A trip to Zanzibar and a new house in Tanzania

COUNTRY: Tanzania
PROGRAM: GapBreak
PROJECT: Building, renovation & conservation
WRITTEN BY: Tanzania Gappers 2012


Jambo from Tanzania!

This is our second entry about our amazing Tanzanian Gap year abroad experience and a lot has happened since we last wrote!

We had two birthdays in the same week (Josie and Kaitlyn) in September so we had celebrations and cake in camp. At the weekend the American family, that lives next door, took us out on their boat to snorkel and a trip to the sandbank. We saw puff fish, lobster, blue starfish and ‘Dory’ fish (not sure of the actual name)! It was amazing. Then we were off to the sandbank that only emerges when the tide goes down – it was stunning with its white sand and clear blue waters!

The week after we were machetting one of the houses in preparation to render, as well as digging the rendering sand – it’s hard work digging in the sun but all worth it in the end. We also began rendering the first house, which was something new to learn!! Wednesday night one of the girl’s tents (Laura, Alix, Chloe and Josie) woke up with ants in their bed in the middle of the night so ended up sleeping on the sofas – all part of the African experience. For the rest of that week we carried on rendering, trying to perfect each wall as best we could but Eliphas is always there to help us and do an annoyingly good job!

The Friday of that week our group had organized to go to Zanzibar for 5 days. We’d checked in advance if we could get a few days off project and as we’re here for 3 months and we’d worked for 1 month so they were happy to let us go and explore. It was an early start catching the 6am bus to Dar and then a ferry to Stone town. It was an amazing few days and our hotel in Nungwi was right on the beach. It was great to explore somewhere new and relax for a few days. We bartered in the local markets and bought lots of different souvenirs.

When we got back the new group had arrived so we got to introduce ourselves and then got some rest before we went back to project. At the weekend we were invited to the local primary schools graduation ceremony. It was a great! The kids performed a sketch, some rapped and we also got to see the school choir. One of the teachers made a speech and thanked Camps International and past groups for the work they’ve done at school.

After the School function, it was back to work once again. One of the houses was completely rendered so this week we have been white washing and it’s now ready to hand over to the Mama tomorrow afternoon! The other house still has some walls to be rendered on the outside but should be finished by the 1-monthers by the time we’re back from Kenya. We leave for Kenya for 2 weeks this Saturday with the 2-monthers from the new group to meet the Kenyan group, then we go to Tsavo to take part in wildlife conservation projects and go on our Safari! Yay! Everyone is so excited for Kenya.