tanzania o - caterham school€¦ · tanzania enjoyed it and how much they valued our efforts. we...
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On July 9th 20 students and 5 teachers embarked
on an expedition to Tanzania. After a long
journey of nearly 24 hours we arrived at Colubus
campsite for a couple of days of acclimatisation
to the new surroundings. As soon as we arrived and took
our first (rather cramped!) coach journey in the country we
were all taken aback by the beauty of the country and the
great differences between the landscape there and at home.
Our first full day in Tanzania was spent in Arusha
exchanging currency and getting the feel of the place. We
had lunch with an elder from the village who told us a bit
about the heritage of the country and Tanzania in general.
The next day we embarked on the long journey to the
school. We were all filled with excitement but extremely
nervous at the same time. As we arrived the kids were all
over us, clapping and singing. It was an utterly surreal
experience but we all agreed it was the most memorable
moment of the trip. After they performed a sequence of
very well-rehearsed dances and songs for us, we sung
Pompeii to them and then a rather impromptu performance
of “Dont Stop Believing”. After the first day of singing and
playing with the children, lessons commenced the next day.
We were split into five groups - English, Maths, Sport, Music
and Art. Each group had planned a series of lessons but we
were still shocked by the immense number of kids in the
lessons and how hard it was to work in a classroom
environment. However, the energy after our first lesson was
skyhigh and no-one could believe how much we had
TANZANIA
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TANZANIA
enjoyed it and how much they valued
our efforts. We were laden with gifts
after the first lesson which was an
amazing gesture considering how little
they have.
During the week of teaching at the
school we also visited the local village
and church and the Masai village. We
learnt an immense amount about the
the customs of the locals and were
extremely grateful for how welcoming
they were, allowing us to ask
questions and giving us tours of their
houses.
We also ran a Sports Day for the
kids and each child was rewarded with
a certificate and wrist band, which
everybody at Caterham School helped
to raise money for. Similarly on the last
day each student at Lerang’wa
received a watch which was a direct
result of the huge fundraising by the
Tanzania team and the generosity of
Caterham School students and
parents. The leaving ceremony at the
school was touching and extremely
sad - I don’t think anyone didn’t cry!
After leaving the school it was
straight onto the mountain. The first
and second day we passed through
jungle into a more sandy terrain. After
reaching the second camp we began
the climb to the summit at midnight.
We reached the top shortly after
sunrise with an immense feeling of
achievement, as we were the first year
for every Caterham student on the trip
to reach the summit of4565m!
After our extremely physically and
mentally tiring time at the school and
on the mountain, the final part of the
trip was a welcome break. We spent
two days on safari at Lake Manyara
and Ngorongoro crater. Highlights
were the herd of elephants and the
lion who came right up to two of our
jeeps. We saw some amazing things
and for many of us this was the first
time on safari. The guides were
fantastic about telling us all about the
animals.
Finally we left the safari campsite
and spent our last night in a hotel
before our long journey home.
It was honestly the experience of a
lifetime and we were all so grateful to
have been given the chance to
participate in such an incredible and
helpful expedition.
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