Tanzania

Students on our high school Service Tanzania program share highlights from their first days of service, cultural exchange, and life in their host community.

Hi everyone!

We just completed our first day of service! Our mission is to build a fence around the local elementary school in order to protect the local students and surrounding farmland from animals and strangers. We have mixed concrete, dug holes with pickaxes, filled the holes with water and concrete, gathered iron poles, and, during our breaks, socialized with the kids.

The concrete buckets, when full, weigh about 130 pounds, and we’ve had to carry them across an estimated quarter-mile dozens of times. We have also had to look out for thorns and milky-white plant sap in the grasses where we dig, which we’ve been told to avoid because it can cause itching. While the work is difficult, the impact is worth it.

On our third day, we participated in a cooking class and learned how to make ugali, a traditional Tanzanian corn flour dough used for dipping and scooping stews and vegetables. We learned a lot about the differences between Tanzanian cooking techniques and those in America. Following this, we had an intercultural dialogue with some of the locals and discussed our differences and similarities, asking questions about each other’s homes. We learned a lot about Tanzanian government, school, and traditions, and shared about life back home as well.

We are all getting excited for our weekend excursion, but we’re also loving the impact that we are making with our service work!

Baadae (see you later)!

—The Service Tanzania Team

To learn more about our high school Service Tanzania program, click here!