Back in 2008, my friend, Deb Schultz, asked if I would help sponsor a Maasai girl in Tanzania trying to attend a school for girls. In the Maasai culture, girls are usually sold at an early age to be wives for the men. If they could go to school, they could change that way of life and become something more than a wife and mother at the age of 12. I agreed and started sponsoring a girl along with some other friends. The first couple of girls we sponsored disappeared, we assume were taken off to be a bride somewhere in the bush. Over the years, I stopped sponsoring a specific girl and just donated money to the Image Project Tanzania. Deb Pangerl, a Minnesota woman whose vision started this project, wanted to create a school that would keep girls safe and see them complete their education and improve their economic situtation. She started by creating a primary school and then created a secondary school. There were many problems over the years and many girls disappeared, but finally this year the first class of 24 girls was going to graduate. She invited Deb Schultz to go with her for the graduation ceremony in October 2017. Deb S. agreed and when 2 of our other friends heard about it, said they wanted to go, too. Three other people were also going to go with on the trip. In August, one of them had to back out and Deb S needed a roommate to take her place. Knowing I had been a supporter for many years, she invited me to go along. I had to decide quickly because I needed to get my passport renewed and apply for a visa to Tanzania. With the support of my husband, my boss, and my co-workers, I found myself on the trip of a lifetime with 3 of my good friends and 3 other Americans.
The flight to Tanzania
Sunday and Monday, October 1-2, 2017
My husband, Bob, drove me as far as Blue Earth, MN to meet up with Mary Goheen, who was also going on the trip to Africa. Her husband, Bob, offered to drive us to the airport. They had been judging in Iowas the day before. The weather was rainy, but traffic wasn't bad considering 35W was closed past hwy 62 and there was a Twins game, a Vikings game and a marathon going on in Minneapolis that day. We met Deb Schultz and Marlene Swearingen, along with Deb Pangerl, Mary Bach, and Russ Duehr (our travel mates) at Rock Bottom Cafe. We had lunch and took our first malaria pills together there. Then we moved to a coffee shop closer to our departure gate. Every table there had an iPad to order, pay, and be entertained by. Very modern and lots of charging stations. A traveler's dream.
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| Killing time at the Mpls. airport |
We boarded a completely full flight for Amerstdam. Flew 3607 miles with a snack, a dinner, and a breakfast served on the flight. I sat next to Deb Pangerl (from now on referred to as Deb 1 and Deb Shultz was Deb 2. Mary Bach was Mary 1 and Mary Goheen was Mary 2.) Got to know her a little bit on that flight. I didn't sleep and watched 3 movies. We lost half a day flying over the ocean and spent a few hours in the Amsterdam airport. We boarded another very full flight to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, with a brief stop at Mt. Kilimanjaro. (It was dark, so we didn't see anything there.) It was another long sleepless flight for me, 8 hours, plus another 45 minute hop within Tanzania. I sat next to a Dutch couple. He taught Tanzanian farmers how to grow and market avocadoes. I think he was the agent doing the selling (and of course making money). Deb 2 sat next to a sneezing, unhealthy,, seat hogging "bush man". She got moved for our short hop, but had to suffer through the long flight. Once we made it to Dar, we made it through the passport and visa checks ok, but the cargo bags of gifts and supplies for graduation raised a red flag for customs. They wanted a letter from the school asking for all the things we brought. Edward, the "director" of the school (for lack of a better term for his position) had the letter, but he had to go back to his car to get it. We waited about an hour out in front of the airport, with all the taxi drivers hoping that they would get our business. While waiting, Edward helped us exchange $400 each for Tanzanian schillings. It was a big stack of bills, mostly 10,000 schillings each. Finally got okayed through customs and Edward had the school van and one taxi ready to take us to our hotel. Got all our luggage and the cargo bags loaded in and drove the half hour to our hotel, Slipway Hotel. It was about midnight local time and we were very tired. Edward helped us pay the taxi driver and added in a tip. We had no idea how much we were paying. We got settled into our rooms and got the air conditioner working - felt good. We were so tired. We just tried to find stuff and get to bed quickly. I had a few minutes of panic when I thought my power adapter didn't work, but I just hadn't slid it in all the way. Finally got to bed about 1:00 am. Much needed sleep!
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| Loading luggage in Dar es Salaam |
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