After a
lot of tears, an emergency trip to Egypt, an eighteen hour wait in Johannesburg
airport and thirty hours of travel we had arrived in Dar Es Salaam. Before we
had left, we had arranged to spend a month in the Amani Centre in the district
of Morogoro, which was a foundation offering aid to the intellectually disabled
children and youth. Neither Lulu nor I knew what to expect, so you can imagine
the anticipation we felt on the four hour drive.
Upon our arrival we were launched on by children, the excitement and
thrill from our hosts soon calmed our anxiety. Our living quarters exceeded all
our expectations, we expected the stereotypical Africa that you see
on television, however, we had running water (most of the time), beds and
electricity.
Bedroom
Living Quarters
After a week, our routine soon became set, and we were settling into
Tanzanian life quite well. We would spend the morning in the school trying our
hardest to learn 1 - 10 in Swahili and pass on our little knowledge, the
afternoons saw us making our own entertainment, whereby we would play with the
orphans that lived at the centre. The weekends were left to our own devices; we
took the opportunity to explore the surrounding areas in Dala Dala's
(Tanzania's bus service - rickety, old minibuses) which cost 200 Tanzanian
dollars, which is the equivalent of 8p.
A Dala Dala
Tanzania Scenery
Spending a month in a country so far out of my comfort zone was the most
rewarding thing I have done, the children we met made our trip, and to be so
appreciated was bizarre yet incredible. Our time in Tanzania passed too
quickly, but we had to move on to our next destination.
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