In Kibaha: Karibu!

Welcome!

If you're here that probably means you at least saw one of my posters and were interested enough to check it out, or you donated something and want to see what's become of it! Either way, thank you for your time, curiosity and effort. I hope that you feel good about partaking in whatever way you are and, in my wildest dreams, I hope you feel inspired to go do something great for someone. Anyone, really.

I am in the midst of preparing to leave. Right now this includes vaccinations, working long hours to save up some money and (my strongest skill) list-making. This is one of my favorite parts of traveling. I love the pre-departure day dreaming and the scribbled notes of things to remember. I love building piles in my room of stuff I might want to bring. And, in this case, I am loving the collecting of school supplies and useful gifts for the community I'm about to meet. I'm in a constant, hazy African state of mind. January 13th couldn't get here soon enough.

For those of you that are interested the following link will bring you to Simon's profile on Couch Surfing. Couch Surfing deserves it's own blog post entirely, but I hope you take the time to look around a bit and get a good sense of what it is. Because it's by far the most amazing network of people that I've ever encountered.

http://www.couchsurfing.org/people/simodani/

Feel free to check out Simon's profile as much as you want. It's a public page and there are no rules of privacy. He has some good pictures of his Learning Center as well as his students and the cool wood sculptures that he carves.

Tanzania is a country on the East African coast. It is one of the poorest in the world with the average household earning $1 a day. Kibaha is a small village located about an hour outside of the largest city- Dar es Salaam.