During the month of July, I spent an amazing five weeks in an East African Country, Tanzania in a town called Hagafilo, near Njombe. With the eleven amazing individuals from all around the UK, we quickly became a family and together, a part of the Lasallian Developing World Project. LDWP is a charity which sends groups of young people to more deprived areas of the world in order to help with erecting an educational building, which then could be served by the local community.
For five weeks, six days a week I had the pleasure of working and getting to know a few of the locals who were helping at the building site. Those people were incredible. They were extremely strong and worked all day long without stopping, no matter what age they were. Getting to know them was a wonderful part of the experience. Even though we were faced with a language barrier, and I didn’t know a lot of Swahili (the local language), that did not stop us from becoming good friends. I realised after a while that we understood each other, without actually having to verbally communicate with one another.
We spent a lot of our time at the building site, from 8am to 1pm and then from 2pm to 5pm. At times, the building site was tough physically but also emotionally. At those moments you look around, and quickly realise that you’re in Africa and that you’re doing something that matters and then you just forget about being tired or homesick and get back to work. Our work consisted of getting 50kg cement bags, sand and sometimes stones, adding water and mixing it to make concrete which we then passed to the builders for them to use. There were days where we had to pass bricks or stones up the ladder or clean up the area where we would be starting work next. Whatever the builders needed us to do, we did it.
We also had the opportunity to visit some amazing places that will stick out in my mind forever. One of those places was Lake Malawi. It is the 3rd largest lake in the African continent where the water is amazingly blue and and the sand is so worm that it’s difficult to walk on. When we were there, we took a two hour trip through a jungle up a mountain. We followed a river and after along walk through this magical place, we finally got to a lagoon with a mesmerizing waterfall. When I first saw it I found it hard to believe that places this beautiful actually exist in our world.
Many times we also visited our village and the local “pub”. The people were always very smiley, full of happiness and always glad to see us there. They would recognise and welcome us with open arms. At those times, we had the chance to get to know them more and have a small taste of their beautiful culture. We danced, we laughed and enjoyed ourselves. Even though they were strangers to us, we felt like we had known them all along.
As a group, we also had the pleasure of visiting a deaf school in Njombe and were wormly welcomed by the teachers and students of the school. We had the chance to see how the children were learning English through sign language and individually, we were giving a name in sign language by which they would remember us. We also had the opportunity to play with the children and teach them some of our favourite Scottish dances and in return they taught us some of their dances. Despite the fact that they cannot hear the music, the music and the rhythm is deep inside their souls.
What I thought was incredible was how simple things like bubbles or even a balloon made them so happy. The way they look at life is much different than the way we do and I feel like they appreciate little things much more.
During one of the weekends, we also visited a very small village, Mhaji, where another Lasallian group was doing a teaching project. We had the chance to visit the local school and see some of the work which the children were doing. The class rooms were very simple and small for the number of pupils that had to fit in them. It was an experience which made me appreciate our education so much more.
To think that an unfortunate number of children in today’s world still have such a difficult time trying to gain a substantial level of education, breaks my heart. Outside the school we met a few of the local children, and I gave them little bracelets which my family and I made. To see big smiles on their faces from such a simple thing was truly unforgettable.
As a group we also sponsored seven local students which were the best students in the school, but their parents or guardians could not afford school equipment or clothes. Every member of the group has given something which they brought with them as a gift for the children. Football strips, pencils, music instruments, toys… The other things like new school shoes, new jumpers… we went to buy in the market as a donation from us.
This whole opportunity has been truly one of the best and most life changing things I have ever had the chance to do. I can honestly say this experience has helped me to look at life from a different perspective but it also strengthen my faith in some way. There is so many things I realized about myself and the world I live in while being away, which will stay with me forever. I truely realized what’s really important for me.
Without the help I received from numerous people and organizations, I would have not been able to be a part of this unforgettable adventure. You helped me to do something which I’ve always dreamed of doing!
So, from the bottom of my heart, I THANK YOU!!!