I find myself at the end of what has been, by far, the 3 most exciting and educational months of my life, and I’ve been given a simple task: write a blog about my experience. In the end though, all I can do is to try and to hope that I will be able to convey even a smidgen of the amazing experience that has been my life in Kayanga.
This story begins with a woman sitting on a long, plain, wooden bench in an ordinary room in Kayanga town. The room was once painted a yellow-tan color but has since been decorated in scuffs, scratches, and dirt. The paint is rubbed off in places, and the ceiling is home to handfuls of wasps, migrating from their main colony to smaller ones nearby. The woman sits with her feet firmly on the concrete floor, her back to a wooden door latched with a silver and gold padlock.
Two weeks ago, we – a group of 8 students from universities across the United States—arrived in Kampala, Uganda. Each of us carrieda different story of how we found ourselves half-way across the world. As we have moved to our new home in rural Tanzania, our stories have begun to weave together, and we continue to braid in the new strands of all the people we meet.
Too weak to walk the 10 km for water, she surrenders to the progression of her disease.
No water, no medicine, no chance to survive.
She lies back down defeated, lips cracked and flaky.
This week we bring you a series of blog posts written by participants in Amizade’s summer service-learning course in Tanzania. The posts were written by program participants in response to their work with women from one of Amizade’s community partners, Women Emancipation & Development Agency (WOMEDA).
This week we bring you a series of blog posts written by participants in Amizade’s summer service-learning course in Tanzania. The posts were written by program participants in response to their work with women from one of Amizade’s community partners, Women Emancipation & Development Agency (WOMEDA).
This week we bring you a series of blog posts written by participants in Amizade’s summer service-learning course in Tanzania. The posts were written by program participants in response to their work with women from one of Amizade’s community partners, Women Emancipation & Development Agency (WOMEDA).