RideTZ Days 1 & 2!

A little bit of information for all those wondering where and what exactly the RideTZ adventure seekers will be accomplishing on their 10-day ride to the Coast. I’m going to be covering different days in the next few weeks, so stay posted to make it through the whole, crazy trip!

When the RideTZ riders first land at Kilimanjaro International Airport, they will go straight to Momela Road, where they will be staying for the night at The Ngurdoto Mountain Lodge Momela Road is home to Usa River Academy (URA), TFFT’s flagship school, where 69 of our Scholarship recipients attend classes and live in boarding. Momela Road also leads to Arusha National Park Arusha National Park, the closest National Park to our city center. RideTZ riders will have an opportunity to meet the Ride Team, as well as get to know each other a little bit before the ride begins the day they arrive.

The next morning, we’ll be waking up early to hit the road (or dirt path depending). After decompressing from the plane ride, Summits Africa Summits Africa will debrief all riders and help everyone pack their bags for our big adventure! Once our team is set, we’ll head to URA to visit with the children and meet the TFFT Tanzania staff. It is at this point that our riders will be able to meet the faces who have touched them so much…such as Jim Coughlin, who shaved his head to raise money after being inspired by Rosie Msafiri’s story (http://tinyurl.com/yan99e3).

Some of the kiddies acting silly

After spending some time with the children, we’ll jump on our bikes and spend some time in the saddle! Our ride will take us towards the Masai Steppe, where riders will have their first go on African terrain. With some dust, some Maasai and maybe a bit of wildlife RideTZ riders will be able to get into the groove of riding on this half day out in the bush! Our last reccie trip had us stuck in a ng'ombe (cow) jam...a sight all too familiar in these parts!

By the end of the day, we'll all be ready to put our feet up, enjoy a nice cup of chai and talk about our first day on road!

Headed into the Maasai Steppe and our "open" road!

YOU NEED TO GROW YOUR BEARDS TO BE THE BOSS

Hi all,

It’s such a big shame that it has been two months now since I joined the TFFT team in Tanzania as the Scholarship Program Director But this is my first blog post. I know I have been difficult to post something for TFFT blogers not because I don’t want to, rather because of the fact that social media and the like are new things to us in Africa and I would say mostly in East Africa.

How ever I haven’t been difficult in other areas (don’t judge me wrong!), According to Emily (our Development Director) I learned the TFFT Scholarship Children names and personalities faster than any other TFFTer. From now on, you should expect to hear more about the TFFT Scholarship Children form me.

So couple of weeks ago the whole TFFT team on the ground was at Usa River Academy, the school in which most of our kiddos goes to. Our kids came to us as usual, each of them shouting out a random story, others lifting themselves on our arms, others explaining how they have lost their padlock keys, others asking about trips etc. At some point it become silent and Yusuph (one of the triplets) came up with a question which we all paid attention to,

Yusuph; Joshua you are the boss to TFFT Right???

Josh; (puzzled by the question) I am not the boss to TFFT.

Yusuph; Yes, yes you are.

Josh; why do you think I am the boss to TFFT!!!?

Yusuph; because you have the beards

We all ended up laughing, but I learned from the kids that beards can make you become the boss. So I had to shave my beards because am not the boss

Parachichi planting

In July the secondary students along with class 6 took a special trip to Lou's house and planted avocado seeds. They have since grown and were ready to be permanently planted. The headmaster at Usa River Academy was kind enough to allocate us with a plot of land in their extensive garden for our trees. We had two great hardworking days and have the pictures to prove it!



Ombeni being very serious!

Lou's gardeners were a great resource. Not only were they extremely hard workers, here Dezi is teaching the kids about avocado tree growth.

Mary happily digging.

Everyone was impressed by he muscle shown here!


We dug 19 holes for our trees on Wednesday so that we could plant the trees on Thursday. Mere hours before we were due to plant them a wildly strong rain tore through the area down trees and wreaking havoc. Lucking Usa River Academy was in good form, but our holes were quite full of water and the soil proved muddy. The result was a humor filled dirty day. Hey, no one said gardening was clean!
Evidence of the rain's effect.

