Hi Everyone,

Firstly apologies for the lack of blogging! I spent 20 mins last week writing a post, then the internet crashed! Oh how i love Tanzanian internet!

Today marked the end of TG4's time in schools and the start of a new adventure, either in Zanzibar or up Mt Kilimanjaro!! I am taking the easy option and heading to Zanzibar with most of TG4.

I think it is fair to say that everyone has had an awesome time in school!! I feel like I havnt been there long enough! This week has been particularly awesome, especially on Weds when we sneaked out of boarding school to head the local pub (a shed in the middle of a field behind the boy's dorms!). When we arrived we were greeted by a teacher and the schools driver!!
The following night we invited a few of the older students, and more relaxed teachers to our house for a farewell party, the Konyagi was flowing and we taught the students how to dance to Superman, YMCA and the macarena. In return we were taught to dance African style! Im sure i will be pulling out a few of the moves i learnt when i am back clubbing in England!

This week we also did our first aid assessments, and I very pleased to say that a majority of the students passed!!!

So, it is now time to carry on with our African adventure, next stop ZANZIBAR!!!

Bye! xxx

Of Rice (and beans) And Men

Mambo from Moshi! All of TG3 are here safe now after long flights, bumpy rides on Akamba buses and the deepest night's sleep of anyone's life. We're all getting along like a house on fire. Today we had a full day of first aid recapping, training and a session on becoming trainers ourselves, and how to bridge the gap between standard British first aid and how to teach it in Swahili schools to kids of any age...a lot of information but hopefully it's all going to stick.

Currently residing in the TG# boys' room with my flatmate Becki - we manned up and joined Team Testosterone in the Kilimanjaro Backpackers Hostel. True to its name, we can see the mountain from the rooftop bar. It's so much more beautiful than you can even anticipate, to see it rising out of the clouds and smog still covered in snow.

The first few days have been a bit of a culture shock and there's more to come; Moshi is a little town but urban and with some Western influence. Lots of English and lovely people. Learning Swahili little by little and we're having lessons from team leader Fiona tomorrow as well. Apparently there are about 14 ways to greet someone...hopefully we can get a grasp on the basics at least. I'm all over 'yes', 'no', 'thank you' and 'white man' but it might take a bit more than that to teach kids how to treat an open fracture or a compression.

We've been meeting a lot of team leaders from previous groups and several of the groups themselves are in Moshi tonight to celebrate the end of their placement. With presentations due tomorrow morning, it's needless to say, no Konyagi for us. Maybe on 27th when we finish teaching officially...

The sun is setting here and it's dinner time! We head out to our individual placements of 2 - 5 people in each school on Sunday, so I won't be back in Moshi or probably anywhere near anything resembling a computer before next weekend. Until then, kwa heri!

Fiona

 

Cue Countdown Music

We fly tomorrow, ridiculously early from Heathrow, and there's just enough time amidst my frantic last minute packing and plane ticket scares to write a last post from English soil. I'm going to miss home so much, but the idea that this time tomorrow I'll be in Tanzania...pretty mind blowing. I had the best send of on Saturday that I could have asked for, complete with a very early birthday cake seeing as I'll be turning 20 out in Africa. All my injections are done, I've started the course of antimalarials, got travel insurance and dollars and an unreal amount of underwear. My corrected visa is firmly stuck in my passport (after getting the wrong one, I know now what a heart attack feels like without actually experiencing one) and LOCATE have all my details. Just in case. Let's hope I don't require the help of the Foreign Office.

So now for hand luggage and the customary panics about permitted weights and liquid allowances and passports not being where they should be. If I make it through Heathrow, I'll see you on the other side! Or meet you midway in Istanbul (that means you should be waiting in Constantinople).

Fiona

Afeeeekkka!!

Hello Everyone!!

First of all my big apolgies for not updating the blog last weekend.... it was my turn to do it and unfortunatly the day set aside for internet was spent in bed ill :-(

Anyways... the African Adventure is well underway and im having a fabulous time as is the whole of Tg4! We are all busy in our schools and many of us have experienced teaching the first aid syllabus (some more than others due to schools on hols etc) but all experience has been good experience from what i have talked to the other volenteers about!!

I can only tell you more about my experiences as everyone is separated during the weeks then reunited at the weekend and to list everythin that everyone has done and achieved would take me toooo long!! :-D

Sooooo teaching for us at our school (Clare, Jenna and Jenny) has got off to a slow start due to the children resitting exams etc (we cant teach them during this time as they need to revise) but last week things picked up and we started teaching form 1 and 2 during the day for 40 minutes and we have started a first aid club in the evenings ... the children seem interested in the first aid syllabus but it is very obvious that first aid is not valued in schools here (this is why we are here thou) so it has been a battle working enthusiasm into the classes and emphasising how important it actually is... we are hoping that this message will sink in sooner rather than later as we experienced our first trip to a tanzanian hospital the other day as a little girl collasped on us... (she is getting better)!!! We are also lucky in the fact that this week we get to go and visit the primary school down the road from us and possibly teach some first aid ther along with other lessons!!

At the weekends we have spent most of our time relaxing .... kind of... last weekend we went to a childrens centre and taught first aid to the children. It was absolutely amazing!! They sang to us and it was very moving!! We have been swimming at a lovely hotel that had gorgeous food :-D and considering that food was one of my biggest worries im doing just fine... infact im doing great the food is gooooood!

We have all ordered clothes to be made and have got some gorgeous bags here!! soooo very happy!

Anyways write again soon with more details

Becca x

We Made It!!!!

Jambo!!!

We finally arrived in Moshi, Tanzania on Friday after three long days of travelling. The journey didn't go as smoothly as most expected!! Every leg of our journey was an adventure in itself!!!

The journey began at London Heathrow with a flight to Dubai. This signalled the start of the adventure. The flight began well, but went downhill as people began to drift of to sleep. I happily began drifting of to sleep whilst watching some Disney movies. However, when I woke I didn't feel too good, infact I thought I might pass out. When I mentioned this to Becca she simply rolled over and carried on sleeping. It took more poking to convince her I wasn't feeling great!! I stumbled to the bacl galley where they insisted I needed oxygen! So I sat for 20 minutes looking like duck whilst the other volunteers gathered around taking pictures!!

Following that traumatic flight, we had an 8 hour stop over in Dubai airport and found some lounger chairs and curled up and slept!! The flight to Nairobi was fairly uninventful! We landed Thursday night in Nairobi and went straight to the hotel and slept!!

The next morning we awoke bright and early to catch our bus to Moshi. To say the least the bus journey was the bumpiest journey I have ever had, and after about 10 hours sat on a bus we finally arrived in Moshi!!

Any how, I only have two mins left so I am going to leave this here.

Bye xxx

PS parents reading this....we are safe and well!!!!