Greeting from Monduli

The students and faculty are absolutely amazing, we had a great day painting and refurbishing a local primary school and continuing to interact with the students of Orkeeswa Secondary School. The relationships that are evolving and will be ingrained in the memories of the students the rest of their lives. Both Orkeeswa and Groton students performed songs and drama and danced to both local and western music. An incredible start to an unbelievable journey. - Peter Luis - IEFTZ

Gordon--- After two days of R&R the team is ready to rock and roll and start getting work done at the school up in Monduli. Good tidings from Sub Saharan Africa.

Talia- Hi everyone! Happy July 4th!!! Today we will make our hour long trip to Monduli where we will be re-painting and re-plastering a primary school in the village. We will be staying in Monduli for the majority of the trip, so we finally get to unpack our HUGE bags! Our short flight from Kenya to Tanzania was unforgettable. Flying past Mt. Kilimanjaro was just spectacular. The peak right above the clouds and the sunset in the background was truly amazing! Hope everything is great at home!

Eric – Although we haven’t seen the village or the guest house yet, it already reminds me of Belize. Everybody has been so friendly and welcoming – and our conversational Swahili is coming along. Today or tomorrow we should be able to unload some of our shoes – very exciting!! Happy 4th of July!! Miss everyone!!

Jillian – HAPPY 4th of JULY, the elusive holiday! Everything so far has been wonderful and different. The airport and travel to the hotel reminded me a little of the Dominican and Jamaica. We’re leaving for the village really soon, which is even more exciting – we actually start work today. We met two school children (finishing form 2) and teachers yesterday. They introduced themselves and gave a history of the Masai people. I don’t know when we’ll play baseball, but the two children said they played! Have Fun!

Gerrit—Greeting from Tanzania! The country here is very varied and beautiful but the style of the buildings and yellow and blue all-purpose shops everywhere is really similar to Peru and I’m feeling nostalgic already. After 2 days of watching the World Cup and getting our bearings straight it’s time to get to work. The kids from the school that we met yesterday were really friendly and had very impressive English and I’m excited to begin work on their school. PS: Go Orange!

Loulie – Happy Birthday America! Yes Mom and Dad I am alive I just didn’t write in the first blog. I am so happy to be here. Talking to the children and people alone is absolutely mind blowing, but doing the manual labor is a very fun part for me. I now know my calling in the world, a cementer! I was taught very well by Elliefarahah and I can now plaster a wall and basically make it perfect. They called me over just to do it, and then at the end of the da4y they asked me to help shovel etc. One man called me “not lazy” which I guess is a compliment. I miss all the Bunzels, I love you all!

Maddy – Happy fourth of July everyone! Today was our first day working at the school and it was such an incredible experience. When we first arrived at the worksite, all the students were lined up outside our bus, waiting to shake our hands and welcome us to their school. What made this experience particularly memorable was the awesome Tanzanian handshake. It’s tough to explain in words, but it begins as a standard handshake then transitions into holding hands, then finally back to the normal handshake again. In short, it was just so cool! Miss all you back home.