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4/30/2020

Part 8 - Hope is a safari driver AND she manages a restaurant? - Purposeful Travel Trip Jan 30-Feb 19, 2020

So while we were on safari, Hope spoke about her extremely tough childhood and how she fought to become a safari driver. But that's not all. In addition to driving, she has taken in two girls who are now teenagers. Hope assured them a home and education. In addition (you may see a pattern here) she is helping other women to train to become safari drivers. In addition. . .she manages a restaurant in Arusha. Hope is amazing. While on safari she invited the Safi 17 to not only eat at the MACafe Restaurant but to cook the meal!

Pumpkin/squash soup - Sous chef Connie
Banana stew - Sous chef Carol
Rice & vegetable salad
Cooked Pumpkin leaves
Air baked chicken and chutney
Beef Tips
Choux Swan Pastry swimming in chocolate sauce with pomegranate - Sous chef Marion

Hope brought five of her woman safari driver trainees to introduce them and to help serve the meal.

Part 7 - Back to Arusha - Purposeful Travel Trip Jan 30-Feb 19, 2020

4/30/2020

It's always hard to leave a safari. Yes, this one was packed with true adventure and awe. We take with us mountains of memories that will last a lifetime. But, back to Arusha. We have people to see and things to do.

Part 6 - HOW BUMPY WAS IT? Ask Fitbit! Purposeful Travel Trip Jan 30-Feb 19, 2020

3/28/2020

Those of us who try to get in their 10,000 steps each day, take note that we were sitting inside a safari vehicle and able to log an average of 68,000 steps each day of Safari! When Alex's vehicle's bottom anchor plate of the right rear shock absorber broke while crossing a deep and rocky water feature......well it got a bit bumpier. Before we left the Crater, his vehicle also lost the return pipe for the radiator, plus container and several fan blades. Yes, Fitbit, the roads were bumpy.

The Part 5 pictures covered the Ngorongoro Conserve and the Serengeti. These photos continue the Safari from Olduvai Gorge to Rhino Lodge and then into and more importantly back out of Ngorongoro Crater. During the drive we saw many wildebeest and some babies, some only minutes old; zebra, large and small; lots of birds, including flamingos; huge hippos, elephants; lions; cape buffalo; 4 Black Rhino, three at a distance and one up close; hyenas, cheetah, tortoise, jackals, crocodile, giraffe, hartebeest, rock hyrax, zebra mongoose, impala, grant gazelle, thompson gazelle, dik-dik, eland, warthog,bat-eared fox. . . . .

Part 5 - Three Nights at Flycatcher Campsite and Safari Adventures - Purposeful Travel Trip Jan 30-Feb 19, 2020

3/24/2020

Leaving the luxury of Ilboru after a wonderful breakfast, we meet our drivers Kisana, Hope (yes! a woman) and Alex. None better. The Safi 17 piled into Dorobo's vehicles and headed down to the tarmac and west towards the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and the Serengeti. The drive took all day due to a mechanical glitch, making us late. But no worries, well a few as the sun was setting and we saw all the mud and water that would be a part of our adventures in the next few days. In dramatic fashion our worries dissipated as we drove into camp. A great meal greeted us. Sebastian is still the host and he sends you his greetings. All 17 of us and 3 drivers fill the tents at Flycatcher. This would be home for the next three nights.

Part 4 - Move to Ilboru Safari Lodge and visit Arusha Enterprise - Purposeful Travel Trip Jan 30-Feb 19, 2020

3/23/2020

Up to now we have had showers in the morning but they are thankfully diminishing. Who thought that we needed to pack rain gear? Rain or not, we had to pack our bags after breakfast to move across the street. Mwangaza was inexpensive so we could splurge one night prior to going off to Safari. We are ready.

After moving we took a trip to Umoja School where there is a small workshop called Enterprise where Days for Girls (DfG) menstrual kits are being made and distributed in the local community. Darlene and Joyce are really excited to share knowledge about DfG and see how it is handled in TZ. Paul brought supplies from a Minnesota group. It may seem like an odd topic but these kits are critical to keep girls in school who would otherwise be home one week every month with a negative impact to them alone. The Umoja school is a small secondary day school that reaches out to students who otherwise could not afford to attend school.

Part 3 - Safi Office Visit - Purposeful Travel Trip Jan 30-Feb 19, 2020

3/21/2020

Yesterday we attend Elizabeth's church then to a Chinese lunch with Titus & Zemobia Laroyas. Anna, their daughter, was sponsored by Safi members and has now become a pilot on a spotter plane looking for poachers in the Ngorongoro area. We are all proud and amazed of Anna. Good food, good fun, good friends.

