I liked traveling with my mother because I knew I had someone to be there with me in case something went wrong. I learned that my mom can be fun, out-going and when she lets loose she can be open-minded and not afraid to try new things. When we traveled from Mwanza to Bukoba by ferry on Lake Victoria, the ferry conditions were less than desirable. I kept thinking my mom was going to get stressed out, but she didn't, she had fun with the team and was ready for our adventure in Bukoba. In Bukoba, the team and I, worked at the primary school of Kangabusharo. Community Solutions for Africa's Development, (COSAD) is a GCN partner organization based out of Bukoba and was our "host". COSAD gave us the job of working in one of their community centers. There was one room that is completely finished and the entire front of the structure which looked very good. But the back half of the building was in very bad disrepair. The back walls had holes, the stucco was chipping, and the back of the roof was rusting. One room had no back wall whatsoever and all that was supporting it was 5 big pieces of lumber. We worked alongside COSAD's team and the Kangabusharo community to finish this project. I learned many things, for example, I learned that we are very lucky to have what we have in the USA. In Bukoba, we had running water, but it was cold. No one cared because we felt that having running water was good enough for our team. I learned that running, warm water is a very big luxury. Personally I think it's something we take for granted in America and we take warm showers whenever we like. It's rare for people in Tanzania to have hot water showers in their homes. I learned that people around the world aren't so different. I wanted to see a culture that was different from American culture and see how racial differences work in that culture. The middle school I went to taught me all about white privilege and ethnocentrism. In Bukoba, everyone was equal, whites, blacks, indians, it didn't matter. No one saw the racial differences. We make these difference so much bigger because that's the only thing we see in people that are different. We spend so much time on those differences that we miss all the little similarities that actually bring us together and make us human. I think the biggest misunderstanding is that culture is the difference, not the people. I also discovered that there are more good people in the world then bad. Honestly, I went into this trip extremely scared that something was going to happen to me, my mom, my aunt or any other of my team members. But once I was there, I saw that people are good. For me, personally, I've realized that I'm more willing to try new things and that I can improvise. For example, when we were walking around in Moshi on the first days in Africa, I was overwhelmed by the street merchants. They were following us so that we would purchase their goods. I had to learn to say no, it was hard to do. In addition, I learned not to be so shy. If you are friendly to people they will be friendly to you. At one point we took a ferry across Lake Victoria to get to Bukoba and there wasn't much we could do for beds. There were rooms with bunks below the deck but none of the team, including myself, wanted to sleep down there. So I took off my thickest coat and laid it down on the floor and slept there. It wasn't comfortable but I had to improvise because that's what the locals had to do when they were faced with situations that they weren't prepared for. I started high school last week and it's a huge school. There are three floors that are basically mazes. The entire student body is around 2,000 so the halls are always crowded. It's very different from my middle school which was small and only had a student body of around 500. If I had gone into high school without the experience of this trip, I would have felt overwhelmed. I can say that because of this trip I've been willing to improvise, I've figured out my way around the new school and am now willing to improvise when something goes haywire. This trip was something I will not forget. It's made my year and probably the next several years. It's meant so much for me to be able to go outside my home continent and be accepted and welcomed with such open arms by people who don't even know me. I felt out of place but at the same time I felt like I belonged. I hope to travel a back to Bukoba and to other communities around the world. I know about the programs in college which will allow me to travel and I am dreaming of the possibilities. I hope to return again someday in the future with my son or daughter. |
