Team Tanzania!

Team Tanzania has been hard at work at Orkeeswa in the past few days, and has made significant progress. Everyone is involved in a different job, from painting classrooms, to passing buckets full of soil in the bucket brigade. The outside of a classroom block has been painted blue, the foundation of the science lab was cemented and the new basketball pitch is in the process of being widened with the help of Orkeeswa students. In all the effort, we’ve made some really great friendships.
Today, we were grouped with another Groton and Orkeeswa student to visit his or her boma (home). Though we were not able to spend the night at the bomas, we had a great time helping out the kids with their chores. Many of the girls collect firewood and water, often walking long distances almost daily. The boys graze cattle and goats and maintain their bomas. This morning we met the Orkeeswa students and walked with them for about thirty minutes back to their homes. When we arrived, we greeted their family members and gave them the gifts we had brought. The work then started. Some of us walked long distances (anywhere from three to twelve kilometres) to fetch water or firewood, bushwhacking through Tanzanian forests. (SHOUT OUT… Susanna, Jillian, and Talia walked around twelve kilometers to find firewood, hacking at trees with pangas to see if the wood was acceptable, then chopping branches down and walking back with the wood balanced on their heads.) Our lunch today consisted of PB&J’s, cookies and roasted maize. We hung out and played games with our host family after we finished our work, and at the end of the day, we all climbed back into the banana/party bus to go to the New Flamingo Guest House. We have two more days of intense work left until we head to Ngorongoro Crater and finally back home. We can’t wait to tie up all the loose ends on our Orkeeswa projects and spend more time with the kids in the next few days.
Love,
Maddy and Susanna

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOMMY I LOVE YOU!!!!! xoxoxoxoxo, Haley