Maji Ya Chai and Arusha

Jambo from Tanzania,
I Spent the last couple days in the village we will spend the bulk of our time in. Maji ya Chai literally translates to tea water, the community is named after the tea colored river that runs down from mt. Meru and through the area. The village was extremely welcoming and what they lack in comfort and amenities they more than make up for in hospitality. It's also very beautiful, surrounded by sunflowers (which they harvest for oil), corn, beans, and mountains in the distance including Kilimanjaro on a clear day.

I'm very slowly learning my Swahili, many of the families have someone that speaks at least a little English and Mohamed (our contact who will live with us in the community) has been helping immensely and will be amazing to work alongside.

I'm back in Arusha and all it's bustling goodness. I'm starting to find my way around and know where things are. I will spend the next couple days getting the last details for the student orientation planned out and dialed in. Lots of visits to the bank, making maps, putting together welcome packages, and finding good spaces for our group of 20 in all this chaos. Ruth and the students will arrive at the end of the week and we'll be in town for a day before we head out on Safari.

There are monkeys in the trees outside my hotel room.

Hopefully we'll have some more exotic photos for you once we return from safari until then... asante sana for reading.