I actually do volunteer

Jambo!

So I know it probably seems that after all of the fundraising I did for this trip, I haven’t done a whole lot of volunteering and have spent most of my time gallivanting around Africa. 

 

We HAVE been doing a lot of work, a lot of orientation and a lot of planning!  Now that I have some more of the details, I’ll try to fill everyone in on what it is we will be doing!

First, the four of us will be working at the Umoja Centre (which I had described in a previous posting).  There we will be teaching three afternoons a week covering topics in Health, the Environment and Civics.  On Friday afternoons we will be working with groups of students and helping them develop community programs.  We will ask them to assess the needs of their own communities (with some tools and guidance provided by us) and then we will help them program an event that will educate the community on the issue.

We will also be working with a small number of previous Umoja Centre graduates who wish to run small businesses.  We will be helping them develop a business plan, so that they can work towards opening up a successful business in their communities.

Finally we will be working towards putting an event together for Youth Day (August 12).  We aren't quite too sure how this day is going to work yet, or what we will do, but we'd like to show members of the community of Arusha that the youth here are talented and possess many skills.  I also think we may place an emphasis on youth employment, in hopes of convincing employers to hire youth to allow them to gain some experience.

All in all, we have our work cut out for us!  We start teaching at the Umoja Centre tomorrow and we're all quite excited!  

Kwaheri!

-Matt