Well, I swear I posted on this site a few days ago but with the internet (and this site) the way they are you can never be sure. This post will attempt to sum up some of the many many things we have experienced in one long week here.
It’s hard to believe we have only been here a week. Not because any of us feel at all familiar with the city of Arusha, or even so much the sub-city area we are in but more so because the group has already become so close and I can’t speak for everyone here but I feel like Tanzania has already started to rub off on me.
A huge part of familiarizing ourselves with Tanzania has been learning Swahili. Everyday we have a Kiswahili lesson for 3 to 5 hours in which we sit in an open-aired classroom with concrete floors and enjoy pretty much everything Douglas says. Douglas is from Arusha and works as a guide for Dorobo which is the guiding company which will be leading us through much of our journey here. The Dorobo camp here in Arusha where we are staying for the time being looks like an open pasture scattered with acacia (sp?) trees. Around the perimeter are tents where we have all been sleeping, a little brick bathroom, and 2 brick showers. In the middle of “camp” is a fire pit where we always have a circle of chairs for meals, hanging out, and the nightly “hot seat”. Beyond the fire pit is our little open-air classroom and next to it a large tent that serves as the kitchen where Gideon (the most fantastic human & chef) provides us with 3 delicious meals a day.
Life here for this week has been incredible. The title of this post is a common saying here in Tanzania meaning “slowly is the best motion”. People here, as I have experienced are incredibly kind, warm, welcoming, and don’t believe in rushing.
It’s difficult for me to sum up so much that has already happened, but I would like to write about the trip we took into town with Maggie. Maggie Duncan is the sister of our Swahili teacher Douglas and was also born in Arusha. Maggie has worked with Lewis & Clark students for at least a few years, I guess I don’t really know how long. The point is she is incredible. She is the most warm and genuine person. She accompanied us on our trip into Arusha. Along the way she shared wisdom with us and told us about the foundation that she founded: Dare Women’s Foundation. The foundation aims to help improve lives of Tanzanian women and foster communities of love and acceptance. I can’t do a description of Dare justice right now but there will be more to come. The point is is that the most powerful moment of that day and probably the whole trip to this point was visiting Dare and talking with girls who work for Dare. They were incredibly warm and happy and that is the best description that I can really come up with right now.
Until next time