Blog 5, Mikocheni Village by… Lucy, Rachel, Noah, Meg
It was the first time we got to “sleep in” this morning!
Even though we woke up at 7:30 instead of 7, we were all so tired. We had breakfast
at 8 and we ate the usual. It was an hour drive to Mikocheni Village. After driving
out of Moshi, it was sugar cane fields for miles. Then we saw our first
wildlife besides lizards, goats, and cow: monkeys on the road! A 15 minute
drive from the village we saw the water stream where they used to walk to twice
a day to get water before former Cathedral students helped fund a well in the
village. We arrived to Mikocheni, a rural
village with 4,000 people, with many smiling faces ready to meet us. The school kids greeted us at their new
church, where they were having class to prepare for first communion. We passed the old church, a very shabby
building with dirt walls and tin roofs.
It is crazy that this is where the village had to go to church before! The kids lead us to their school, and there
was not one of us that didn’t have a Mikocheni kid holding our hands. We are
very unfamiliar to them, considering they rarely see white people, but they
were still intrigued and just wanted to be touching us/ being around us.
“Mzungu” was the word of the day, hearing it 100 times it was clear that it
meant white person. The school is a primary school and there are 800 students
that fit in 7 classrooms. We brought them whiffle balls and bats, and the boys
of room 110(Devon, Cade, Noah, Riles) organized the whiffle ball games. There
was loud singing coming from behind the school, and we decided to check it out.
A group of 50+ kids of all ages in a circle were singing/ chanting similar
songs we heard at the preschool. Seth decided to join the circle and shake it
too, and the kids loved it!!! We taught them the mango tree song from the
preschool, and Kateri lead them in “peel banana” which we chant at football
games! They liked them! Next, we went into a classroom full of 13 year old
village students and had a Q and A session. We had a translator and the only
questions they asked us was about the economy and Donald Trump. This was
interesting because it’s probably all they are exposed to about America. When
asking about their favorite foods, we said pizza, and they said rice, beans,
and fish, all which are simple and easily accessible to them. When asked about
what they want to be when they are older they had a wide variety of answers.
They said lawyer, teacher, doctor, nurse, pilot. They told us however that all
of their parents are fishers (lake nearby) and farmers. This is because if they
want to be those things, they can’t live in Mikocheni, they need to go to a
boarding secondary school. The problem is only 20 percent of students from this
school pass the exam to get into secondary school. This means 80 percent are
done with school by the time they are 14, and usually will live in the village
for life! This made us realize how much opportunity we have in education, and
to be successful in the future. This was a very interesting experience for us.
They lead us into a huge dirt clearing, and in the horizon we could see
mountains! Very pretty! And then the soccer game began. It was a group of boys
versus a lot of us mzungus. They kind of kicked our butts, they were around 10
years old and pretty good!! The students then lead us to the living quarters of
the village. Again hand in hand with students, usually multiple people fighting
to hold our hands. They were amazed with Anika’s hair on her arms. Even though
our hands were so sweaty because it was so hot!!! The houses were about 20 ft
by 20 ft, dirt floor, straw tops, made out of sticks and clay. No visible
electricity, and rundown looking. Crazy to think people still live this way. A
student pointed out to Meg a hospital, which was obviously a very small
makeshift building. There were kids running around without shoes, or maybe only
one shoe. It was strange to see this type of poverty in real life. You could
tell that the whole village was expecting our arrival and were excited to see
us, and were sad when we had to leave. Many of us left with bare wrists- they
were interested in our bracelets and we thought if they were that amazed by
something so simple, let’s just give it to them. Jamie even gave a little girl
his watch. We had a late lunch eating some really good hot chapatti with beef
sauce. Baba Dick may or may not have gone up for many seconds. Our group
meeting involved reflection on the day. We talked about how using this
experience, we can act and do something after this trip. ACT. A-awareness, C-
compassion, T- take action. This trip provides awareness, we find compassion in
ourselves, but the taking action is what requires real effort. Cathedral
student have taken action. A few years ago they made the Tanzanian village
fund, which has done a lot for the village of Mikocheni and Mr. McMorrow said
that he has seen great improvement and hope in the village. Very eye-opening
day that will stay with us for a long time.
Also Nic- sauce please hit Devon up with some money, and
Tami same for Maddie!
Hey Mom and Dad I’m doing real good, hope you are too!! I way
under packed and I am missing your food -
Meg
Hey Mom Jack, Ellie, Sam, and Hanna I am having a great
time!! Miss you lots!! Dad is doing well
too!
-
Lucy
Hey Mom, Dad, and Carly, I am having tons of fun! Let’s get DQ when I get
Back because I’m missing having dessert every day. See you soon – Rachel
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