Blog from Lily B.
Walking to the bus station, we learned what the benefits are to backpacking light. We headed off southbound to Mafinga for a brief wait at the bus station for the connection to Mufindi- a site of peculiar people watching and interesting cultural
interactions. Bumping along the roads to Mufindi Chilren’s Village, we saw brilliant green tea fields in all directions. We met with Amari, new college grad running the show while the directors are away, and Molly, a previous Carpe student who’s stayed after her Focused Volunteer Placement. The afternoon we breathed in the new environment and settled into the guesthouse feeling very at home. Amari gave us a tour of the Children’s Village aka Mufindi Orphans servicing 53 children with various stories
affected by HIV- encouraging us to jump in wherever we felt called to help out and invited us to take part during our free time. Our volunteering began the following day, dividing us into rotating groups amongst the different sectors of the NGO. With Akita and Dr. Lena, we walked to the Care and Treatment HIV Clinic and assisted in processing tasks as well as riding along for home-based care visits where we were able to deepen our understanding of effects that poverty and distance have on healthcare access. With Dany and Yousto, we assisted in the Igoda Primary school classroom inspired by Yousto’s incredibly expressive character and effective command of a room of children. In the Montessori school on site, we helped Molly make classroom materials with locally found substances, teach road safety acting out goofy scenes with Mandy as our reckless piki (motorcycle) driver, and observed
circle time Montessori learning styles. On a ‘day in the life’, we woke up at 4:30am to meet with a group of students from the Children’s Village and walked with them to Madisi Secondary school, 10km away. We taught English and astronomy to pre-form students, preparing to attend secondary when all classes are instructed in English. We walked back to help out with their chores and eat together, then attended study tables- we we’re wiped out by the end of the day, having a new level of respect for the lengths students in rural areas must go to earn an education and the flaws in the education system present in Tanzania.
Our week was broken up by our homestay visits- which I cannot justly sum up for all of us. But I can say that some of us learned how to cook local staple food like ugali, beans and plantains, some of us carried water on our heads from springs, some of us attended community gatherings and learned to weave and try our hand at farming- but all of us had laughable language barriers, were welcomed into the community and were able to attend a local Christian church service of varying denominations. We shared experiences immersing in different ways of living and made beautiful connections with local families. We worked in the garden on site, supplying vegetables for 120 residents, and got a chance to get our hands in the dirt, veg out and enjoy fresh air. If it isn’t obvious, our group is drawn to babies like magnets, so many of us loved having time to spend playing and helping to feed,
bath and put to sleep 9 little bundles of smiles. On Saturday we invited our homestay families and staff of the NGO to the guesthouse for a dinner party to celebrate our time and mutual appreciation for the loving environment we were welcomed into. We presented them with cards of gratitude, Polaroids of us with our families, and sang Bob’s ‘One Love’ partly in Kiswahili. We had delicious food from our house Mama the entire time and enjoyed playing taboo and drinking local tea with fresh milk.
Mufindi opened our hearts and inspired us all to see such a well functioning organization moving towards being self-sustaining. For me, I felt drawn back as we made our walk to the bus station, though excitement and curiosity for Ohana Amani and adventures to come made the leave bittersweet. I feel humbled and grateful for the opportunity Mufindi provided us and the enriching work we were able to put forth to an organization that gave us so much.
Sending mad love back home and carrying your hearts with us,
Lily