Nice Mary planting her tree.

Josh and Fadhili

The group gathers as Irene gets into the spirit.

The boys proudly show off their planted tree.

All of the avocado trees in a line

A final shot of Mt. Meru above the garden.

Special thanks for making these very special days possible go to Lou, Dezi, Kasanga, and Usa River Academy.

RIDE TZ!!

Many of our readers know about this already, however I would like to officially introduce RideTZ, to our blog! We are also on Twitter @RIDETZ and on Facebook if anyone would like to see more regular updates!

The Foundation For Tomorrow has launched RIDETZ, a 10 day, 400 mile adventure ride across Tanzania in July 2010. With a maximum of 35 riders and 21 crew, we will be riding rugged African roads from Mount Kilimanjaro to the Indian Ocean to raise money and awareness to improve the education of orphaned and abandoned children in East Africa. At the same time, RIDETZ will provide participants from the US and Europe a unique opportunity to learn about the educational system and orphan crisis as they are giving back.

RideTZ is an unbelievable opportunity for donors to see rural Tanzania, as well as visit some of the projects TFFT is involved in. Before the holidays, Ake Lindstrom of Summits Africa (our Tanzanian outfitter) and I headed out to determine our official route. I think we spent 2/3 of our trip telling each other how gorgeous, amazing, and fun this ride is going to be! This coming from two people who already appreciate the beauty of Tanzania’s country and people. It will be difficult at times, no doubt, but for those willing to put in the training, the reward will be unforgettable covering mountain ranges, Nyumba ya Mungu lake, Mkomazi Game Reserve, and the Indian Ocean. This trip covers so many diverse areas, all showcasing the beauty of this country.

We are still accepting riders! To register visit: http://www.active.com/page/Event_Details.htm?event_id=1754000

or for more information email me: emily@thefoundationfortomorrow.org or Kristie: info@elevatedestinations.com

and of course…to donate visit: http://www.active.com/donate/TFFTRIDETZ

Here are a few pictures of where we’ll be riding. I’ll be following up with a day by journal of our time in the bush.

Nyumba ya Mungu (The House Of God)

The open road!!

Our road through the Usambara Mountains

First Week Down as Member of The Foundation For Tomorrow Staff!

Hi all. Well, the first week of the term is down here in Tanzania and we are almost done with week two. I can't believe how fast it is going by. It has been a swift introduction to The Foundation For Tomorrow for the children and myself, but I think we have embraced it wholeheartedly. My first day in town we visited the students at Usa River and given that these photos were taken within 5 minutes of arriving I think we should get along great!

It was great to learn that I was not nearly as interesting as the books. As soon as they came out everyone scattered.


Fratern with the girls

Josh with Rachel and Rosie

Ndera

Daniel and Mathayo

Glory latched on and hardly let go!

Cheri and I read with the kids

All in all it has been a wonderful first week and a half. Many thanks to the TFFT team! Special thanks go to my awesome new roommate Emily who has taken on a second full time job getting me settled and showing me the ropes.

Team TFFT

Happy 2010! Hope everyone rang in the New Year in some fun way. I spent it in the snow of the Rocky Mountains with my family, skiing, relaxing and eating delicious food! I’m thrilled to be back in Tanzania now, where the kids are back to start a new school year; the rain is still coming, and my new roommate is getting settled in!

That’s right…new roommate! Anne Palmer joined TFFT in Tanzania on Monday night. She arrived at about 10 pm to Fratern and me waving a sign with her name on it and acting totally “professional.” Anne is here as our resident EMT, as well as the new Program Director for TFFT’s Full Circle Afterschool Program. She seems to be a freak of nature as well, seeing as she’s jumped right into things with only the slightest signs of jetlag! Our askari Lazaro, my dog Henry and I are all thrilled to have the extra company in the evenings as well (I’ll let everyone picture the funny trio we made on their own).

