January 28 — Off to an early start today as we were going up the hills to find 4 schools. The roads and trails never seemed to end as we plodded our way into higher altitudes…granted it afforded some beautiful scenes of Mount Kilimanjaro and the air was sparkling fresh and clear.

Finally we arrived at Mlang’a Secondary School which is only 3 years old and a government school. Three of our students achieved high enough marks in Grade 7 to be allowed to go there! The Head Master was happy to welcome us and called the whole school outside for a welcome assembly and we had to say a few words to all the students! Then we left there for another hike to Uomboni SS where we renewed the contract for Honest Peter and a student named Jerome who is sponsored by a group in the United States.

After a brief break in a field for a snack, we set out for Kitowo and Napaku Primary Schools. We had to negotiate a deep valley, over a river and up the other side. These are very poor schools and the teachers were very happy to see us, not to speak of all of the children swarming around us! Not too many mzungus (white people) get this far up into Marangu West. We paid for the lunches of Oscar and Amedeusi for the year.

January 27 — Today we were off to two Vocational Training Centres to register students for whom we had paid fees. Ngaruma VTC is just outside of Marangu so we were able to hop onto a daladala and be dropped off outside. It’s a clean and well laid out school overlooking a valley with the Mtoni River flowing through. We registered Respice and Honest…a new addition to ABCD. Due to Respice’s condition we signed him up for tailoring as he will be able to sit down and work. This year he is the only boy in the class but we were assured that there would be no “disturbance” to Respice in class from the girls!

Honest wanted to learn to be builder so he is signed up for the Masonry program. The Assistant Head Master, Mr. Kitali, was kind enough to show us a ‘shortcut’ down and across the valley, past his home where we met his wife and children and his sister’s house likewise, until we came up to the main road where Samanga VTC is located. Scola is registered there and finishing her tailoring program. All contract were duly signed and witnessed.

On the way back home we stopped in Marangu town to purchase 10 dictionaries for Primary School awards and a box of carvings which we will re-sell in Canada for fundraising purposes.

We had enough energy for a lively game of Scrabble this evening!

January 26 — Some hiking and a daladala ride took us quite a distance to these two schools. They are in a very serene part of the Kilimanjaro foothills…not quite so hilly. We now have 9 children at Lombeta SS because many have finished successfully at their primary schools. The Headmaster, Mr. Tilya, was very welcoming and seems to have a lot of wonderful plans for his school. The grounds certainly looked better than last year and he said he had his students digging and planting gardens. The reputation of Lombeta SS has improved in terms of student success also according to the published rankings of schools in Tanzania. So, contracts were signed for these 9 students. We managed to get photos of Richardi and Josphat at school and the others can start asap now that their fees are paid.

From there we hiked a further few kilometres to Ifati SS where Selena and her brother Augusti are studying. After reviewing their grades, and discussing their dreams with them, it seems realistic if they both do well this year that they can apply for enrollment at a Primary Teacher Training College. We ate a picnic lunch on the grounds with leftover breakfast food and then made our way back home.

We also managed to stop in Marangu to give the tailor fundi another deposit to continue knitting the sweaters for the children. Then back to the Sekao.

After showering and refreshing ourselves, Lynn got to work on updating the financial records of our expenditures and receipts ( a huge job), while Robyn and I started preparing the Art Day kits for the children for when they come to Art Day on Saturday. I hope to get them to do some painting this time in addition to drawing. They will also pick up their school supplies on that day.

January 25 — Made another trip to Moshi Town today to tidy up some loose shopping ends for the children, and to do some major banking deposits for secondary schools. It’s always much hotter in Moshi than up on the hills so we were baking as we walked around town. ‘Hustle and bustle’ doesn’t come near to describing the atmosphere. Some impressions: lepers on the streets begging, young men urging you to buy their wares, non-stop traffic noise, mamas selling mangos, avocados, bananas and so much other fruit, men frying bananas, roasting peanuts and slicing pineapples from huge loaded carts, men and women sewing on the sidewalk, taxi drivers everywhere coaxing you into their cars, phone time kiosks to load up your mobile with time strips, and here and there a glimpse of the top of Mount Kilimanjaro. There’s definitely less snow on top than last year.

Also on this trip we visited Magreth at her home to see how she is doing. She seemed happy to see us and proudly showed us some of the items of clothing she has made since starting her apprenticeship with a tailor. Her health is the same and she is still receiving treatment from local hospital. We also visited her the tailor, Joyce, who is training Magreth, at her shop. We negotiated another arrangement for next year including material, lunch and instruction for Magreth. When we told Magreth that if she worked hard and learned more about sewing we would buy her a sewing machine, tears came to her eyes.

Finally we visited Makunde Craft market which is just outside of Moshi and a quiet artist’s market where it’s possible to see some carvers actually making their sculptures out of ebony, rosewood, and jacaranda wood. We purchased some pieces for resale in Canada. I found a young man whom I met last year named Mathew. He is 20 and has finished primary school. Not being able to afford secondary school he has learned how to carve, and carve very well as I saw last year. I spoke to last year because I was very impressed with his skill and I gave him my email address. He did contact me a couple of times and this time when I met him I told him that I would be in touch about carving specific items for ABCD to pick up next year. I think we can promote his work in Canada, with his photo and story and be able to help him through selling his work for ABCD.

January 24 — Today we arranged for two ‘fundi’s (tailor)to come to the hotel to measure the children for uniforms. One measured for shirts and skirts, one measured for pants and shirts. We are hiring another fundi who is going to knit the sweaters on her knitting machine. Great to know that the fundi doing the skirts and shirts for the girls has our Scola as her assistant! It costs around $22 USD for a full uniform of pants/skirt, shirt, knitted sweater.