Well, thanks to my father politely urging (guilt-ing) me into blogging once again - I am back to say hello! I am sorry it has been so long! I've been happily living my life traveling all over Tanzania, and doing a million things!

It would be impossible for me to update you on everything - I've been extremely busy in Dar and have done quite a bit of traveling for Roots & Shoots (apparently the most of any international volunteer to date!). I have now been here long enough to have built really beautiful friendships with most of the Roots & Shoots students in Dar es Salaam, and I am always surprised to be recognized by so many students when I'm out in public, all calling me my Swahili nickname "Ndonga". As I was in charge of planning a collaborative event for Peace Day, students from lots of clubs around Dar know me, and it's really fun to have such a gigantic network of students who are happy to help me, or simply have a great conversation and laugh with me. Last week I was at a youth climate change summit with group of students traveling to Cop17 in Durban (where I met a student from Guelph!), and introduced myself to a Tanzanian student and she said "I know you - you're Ndonga!". Haha, I thought it was pretty funny. Dar seems so small now, as it has become a struggle to go anywhere without bumping into somebody I know.

I uploaded some photos so that you can have a peak into my life as of late, and I'll try to upload my favourite video from my village visits. It is of about 300 kids who had never seen a white person before all singing and dancing in a circle lead by my colleague.

My Dad suggested I write a description of one of my days visiting village Roots & Shoots clubs in the Southern Highlands, and I think that's manageable, but first I'd like to tell you about my upcoming event that currently consumes me! I am planning a big Roots & Shoots Girl's Empowerment workshop at the end of December (16th and 17th). It is an event that I thought I might like to do since I got here, and now it's really in progress. I will be having 3 secondary school R&S clubs making workshops on issues that girls face growing up in TZ, and giving them to groups of students in primary schools. I am so excited! (I would also be extremely grateful to accept any small monetary donations to go towards transporting students, providing a small lunch, and printing resource booklets for girls with information on where to go in Dar es Salaam if they are in any kind of trouble).

Back to my village visits…

I spent 16 days traveling around the Southern Highlands of Tanzania visiting Roots & Shoots clubs in cities and villages. It was the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen! I'm sure it will be the most rewarding experience I'll have here, but it was also extremely exhausting. Some days we visited as many as 9 schools, and we spent our weekends taking outstanding clubs on camping trips.

I am stared at all of the time because of my skin colour, but visiting these schools in villages was another story. First we would pull up to a school in the Roots & Shoots car. Can you believe it? A CAR!!! Children would already be so excited to hear the sounds of a car, that they would be running to look out the windows of their classes to see what was going on, with some lacking the self-control to keep themselves from running straight out of the class. And then, can you imagine what happens next? A woman steps out of the car… and she has WHITE SKIN! It was really crazy sometimes with hundreds of children running to form a mob around me. I would just stay really still and then move quickly, or make a loud sound, and then they would all SCREAM, and run away… until they realized it was much more fun to try to touch me!

Moving past skin colour, I must tell you that these clubs were really remarkable, and I know Jane would be proud to see all of these outstanding clubs existing in such remote areas. I saw some absolutely amazing R&S projects and some really inspiring R&S spirit. My favourite time when visiting schools is almost always talking with the students who are the leaders of these groups, because they exude so much passion! It was just remarkable to meet a child in a village who has never watched TV, visited a library, or been encouraged to appreciate nature, but has become an avid bird watcher with an elaborate book of observations and sketches from their bird watching adventures. I also love seeing the clubs that have projects in conjunction with the Village Government, such as a tree planting project around the village guided by the head elder.

Weekend camping was also very interesting, as the students had never seen a tent. It was a lot of fun (but perhaps the most exhausting), I lead lots of group games, and was able to really bond with the R&S girls (and build on my Swahili skills)… I was warned by a colleague that it would be cold in these regions of high elevation. I asked how cold, and he said it got down to 10 degrees Celsius at night. I just laughed and said it wouldn't affect me as a Canadian. I have never been so wrong, I am clearly now used to having everyday reach above 30 degrees, because I was the biggest baby of all! It felt like it should have been a snow day! I don't even want to think about the shock that awaits me at the end of December when I step on cold Canadian ground…

One of my best friends from Guelph will join me in Tanzania for my last month, arriving in four short days on November 20th! I'm so excited, and it should be fun to have somebody around who is new to Africa. And my mom will be coming to visit from November 30th until December 8th - I am excited to have somebody in my family truly understand Africa and see me in my forte. Needless to say, my next and final 5 weeks will be extremely busy, and very exciting. This will be the first time in the last 6 moths that I will take time off, and take time to act like a tourist.

I am not sure if I will blog again, but I hope you enjoy the photos, and I look forward to catching up with all of you in person in December or January!

Much love and blessings,

Erica