So, with Anne’s addition, Josh Nassari (our Scholarship Program Director who is absolutely amazing and has probably learned the kids names and personalities faster than any other TFFTer), Fratern, and myself I’m feeling like we’ve found ourselves a nice little team!

Last night, we were invited to dinner out at Rivertrees with Dr. Betsy Glasser a volunteer with Nkoaranga Orphanage and wonderful TFFT supporter. So, at about 7pm last night Team TFFT along with Cheri Sims (a TFFT volunteer who is spending 2.5 months working out at Matonyak as well as Usa River Academy), piled into our Subaru Forester and cruised out to Rivertrees. Along the way, I played DJ, and tried to play a little something for everyone, so after Hakuna Matata, the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, and John Denver we found ourselves all singing and dancing to Sweet Home Alabama. Everyone agreed / told me I needed to blog about the moment...to which I happily agreed. A great team, a beautiful Tanzanian night, some good tunes and mini dance party in the car…who could ask for more??

Superstars

This is very, very belated, but I want to share with everyone the awesomeness of Myers Park High School, Amy Hammond, Ashton Ratcliffe, and Drew Hammond (as well as chaperone extraordinaire Julie Hammond).

At the end of June, Julie brought her daughter Amy, her son Drew, and friend Ashton to Tanzania to volunteer at our partner orphanage, Matonyak, whom you have read about in previous blogs. These young girls were inspired by TFFT and the children in our programs and decided to take action. They got their peers at Myers Park involved in fundraising for TFFT, more specifically sponsoring Richard Francis, one of our scholarship recipients (who just graduated Class 7). Then, when the girls decided they were coming to Tanzania, they began fundraising for Matonyak where they would be volunteering for several weeks over the summer. These young ladies were creative; designing and selling t-shirts, and collecting money in any way possible way. They ended up heading to Tanzania with a couple thousand dollars raised by their high school!

Once here- they got right to business, figuring out the dala dala system (the local transportation which carries people, chickens, goats, veggies and anything else they can fit in the tiny little mini van), and walking for ages out to Maasai land. They spent their days teaching the children at Matonyak and creating fun projects for the kids (they made books about themselves, and took pictures and decorated them, to name a few). After lunch, instead of resting they worked with Emmy and Ndemno to figure out what more they could do to help. With the money raised they were able to provide a new playground for the kids, desks and chairs for the classrooms, some bicycles, chickens and TWO cows! They spent their afternoons in the Maasai markets, wood shops, walking through the villages with the cows or bargaining for cheaper prices. The cows were built a nice home and were named Ashton and Amy, appropriately.

It was a wonderful few weeks for the children at Matonyak, TFFT, and me personally. It was even more wonderful to see more young people working to create a better future for others, and receiving support from their parents, teachers and peers. Thank you Julie, Amy, Ashton and Drew for your hard work, dedication, and support! Karibu Tanzania any time!

Long Time No Blog

Well, unfortunately this is not the first, and probably not the last apology I will be writing, but it is sincere. I am sorry for the lack of blog posts recently. Life in Tanzania has definitely been changing and busy lately!

A quick re-cap of the past few months- the kids went on break in August which gave us some much needed time to re-organize as well as visit many of the kids in their respective villages. It was great to meet some new relatives and see the children in such a different environment! They went back to school at the end of the month, and have been busy studying, playing, losing teeth, learning and growing since then. Our Class 7 kids; Nancy, Richard Francis, Simon, Dicklucky, Happiness, Irene, and Richard Augustine all graduated and started a new Pre-Form 1 program we started with Usa River Academy and a tutor in Lushoto (for Simon and Richard F.). The Form 2 kids took their National Exams and have gone home early after a grueling few weeks of studying and preparation. We've had Visiting Day with Christmas Carols, and countless Doctor's Appointments for new glasses (Violethi), pulled teeth (Mathayo) and all sorts of interesting "issues". However, everyone is healthy and happy and excited for break on December 5th!

