Tom's - the 'buy-one-give-one" epidemic

Hey y'all!

Not a lot going on here - just job hunting and praying -- but Dad sent me an email eariler that I thought was interesting and fit in to what my posts from Tanzania said.

I'd love if you read it.
Bob Lupton discusses two charity-based shoe companies and their models. It is an interesting read and definitely thought provoking.

http://fcsministries.org/blog/two-shoes/


Much love
B

The Itch

Graduation is quickly approaching. 3 weeks from today I will officially be a grown up. A grown up? That has to make their own money, survive on their own?
Where does the itch to go back to Africa fit into this?
Does it at all? Can I still go? What will happen to me and Alex if I'm gone for a long time? (why am I now that girl?) Is this itch from the Lord?

Obviously what I have now is a love for a culture, a people and serving and no specifics, but if you think about it today I would love prayer for direction, protection and clarity.

Such a short post after such a long absence but thank you!!

Top Kili

That was the subject line for an email my dad sent me as well as the only thing that will be running through my head until we summit early Monday morning.

We got back from the parks yesterday and saw every animal that you can imagine. Giraffes, lions, cheetahs, leopards, thousands upon thousands of wildebeests, probably just as many zebras (my favorite), jackals, tons of beautiful birds, cape buffalo, families of elephants (they come in a close second as my second favorite), warthogs, baboons, hippos, flamingos, rhino, vervet monkeys, byraxes (the closest relative to an elephant -- its about the size of a rabbit) and pretty much everything else.

We stopped at Oldupai Gorge, which was a lot cooler than I thought it would be, Shifting Sands, a dune that moves 17 meters a year. We visited a snake park (where I held two snakes and an alligator), then rode camels and visited a Masaai museum. The Masaai live as nomads and they're wealth is determined by the amount of cattle they have. Their food (except for the porridge that babies are fed) consists only of milk, meat and blood -- all from cows. Can you imagine? Can you imagine the faces we made when they told us? Haha.

We would all love your prayer for the climb and for our safety!
Feel free to email me! I won't have internet on the hike, but I would love to hear updates from you!
B

Safari!

(Did you know that "safari" in swahili just means "a trip", so technically I have been on safari since I left on May 11?)

But today we are officially going on Safari!
We will get to ride camels today and see an incredible sunset (think intro to Lion King in reverse)
We are going to NgoroNgoro crater and Serengeti National Park. I can hardly wait.
I have been on a safari before but I am really excited about these because (dorkily) our teachers are with us and we will actually be learning about what we are seeing rather than just seeing it!

If you have a second, I think all of us would appreciate prayers for our travels and things like that!
I am so thankful for those of you that have been praying!

I don't think we will have computers on this next portion of the trip, so next time you hear from me, I will have returned and will be preparing for the BIG CLIMB!

Happy Thursday!

I think I came off a lot more pessimistic than I intended in the last post. So sorry, I swear I'm not sitting half way across the world depressed. That was a lot of my general thoughts in terms of the "service-learning" portion of the trip, and I promise, they are not as pessimistic as they sounded, I am optimistically looking for a solution. 

Today was such a chill day. It was fantastic to have a day to do whatever and not worry about a schedule.  This morning we had no plans so Jessica and I went into town. She got her nails done with a flower on every nail for a total of 2000 shillings. That is less than $1.50. Can you believe it?!?! (I got my toes done for the same price!) In the states it is at least $15 with the designs and everything. 

Then we went to a tailor on the street. Earlier in the trip I bought some really neat fabric. It is purple with a teal and cream border and hot air balloons as the design (cuter than it sounds. I swear!) I am having it made into clothing and a pillow etc. :)

This afternoon we drove through 45 minutes of civilization and 45 minutes of wilderness to go to a hot spring. It was possibly one of the coolest things I have ever seen or done. The water comes straight from the snow on Kili (so it's not hot, but its comfortable) and it is crystal clear. We spent an hour just jumping in and out and swimming around. When we got out to leave, Kilimanjaro was out from behind the clouds. There are no words to describe and there is no camera to capture how beautiful and amazing the entire mountain is. We have seen the main peak (Kibo) before, but today was the first time we had seen Mwenzi peak. Too cool. 

Finally, as we were driving away, the other large mountain here is called Mount Meru. The sun was setting directly behind it and it was just AWESOME, AMAZING, INCREDIBLE. I can't even begin to describe how beautiful it is here, but the closest I can get is to say that it is either the best movie seen ever or the closest embodiment of heaven I will ever see. 

