Tanzania Day 1: Dar es Salaam

There are guests downstairs, I have physics homework to do and 450 pages left to read in my book. So, what better time than now to finally sit down and write a blog entry.

I know I said that I'd talk about my trip to Tanzania forever ago, but I still don't even know where to start when talking about it. I haven't really talked to anybody about it at all, so I guess maybe I should atleast try writing it out here. :P

Anyways, we got to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania around midnight or 1am and pretty much just fell asleep right away. The next morning, the teachers let us have a later start that we were supposed, which still meant that we had to leave at like 8:30 or 9. In the morning we just got to go to an internet cafe to let our parents know that we arrived safe and sound and exchange our money. That was our first time actually seeing Dar es Salaam because when we arrived we were pretty exhausted and it was nighttime. I actually saw a lot of similarities to India when were driving. Of course Dar es Salaam is a major city in Tanzania so, it's not as bad off as some other parts of Tanzania.

In the afternoon we visited an orphanage for disabled children. These children are considered burdens and curses upon their families. They are treated horribly because their parents believe that they will never be able to work and help provide for the family. The orphanage is run by an Italian man, who speaks no english at all. Only Italian, Swahili, and Spanish. He's been running this orphanage for 9 years and he not only gives these children a place to come during the day, but he also teaches them and tries to show the parents of these children that they are capable of a lot and they can do so much in their lives. His efforts have been paying off because some of the parents are actually getting more involved with their children and taking an interest in what goes on at the orphanage.

It was hard to communicate with the children at this orphanage because they only spoke swahili and all of us only knew a couple of words in swahili. It was still fun colouring with the kids and playing with them. They seemed happy just to be able to play with us and with the toys they were getting. It was really good to see the smiles on their faces. The little boy I was with for most of the time was very quiet and when I asked him his name he mumbled it so I never really found out his name, but I still had a good time playing with him.

That evening we got to go for a swim in the pool, which I didn't do, I just sat by the ocean and read for a bit. After dinner we had our very first debrief and it was mostly just our first impressions and what we were looking forward to on our trip. That was pretty much all that the first day consisted of.

I think I'm just going to add what happen the rest of the days later.

Also, I've been thinking of starting a vlog. Not now, but when I get my new camera. Thoughts? I think I might also put up a few videos of me playing guitar and singing.

That's all for now.

ps. the orphanage was called Kituo Cha Watota Cha Baba Oreste Day School