I'm taking advantage of the awesome internet right.
First of all, I uploaded some pics from the elephant cave and then from knife painting and the market in Mtu wa Mbo.
So we leave for expedition this week! What?!?!?! Five days camping in the national park...I'm ready to get up close and personal. We have these massive green tents which can probably sleep 5 or 6 people, and they look hardy which is nice considering it's the rainy season. Plus we all know it's not a Burns camping trip unless there is rain...it just wouldn't be fun!
Recap from Saturday: Classes ended right before lunch and then after lunch we had a community service day. We went down to the local church where they are building a kindergarten and school. The school will be for women in the town who have disabilities and need to learn a trade, so that they can become independent. Our jobs was to move large rocks into the buildings to make a sort of foundation for the floor. Once they get more money they will lay a cement layer down overtop of the boulders. It was a lot of hard work, but we set up a few assembly lines and we were done in no time. It was very rewarding and I hope that we will be able to help with the next steps if they get more money soon!
Yesterday we went to a town called Mtu wa Mbo which means mosquito river. It was named that because it used to be a swampy area that had jillions of mosquitos, but they started using better agricultural practices up stream and did some planting and now it no longer has a mosquito problem. I didn't see any bugs at all while I was there. We stopped and got pizza and then about 14 or so of us went to knife painting. Knife painting does not involve painting with actual knives...they are pallet knives that painters use to mix paints! It was really fun though, and my painting is going to blow your minds when you see it. If you close one eye tilt your head and then close the other eye, it actually looks pretty good! haha M'Lis one of the program coordinators is going to pick them up for us in a few days, because we had to leave them there to dry. While we were waiting for people to finish painting, we had a little dance party and one of the painters told me I had moves like Rihanna. So I have decided that Environmental Science is no longer the path for me...instead I'm going to become a superstar...mom dad, you always tell me you will support me in everything I do ;)
Today we went into town and interviewed people about how they deal with issues facing their farms, and it was really interesting because we interviewed people who only had 3/4 of an acre and we interviewed people who had 4 acres. Right now they are really struggling because the rains are late. So the rainy season sort of started, but now it has kind of stopped and they are very worried about their crops making it through the drought. Their whole livelihood is dependent on these rains so I hope they pick up again soon.
I'm going to go eat some lunch!!
Christine
First of all, I uploaded some pics from the elephant cave and then from knife painting and the market in Mtu wa Mbo.
So we leave for expedition this week! What?!?!?! Five days camping in the national park...I'm ready to get up close and personal. We have these massive green tents which can probably sleep 5 or 6 people, and they look hardy which is nice considering it's the rainy season. Plus we all know it's not a Burns camping trip unless there is rain...it just wouldn't be fun!
Recap from Saturday: Classes ended right before lunch and then after lunch we had a community service day. We went down to the local church where they are building a kindergarten and school. The school will be for women in the town who have disabilities and need to learn a trade, so that they can become independent. Our jobs was to move large rocks into the buildings to make a sort of foundation for the floor. Once they get more money they will lay a cement layer down overtop of the boulders. It was a lot of hard work, but we set up a few assembly lines and we were done in no time. It was very rewarding and I hope that we will be able to help with the next steps if they get more money soon!
Yesterday we went to a town called Mtu wa Mbo which means mosquito river. It was named that because it used to be a swampy area that had jillions of mosquitos, but they started using better agricultural practices up stream and did some planting and now it no longer has a mosquito problem. I didn't see any bugs at all while I was there. We stopped and got pizza and then about 14 or so of us went to knife painting. Knife painting does not involve painting with actual knives...they are pallet knives that painters use to mix paints! It was really fun though, and my painting is going to blow your minds when you see it. If you close one eye tilt your head and then close the other eye, it actually looks pretty good! haha M'Lis one of the program coordinators is going to pick them up for us in a few days, because we had to leave them there to dry. While we were waiting for people to finish painting, we had a little dance party and one of the painters told me I had moves like Rihanna. So I have decided that Environmental Science is no longer the path for me...instead I'm going to become a superstar...mom dad, you always tell me you will support me in everything I do ;)
Today we went into town and interviewed people about how they deal with issues facing their farms, and it was really interesting because we interviewed people who only had 3/4 of an acre and we interviewed people who had 4 acres. Right now they are really struggling because the rains are late. So the rainy season sort of started, but now it has kind of stopped and they are very worried about their crops making it through the drought. Their whole livelihood is dependent on these rains so I hope they pick up again soon.
I'm going to go eat some lunch!!
Christine
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