Field Trip to Tanzania

Our next trip to Tanzania is on January 27, less than a week away! Michael and I will be traveling there for two weeks with our volunteer builder, Bill Suhr. Our primary aim is to look at examples of recent construction, learn exactly what types of construction materials are available, and conduct a more-detailed survey of the school site to provide to our architects.

Week 1

The first week of our trip we’ll be driving across northern Tanzania, visiting some other schools that are supported by outside organizations. Our hope is to learn from those who have been down this route already so that we can avoid having to re-invent the wheel. We’ll focus on construction and infrastructure, but we expect to gather some programming ideas as well. All of the folks we’ll be visiting are people we didn’t know before, people we’ve become acquainted with as we’ve been looking for information online. We feel humbled by the support and generosity they’ve shown in welcoming us to their sites and working these visit into their schedules. A few have even offered us a place to stay for the night and a hot meal when we arrive—typical Tanzanian hospitality!

Week 2

We’ll be staying in Bushasha village for the second week of the trip. The first task on our list for that week is to survey the school site. Bill has purchased a laser level, story pole, tripod, tape measure, and flagging that we’ll take along for that purpose. We’ll also be spending quite a bit of time in the town of Bukoba looking at construction supplies and prices. Another goal while we’re there is to shepherd along some of the paperwork processes that are more difficult to accomplish at a distance.

Itinerary:

Here’s a summary of our daily itinerary:

• Day 1—arrive in Entebbe, Uganda
• Day 2—fly to Kilimanjaro International Airport near Arusha, Tanzania, and pick up our rental car
• Day 3—visit Orkeeswa Secondary School (Monduli) and Rift Valley Children’s Village (Karatu)
• Day 4—drive through the Serengeti to Bunda, Tanzania
• Day 5—visit Bunda Girls Secondary School, Shalom Pre- and Primary School (Bunda), and Mainsprings (Kitongo)
• Day 6—visit Kitoke-Lweru Secondary School
• Day 7-13—Stay in Bushasha Village
• Day 14—drive to Entebbe and fly home

A map showing our itinerary from Kilimanjaro to Bushasha and back to Entebbe:

Updates

We’re not sure what kind of internet access we’ll have during our trip, but we’re hoping to post some highlights along the way so you can follow us on this adventure!