Old Moshi, Day two (July 11, 2008)

Our second day in Old Moshi started at the Keys Hotel, where had a nice breakfast. the team assembled downstairs and were collected by our Kikarara Hosts – Mr Samuel, Mr Benson, Mr John and Pastor Godbless. We loaded up into their vehicles for our short drive up to Kikarara. Today we visited the Elementary School right next to Meli (the Secondary School we visited yesterday). We saw their classes and recess area, and were shown the maize storage tank that the Aids Orphans fund help purchase and fill. The staff noticed that not every child was able to bring a lunch, and that the ones who did not have a lunch would hide away during lunch, embarrassed that they had none. Hungry students do not learn well; the school now provides lunch. We were escorted to a classroom, and had some food – it looked like lunch, but wasn't (as we'll see later). After some time spent with food and tea, we had some speeches, by the Teacher In Charge, the Elders and of course a thankful response from Rick. We moved outside, and the whole school sang for us, and we gave them a number of soccer balls. The Aids Orphan fund supports the school fees and buys uniforms for more than a quarter of the 450 children at this school.

We next walked up the hill to the Kolila High School, a ELCT school that is held at the site of the original German government center when this area was called Moshi. The school holds classes for Form 1 thru Form 6, and the Headmaster collected much of his staff to meet us. We had time to chat and then the headmaster gave us an overview of the school, their programs and their needs. The Headmaster then opened up the floor for questions. When we ran out of questions, we asked the staff to ask us questions. Just as they were getting to the tough questions, lunch arrived. After lunch we had some more speeches. As we were leaving, we gave the Sports Master a couple dozen or so soccer balls.

After saying goodbye, we drove out to the Marangu area – this is one of the current starting points for climbing the mountain. We all hiked down to view a gorgeous waterfall. After some photos, we hiked back up to our vehicles and headed back to Pastor Godbless' house for dinner. We got a tour of his property, where he has chickens and 2 cows. There are two houses on the property – one is his, and the other belongs to his brother, who lives in Arusha now. Their Mother lives in the second house, but she was not home during our visit. We had yet another wonderful Tanzanian meal, and sat around the fire for awhile. Of course, the evening wouldn't be complete without few speeches – Mr Samuel invited Godbless and Rick to "Say a few words, but not a sermon". They complied, and Mr Samuel closed the evening with a few more remarks.

After an appropriate Tanzania Goodbye, we were driven the 21 kilometers back to our hotel in Old Moshi, and bade goodnight.