Today Baraka will show us the Safi Office in Arusha. It is down the road and over, then up the Meat King Road and off into the side roads at the foot of Mt Meru. Did you know that in TZ there are very few named streets? No home addresses? Lots of houses and banana tress and crooked dirt roads? No street lights once out of the central district? Without our drivers we would never, ever find the Safi Office. THANK YOU DRIVERS!

At the office there was a presentation by Baraka of how students are supported as they progress through post secondary education. Freddy spoke of passion and how the program helps students to develop life long skills. "The goal is to not just pass tests but to be alive."

Victor Simon (sponsor-Earla) is the IT developer and support. He built an administration application for Safi students that tracks and communicates progress and needs electronically. This is critical since many students are scattered around the country at specialty schools and colleges.

Current post secondary students spoke and conveyed their thank yous to Safi. They spoke of how they give back by volunteering. How they reach back to help younger students begin on their path.
These students are in picture below with David.
Daudi (sponsor-Kristina)- Lab Tech at Arusha Technical
Elizabeth - Volunteer Secretary, Form 4
John Jeffrey (sponsor-Marilyn) is at Arusha Technical and has chickens to supplement his living needs
Victor Simon and Dickson (sponsor-Earla) work closely with Baraka

Part 2 Mianzini Road by Bus

3/21/2020

Oh Yes.....I forgot to mention the road and the bus. We arrived at JRO in daylight. We all got on a bus that would handle the 17 of us, Elizabeth and David, the driver and all our luggage piled on top and strapped down. (As we left the airport I was reminiscing on how we looked like the Jed Clampett family driving into Beverly Hills) The drive to Arusha was pretty normal but to get to Mwangaza we drove up Mianzini Road.....with all the shops open, street vendors and vegetable sellers out.....with delivery trucks, piki pikis (motor cycle taxis), cars, hand pulled carts, vehicles breaking down, and all of humanity going up and down the road that was in an almost destroyed condition by the very rainy short rains that would not stop. The people looking at us as something strange and we looking at them in the same light. Dorothy.....we are not in Kansas any more. My camera was still packed and my seat on the bus had no good angles for phone photos. Perhaps someone from the group got some. Suffice it to say the scene was on overload, and it was wonderful to be there. It was especially wonderful to watch the faces of the newcomers to Safi's version of Purposeful travel. Welcome to Arusha.

Part 1 - Purposeful Travel Trip Jan 30-Feb 19, 2020

3/20/2020

Yes, its been a month sine we returned to the US from Arusha Tanzania. While there we did not have sufficient electricity or connection to blog. Since returning, It has been a crazy strange time. But....I find that on my second week of "staying at home in order to stop the spread of Covid 19" that I have finally caught up with all the pressing issues and can blog!

IT WAS AN EPIC TRIP! Amazing every day. Seventeen intrepid travelers spent three weeks visiting many relevant organizations and cultural sites to better see and understand the current conditions and lives of the people that Safi School Project's mission serves. While there the group also went on a fantastic safari adventure to see the great migration.

For those of us who left from Seatac WA, it took 24 hours of travel to arrive. In addition to the 11 hour time change. Some of the group came from Arizona and others from Minnesota. By 2/1 we all had landed in JRO (Kilimanjaro Airport) and made our way up the side of Mt Meru to Mwangaza's lodging, a 3 BR house with a dormitory in back. The house is where Mary Nelson began her love and support of students in TZ back in 1993. It was a great place for 17 people to get to know each other, organize our schedule,the luggage, 450 Days for Girls menstrual kits, 150 knitted caps, 200 hot wheels and bunches of school supplies.

AND....Baraka, Safi's go to person in TZ stopped by to greet the group as did Elizabeth, our in country travel goddess, who also brought bead-work from Ketumbeine, North Maasailand, TZ. The beautiful items provide a small, regular income for 55 women in a harsh environment. Their work is based on Traditional art forms from Maasai culture.

Video from Safari August 2017

9/2/2017

Kate shares a wonderful video of elephants on her Facebook page. Click on the link below.
www.facebook.com/kate.delozier/videos/1791946380832890/

Tamiha Orphanage Visit

9/9/2016

It is hard to not visit Tamiha and with each visit we are amazed. There is always a new corp of orphans to sing to us. There are always improvements going on. This time there were new volunteers, full of energy and good deeds. Alex (long blond hair) from England came and ran a go fund me page to fix the gate and extend the new classroom. The gate got fixed, securing the children and the classroom was being built while we visited.

Thank you knitters for creating the wonderful hats that we passed out.

We also found out that there is a primary school where the kids can attend that costs $400 a year. If you wish to sponsor an orphan, please contact us at info@safischoolproject.org and we'll give you the details.