You can't save Tanzania

The hardest thing about being here is everything we have had to learn. The best thing about being here is everything that we have learned whether through experience or our discussions. 

While everybody has great intentions, there are very few things that actually are beneficial to Tanzania (or other African countries) in the long run. The US government built an entire factory, near Moshi, to produce mosquito nets for the community. Sound great? It actually does doesn't it? Building the factory gave people jobs, the factory itself gave people jobs. They made mosquito nets which are necessary here for malaria prevention, so that protected people. This entire project was funded by the US government, so unfortunately, as soon as the money ran out, the factory shut down. This ended the influx of money as well as the employment of everybody that worked there. 

The project had the best intentions, but was not sustainable. 

At home, we have so many extra clothes, and they either go to the goodwill or they get sent to Africa with someone going on a mission trip. Here, most of the clothing businesses are in selling used clothing. Most of the new clothing stores have been run out of business, because honestly, who wants to buy something at full price when you can buy it for a fraction of the cost and save the rest for their next meal. Through all of the clothes that we have sent over through the years, we have put a halt to their clothing development factories and stores. Through trying to help them, we hurt their economy in the long run. 

As I mentioned in an earlier post, there are good orphanages here as well as bed ones. I truly feel that we have seen the good, the bad and the ugly. The bad ones really are just playing on the fact that there is so much foreign aid poured into Tanzania. They get a bunch of street children, call it an orphanage and hope for funding. When they have gotten the funding, they use a minimal amount on the kids and use the rest on their own salaries. Seriously. Msamaria receives about $420,00 a year and only uses $80,00 on the kids. That is $340,000 to be used on the salaries of three people! (The average salary is $1,200 a year, the Msamaria people will be making $113,000 a year). 

As a service learning group we have seen a lot and we have learned a lot. My first tendency is to fix everything in one swoop, but as Mama Moshi and Dr. Whitney keep saying, "You can not save Tanzania". We can fix one problem at a time, but "You have to let Tanzania save itself". There is no project ever that will be sustainable enough to save an entire country or the entire Dark Continent. 

I have personally come to the conclusion that there are only a few things that are actually helpful when it comes to aid. Providing an education and providing health care. Both of these have to be done through the local people, teaching the children makes it possible for them to continue teaching and providing health care keeps the people healthy and makes jobs here. 

There is a lot more of all of this in my head and if I had a lot longer, I would edit this and make it more organized, but since I have to go to the orphanage, I hope you can follow my train of thought. 

Best wishes to you and yours! 

Love love love it here.

Yesterday we visited the Moshi Primary School. They only have one book for each subject and each class has about 50 kids. That is crazy. The kids are so sweet. They all wear uniforms to school. If it is government school, they wear blue uniforms and for private schools, we have seen green, maroon, black, etc. In my journal entry for yesterday I made the comment that I would love to come teach English here  -- maybe not at Moshi Primary, but just in Tanzania in general.
Yesterday we also dropped off the mats at Msamaria Center for Street Children and dropped of the guy to help install the floor in the girls room. Then, last night before dinner we went to Kilimanjaro Orphanage Center again. The kids are just too cute -- all kids are the same, they just need love and attention. We took drawing supplies for the kids to color. Two girls that I met on one of the first mornings here recognized me and so we colored together. Their names are Rebeka and Hawa. Rebeka is so smart. She drew a lot of different things and then read them to me in English and Swahili. When I asked her what she was studying, she ran to get her exercise books to show me. I just love her a lot.

Today we had an adventure since it is Saturday. We first visited Mama Moshi's middle school teacher. She runs a school in a little village near Moshi. You know how I said I would love to teach english here somewhere? Ding ding ding! I found it!! All of there subjects are taught in English since it is an English medium school. They take volunteers for 9 months or so at a time. :) It is so clean and well run and they are adding 3 more standards (or grades) to their school, so they will need more teachers :).  There is a German girl there right now who has caught on to Swahili rather quickly, and she seemed to LOVE it.
So as long as Mom and Dad are cool with it (and they should be since it is only 9 months), I'm totally in!

I am getting eaten alive by mosquitoes from sitting here, so I am going to leave it here for now.
Till next time :)

"Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men."
Ephesians 6:7