Hamjambo!

Greetings from Mike, Megan and Hope. The group arrived safely on Friday evening and we have quickly immersed ourselves into village life. After one night in our new lodging, which is a new school dormitory in the village of Maji ya Chai, the students woke up early and explored their immediate surroundings. We enjoyed a communal breakfast of pancakes, fresh fruit from the market, yoghurt and of course some chai (tea). Next, the group broke into their "cook group" teams to go on a scavenger hunt throughout the village for everything from pictures of a sheep (and not a goat) to the name of the village chairman. They were asked to present their findings in an interpretive and creative way. This was when we as leaders realized how outgoing, artistic and theatrical our group is!

We spent most of the afternoon going over the schedule of our expedition, our goals for our On Assignment projects and for our community project. We also addressed specific orientation topics. After a long afternoon in the Tanzanian sun (the most beautiful day in the past week), the students were excited to continue walking throughout the village and to practice their Swahili.

In the evening Mt. Meru and Mt. Kilimanjaro finally showed their true beauty and rugged profiles. It was a wonderful conclusion to the day's events, as well as a symbol of what lies ahead! We had individual meetings last night to get to know the students a little better, and attempted to play funny pranks on them, but they all outsmarted us. This morning most students woke up at 7 am to go for a morning walk, while a few ambitious students went for a jog. We had a true cultural experience by going to a local Lutheran church and listening to wonderful Swahili music from the church choir.

As we write on Sunday afternoon the students are exploring Arusha, a small city that serves as the hub of most Tanzanian safaris. We will be in Maji ya Chai for the next six days building a water tank for the village and working on individual assignments in either Wildlife and Conservation or Photography. The Wildlife and Conservation group will be visiting places such as the snake park, the World Vegetable Center, and Mt. Meru National Park. Tonight we are having dinner with six Tanzanian student photographers who will be working with our photography students. Mike was able to collect six donated digital cameras to lend to the Tanzanian students to use while we are here. This is a really exciting aspect of our On Assignment photography group which we hope will be incorporated into other National Geographic Student Expeditions in the future. This will also be a great opportunity for the entire group to get to know local Tanzanian students and work with them on a common goal.

Thank you all for the opportunity with work with your children in Tanzania. We are looking forward to the next two weeks and will do our best to update the blog as frequently as our limited internet access allows.

Asanteni sana,
Mike, Hope, and Megan