Africa

Hi All

 It's Terry Marino here reporting from Arusha. Our long flights were not too bad and we have been on the move constantly since landing.

The scenery is beautiful -lots of vegetation and wide vistas. We went to the construction site of Peace House Academy and it reminded me of Playa del Carmen, Mexico-lots of projects half finished. The plans are wonderful so when it's completed it is going to be great. We have met all the staff already and they are anxious to begin.

Our hotel in Arush is very nice lots of tile and it is four stories.

Food so far has been too good- no weight loss expected!

I miss you all but am having a grand time.

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From LA to Arusha

Hi Everyone it is Miss Puffer. I made it safely to Africa! We are really
enjoying our trip so far. We have only been here one day but have met some
great teachers. We had a chance to tour the school site and learn a lot
about incorporating conservation into building a school. Just wanted to
check in and let everyone know we made it! I will write more later!
Love,
Miss Puffer

hello from Julie!

Hey there!

well I'm here in Arusha and so far things have been absolutely amazing! Getting to Africa (although long), was really easy. I had a great nights sleep, a few really delicious meals and today we got to see the Peace House Foundation school site. It is much bigger than I had imagined and really special. Tomorrow I will be going with a group into a village where two of the teachers and one of the Peace House people will be interviewing a potential student. Just driving around and seeing the people on the sides of the road, goats, cows, chickens, the housing, etc. is so interesting. Tonight at dinner we met a few of the teachers from Peace House as well as the head mistress.

I will keep you all posted through this site as often as I can. I can't seem to get the satellite phone to work. i love you and miss you all!

XOXO Julie

(Almost) Everyone has arrived safely!

If any of you are anxiously awaiting word, 11 of the 13 teachers arrived safely tonight (the last tow come tomorrow night) and are probably already all sound asleep in their hotel.  Everyone was upbeat and cheerful and VERY pleased to be off the planes after a long, long journey from wherever home is, all the way to Arusha.

 

Tomorrow the adventure continues!

Greetings From Arusha!

Hello from beautiful, balmy Arusha!  I arrived yesterday, and the rest of the group will be arriving over the next 2-3 days.  The weather is perfect - warm and sunny during the day (in the 70's) and cooler at night.  Arusha is located quite near the equator, so it has a pretty tropical feel.  There are pineapples, bananas, mangos, and other fruit trees growing all over town.  You can buy fresh fruit and vegetables from vendors on the streets.  You also see many signs of the US ...  Coca-Cola signs are everywhere, and today we were in a store that had Pampers as well as Betty Crocker cake mixes!  But there is no doubt that we are in Africa when you look at the people, the roads and buildings, and listen to the sounds of the city all around.

 

On Sunday, our first day as a group, we will visit the site of the future Peace House Secondary School, meet many of the staff of the school (Americans and Tanzanians), and learn about the history of Peace House Foundation and the group's work in Tanzania. 

 

We are having a bit of technical difficulty posting on the blog so I don't know if we will be able to post photographs or not while we are here - but we will be as descriptive as possible, and add pictures upon our return if need be. 

 

Soon you will hear from other people - not just me!  Check back Monday or Tuesday for updates!

 

-Karen Peterson

Teacher Trip 2007

Within the next several days, fourteen of us will be getting on airplanes to start this experience. We will all meet up in Arusha the weekend of June 23-24, and the fun will begin.

The first couple of days, Monday and Tuesday, we will be learning about schooling in Tanzania. We will observe the student verification interview and visit process for Peace House Secondary School (PHS), and we will visit two other Tanzanian schools.

The next four days will be focused on the teaching seminar which is the biggest part of our trip. Tanzanian teachers lead their classrooms by lecturing and testing. We will provide examples of other ways to teach in the classroom and other ways to enrich students' learning. The staff of PHS have invited teachers from surrounding Tanzanian schools, figuring that since we were going to be teaching, we may as well teach to a larger group. To our amazement, over 120 teachers have signed up to come to the 2-day seminar. We will be truly affecting hundreds of children's lives by helping their teachers learn new educational techniques. It's incredible to contemplate.

Following our seminar days, we have the rare opportunity to visit a traditional Maasai village and learn about this tribe's way of life. Then we finish our Tanzanian adventure with a safari - which promises to be memorable.

We will post here as often as we can! Enjoy reading and following along. Thanks for all the interest and support you have shown each of us. We, and the children of Tanzania, thank you.

-Karen Peterson

Jambo!

Jessica & Rob here... now that school's finally over (though Rob's still working, hehehe) we can devote all our attention to getting ready for the trip. Do not be deceived by how long it's taken us to post... we are VERY excited. We can't wait to meet you all and get to work (and relax) with you in Arusha.

We are both middle/high school science teachers in different NYC private schools. Long before we met, we also both did research on monkeys in Kenya. Weird, we know. Can't believe we're going to be on the other side of Kiliminjaro in less than 2 weeks. See you there if we don't see you on the plane first!