The next several posts will update you on the last week of travels from Dar es Salaam to Musoma. We left Dar on Monday, Feb. 21 and spent one night in Arusha before meeting our tour guides for our safari to Ngorongoro Conservation Area, the Serengeti National Park, and Grumeti…
We are delighted to report that all the students arrived safely at their service locations! We received confirmation via phone from all the families. Most students spent the day traveling via bus or daladala, with travels lasting 3-4 hours for some. Others were picked up by their host parents directly…
Just a quick note to let everyone know that we safely arrived in Musoma yesterday afternoon. Today we attended the Nyabange Mennonite Church for a warm, festive, and celebratory welcome. Over the last week, we had an amazing journey through the Serengeti ecosystem and we’ll report on that after…
Everyone attended church today at Upanga Mennonite Church, where we have been having our daily Swahili classes. The church has been so welcoming, as we’ve used classrooms on their compound, benefited from the local canteen for our lunches, and have deeply appreciated the daily interactions with the…
The students’ final exam was originally scheduled for Thursday, but since many students and teachers did not get much sleep on Wednesday night due to the accident at the military base, we postponed the exam until Friday. In small groups, students spent Thursday afternoon exploring a variety of artisans in…
You may have heard that last evening Tanzania experienced an unfortunate accident at a military base south of the airport. An accident caused an unknown quantity of ammunition to be discharged, which caused explosions that were felt many kilometers away. I wanted to simply report that all the students and…
On Tuesday Dr. Albogast Kamukuru, a marine biologist from the University of Dar es Salaam, gave us a presentation on the challenges and opportunities in managing Tanzania’s marine resources. He emphasized the extreme economic importance of both freshwater and marine fisheries in a country where approximately 5%…
This weekend marks a milestone in our trip (and perhaps the calendar year), as the first of the long rains reached Dar! Praise be to God! On Sunday morning we woke to cloudy and darkening skies and by mid-morning the wind, thunder, and torrential sheets of rain greeted us. If…
Our theme this week has been to explore how the unique attributes of natural resources determine which management approaches should be used for conservation. Forests, fisheries, and soils are very different systems which require unique management approaches depending on their biological attributes — sometimes education is enough, sometimes complete protection,…
Wow, we’ve had a busy few days! On Friday we spent 2 hours with Reverend John Magafu and colleagues discussing environmental justice issues facing rural Tanzanians in relation to the mining industry. Tanzania produces many tons of gold each year, and is ranked 4th in Africa for the most gold…