In the office, we've had a lot going on as well. We said goodbye to Alley Brindza, our amazing Scholarship Program Director (and my wonderful roommate), and hello to Fratern Tarimo, our new Managing Director. Fratern has jumped into his role running and has been an awesome addition to the TFFT team. Plus, he loves pizza (like Alley) so we get along well! We saw our two tutors Franco and Amani head off to University, which was exciting and brought on two new tutors, Lobulo and Daniel who the kids love. We have also been experiencing new power "rations" which boils down to no power every day either during the day or evenings and so...(hold applause) we got a generator! Life in the office has changed dramatically (as evident by this blog) since our new purchase last week. It's been great to continue working in office even when we don't have power and great to have some light in the evenings when I'm stumbling around the house.

Otherwise, we're settling into a nice rainy season with daily showers or downpours depending and much greener surroundings. The Jacaranda's are slowly dwindling, but still in bloom and the speed bumps out to school are being filled in- shaving at least 10 minutes off our trip each day! So life is good over here in Tanzania.

I'm going to see if I can't get a few belated blogs up as well. I'm back in the game!!

Barber Blues..

So- just a funny little post quickly...

Every couple of weeks it seems the kids get this rather nasty head fungus. Not sure if it's ring worm, or a random fungus but it's pretty gross either way. The remedy for this is a quick trip to the Doctor for some medicated cream and a full buzz cut at the barber.

Last week was no exception with Rosie being the first to approach me with said fungus. She informed me that her head "was paining" and she needs a shave (which she acted out for me). I told her we would go the next day and to be ready when I got to school. Well, the next day, Mathayo, Athumaini and Apaifura all informed me that they too were sick on their heads. SO- we piled in the car, swung past the Usa River Medical Clinic for some medicine and then hit up the Barber.

Everyone was excited and the Barber is a really nice guy who enjoys the kids. However, Rosie, the ring leader ended up hating the whole shaving process and was not too happy by the end. I even tried to cheer her up with biltong, which surprisingly didn't work. The others enjoyed it though! Guess you can't win them all. Anyways, we decided to have a photo shoot while waiting for everyone and I had to share the pics with everyone because they're hysterical. Hope these give you a good mid-week laugh.

Old Man Mathayo...

Mini T...

A happy Athumaini

A not so happy Rosie..

Half Way Again!

Well I can’t believe we are already half way through another term, and visiting day has come and gone. Alley and I have definitely been busy the past few months and it seemed that before we knew it the Big Day had snuck up on us! The kids were all a buzz about Saturday, asking us constantly if we would be coming. Of course!

Learning from experience, we decided to bring food for the kids instead of paying the ridiculous prices the school vendors were charging for chicken and chipsies. So, we made a run to the grocery and spent the Friday before cooking 70+ pieces of chicken for all the kids. We also convinced Mama Baby, who runs the rice and beans joint in our neighborhood to cook up some chapati for us. The morning of Visiting Day, Alley and I rolled out of our house with 70+ chicken pieces, chapatis, lollies, and juices. We arrived two hours past the starting time, and yet Lou, Alley and I found ourselves still nearly 2 hours early. Gotta love the pace of Africa.

The boys enjoying the chicken

The day proved to be a success! All the primary classes performed for us and many of the older kids were involved in skits, singing with the choir or dance troops. We even saw a performance of Enrique Inglesias by two twins in Form 5, and yes there were young girls screaming. It was amazing really.

The babies performing!

We also had a great turn out of visitors! Amani and Franco, our new tuition tutors showed up with lollies, which were a big hit! Sister Enna and some folks drove 6 hours from Lushoto to visit with Richard, Isack, Simon and Zacharia. Mama Mike came with Mama Neema and Mama Simone and her daughter Cathy came. Mama Pendo from Nkoroanga Orphanage and Mr. Pallangyo and Mr. Kaia from Good Hope came by. Maggie who cares for Lomanyaki and Namayani rushed to school after work to hang with the babies. Glady and Esther’s Dad and Step-mom, and several other relatives of the kids came to play as well. It was great and everyone was thrilled to have some company outside of Alley, Lou and myself!

Amani and his friends!

All in all I think it was another great day!