Fall semester 2012 is going to be a transformative and legendary journey in East Africa.
Our traveling family of Emily, Jane, Sage, Samantha, Olivia, Sydney, Brooklyn, Tim, Lauren and Adam get to unite very soon. We are writing from Portland where Adam and Lauren are completing leadership training and preparation.
Family and friends: stay updated for all the tales from Tanzania, Rwanda, and Uganda! We are ready to experience… Read More
Dear Carpe Diem Students and Parents,
It’s just a few more days until all our to-be travelers and Overseas Educators will be departing for destinations across the globe. We have been busy preparing the OE’s over the last two weeks while getting all the last minute preparations finished! We are all feeling really great and ready to embark on the myriad journeys that will take place over the next 3… Read More
3 months of intentional travel and service-learning – check! All of our students are currently in transit, on the way to their next adventures. As leaders, it has been an absolute honor to learn with and from this extraordinary group of individuals. To all of you at home, thank you so much for your support — the love of friends and family is invaluable while on the road. We also… Read More
Here are a couple of shots from our Scuba course off of the beautiful island of Zanzibar in the Indian Ocean – a fantastic way to end the semester!
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Every semester towards the end of the trip all the Carpe students have 4 to 5 days of free travel that they themselves plan every aspect of, from accommodation to transportation to the activities. This semester we wanted to step outside the norm and were feeling very inspired by service so we decided to search for a service project that we could embark on instead of seeing a tourist attraction.… Read More
Talk about a crazy city! We spent our fist night in Kampala celebrating Kyles birthday at Club Monalisa dancing and getting laughed at by the locals. The next day we were sent though the city on an scavenger hunt. We explored HUGE markets that seemed like they would never end, finding some amazing sweater vests and hip shoes and all sorts of good stuff. Our last day was spent at… Read More
Over the past few weeks, I have been consistantly reminded of how fortunate we are to be doing such incredible acts of service in such breath-taking locations. Lake Bunyonyi is no exception. Honestly, I wish I could accurately describe how beautiful this place is but my words would/cannot do it justice.
Tucked away in the scaling hills of the isles are quaint villages, full of character and liveliness. The primary… Read More
As usual, life has been pretty crazy for us. When I say crazy I mean crazy in the best way possible.
Our week started with spending Easter Day rafting the Nile. It was a great way to spend the day working together, paddling through class 5 rapids. Once again we were lucky enough to have our friend Drew come and enjoy the day with us. It was a full raft,… Read More
After a whirlwind few days in Rwanda we all made it over the Rwanda-Uganda border and added another stamp to our passports. We spent a night in Kabale, Uganda at a wonderful guest house run by the NGO Edirisa. Edirisa strives to promote Africa through creativity, culture and practical skills. They have started amazing projects in cultural tourism, education, fair trade crafts and multimedia. After spending a night in Kabale… Read More
Driving through the gates, into the UAACC (United African Alliance Community Center) it quickly became apparent that we were in for an exciting few days. The outside walls were covered with beautiful graffiti created by some of the students of the community center. There were powerful messages about equality and peace. These are two things that Pete and Charlotte O’Neil bring into their everyday lives. Pete started the Kansas City… Read More
Rwanda is a beautiful hilly green country in the middle of Eastern Africa. It is a very small country and borders Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi, and The Democratic Republic of the Congo. The capital, Kigali, is a big city with a population of around 2 million people, very clean, organized, and developed in the western sense of the word. This is where we spent our short three nights in Rwanda.
We… Read More
Nazipenda picha hizi (I like these pictures). The Africa Group enjoying some down time in Njombe town, seems like a photo shoot for Modern African Traveler magazine!… Read More
WOW what a great last three days, we saw so many great animals like lions, elephants and giraffes. This one lion walked about three feet from our car and our leader Robbie was hanging out the window shouting a video about a foot from the king of the jungle. We also got to see the wildebeest migration, there is no way to describe how many we saw every direction we… Read More
Last week we stayed in a small Maasai village called Lemonata and partnered with Maasai Wanderings to paint some classrooms in Matimu Primary School, a school that they sponsor. While we were in Lemonata we were blessed with the opportunity not only to live along side the Maasai but also to be integrated into a little bit of their culture. It is during this time of the year that the… Read More
We just wrapped up a few amazing days with Ohana Amani in N’jombe. We spent the days with Curry, Chevy, Kayla, and Dustin reflecting on what it means to serve and how to be consciously aware of our presence as it leaves an impact on the communities we’re living in. We spent time constructing three garden beds for the volunteer house that soon will provide the home with an excess… Read More
Hamjambo friends and family! Sorry for a delayed post but we had some technical difficulties at our last internet cafe a week ago. Wespent a week in the Mufindi region working with Jenny and Geoff, two amazing people who run an NGO (non governmental organization) there. The main projects include an orphanage, HIV clinic, income generating projects, home based health care visits and much more. We got to spend a… Read More
Africa is awesome! The people are friendly and the food is great, I really enjoy eating with my hands but only the right one. We have only been here a few days but we do and learn so much each day. The whole group is the best but me and Erin destroyed the scavenger hunt so yeah. We were able to lose ourselves in Morogoro for a few hours and… Read More
Greetings from Morogoro, Tanzania! Team “Best of the Rest” is rocking out at the all-day scavenger hunt around the city. So far in Tanzania we have eaten local foods such as Ugali, beans and rice, chipate, and delicious fruits. The entire group has bonded over intense games of Uno, SLAM, and BS (Erin winning them all of course). The weather is quite a change from what we were used to… Read More
We have 6 of the 7 here at Pdx! We are enjoying the last American meals of gummy worms, bagels, and salads before the warm breeze of Dar Es Salaam greets us late tommorrow night. We’ll keep you posted as soon as we have Internet again.
-Team Africa… Read More
