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| Before! |
As most of you know, I became a coffee drinker about a year ago and never looked back. Yesterday, I had the opportunity to make coffee with beans from Kilimanjaro! It was one of the best learning experiences I could have ever hoped for on this trip. While I was sifting through the raw beans with John and roasting them over an open fire with Juma, I had to stop myself for a moment and take it all in. You can't learn this kind of stuff from a text book, you can't understand the culture unless you jump right in - no water wings, no hesitations, no barriers.
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| During! |
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| After! |
I am so thankful to be here and have the chance to learn from these awesome people. Even at the breakfast table yesterday morning, with two teachers from South Africa and a man from Italy, we discussed education, poverty, cultural differences, and more over a piece of bread and some chai. How often do you get to learn from others like that? I am so awed and inspired by nearly everyone I meet here, and often surprised at how much I can learn from just a few minutes of conversation with them.
Even with the obvious language barrier between some of the people who work at the guest house, we have grown so close and learned so much from each other. Alimiani, the masai guard for our gate, was a little hard to take at first. But one of my favorite things to do now is just talk with him for a few minutes, in my broken Kiswahili, and try to pick up a few new words as he rattles off conversation that I have no clue what it is about. The other night I explained the phrase "Same, same, but different" (Kiswahili: Sawa sawa lakini tafaoti) - how black & white, Canadian & Tanzanian, are the same but different. When he finally understood, and started pointing to how our clothes were different, our hair was different, etc., I was ecstatic!
When Maria left last week, we were so sad to see her go because she was like our Mama here. Fabiola, Catherine, Juma, and Priscus have been so welcoming and I've loved getting to know them. When Priscus introduced me to his friend, John, yesterday he said "This is Kara, She is very active and always smiles. Every day, you will see Kara and Sienna come to breakfast, always happy". It made my day! Building relationships with Tanzanian people like the ones at Father's has been one of my greatest joys here.
Even with the obvious language barrier between some of the people who work at the guest house, we have grown so close and learned so much from each other. Alimiani, the masai guard for our gate, was a little hard to take at first. But one of my favorite things to do now is just talk with him for a few minutes, in my broken Kiswahili, and try to pick up a few new words as he rattles off conversation that I have no clue what it is about. The other night I explained the phrase "Same, same, but different" (Kiswahili: Sawa sawa lakini tafaoti) - how black & white, Canadian & Tanzanian, are the same but different. When he finally understood, and started pointing to how our clothes were different, our hair was different, etc., I was ecstatic!
When Maria left last week, we were so sad to see her go because she was like our Mama here. Fabiola, Catherine, Juma, and Priscus have been so welcoming and I've loved getting to know them. When Priscus introduced me to his friend, John, yesterday he said "This is Kara, She is very active and always smiles. Every day, you will see Kara and Sienna come to breakfast, always happy". It made my day! Building relationships with Tanzanian people like the ones at Father's has been one of my greatest joys here.
I love how you have integrated yourself with your new African friends. What a special blessing for you in your life. It reminds me of how you and your siblings were interested in getting to know the Mexican staff on a more personal level, and how much they appreciated it as I'm sure it's rare.
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