September 27, 2016
After spending almost a year with TFFT and officially joining the team in August, I made my first ever trip to Tanzania! My three weeks in TZ have been such an incredible, informative, and eye-opening experience on both personal and professional levels. I feel fortunate to have continued to develop and expand my knowledge of and relationships with everything TFFT. My time here has been full. From meeting our scholars to visiting homes and soaking in the Tanzanian culture and landscape, I am constantly learning.
My first day here I went to our office and met our team members who work in Tanzania. I spent the morning working with all of them, and then we went to lunch at a local restaurant together. It was a great introduction to Arusha! In the afternoon, I went with Meghann to see Arusha Modern School and met some of our scholars who had just completed their class 7 national exams.
This was a really meaningful time for me, since the scholars in our program are the driving force behind all of TFFT’s work. I appreciated seeing firsthand the incredible impact that receiving a quality education has on the lives of our scholars. This is what motivates me to do as much as I can when I sit down in the office for work, to help provide our scholars with the best possible opportunities that we can.
Right at the beginning of my time here, I was able to attend primary school graduation at Usa River Academy. TFFT Scholar Rachel graduated, and we saw many of our other scholars participate in the graduation ceremony festivities.
I went to Star High School and saw all of the TFFT Scholars who attend school there. We spent the afternoon getting to know each other, and I learned that Julieth has a beautiful singing voice!
I was able to go along with some of the women on our Vision Trip to see Step by Step, a center that provides education and care for children with learning disabilities. We met two TFFT Scholars and saw the trade skills that they learn, which they can bring home to help provide support to their families.
One of the highlights of my time here was going to see an essay writing and poster making competition at a government school in King’ori. Hilda organized this activity through TFFT’s Full Circle Program, and student representatives from over 50 schools in Meru District showed up to compete! I loved the opportunity to see TFFT program work in action.
With all of the Vision Trip group, I went along to see Small Steps for Compassion, voted the Most Outstanding Children’s Center. Hedwiga brought us there, and she explained the process and standards of how TFFT rates the centers. Small Steps was impressive – so clean and well-rounded!
I was also able to see TFFT Scholar Angel’s home and meet some of her family. It was great that Angel felt comfortable opening her home to visitors and her sponsor, Candice. Afterwards, we spent time with Angel at her school, Usa River Academy.
Another exciting moment of the trip for me was seeing the land where TFFT has a new endeavor in the works…stay tuned for more on this!!
I loved seeing more program work in action at the SuitUp Competition, organized by Scholarship and Mentoring Program Manager, Stephen, at Arusha Modern School. We worked with TFFT Scholars and other students at Arusha Modern as coaches for the project to design a prototype shoe for Nike. It was a great experience for the students to practice making a business plan and presenting for a panel of judges.
I worked with the Vision Trip participants to complete scholar interviews. I loved spending time at schools getting to know the scholars and watching as sponsors formed bonds with the scholars that they support.
What a wonderful first experience in Tanzania for me! I loved all of my time spent with the team and scholars, and I can’t wait to make it back again for more!!
