thinner and way thin, to have some meat on you here is often considered more beautiful.

Well, yesterday I wore a floor length striped dress that I suppose did the trick, for throughout the day, I received compliments. These comments though, were different from those I’d heard in years past. For example, one friend approached saying, “Where’s your tumbo (“stomach”)? When you were in the US you got thin. In Tanzania you were fat before.”

We both shared a laugh…then I used a choice restroom with the below photo showing…hello

A picture is worth a thousand words

The children are in the their final few days of school so their teachers have been busy with revisions and final grades. The air of excitement as Friday (school closing day) approaches is evident.

In the afternoons I’ve been able to steal some time with the children and have been meeting with them in smaller groups of four. In addition to chatting with them about the school year, I presented them with photo wallets. Given their love for photos–both taking them and being in them–I thought it to be a fun idea. Also since they don’t have many (if any at all), this would be a nice keepsake. Though I only included photos dating back two years, that didn’t seem to matter as their giggles and squeals of delight echoed in the head teacher’s office.

Raindrops falling on my head

It’s been raining during the night in Karatu. While I love listening to its rhythms on the tin roof, the walk to and from school proves more challenging. To add to the fun, just realized I didn’t pack my beloved foot brush. Karatu 1, the flower 0. Let the games begin!

Beautiful clouds en route to Karatu

Finding my way from being lost in translation

While preparing for my departure, I dusted off my Kiswahili language guides and resumed listening to practice exercises on my iPod. Though I have been uttering several Kiswahili phrases since my return last year, it was time to get serious! A special thanks to the friends who have flattered me by learning the simple phrases they so often heard from me.

Well, recently, I was out to dinner with friends when we discovered the waiter had lived in France for a bit between living in West Africa and NYC. As my friend urged me to speak en francais, I began the conversation in French but then at the end, rather than saying thank you in French, ‘asante’ (‘Thanks’ in Kiswahili) fell from my lips! I’m sure this will happen a few times in Tanzania as my brain enters second language mode and both French and Kiswahili fight to be first!

As I sat on my KLM flight to Amsterdam (the first leg of the journey), I was a bit confused by watching/reading the screen with the emergency exit instructions. It was not until the second or third frame that I understood my confusion–simply, the top line was in English and the bottom line was not. Now before you judge me and remember that I am indeed a golden haired beauty, I would like to defend myself and say that there were some very similar words before all the consonants began showing next to one another.

To add more confusion, once the safety guidelines video ended, a map of the area appeared which was followed by the listing of destination time, hours traveled, miles covered etc. All of the cities/states were listed in English, except for ‘Nueva York,’ on the map. Then all the listings continued in Spanish.

I am safely now in Tanzania. Though I am hearing the occasional ‘Salut’ followed by double-cheeked kisses, Italian, English and plenty of other languages, I am not confused about my response to the greetings “Mambo!’ and “Karibu!”

Feels like coming home…

NOTE: Check back for more updates in several days once I have seen the children.