September 29, 2016
Today’s post is by Kristin Morse who recently traveled to Tanzania to participate in our Vision Trip. Below you can read her beautiful reflections on this experience and TFFT’s work. We are grateful to everyone who took the time to witness TFFT’s work firsthand and to Kristin for writing such an insightful piece summarizing her trip.
By: Kristin Morse, 2016 Vision Trip participant and sponsor of TFFT Scholars Upendo and Richard
I will remember the eyes.
The eyes, hundreds of them, that rushed up and surrounded the visitors who had descended upon the school grounds … The eyes that looked up skeptically from the desk in a classroom with barren walls but yet filled with a love of learning, competition and success … The eyes that looked up with a mischievous twinkle as the visitors walked around the room and peeked in on the work the students were creating …
The eyes that looked up with sorrow, hesitation and fear, even as those very eyes were now in a seemingly safe place — an orphanage — far away from the people who had made those eyes sad in the first place … Or, the eyes that sparkled and shone when they discovered that iPhones could simply create a smile and a laugh with a selfie, a video or a Snapchat dog filter …
The eyes that danced and smiled when a scholar was first introduced to her sponsor, and of course, the dampened eyes of that sponsor …
The eyes (and tummy) that grew bigger with each bite from a fish that was larger than the plate it lay on … Or those same eyes as food coma and satisfied happiness set in … The eyes of a proud grandmother as she watched her granddaughter — smartly dressed in her school uniform — walk her visitors around her old home, which seemed a million miles away from her new home, her school. The eyes of said grandma as she wiped them with her skirt … Was she crying? Had dirt gotten in her eyes? Who knows, but those eyes …
The eyes of a proud Masai mama of six as she displayed and sold her homemade jewelry inside her home, proudly paving her own way after her husband (as well as the husband of her sister wives) had dropped dead just a few years before … The crying, hysterical eyes of the Masai mama’s youngest child as mama left home as the sun was setting to put the money she had earned in a safe place in town so no one could take it from her or her family …
The eyes of the student involved in a marketing competition, hoping, praying his team would win first place … The eyes of the same student as he learned his team hadn’t won, but he would still receive a certificate with his name on it: “I’ll show it to my mom,” he said. …
The eyes of a young high school graduate as she proudly announced she had been hired for her first job even when that job would be seven days a week and for minimal pay …
The eyes of a high school graduate as he intensely listened and devoured advice on how to write a personal statement for a college application …
The eyes, staring out the window, hoping, pleading to understand the question being asked of him in a language he is still learning … Those same eyes when understanding was attained …
Thank you to The Foundation for Tomorrow and the eyes of Tanzania for opening my eyes.
If you want to read more, you can see another participant’s reflections from last year here.